Happy Birthday Sandi

Happy 54th Birthday Sandi

Hope you had a great day!

I love you!

Christmas Week 2011

We decorated the tree with our Texas ornaments but it didn't seem quite like Christmas because of the heat..... That and not having Amanda with us! :(

David made the best of it with a few good old German Beers!

We had Christmas lunch at David's sister's house. Jannene went all out - with Prawn (shrimp) cocktails, pork, ham, lamb shanks, roasted veggies and a range of deserts - Lemon meringue pie, pecan pie, Emily's award winning carrot cake and traditional Australian Christmas pudding.

Ashlee, Jannene and David

After so much wonderful food we hooked up the Wii (Santa gave Emily & Allie) and burned off a few calories. Emily, Uncle Mark and Allie had a blast at Just Dance.

The next day we walked 5 minutes down to the jetty for a little fishing.

We got all set up and wouldn't you know it, a storm came in. We didn't catch any fish but I'm sure we will at some point since the water is so close.

All David has talked about since we moved is how much he wants to catch either mud or sand crabs. They are super expensive and are really good eating. So for Christmas I gave David two crab pots. They are the perfect size to take out on the kayak. He and Allie set them out and we went back the next day to check... We weren't expecting to catch anything but we caught seven total - nothing that we could keep as you can't keep females and the males we caught were too small. Oh well, we had a great time and look forward to one day catching some keepers!

Allie caught one that was missing it's claws so she was able to hold it for a few photos.

The following day we headed to Movie World for a few hours of fun. Allie got chosen to be in a 'movie' during the stunt show.

Filming....

On the big screen... Her line was "They're stealing our car!"....

We had a nice surprise in the mail box when we got home... This great Christmas Ornament from Markus, Constanze, Julius and Vivian - Thanks so much guys!!!

Our first Christmas in Australia was definitely different but fun and special in an entirely new way.

Christmas Eve baking

Before:




After:

YUMMY!!!

Typical December day...

I am still not comfortable using words like December, Christmas, Hot and the Beach in the same sentence! It is the 10th of December and it is stinking hot instead of freezing cold. I wonder how many years it will take before I can start to associate heat and Christmas??

Emily and Allie may be having the same issues with Christmas but they are loving the pool. This past weekend Allie had two friends over to swim and officially kick off the summer holidays!

They swam and swam and swam...

The next day we all jumped in the car for a few hours at the beach. David took the new, smaller kayak to try out in the surf.

The Surf Life Saving (Lifeguards) were on patrol and the girls wanted a photo with them but were too afraid to ask so I snapped this one as they drove past....

Can't relax on the beach without a cold one! And yes you can have bottles on the beach here...

Even though it was overcast and not great weather we had a lot of fun anyway. I look for many more fun days at the beach.

Movie World Australia

Tony, Renee, Sam and Dawn gave David, Emily, Allie (a.k.a. Alex) and I season passes to Movie World, Sea World and White Water World as an early Christmas gift. Now we can go as often as we want from now until June 2012.

David had a training class and Emily had to work so Allie and I took the short 45 min drive to Movie World for some Mom and Daughter time.

We took a pick-nic lunch and ate between the many shows and rides.

Allie loved the Stunt Driver show the best but we didn't get any photos of it - We did get this one of Scooby Doo though!

Trick or Treat Aussie Style

Well our first Halloween in Australia did not disappoint. Allie and Emily took their little cousins on their very first trick or treating outing ever. The little ones loved it! They ran from house to house and were so excited at all the candy.

Silly little girls - Front row - Abby the Bunny, Ashley the Fairy, Georjia the Super Girl Witch, back row - "Sandy & Danny" from Grease!

They made a really cute 60's couple.

Up to the first house, EVER!

They had a great time and loved it - they were already talking about next year!

Pic Nic With the Whales

There is the neatest park close to the house - it has all the normal playground swings, monkey bars and sand boxes but it also has whales! They shoot water from their blow holes and are great for the kids to climb on. Alex (aka Allie) and two of her little cousins; Abby & Ashley had a great day cooling off while David, Jannene (David's sister) and I had a relaxing pic nic on the grass.

