Happy Christmas!

We have just enjoyed a wonderful Christmas.  As I said in the last post, I had mixed emotions during the month of December, but we were all excited by the time Christmas actually rolled around.  It really was nice to have the holiday all to ourselves.  We did not have to hustle and bustle to make it from one family to another and organize it around my work schedule (it is very difficult to get time off around the holidays when you work at a hospital).  This is definitely the most relaxed Christmas I have ever experienced.  

We will start off on Christmas Eve when we went biking at Narrabeen Lakes.  Well, Sean and the kids went biking.  I have not gotten a bike since we moved. So, I attempted to keep up with them on foot.  Long story short, they left me in the dust.  But, we all had a great time and everyone got a good workout so we didn't feel so bad when we laid around and gorged on food the next day.

View across Narrabeen Lakes

One of my last glimpses of the trio on their bikes

The red dot is on the Narrabeen Lakes

After cleaning up, the kids and I also made a quick trip into the city to the Queen Victoria Building to pick up a last minute gift for Sean.

The kids are standing in front of the Swarovski crystal Christmas tree at the QVB.

Carter and Aubrey on Christmas Eve when they were asking to open a present early.  Can't you see the excitement radiating from their eyes?

It was odd not to go to a Christmas Eve church service.  This is the first time in my life that I have missed one.  But, the church we have started going to did not offer a Christmas Eve service.  So many small differences. 

On Christmas morning, the kids woke us up at 5:00 am.  Sean and I reluctantly rolled out of bed.  We were all happy and fully awake once the coffee started flowing and presents were being unwrapped.  Thankfully, we did not have our hearts set on going to the beach on Christmas as it rained buckets all day.  It was the wettest Christmas in Sydney in 70 years.  It actually suited us better that the day was grey and rainy; we did not feel guilty that we stayed inside and hibernated for the day.  Sean had to bring up the fact that if the temperature was below freezing, we could have had a white Christmas.  We were a long way from freezing though (I think the temperature that day was around 70 degrees Fahrenheit).  

Carter on Christmas morning when he opened a very special present from Santa.

Carter and Aubrey showing off their favorite gifts.

What a mess!!

We had a great day of playing with our new toys, taking naps, watching movies, reading, and eating the turkey meal we bought the day before at Fourth Village Providore.  Sean and I both agreed that we couldn't do this everyday, but it was a perfectly beautiful, lazy Christmas.  We did make it out of the house to drive to Davidson (by Frenchs Forest) to look at Christmas lights.

A highlight of our Christmas light tour

The next day, Boxing Day, is a celebrated holiday here in Australia.  I  remember seeing that on calendars in the US, but I never really knew what it was all about.  It is observed in the UK, Hong Kong, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand.  It was traditionally when servants and tradesmen would receive gifts from their employers, known as a "Christmas box".  It is nice to have an official extension of the Christmas holiday.  In general, I've noticed that they like to extend holidays out in Australia.  In fact, many small businesses have signs on their doors stating that they will not be reopening until January 7th.  

On Boxing Day we took the opportunity to get the house back in order and then go biking once again.  This time we went to the Sydney Olympic Park.  As the name implies, this is the park that Sydney built for the 2000 Summer Olympics.  It has a huge entertainment district, sporting venues, and extensive parklands with over 35 kilometers of off-road bicycle paths.  This is now our favorite place to bike because the bike paths are paved and well maintained.  It is nice to find proper bike paths away from traffic with young kids.  Aubrey is getting pretty good, but she still tips her bike from time to time.  
  

The red arrow is Sydney Olympic Park

View of the Parramatta River from the bike trail

Overall, we had a great Christmas.  I am a little sad that this marks our last Christmas when both kids believed in Santa for all the Christmas Eve and Christmas morning traditions.  Carter kept a keen eye out this year and waited for us to slip up.  He believed in Santa, but at the same time, he was looking for clues.  All it took was some misplaced name tags.  He found the Santa name tags in Sean's desk drawer Christmas afternoon.  He came to talk to me and he asked a lot of questions.  I was honest with him once I realized he wouldn't just accept my traditional answers about Santa leaving them with us, etc., etc.  It was the right time and he is pretty proud of himself for figuring it out.  But, sometimes it is hard to see my little boy growing up.

December in the sun

I am trying to get back at writing again after taking a little time off.  December has been a month of a lot of ups and downs.  We have experienced some great times in the last month and it has been busy with holiday festivities.  But, it is not quite like a Northern Hemisphere Christmas.  I have been trying to go with the flow and enjoy the holiday season here.  And, I have appreciated many things about an Aussie Christmas.  However, there is still that little kid buried deep in my subconscious that is yelling "This is NOT right and I want MY Christmas traditions!".  So, I have kind of been at battle with myself.  I think my torn feelings are actually getting a bit better now that Christmas is upon us.  I have come to terms with a few things:  1. It is a beautiful holiday no matter where in the world we are.  2. Our family is still close to us in our hearts.  3.  It is hard not to feel happy when you have two kids that are so excited it is almost oozing out of their pores.  Excitement like that is contagious.  

