Santa came to Curl Curl

It has been a relaxing holidays filled with lot of together time ( maybe a bit too much :)), too much sugar, too little sleep (2 nights sleeping in the van in our front yard) but lots of fun.

Following Michael's family traditions we opened up presents on Christmas eve- all but those from Santa who's gifts had yet to arrive (like those coming from Amazon.com via Seattle). Within a matter of minutes the living room looked like a bomb went went off with wrapping paper thrown everywhere (hence why I wasn't exactly Martha Stewart precise on the wrap jobs). Despite my initial aim to have a low key xmas the kids were spoiled- having received awesome care packages from relatives and friends and gifts from friends here too. Some highlights: a surf board for Nate, a princess gown for Reese, a cat that walks and meows for Reese, Zhu Zhu pet, dino dig kit, lego games, new ornaments ("hide the pickle" for Reese -----Michael loved that one ;) ), numerous Grinch (Michael's hero) items, a guide box of exploring Australia and a new big girl bike for Reese. And yet one of Nate's favorites was his Target gift card..."so I can get more presents"....like he didn't get enough already. Funny story about the bike. Reese apparently found the bike box in the garage a couple days before xmas. She didn't tell us but calmly mentioned it to Haha on the phone......she said that she asked santa for a bike but that mom and dad already took care of it and it is in the garage. Nate on the other hand had asked Santa for some hard to deliver items- like a real ATV, a black belt in Karate (since he is on beginning white). We had to tell him that Santa may not give him what he asked for :)

We enjoyed Xmas day with a big pancake breakfast, testing out Reese's new bike and a picnic lunch at the beach. I even tested out Nate's surfboard. All and all a great day!

Hope your holidays were great too!!!!

Poor Sammy- ha!

Some of you expressed concern for Sam after seeing a recent photo of him looking gray and sad. Fear not, Sam is doing great. Although he does seem a bit older and mellow he is still a puppy at heart. While he still can hear a car entering our neighborhood a mile away, scare the crap out of anyone coming to our door and bounce like a kangaroo when he sees his leash. We need to speak in code (due to his extensive vocab) or spell the words "walk", "swim" or "ball"....I swear he can be fully asleep and you mention one of these words even a room away and the dog jumps up and starts wagging.

Santa gave Sam a big bone (roo bone- after all it is Australia) and some solid ball fetching time.

Here are the pictures of Sam's Christmas day.

Christmas Eve

Ho Ho Ho & Merry Christmas!!!!
What is not to love about Xmas....just ask the kids. They have been eating chocolate daily off the advent calendar, the mailman delivers packages, there are tons of presents, Nate got to eat candy canes at 10am today, we sing funny songs all day, we have an great tree with ornaments the kids made, and lots of art & craft projects (not to mention cookie decorating), etc......Of course they have no idea what the holiday means- other than Santa comes and gives gifts.

Today we spent a nice afternoon walking around Manly (& running some last minute Xmas errands before everything closes for the next two days). The local church had "wise men" on camels strutting (what does a camel do??? meander? walk?) down the Corso before their Xmas service. It is a site to see- guys in sequins riding camels among the tourists. Check out the camels in the photo behind Reese.

Then despite all my meal planning ideas we decided to order Thai take out for dinner. The kids wanted to have pizza in the van and I had a lot of wrapping to do so....the traditional roast and stuffing will have to wait until tomorrow.

We have been working on getting van outfitted for our first adventure. Reese has been asking to sleep in the woods since we bought it. Now we have foam and a platform base for the pop top (area where the kids will sleep) so we are nearly ready to go. We plan to go for a trip up the coast over the holidays. But I digress. Reese and Nate had the idea to sleep in the van tonight - their logic was that sleeping outside they would be more likely to hear Santa....makes since I guess. So Michael parked on our front lawn (yes very blue tarp hick of us) and set up the van. The kids almost burst with excitement and I must say seeing their happiness made me giddy as well. So they climbed up in jammies carrying their torches (flashlights). Of course it wasn't instantly off to sleep....they called us on the phone handset intercom feature about 6 times until Michael went to sleep out there with them. I might have to go out there soon and make some bell noises so they "hear" rudolf.

