Summer time fun

It seemed like summer was late as we were still wearing winter pajamas in November but once it started, it hit us full on. So we decided to embrace the heat and enjoy our summer by making the most of our beaches. We are quite lucky because there are four really good beaches, all within 5 kms of our house. It's a good thing our kids love the beach too! Since Row started ocean swimming in preparation for his sprint triathlon, we've also been visiting the beaches on the north shore. So that's an extra 2 beaches only 20kms away from us. We love living in Sydney!!!!

Here are some photos of us enjoying our beaches with our friends.

Balmoral Beach 

Balmoral Beach

Coogee Beach

Manly

Manly

Manly

We've also been visiting playgrounds even though it is so hot. But it's always fun to run around with friends. A particular favourite in this heat is the Darling Quarter water play park, Ava's first time with her gang while Justin was at daycare.

Horsing around

Playing 'Pirates'

Pumping for water at the water play park

Looks so refreshing but not drinkable

Testing the fountain with my toes 

Hanging with my posse at Centennial Park

Riding my buddy's bike

Hanging out at the local playground 

Wanting to give the bike a test ride

A last minute summer treat while daddy was between jobs, was a trip to Taronga Zoo. It was Ava's first time and while I don't think she quite understood what it was all about, she was very excited to be walking around. Both kids were really good troopers, we arrived at 11:30am and only left at 4:30pm, we just walked and walked and didn't even see everything. Thankfully it was an overcast day so even though it was humid, it wasn't unbearably hot. Needless to say, as soon as we got in the car, all the passengers fell asleep.

Justin is still shorter than the shortest bear

Visiting the farm animals

Look at my monkeys!!!!

Daddy and his girl

Daddy and his boy

Ava is as tall as an agile wallaby

Justin is as tall as an Eastern grey kangaroo

Checking out the turtles

Happy anniversary!

Seven years ago today, I married my best friend. Happy anniversary Row, it's been quite a journey and I'm thankful that I have you as my partner. Cheers to many more happy years together!

The end of 2013 and the start of 2014

It feels like we were just building up to Christmas and getting ready for it...and now it's over. And we're 2 days into the new year already. This is a 'summary' of our lead up to Christmas and the start of 2014. 

2nd December 2013 - we put our Christmas tree up and Justin decorated it and hung up our stockings. He also started his Advent calendar which actually didn't last long. I think the novelty wore off after a week so there's still lots of chocolates left inside. 

12th December: Justin had his end of year concert. He was so good practising his singing every day. His favourite was 'Jingle Bells'. Row and I really enjoyed the concert and Justin and the rest of his class were so good. They all remembered the words, actions and little dance. 

Getting ready to go to daycare for the concert

Justin and his classmates singing 'Jingle Bells'

15th December: Ava's godmother belongs to Hillsong Church and every year they have a Christmas Spectacular so she invited us along this year. The singing was amazing and it really got us excited for Christmas just hearing all the Christmas carols. Prior to the show they had lots of entertainment for the kids so Justin had an absolute ball on the bouncing castles. 

20th December: Row and I decided to brave the streets of downtown and take Justin and Ava into the city to see the Christmas lights. We started off in Martin Place to see the massive Christmas tree. Justin was in awe of how big this tree was and him and Ava enjoyed jumping on the elevated stage seeing all the lights. We then walked up to the David Jones department store because they decorate their windows every Christmas with puppets. Last year they focused on the Nativity story but this year the theme was people getting ready for Christmas at David Jones so they showed people selling hams in the deli, Santa seeing all the children, people wrapping the gifts. The final stop was St Mary's Cathedral where they were reflecting Christmas lights and the Nativity Story off the front facade of the cathedral. Justin was a bit tired by that time and getting a bit naggy but even he enjoyed the Cathedral lights. He was even narrating parts of the story by saying, there's the 3 wise men...baby Jesus is born...there's the star. It was very cute! 

