The pity party is over

The last post got a little sad at the end.  That wasn't really my intent and we really do like being in Sydney.  We are just having the normal ups and downs.  What can I say, life is not perfect.  

The past week has been a bit better.  The weather has been pretty darn chilly at times (it was 45 degrees Fahrenheit when we left for Carter's soccer at 8:00 this morning), but the days have been generally sunny.  One of my mottos since we moved here has been "it is hard to stay in a bad mood on a sunny day in Sydney".  We are now over halfway through our second winter of 2012 (one in the Northern Hemisphere and one in the Southern Hemisphere).  The days are slowly, but surely, getting longer, which is a good thing.  One of the things I dislike the most about winter are the early sunsets.  

Over this past weekend, Sean and I decided to head into the city to remind ourselves of how awesome it is to live in Sydney.  Saturday we took a bus down to the Queen Victoria Building.  I forgot to take pictures at this point, but imagine a grand 19th century brick building in an ornate Romanesque Revival style as a shopping mall.  We didn't stay there very long since we don't really shop for anything in Sydney besides necessities; it is much too expensive!  Instead, we are planning on bringing empty suitcases and a large shopping list with us when we go back to the US for a visit. 

We then rode the monorail over to Darling Harbour, a popular area near downtown that has tons of restaurants, bars, museums, parks, and more.  We had been to Darling Harbour a couple of months ago to go to the Sydney Aquarium, but we did not walk around much that day because it was cold and rainy.  We made up for it on this trip.  We walked and walked and walked. 

Waiting for the monorail

When we went to the Sydney Aquarium in June, we bought a pass to get into various attractions in Sydney and Melbourne.  On this trip to Darling Harbour, we decided to check out Wildlife Sydney, which was part of our pass.  We had a great time exploring the attraction.  

We have been to many different animal parks in the past few months.  We have gotten pretty good at finding the reptile in the enclosure (it is a little like a Where's Waldo picture with less color).

This is a Cunningham's Skink with her babies

This is a Southern Cassowary (which I had never heard of prior to Saturday) is the 2nd largest bird in the world by weight.  It was hard to get a good picture because the bird was constantly moving.

Aubrey getting a close up view of the Southern Cassoway

An underwater view of a real salt water crocodile.  It was huge.  

There can never be too many pictures of the cuddly koala!

You can't forget the kangaroos.  :-)

There is a butterfly pavilion at the park where butterflies are flying everywhere.  This little guy landed on my shirt.  

Water view from Darling Harbour

After going through Wildlife Sydney, we got to go to Starbucks for a coffee.  We enjoy the coffee here and have ordered our fair share of flat whites (latte with more milk and less foam), but I still enjoy a caramel macchiato if we pass a Starbucks.  Unfortunately, there are not many Starbucks here as the Aussies did not take much of a liking to the company when it came and most have closed.  There are just a handful of Starbucks left and they are located downtown in touristy spots. 

We also went to Adriano Zumbo's shop.  I have tried a few different macarons since moving to Australia.  Adriano Zumbo's macarons are hands down the absolute best I have ever had.  The salted butter caramel macaron is out of this world.  I have been raving about these macarons to Sean since I first tried them back at the end of April.  He finally got a taste this weekend.  Now, he understands my obsession.

We were exhausted after our excursion on Saturday, but it was a great day that was well needed.  Sunday was pretty quiet.  Sean went to an All Ford car show by himself.  Carter attended his first birthday party in Australia.  It was a Nerf gun theme.  What 7 year old boy does not love that?  

The week so far has been good as well.  Carter had his Athletics Carnival today at the local Allen Border Oval.  I guess I should explain what all that means.....  When Carter entered Middle Harbour Public School, he was put into one of 4 houses (think of Harry Potter being sorted into Gryffindor House, but much less dramatic).  Carter was put into Fraser House (blue).  The Athletic's Carnival is basically a field day where the kids compete in races (800 m, 200 m, 100m, and relay) to win points for their house.  As far as the Oval, it is just a large community field managed by Mosman Council.  There are different ovals located around the area and they are the oval shape to make them appropriate for various sports.  

Picture of the oval with the kids split up in their 4 houses.

Action shot of Carter racing (he is front and a little to the left with the blue shirt on).

Aubrey ready to begin her race (for the younger kids that are not in school yet).  She was probably the tallest kid in this race.

Anyway, it was a bright, sunny winter day.  Even though the day did have a brisk start, it warmed up to 63 degrees Fahrenheit.  In the sun, it felt much warmer than that.  Carter had a good time running, but he did get a little tired of waiting around (we were there 5 hours and the kids only ran 4 races and had one game of tug-of-war).  Aubrey ran one 100 m toddler race and did great.  She had a great time playing with all the younger brothers and sisters while we hung out at the oval.  Then, we got to stop and have ice cream with friends on the walk home.  Once again, we are all thoroughly exhausted.  Sean was even tired tonight, even though all he did was work all day. ;-)  Aubrey was so tired that she may have literally fallen asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.  

I guess the lesson learned is that we just have to keep getting out and living life to its fullest.  Then, you don't have the time or the energy to throw a pity party.