School Holidays

Carter's two week winter school holiday is now over.  It has been a great two weeks.  He is a little sad to see it come to an end, but I think he is also excited to get back to school tomorrow.  Two weeks is actually a really good length of time to be off.  It provides a nice little break without being so long that the kids get bored.  Since we spent the first week on vacation, we were ready to relax for the second week.  Well, except for Sean, who had to go back to work.  Although, I don't think he was too upset about that after spending a week traveling with the kids.

We spent quite a bit of time the second week at the local indoor pool.  Carter had swimming lessons every morning and Aubrey got to play in the shallow water while Carter had his lesson.  Both kids loved this.  Carter improved his swimming quite a bit and Aubrey began to swim on her own.  No more floaties needed!  

Carter during his swim lesson

Aubrey playing in the shallow water.

The kids also worked on improving their chopstick skills and acquiring a taste for sushi.

We had play dates, spent three days playing by the beach, and went to the zoo two times.  

We were just hanging out with the koalas.

We got lucky and got to watch the giraffes at feeding time.

They seemed pretty close! 

And they were doing face painting at the zoo.  I brought children and took tigers home.

 We ended it all by going biking this afternoon at a local park.  Living directly across the harbor from Sydney CBD (central business district), you pop over a hill and you have a breathtaking view just laid out in front of you.  That happened this afternoon at the park.  It still takes us by surprise.  I've worried that we would get accustomed to this and it would no longer astound us.  But, I have now decided; it will never get old.