Christmas Eve: this year we hosted Christmas Eve dinner at our house. It was an intimate family and friends dinner with just 6 adults and 3 kids. Having said that, it was a good evening with roast leg of lamb, gnocchi, salad and trifle on the menu. It was also a laid back casual evening as some of our visitors including the host, were working that day. Justin was super-excited because we said he could open a few presents that evening because he'd only spent the last 2 weeks counting how many presents he had under the tree. He also got to put out biscuits and milk for Santa and some carrots for the reindeer. We had to force him to go to bed because he was just so excited and we eventually had to remind him that Santa doesn't bring presents unless you're sleeping (thanks to Richard Scarry's 'The night before the night before Christmas'.)  

Christmas Day: Even though Justin went to bed late the previous night, he woke up at 6am on Christmas morning. His eyes opened wide as he realised it was finally Christmas morning. But because Row and Ava were still sleeping, I told him he had to wait for them to wake up before he could open his presents. He was really good and just wanted to see if Santa had come. He checked his stocking and there were no additional presents in there and his face just fell. Then he perked up when he saw this huge present under the tree which wasn't there the night before and then he got so excited when he saw the biscuits and milk were gone and the reindeers had eaten some of the carrots. But he got most excited when he saw Santa's footsteps on our balcony ;)  I managed to convince Justin to get back into bed and we read about 4 books and finally Row and Ava woke up. Justin tore into this presents and poor Ava was still trying to wake up and take all this in. She finally perked up when she got some food in her tummy. After breakfast we went to church for Christmas mass and then we got ready for Christmas lunch with our good friends, the Songs. Another intimate gathering but the company was good and the food was delicious. 

Justin in disguise

Ava still trying to wake up and also trying to get into the spirit of opening presents

The awesome tent from Santa

Christmas lunch at the Songs

Boxing Day: Our friends Jono and Chants came up from Melbourne and it was also Jono's birthday. He wanted to celebrate by going to Balmoral Beach bright and early. The day started off with very miserable weather but actually cleared up and turned out to be a hot day. We finally got to the beach at midday and spent the afternoon splashing around, playing in the sand and picnicking. Justin got to try out his new body board, a great present from Popo and Kung-Kung. 

Ava prancing around at Centennial Park

Justin trying out his new body board

Ava and Aunty Chants 

New Year's Eve: it was a quiet end to a very busy year. We went to Bg and Louise for dinner and then walked down to Coogee beach for the fireworks at 9pm. Justin and I missed the start as he needed the toilet and the queue was so long. After the fireworks display, we walked back to have dessert. The kids were so tired so we didn't stay till midnight but Row and I did manage to stay awake when we got home to see the new year in. 

1 January 2014: The kids actually allowed us to sleep in a little bit so only woke up at 8am. Although Row was up much earlier to go train for his tri-athlon (more about that in another post). Even though Ava woke up so late, the poor girl was so tired and went down for a 2hr nap at 11:30. She woke up in time for us to have lunch and then head up to Balmoral Beach for another fun afternoon in the sand and surf. 

Happy 2014!

We've had a really good festive season, so grateful for the family we have and the friends we've made. We hope all our family and friends had a joyous and blessed Christmas and may 2014 be a good year bringing you all health, happiness and prosperity and filled with love, laughter and friends. 

Justin's end of year concert - video 3

Justin's end of year concert - video 2

Justin's end of year concert

Batlow - home of the apples

About 6 weeks ago, we went to Batlow, a 4.5 hr drive south of Sydney, for a long weekend with a group of friends. Batlow was a halfway point inland, as opposed to the coast, between Sydney and Melbourne. We were so excited about this weekend away because we were renting a big house with a great group of friends and it was our first road trip with the kids in our newish (4 months old) car. Traveling with kids at the best of times takes a lot of planning and organising. With that in mind, we decided to leave Sydney at 4am which would allow the kids to sleep in the car while it was still dark and get to Canberra in time for a breakfast meet-up with our friends Martine, Juergen and Nadia. Row and I woke up at 3:30am, got ready, packed the car up and tried to move the kids from their warm snuggly beds into the cold car.....hahaha lucky we're not Ninjas as stealth is not our forte! Justin woke up and was so excited about finally seeing his friend Kieran that he got his sister all excited too. Luckily, after half an hour of driving, they fell asleep again which meant I could get some shut-eye which allowed Row to drive in peace all the way to Canberra.

