Christmas in Sydney

Merry Christmas or Happy Chrissy as the Australians say.  Christmas Eve was really beautiful.  We took the train into the city, had a great Italian dinner and then walked to Christmas Eve service at the historic and beautiful St. Mary’s Cathedral.  We stopped along the way to see Christmas trees in the city.

 

Santa and his reindeer made their way to our cozy 1 bedroom apartment through the balcony door and delivered presents for Christmas morning.   The kids got their wishes and fortunately they will all fit into a suitcasesJ.    Our apartment is tiny, but the view is amazing and will be perfect for New Years Eve.   We hear the cruise ships leave every day around five and wave goodbye. 

 

Around noon on Christmas Day, we drove about an hour up the coast to Palm Beach to spend Christmas Day with our friends from San Francisco.  We did not have a white Christmas, but it was a wet Christmas.  The weather kept us indoors all day so we baked Christmas cookies and made a great Aussie Christmas dinner.  When we woke up the next morning, the rain had cleared so we hit the beaches for the morning.    We said goodbye around noon as our friends were also moving back to States the next day.    We are now less than a week away from our departure.

 

 

Moving Time

Here we go again….  It seems like we just unpacked all of our things.   We spent the week before clearing out clutter and separating summer and winter clothes into sea shipment, air shipment and luggage.  We took this opportunity to clear out some things as we were at risk of being too full.   I finally parted with my bedroom set that I purchased when I graduated college.  Matt and I took a big sigh of relief when the last item made it in.  Our last night in our Australia home was December 21^st and we waved goodbye to the truck and moved into our temporary apartment just before Christmas.    Hopefully all of our things will arrive back in Kansas City by early February.  I am not looking forward to the transition period again.

 

 

It’s Beginning to Look A lot Like Christmas

Although it doesn’t feel like Christmas with the warm temps, there have been plenty of holiday activities to keep us feeling festive.  Santa’s mail box is up the street from our house, so the kids have been busy writing letters.  Cade’s list is simple.  He wants Lego Ninjago Age 8-14 sets and Paige wants a new baby, flip flops and a watch.  We’ve had several Santa sightings including one at the end of Nippers at Balmoral Beach.    We also went to the Taronga Zoo’s family Christmas night.  They stayed open late and had an elf DJ mixing up Katy Perry’s Roar song and several other hits.  With a bubble machine, dance party and bar for the parents, it was quite the entertainment.   Our favorite holiday event was Carols at Balmoral.  Thousands of local came out with their picnic blankets/baskets to listen to carols at the beach.  The beach was lit up with kids and glow sticks dancing around and having a ball.   

 

 

End of School Year Activities

Frank arrived in Sydney safely on Monday, December 9^th and we were thrilled to see him.  We decorated the house in our Christmas décor, but no Christmas tree for us this year:( 

The last week of school was filled with activities.  Cade’s last day was December 5th, and he had his prize giving concert.  Each class performed a skit/song to the theme, “It’s a Small World”.  We especially enjoyed the Born in the USA performance.  At the end of the performances, the school Headmaster presented each boy with a book and certification of completion as their prize.  After that it was summer break.  All of the boys are so excited to be in Year 1.  Cade seems to understand that he will return to Kindergarten in Kansas City and is ok with it.   Paige also had her Christmas concert where they performed a number of traditional carols.  She practiced for weeks and was so excited.  I even caught her singing in her sleep one night.   The very last song of the performance was Jingle Bells, and then we heard a big Ho, Ho, Ho from across the room where a summer dressed Santa greeted the kids and presented each with their own book.  Cade attended a few camp days and a week-long tennis camp with his mates from school as well as about forty other K-6 kids.   On the last day of camp there is an awards ceremony where trophies are presented to the singles and doubles winners from different age categories.  The final trophy of the ceremony goes to the most improved player of the camp, and we were thrilled and all surprised when Cade’s name was announced.  It is his first real earned trophy.

Frank Travels

After our Thanksgiving celebration, we were expecting Frank our elf to arrive.  We searched the entire house (literally) and couldn’t find him anywhere.  We received an email from Uncle Adam and Sydney in Kansas City saying that Frank had arrived on Juniper Street.  Oh no!!  Frank got confused on his instructions from Santa.    Santa told him to go to Sydney.  He thought Sydney the dog, not Sydney the city.  He is on his way (Priority International Express Mail) and should arrive in 3-5 days.   He is enjoying his layover in LA before his late night Qantas flight leaves.  “Silly Frank”

Happy Thanksgiving

I never thought I would say that I miss the Kansas City cold, but it certainly does not feel like the holidays here.  We attended a Christmas service this evening with Cade’s school, which helped, but it is hard to feel festive when it is 90 degrees.  

When I dropped Paige off at school this week, her teachers asked me to tell them about Thanksgiving…what is it about?  How do you celebrate?   It gave me a moment to reflect on the holiday and how special it is as I shared my thoughts with them.    “Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays.  It is simple.  There are no expectations, no gifts, no dressing up, just enjoying great food with family and reflecting on all that is good.”

We are truly blessed with amazing family and wonderful friends.  Being 9,000 miles away on the other side of the world has made us even more thankful for all the people in our lives and we are so excited to reconnect with everyone in person very soon. 

On this unique Thanksgiving Day when we are away from family and friends on and not having the traditional meal, we spent some time reflecting on what we were thankful for this year.  

