From the past

Look how cute Amanda and Emily were! Not sure what was up with my hair though.... Haha

Off to camp

Allie left for her school camp this morning. She is going off for three days and two nights full of fun, learning and fellowship. She is excited but a little apprehensive about being away at night. I was not able to go on this trip with her like I did in Florence. I am sure she will have a great time.... Hopefully she will take some photos that I can share.

Abby turns 7

Some adorable photos of Abby in her dress-up clothes! Isn't she a cutie!!!

Happy Birthday Abby - Hope you had a great day!

Australia Day 2012

We were looking forward to a day at the beach bbq'ing and relaxing, but mother nature had other plans. It has been raining all week and most of the Australia Day events around us were cancelled. No fireworks or live bands due to rain. We made the best of it at the house though...

David grilled up some great "OZ" shaped burgers....

We had all the traditional Australian fix'ins -lettuce, tomato, cheese, bacon, pickles, grilled onions, fried eggs, avocado, beets and pineapple - YUM, YUM!!!

Allie played the Australian National Anthem on her trumpet while we attempted to sing - We are not the best singers.... :)

It was a nice way to spend the day even with the rain

HAPPY AUSTRALIA DAY EVERYONE!

End of Summer

Today was the first day of Year 6 for Allie and Year 11 for Emily.

Allie has grown a lot taller since July when they started school here in Australia - Emily on the other hand seems to be done growing! :)

A Special Thanks to Aunt Jannene for showing up early (in her PJ's) to French Braid Allie's hair!

Summer Fun

David took Allie for her first motorcycle ride in Australia on Friday. They went to Wellington Point for lunch and ice cream. It was a great way to spend the last day of summer vacation.

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.