Australian Beaches

In about every area we were in we hit at least one beach :) I'm so very thankful to a cyclone? the locals have been going on about that's far enough away from land, but supposedly is responsible for the nice weather we've been having. March is normally a 'wet season' for parts of Australia, and other than one night, we've had nothing but blue skies and sun! Onto the different beaches...


Starting with my good pal's beach- this beach is just right below her house! Beautiful!

 

 

 

Different sunrises/sunsets over my friend's beach (below)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How dark it is at night (below)

 

 

 

 

 

Manly Beach



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shelly Beach

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The famous Bondi Beach-such pretty, soft sand. I picked some up to make a shadowbox at home.

 

 

 

 

 

Free beach Wi-Fi!

 

 

Beach across from our resort in Palm Cove

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Found a crab shell (that's what a local said it was). Taking it home for the boys! Horny looking thing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our Two Week Australian Adventure : San Francisco

Yes, I'm still on vacation and catching up on our blog. But, the door is open, the breeze is coming in, and I can hear the ocean waves. I like to relax with writing sometimes (especially if I don't have anyone around to distract me!) so here I am :)

The beginning of our trip was a bit bumpy (and I do mean that in a literal sense, more on that later). We were suppose to fly to San Fran and then onto Sydney. Because of "weather" and air traffic control delays, our flight into San Fran was delayed and we missed our Sydney connection :( So, we spent the night in San Fran, had the whole next day there before flying out the next night (as flights to Sydney are limited). We were bummed it meant one less day in Sydney, but we did have a nice 24 hr layover in San Fran...

We basically spent the whole day in Fisherman's Wharf. Walked around the different piers, visited the Ghirardelli chocolate shop, had a nice lunch and dinner....and made sure we were at the airport in plenty time for our flight.

 

 

 

 

Triple chocolate dessert. Yum!

 

Alcatraz in the background

 

 

We were able to get on our flight that night to Sydney, thankfully! However, due to storms that we were trying to fly around, we had a turbulent ride there most of the way. Freaked me out a bit. It pretty much lasted through the whole flight (all 15 hrs of it!) I was so grateful when we finally landed safely.

 

 

Lovey Dovey Day

What a relief to have made it through this last week! We can sort of take a little short breath (more on that later). Got through Nathan's birthday and then finally today, Valentine's Day! We were so happy to celebrate it this year as the kids were sick last year and Nate was also sick the year before that too. He was so excited to go out yesterday and have his Valentine party at school today.

We found out last minute yesterday that one of our favorite museums, Arizona Museum for Youth, was having a special Valentine Festival along with a visit from Curious George (both boys like him, so it was a no brainer!) We had such a wonderful time, and I'm very thankful that my mom wanted/and was able to come along with us. We spent the whole morning there.

Nate was in the Valentine spirit!

First, breakfast with Curious George (they even had Curious George fruit snacks)

 

 

 

 

 

Then came balloon making (a monkey on Nate's shoulder of course!)

Ehh, as close as I could get a picture of Aaron with his

 

Next up: Monkey Mask making

Or color time, whichever :)

 

Banana cookie decorating

 

 

 

 

Curious George storytime

Mesa Fire Dept fire truck!

 

Where's the fire?

Going up!

 

Nate's Valentine lunch- organic peanut butter/jelly  X&O sandwich, organic crackers and green grapes in heart tin foil

Playing with my Valentine playdough (from scratch!)

 

So fun- and still so soft

Valentine treats!

 

 

Nana and Pap Pap brought the kids some fun Valentine bags- they watched the kiddos so mommy and daddy could go out for dinner :)

Look at my cool Valentine bag/box I decorated for all my Valentines!

 

 

 

We immediately had to dig into Nate's Valentines as soon as I got him home from school. He literally exclaimed that this was the best Valentine's ever! He's had such a fun week of surprises.

 

It seems as soon as we get through one holiday or event we move right on to the next. Well, in our typical fashion then, we are going to be busy the next two weeks--mommy and daddy are going to be leaving to Australia (!) for a two week trip, minus the kiddos! We are so blessed to have family here to help/allow us to do this. One of my good friends (and mommy to Nate's gal pal, Lauren, that I've spoke in previous blog posts about) lives outside Sydney so we are going to go visit them (and their beautiful beach house!) After spending a week with them, hubby and I will then fly to Cairns (in northern Australia, by the Great Barrier Reef) for five nights before flying back home. Conveniently this trip will happen during most of Nate's Spring Break, so I'm glad my parents won't have to worry about school much. I think it's going to be great quality time for hubby and I (and good time away to just be able to leisurely do whatever our hearts desire!) but I know I'm going to miss the kids a ton. We haven't been on a trip alone in a few years. Thankfully Skype has come along since then ;) We're very excited. There's just a lot of packing and planning left to do (including ideas to help keep the kiddos entertained while we're gone).

 

So...we may be MIA here for a bit :) Between getting ready and then trying to settle back in once we're home (Easter will only be a week away when we return!) Craziness but exciting stuff!

 

The Big 5

Today was the day- the day that after Nate's party, he's been counting down to- his birthday! He's still been on a "birthday high" since his party. I imagine it'll go all week long since we still have Valentines Day (and then a Valentines party at school!) yet to go.

So at five years (or "all five fingers" as Nate says), he is...

* Asking all the "What, why, how, when...." questions. Very curious and interested in how everything works ( why it works that way, etc....etc...) He's a chatterbox if you get him the right minute :)

*Has really embraced school this year. Loves to meet and play with new friends. He has found it exciting to be able to go to a "big" school (he attends preschool at a elementary school that offers it). I'm hoping to keep him in this school from here on out. I can't believe I just registered him for kindergarten this past week! We're excited that one of his best buds is planning to enroll at the school for kindergarten...we're secretly hoping they get in the same class together ;)

*Just discovered peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. I've offered these in the past, but all of a sudden, they've become the greatest thing ever. As in he eats mutliples each day. As in I can't keep up with bread supply. Now that he's the "big 5", he's decided he will try eating apples. I wish I could get him to say that he'll try bell peppers, peas, broccoli....!

*Only just now is comfortable with the dentist. I was so proud when he allowed them to clean and take pictures of his teeth-past experiences haven't been pretty. Thanks to a dental chit-chat at school, he changed his mind.

*Still is very much into all modes of transportation playing- cars, trains, and still loves elevators. Enjoys crafts, games, anything outside. Anything that involves being busy :)

*And on that note, he likes to know what his "Schedule" is. Needs to know what's going on during the day, then what tomorrow will bring...he just likes to be one step ahead.

*Oh. He's decided now that he's five he's going to get married. Uh-huh. Who's the lucky lady? Me! :) Thank goodness.

Those are a few tid bits...here's a few pictures from our day!

Woke up early to be sure he had his favorite breakfast ready-donuts!

Grandmother Kucenski came over to watch Aaron so I could volunteer in Nate's class at school.

Excited to be five!

 

 

Look mommy- a hat, little treat from the gift box and a Happy Birthday certificate from my teacher!

 

Dinosaur book signed by my friends that attended my birthday party

 

 

Dinner out at his favorite restaurant

 

The birthday boy should sleep well after a fun and busy day. He's growing up so fast!