Doesn't he look relaxed?

Stuff, stuff and more stuff!

Our stuff finally arrived!!

It is so nice to have our stuff but I totally forgot how much stuff we actually have! We have a lot of stuff and not a lot of room to put all of it. This house is nice but a little small.

Here has what we have been up to over the past few weeks...

We have been super busy - David getting all our stuff unpacked and organized, the kids with school and I started a new job. It is really weird to not work at Dell. I was there almost 11 years and I find myself actually missing it. Well just a little.... :)

Emily got her "L's" - her learners permit. She has to drive for 100 hours with these magnetic L stickers on the car - then she graduates to her "P" - provisional plates. She will have to drive for a long time with them... They have strong rules for new drivers here. She is not too happy about that but I sure am!

Mother's Day is the same day here as in the States, but Father's Day is not. It was Father's day here a few weeks ago and the girls and I got David a new iPod touch. He will be able to plug it into the car radio and listen to KASE 101... He misses country music more than you can imagine. Actually I do too!





The girls are on two week holiday from school and so all David brought them into the City on Tuesday. They rode the City Cat (water ferry) in and met me after work. We went for dinner along the river and then watched a laser light show that was going on that night. It was a lot of fun and something new for the girls.

Allie had a great surprise this week... She got mail! She never gets mail so she was SUPER excited
to find a package from the US with stuff in it for her! Ethan and Austin each sent her a card that they made for her. They drew cute little animals on them (kangaroos and koalas) and wrote that hey missed her. It was so sweet - so sweet that the rest of us (David included) got a little choked up over it.

Thanks Ethan and Austin for your sweet cards - we loved them. And thank you Lisa for the handmade sun glass case. I will think of you every time I get my sunnies out! We miss and love you guys lots!

Hopefully I will find more time to post things now that life is feeling more normal. We miss all our family & friends, but we are loving it here. It is really a new adventure!

Koinonia Day 2011

For the past few weeks Alex has been learning about refugees at school. The lessons have focused on four countries - Vanuatu, Burundi, Sudan & Japan. Yes, Japan - many people are considered to be refugees within their own country so that is why Japan is included. (This was also news to me!)

Koinonia Day was the culmination of all the hard work. Each child from Prep (Kinder) through year 6 got to dress up like someone from one of the four countries. Alex, (BTW, Allie is now called Alex - new school new name I guess)...Alex chose Japan. She chose Japan because she is studying Japanese as her foreign language. She is doing quite well and can write quite a few of the letters / characters correctly. Pretty good for a little girl from Texas!

I think we did quite well considering we are still living out of a suitcase!! :)

Allie and her friends - Dressed up as refugees from Japan and Vanuatua.

Ode to stuff....

Never did I think I would miss my “stuff” so much… After living out of a suitcase for over two months I REALLY do miss my stuff!

I miss (my back misses) MY huge, soft king sized bed the most!! Sleeping on the floor is not so bad, it is getting up off the floor that is the bad part!

We are making due with a few borrowed / recycled items….. David's brother is letting us use his grill. It is not quite what we are accustomed to, even though it is a Weber!

Using the box that our new sandwich maker came in as my bed side table...

The owners of the house gave us a gift card to buy some plants so the house would feel more like "home". I love the tree and pot that we picked out for the patio. Once we buy we can plant it in the ground and use the pot for another plant. Life without a dryer is an adjustment as well.... I can't forget to wash the girls school uniforms and then quickly throw them into the dryer... Do you know how long a wool skirt takes to line dry?

Our container hit Sydney on Friday… Anybody have any connections in the Australian Customs Dept that can help speed up that process? If not, then we will be lucky to have our “stuff” by the end of August!

I'm a real soccer Mom now....

Last Saturday was Allie's first soccer game. She has never played before but signed up through school.
She is playing defence, and actually doing quite well considering.



She even "took out" her first player... The one about to kick the ball... Didn't get that on film though... :(

She is having a lot of fun and the games don't start until 8AM - Not 5:30 AM like swim team!!