Since I am so behind in my blogging, I am going to play catch-up a little bit. I'll give you a quick tour of our month.  Sean caught a nasty flu for the first weekend of the month and Taronga Zoo has a dinosaur exhibit up for the summer that Carter had been dying to go to.  So, Carter, Aubrey, and I set off for the zoo on a hot December day and left Sean at home to rest.  It was about 90 degrees Fahrenheit.  We did get a little sweaty, but we had a great day. 

Carter and Aubrey posing in front of one of the dinosaurs.  Throughout the zoo there are life-size dinosaurs that are automated and make sounds.  

Carter and Aubrey in front of yet another amazing view from the zoo.

Can you find the kids?

Since we didn't ship very many Christmas decorations, we had to get a new tree and ornaments here.  The kids and I decorated the apartment during the middle of the next week.  It is really nice that the kids are now getting old enough to be a big help in the decorating process.  

Carter and Aubrey decorating the tree

The end result!!

My favorite Aussie Christmas decoration; a koala nativity set

On December 9th, Aubrey and Carter got up in front of church with all the kids and gave a little Christmas concert.  

During the following week, my friend, Diane, taught a class on chocolate making.  In the picture below we were learning how to temper chocolate.  It was a fun evening and we got to come home with lots of treats to share with family and friends.

   

We had a few holiday parties to attend.  One of which was Aubrey's playgroup Christmas party on the 13th.  It was an awesome time of festive food, music, face painting, a gift exchange, and a visit from Santa. 

We also had to get some exploring in for the month.  So, on the 16th, we went driving on the south side of Sydney.  We did not have a specific destination in mind when we went driving in that direction.  So, we were pleasantly surprised when we discovered we were near the original landing place of Captain Cook when he discovered Australia for England in 1770.  

The blue dot is where we live and the red dot is Captain Cook's landing place on the south side of Botany Bay.

An obelisk erected in Captain Cook's honor

Closeup of the plaque

This is a photo of Botany Bay when standing in front of the obelisk.  

Carter finished Year 2 at Middle Harbour Public School on December 19th.  All reports were good and he has had a great time at Middle Harbour.  We are looking forward to 6 weeks off and then Year 3 will begin on January 30th. Carter is anticipating his sister joining him at school next year.  

We went down to Balmoral Beach after school.  There is a tradition of the Year 6 "graduates" from the local primary schools to jump off the dock in their school uniforms.  We got down there to catch the end of the excitement as the kids were jumping in.  It was a great afternoon to relax at the beach on the official start of summer vacation.  

The kids in the yellow shirts and black shorts on the dock are from Middle Harbour.

Aubrey after playing in the water.  She absolutely loves the beach.

This is the kids' photo with Santa.  As usual, Carter got on Santa's lap with no qualms whatsoever.  Aubrey, on the other hand, is forcing herself to stand next to him.  She could only get that close by having a tight grip on Carter's hand.  We are making progress.  At least she isn't crying.

  

Merry Christmas!!!

                      The Thoe Family

Happy Thanksgiving!

I didn't post last week.  I have to admit that it was a little hard for me to be away for Thanksgiving.  It was one of those days where I felt completely misplaced in the world.  It was life as usual here in Oz on Thursday.  Sean went to work, Carter went to school, and Aubrey and I went to playgroup.  I made a nice dinner that night.  Not a traditional Thanksgiving meal, but a chicken dish we all enjoy.  Then, Sean left to go see the new James Bond movie with a friend.  The kids and I stayed home and made paper turkeys out of our handprints.  It was such an oddly normal day.

Carter and Aubrey's handprint turkeys

Luckily, my funk only lasted one day.  Friday morning I got up and talked to my family in the middle of their Thanksgiving festivities thanks to FaceTime on my iPad.  Modern technology is one of the many things I am thankful for.  It has made this move to Australia so much better for me.  I would be much more homesick if technology were just 10 years behind where it is today.  Ten years ago I could not have had a face to face conversation with my family members from almost 9000 miles away.  Ten years ago I could not keep up with my family and friends over Facebook and many connections would just be "lost".  If I did not have these means of communication, I would really feel like I am "missing out" on all my family and friends' lives back in the US.  I know it has made a huge difference in my happiness level while living away from them.  

We got together with some other American friends at the beach on Sunday to celebrate Thanksgiving.  None of us really felt like going through the hassle of making a turkey, so we had turkey sandwiches.  But, with some of the traditional sides and pumpkin pie, it made for a very nice, low key meal.  And, it was a sunny 80 degrees Fahrenheit (26 degrees Celsius), so it was great beach weather.  We all ate and then the kids played games and went swimming while the adults sat back and relaxed.  It may not have felt quite like our normal holiday, but I will never complain about a day like that.

Aubrey helping me cook.  Maybe we should all wear swimming googles when we cook; you never know what may splash in your eyes. 

There was free face painting when we got to the beach.  So, Aubrey changed from swimming queen to glamorous kitty cat.

