Sydney family pic

A recent picture from a nice Sydney resturant we just discovered....nice view of the harbour and bridge.

two funny short bits

two funny little stories that might make you chuckle.
- Michael was taking Nate to go golfing yesterday and went to the garage to grab some balls. He noticed that the box of balls was open and some were missing. When he asked Nate about it- Nate said that he played with them and a couple were lost. Then Michael asked where were they....to which Nate answered- "dad I don't know- that is what lost means- you don't know where they are".....classic 5 year old

- An Aussie friend of ours emailed us recently with a funny customer service story. He called Telstra (the communication monopoly here) to question a bill. After a significant hold time a service rep answered hello mr george how many I help you....when our friend asked him to help him solve his problem the agent said that he had a special account that the agent couldn't access. Our friend responded (in a tone and phrasing that he credited to Michael) that if the agent couldn't access his account how did he know his name...........after a bit of silence the agent quickly helped solve the problem.

Happy Holidays

Hope you had a wonderful holidays- Hanukkah, Christmas, etc.....

We are still discovering new toys that we didn't really play with Xmas morning (too many). You may have heard but there was some confusion at our house this year. Nate awoke Christmas Eve morning and decided that was the time to open all his gifts under the tree. To his credit he did read the tags and only opened (with the help of his accomplice Reese) his and his sister's presents. I was not pleased to see the mess at 7:00am but within a short period we were all laughing about it. Here are the devils by the scene of the mess.

Santa was quite generous and delivered on the full list - even the chainsaw (toy replica). Nate authored and illustrated a beautiful and funny book for his dad "Michael & Nate: doing cool stuff".....it was brilliant- full of dangerous activities.

Check out the photos to the right.

Have a happy New Year!

Nate Cousteau

Nate seems to share a lot of slightly dangerous hobbies with his father. (Also some less dangerous ones like strategy games, traveling, love of animal planet shows, and sour candies.) It is like he is 5 going on 15. Nate and Michael have been spending a lot of time in the pool. Lately they sit at the bottom of the pool and count how long they can hold their breath. Nate's personal best is 29 seconds. This past weekend Michael rented a tank and they spent two days scuba diving in our pool. Nate was a natural (not a surprise- he is part fish). When he goes to become PADI certified at age 12 I can't wait until he tells them that he has been diving for 7 years ;)

check out the photos:

only 4 more days to xmas

Only 4 More days till Xmas! Tonight we went for an after dinner walk around our neighborhood checking out all the light displays (a couple of over the top houses). Nate was taking notes and wants us to decorate our house so we have the most lights. I haven't found a giant blow up Grinch for Michael and might have to import one from the States. As we walked around the block he came up with some great santa questions: why does he come at night, do the reindeer really fly, why doesn't anyone see him, why can't we go to the north pole and see him, etc. Then when we went to see "santa" at the mall for the photo Nate told me- "I don't think he was the real guy". I think he wants to believe (if nothing else then for the gifts) but his logically big brain (and skeptical genes) make him question the logic.
If you have kids- check out the track santa website- http://www.noradsanta.org/

Anyway- we have the menorah out and the tree up (a true bi-cultural event). The kids made some decorations. Most Aussies have fake trees- I guess that is more green- so we had to buy a fake one too. I've never owned a fake tree before, nor assembled one- LOT of parts. It is cool and neater- no dropping leaves- but you miss the smell of pine. The kids tried to help with the assembly but ended up just playing inside the box- it was pretty cute.

Have a merry christmas!

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Our 1st ballet

Last week I took the kids to see Angelina Ballerina. For those that don't know what that means- Angelina is a dancing mouse in a book series and TV show. I thought it was a fun introduction to live theater performances since they have read the book and seen the TV show in prep for going. It was a great event. We took the ferry to Sydney (photo above of the kids raiding our snack bag) and after a mad dash through town to make it on time we enjoyed a light ballet. The place was full of wannabe dressed up ballerinas ( I think the average age was 6) who danced in the aisle during the show. Reese & Nate loved it and so did I! It was a special mom and kids treat.

spider update

Lest we forget that we live in the land of dangerous creatures. Michael found another redback spider (yes poisonous) in the garage. It wasn't about to attack us - it was minding it's own business using some tools as a home. But unlucky for him that he picked the wrong house....squash.

Here is a spider that we've seen in a lot of in the garden. Very cool web design and colors. We've given him a wide berth but don't think he is dangerous.