We met at Martine's house and changed the kids before heading off to a little cafe for some much needed breakfast. It was great seeing Martine and Juergen who have been traveling for the past year and to see how much Nadia has grown. We had a lovely catch up session before resuming our drive. Thank goodness the kids had a chance to stretch their legs and fill up their tummies so they were quite good on the remainder of the drive. We finally reached Batlow just past lunch and were the first family to arrive. We met the housekeeper and got the lay of the land and staked our rooms ;) Vernon, Bonita and baby Jake were the next to arrive as they so kindly offered to do the grocery shopping. Jono and Chantel, Robin, Melissa, Kieran and Daniel arrived shortly after.

Our home for the weekend

The best thing about these weekends is the planning that goes into the meals, we always eat so well and this didn't disappoint. For our first night, Bon made a vegetarian lasagne and we had home made pizzas. It was a bit of a muddle as we all tried to get our routines into sync what with the babies and all but it all worked out well. Justin and Kieran got to make their own pizzas and ate early with the younger kids. Then we bathed them and put them to bed, except for Justin, and then the grown up finally sat down for dinner at 8:30pm. I think we had high expectations for this weekend because we brought along board games. Needless to say, after dinner, we all looked at each other and gave the silent agreement that it would indeed be bed time soon.

Justin and Kieran enjoying their pizzas

Saturday started bright and early...for us anyways, why do our kids insist on waking up at the crack of dawn while the other kids sleep in till at least 7:30/ 8:00am. Anyways....after everyone had woken and eaten breakfast, we slowly got moving and were out the house by lunchtime! Poor Baby Jake was not feeling good so they wandered around the nearby town of Tumut with Jono and Chants while the rest of us went to the caves, just over an hour's drive away. We had a quick picnic lunch at the national park and then headed for the caves. The kids had fun, so did we, it's been years since I went into a cave. Justin and Kieran also had fun flashing their torches (thanks uncle Jono, the did come in handy) around the dark caves. After trudging around in the dark and wet, the boys had a dip in the thermal springs. It was a great afternoon and now it was time to get back to the house. Row was really enjoying driving the car around the country roads, all windy and what not, until about 1.5kms from the house, out of nowhere, well, not nowhere, but from the bushes on the side of the ride, a kangaroo jumped out and practically landed right in front of the car. There was nothing Row could do except hit it, poor kangaroo but poor us too, although thankfully we were all okay.  Luckily the kids were sleeping when we hit the 'roo but they did wake up when the car stopped. Our car now un-driveable, had to be left on the side of the road while a tow-truck had to drive from Wagga, an hour and a half away. By the time we sat down for dinner, we were pretty ravenous, Jono and Vern did a brilliant job of braaing the meat and Chants, Mel and Bon made good veggy dishes. Post dinner, Vernon kept us entertained sharing numerous stories that had us all in stitches. Ta V, that relieved the stress for us Mings ;)

At the caves

Ava and Daniel enjoying their picnic lunch

The boys having a swim in the thermal springs

We spent Sunday milling around the house mainly because Row now had to find a rental car for us to get back to Sydney and the Songs were leaving that evening. After much internet trawling, Row found a rental car that had to be picked up from Wagga. Thanks Jono for driving us there to collect the rental and to everyone else, especially Chants, for looking after our kids while we sorted out the rental car. At least we had roast leg of lamb to look forward to.

We left Batlow on Monday morning, sans our car, Trevor the Tiguan. The drive home was uneventful although we had to stop several times for the kids to stretch their legs and for me to nap as I was driving. Thankfully we all made it home safe and sound! 

And I am happy to say that 5 weeks later, we finally got Trevor the Tiguan back, looking as good as new! 

These are photos of the kids enjoying the space