Christmas day entry tomorrow. Good night!!!!

Here are the pictures:

making cookies for Santa - he likes chocolate chip

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Happy Holidays!!!!!

Sending you our best wishes for a happy holidays!!!!

Hope you have a season filled with joy, laughter, good health, and friends abound (mixed with a bit of dark chocolate and a lot of good wine ;)…..all together making fond memories for years to come.

All is well here in Sydney. We are enjoying a warm rather than white Christmas. It has been a mixed year –but I am thankful to start 2011 100% cancer free. I am lucky to have had great doctors, effective pharmaceuticals, a supportive husband, wonderful funny children and the love and support of thoughtful caring friends and family. Now on to think about the next life adventure………..

Hope 2011 brings us all a fresh start, a better economy, good times and good health.

Love ,
Mimi (& Michael, Nathan and Reese)

dinner with a view

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last day of kindergarten

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xmas 2010

Joy Sky Story Christmas 5x7 folded card

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night # 5

Happy hanukkah

This year has been a bigger Hanukkah effort- home made latkes, lighting the candles nightly, dreidel games. We even drove about ~30 minutes away to go to the Temple's Hanukkah festival. What a let down.... it was so lame. Singing songs in a bland looking hall wasn't what I was expecting or hoping for. Bummer. Plus I think it had to be the only Temple event I know of that served grilled sausages (Aussies don't do anything -8:00am soccer games to store openings to school parties without having a grilled sasuage sandwiches served on white bread).

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happy hanukkah!

Made homemade latkets and apple sauce for dinner. Plus made felt menorah for kids. The kids loved it- what is not to love- the idea of gifts (even small ones) for the next 8 nights, Nate got to play with fire (lighting the candles) and we gambled with chocolate (dreidel & gelt). My favorite part was the latkes- I think I ate 5 of them ;) Happy Hanukkah to all!

(before I get any messages back- the candles were in the right place- starting on the left side when they were facing the kids....nate just came to my side to light the candles).

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a fun weekend

It was a brilliant weekend- stunning warm sunny weather and fun plans. Friday night we went to the opening weekend of the new Sydney baseball team (think Carolina league games or high-end college baseball games)- see pictures in the entry below. Plus we had two birthday parties plus plenty of fun time in the pool.

6 going on 12

All of a sudden Nate seems much less a little boy and more and more a big kid. He is now into skateboarding, the proper "flat" hat and long hair (which he flicks- I think he is going to hurt his neck from doing it so much:))

Check out the kids doing tricks in the garage:

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baseball game Sydney blue sox

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Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween. We've been looking forward to Halloween for weeks. We decided to dress as a family of ninjas - it was quite a comfy outfit. I sewed everyone hoods and bought plastic swords (it was a miracle that they didn't break before halloween). Our old au pair and good friend Ang was visiting from Scottland so as an adopted member of the family she was a ninja too (we called her sparkly ninja, Michael was flip flop ninja, Reese was fussy ninja, I was mommy ninja, and Nate was ninja master).

We went to our friend's house - to trick or treat in an area known to celebrate the holiday. It is pretty hit or miss here although it is getting more popular every year. This year we had 40+ kids come to our door and that was just in the 30 minutes before we left....and it was a good thing we left as I hadn't bought a lot of candy. I was scouring the kitchen for treats. We didn't get to do much trick or treating :( - a lot of houses ran out of candy then it started to rain. We got inside just in the nick of time before it started to pour. The kids did't need that much candy anyway. The most fun part was dressing up.

what a great US visit

It was so nice to see everyone (or at least as many as we could) back in the US during our recent trip. It never is long enough (except the flights which were plenty long)....but when you are trying to fit in 4 cities (four corners of the US) in 2 1/2 weeks it is hard to do it all. But we did a lot: legoland, LA, Philly, Seattle and Hawaii.

Sorry to those we didn't get to see. Hopefully next visit. Or you know you're always welcome to come to Sydney!

practicing for fall/winter

The kids came across the bag with warm weather gear. Despite just finishing winter it never got cold enough to break out the gloves and fleece hats. They had fun pretending to live in the Arctic. I especially liked the scarf backpack for her baby doll.

Soon we'll be trying on bathing suits :)