The remains of our Thanksgiving meal.  (I forgot to take a picture until my tummy was full.)

The kids are playing with our neighbors' teenage daughters out in the water.

We saw a huge cruise ship going past the beach as it was headed out of the harbour.

Sean and I often discuss all the expensive sports cars we see driving in our neighborhood of Mosman.  Since Sean and the kids love cars, this is kind of a treat for them.  When we were driving home from the beach (in our Ford Fiesta), I decided to take a picture of the Ferrari in front of us.  After I snapped the shot, Sean made a comment about the Lamborghini that passed us in the other lane.  I checked the picture I had just taken, and I got them both.  If there had just been an Aston Martin in the lane on the left, the picture would have been complete.

"Just another day in Mosman"

I will leave this blogpost with an awesome picture I took last week when Carter and I went for a run and ended up at Georges Heights Overlook at sunset.  It is a peaceful spot to reflect on all the amazing blessings we have been given.  We are so lucky.

Good eats (and more)

The weather over the last couple of weeks has been pretty up and down.  The forecast would call for showers every day.  Then, each day would be generally sunny with a storm or 2 that would sweep through in the afternoon to evening hours.  I got used to that pattern, so when the forecast was the same for Saturday, I thought we would probably have a nice morning like the rest of the week had been.  So, I talked Sean and the kids into a little adventure Saturday morning: the Bondi Beach to Coogee Beach 4 km coastal walk.  Unfortunately, the weather was not the same as it had been all week.  The weather turned out to be a colder than expected with big wind gusts, and misting rain.  It was still a gorgeous walk and we made it most of the way despite the less than desirable weather.  We finally abandoned it a little shy of our goal (at Clovelly); we had a little less than a kilometer left to hit Coogee Beach.  We rounded a bend and it got a little too cold, too windy, and too wet all at the same time.  So, we walked a little more inland, away from the coast (where it was a little less windy) and we caught a bus back to Bondi Beach.  **Note to self:  Next time the weather forecast is questionable, I should throw the kids' jackets in the car.**

The purple dot is Mosman (where we live) and the red dot is Bondi Beach (where we started our walk)

This doesn't show the path, but it starts at the red dot and follows the coast down to Coogee.

Bondi Beach

The best of both worlds!  Beautiful lap pools right at Bondi Beach.

Carter and Aubrey with Bondi Beach in the background

Sean and the kids posing in front of one of the many cool rock formations we saw on the walk.

Bronte Beach

Another "bath" or pool by the ocean.  This one has a more natural look and appeared to have ocean water in it.

Leaving Bronte Beach and heading towards Waverley Cemetery 

Waverley Cemetery from the south side

A final picture of Sean and the kids shortly before we called it quits on the the walk.

We still had a good time and learned a couple of lessons for if/when we do that walk again.  And, we found a really good hamburger place on Bondi Beach, Moo Burger.  It is a local chain and we will definitely have to go to another one.  We knew we were in a good place when we saw the Heinz ketchup bottle on the table.  That is a rare treat in Australia.  Most of the time we are paying for a small tub of "tomato sauce" at the counter. 

Carter at Moo Burger

View from the restaurant

The burgers we got on Saturday was just a start to our weekend of good eating.  On Sunday, we went over to our friends' house for a barbecue. By barbecue, I don't mean an Aussie barbecue.  I mean a Kansas City BBQ complete with ribs, brisket, beans, and Oklahoma Joe's BBQ sauce.  Our friends (also from Kansas City) have a homemade smoker.  Our friend, Mike, found a butcher to sell him brisket here in Aussie.  The butcher said that they do not use the brisket for anything other than to grind up to make sausages!!!  Mike is able to buy the brisket for a low price as long as he lets the butcher know how much he wants by Wednesday of each week.  Mike smoked the meat for about 9 hours and then we had a feast.  

The smoker.  Isn't it beautiful?

The main course

Yum!!!!

I went out for a walk by myself on Monday night.  It was a beautiful night out and I needed to work off some of that yummy, but not exactly healthy, food from the weekend.  It is so nice that the days are noticeably longer now.  I ended up down by Mosman Bay where you can catch a ferry into the city.  I got down there just a little too late to actually see the sun go down, but the views still did not disappoint.  It gave me some of the serenity I was seeking at the beginning of the walk. 

The red pin shows the Mosman ferry wharf

A picture I caught as I was walking back home; the last drops of sunlight on the Harbour Bridge in the distance.

Today (Friday), was Aubrey's last morning of Kindy orientation.  These are some final pics of her in her uniform for awhile.  She won't be back in it until the very end of January when she actually starts her school career.  After watching her brother go to "Big School" for 2 1/2 years, she is so excited that it is finally her turn.

The kids before we headed out of the apartment building on this rainy morning.

Aubrey telling me to leave because she was "busy coloring".  I guess she is pretty comfortable in the Kindy classroom.  I know that is a good thing, but shouldn't she at least want to hug me goodbye?