Our family list

• More downtime as a family
• Continued professional opportunities that challenge and inspire us
• Living by the water in a beautiful city that has made us more active
• A strong education system for our childrens’ early years
• Traveling to other parts of the world
• Good health

The kid’s list

• The Opera House
• Lollies (Candy)
• Legos and babies
• Sydney (our dog…not the city)

Paige’s school celebrated Thanksgiving today for the first time ever.  They enjoyed an extra special afternoon tea, made hands to put on a big turkey and talked about all of the things they were thankful for.  They said they would continue the tradition in Paige’s honor next year and adopt the new holiday as their own at school. 

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Nippers Fun

After two rainy and cold weekends, we were thrilled to have a perfect Sunday morning for Nippers.  Cade is in his fifth week and is having a ball.  I am so thankful that we got this unique Australian experience before moving back.  There are over seven hundred kids at our beach alone every Sunday morning participating and thousands across Sydney.  Events include tug-a-war, beach boards in the ocean, swimming with noodles, bull rush games, obstacle courses and beach runs.  We weren’t really sure how he would respond to it, but he always has a smile on his face, even when the water is freezing cold.  The hats are funny, but I appreciate how protective Australians are of kids and the sun.  The kids are broken up by age and gender and have different color caps.  It is very hard to keep track of your child.   Santa is joining the beach activities for the final Sunday in December before the holiday break.   

 

Mom Time

Sweets are everywhere in this town.  I guess people burn more calories because you walk everywhere?  I don’t know, but there is so much temptation literally on every corner.  We have started a Friday after school tradition of getting sweet crepes at Four Frogs Creperie for “afternoon tea”.  It is a cute little French creperie filled with kids from school.  Here are the indulgences. It was so hard for them to wait to dig in for me to snap this quick picture.  It is hard to believe there are only two weeks left of school before summer break so we are enjoying some of favorite traditions, especially as the move is looming.   The kids will get a short summer before starting school again in January. 

 

Kansas City, Here We Come!

Our flight home in early January which was originally scheduled to be a long visit, will not have a return to Sydney.  Cerner offered Matt and new opportunity and we are moving back home one year earlier than expected.  It has been a crazy few weeks working through many details and the next several months will be another state of transition as most of our items will not be back home until sometime in February.   The sudden decision brought a flurry of emotions as we were just finally feeling settled and there were still things to do/places to see, but the professional opportunity and the opportunity to be back with family and friends are very exciting.  We will spend the holidays here (it should make for a very interesting and unique Christmas J) and our last night in Sydney will be spent as a family watching one of the most spectacular New Year’s Eve fireworks celebrations in the world.   We are grateful for this amazing life experience and are excited to come home.

All the Kindy Mums. All the Kindy Mums.

Last weekend, I had a fun girls night out with six other Kindy Mums from Cade’s school.  We started the evening out with tapas and bubbly and then we headed to Sydney Olympic Park for the Beyonce concert “The Mrs. Carter Tour”.  She is such an amazing performer.  She performed non-stop for 2.5 hours and was so impressive.  She has come a long way since I saw her perform with Destiny’s Child in Manhattan, KS in 2001. 

 

 

 

Bushfires

The news about the New South Wales bush fires has made international headlines.  Even with the fires burning about 1.5 hours from here, the air quality is poor and it is just a haze of smoke many days.  All of Sydney is at risk with high temperatures and high winds.    Here is a picture from Matt’s office.  We are hoping for some serious rain soon.

The Birthday Boy

Cade celebrated his 6^th birthday on October 18^th.  He celebrated at school with Lego Ninjago cupcakes.  Thank you Mama Rosie for your help.  I found the idea online, but could not have made them look this good.   He received hundreds of Legos and has been busy building ever since.  We went to his favorite restaurant, Jamie Oliver's Italian for a big spaghetti dinner (his all-time favorite), followed by an outdoor movie at our local Mosman Sqaure.   It was a pedal powered movie which means all power was provided by views riding a dozen different bikes.  We watched Finding Nemo and picked up on several new one-liners after living here.  Happy 6^th Birthday Cade-Man!

Paige's Purple Glasses

After a year of suspecting something was not right with Paige’s eyes and seeing different doctors who dismissed her behaviors, we finally saw a pediatric ophthalmologist who confirmed that Paige is severely near-sighted.  One eye is -11.00 and the other eye is -13.00. The doctors are amazed it hasn’t impacted her development as she was likely born with this.  It makes me sad every time I look through her glasses as I just can’t imagine how she has seen the world up until this point.  Doctors say she will be a different child…more active and more talkative.  Wow…she is already our wild child!   She required special order lenses from Japan and she will cost us a small fortune, but I am so thankful that we know and that she can see now.  She picked out a very cool pair of purple glasses and is wearing them proudly. 

A Great Visit With My Mom

We were so excited to pick up Mama Rosie from the airport early Monday morning.  The kids made a big welcome sign for her the night before and anxiously waited for her to get through customs.   This was her first international trip ever so I especially appreciated her making the longest flight in the world.  She probably left with a false sense of our everyday lifestyle as we tried to show her the best of Sydney.   We have a lot of highlights from her trip, but the downtime was just as great.  Matt was here for the first week and then he left for Cerner’s annual conference in Kansas City for a whirlwind trip.  It was nice to have some extra hands for a week along with kids.   Highlights included:

·    Taking a water taxi near our house to Doyle’s, an iconic seafood restaurant at Watson’s Bay

·    Dining at an amazing Belgian Chocolate Café after walking through the Botanical Gardens

·    A day at Taronga Zoo

·    Fish, chips and beer picnic at Balmoral Beach.  She even got to experience a pigeon stealing food straight from her hand.  The birds here are relentless

·    Sitting in the passenger seat nervously as large busses passed by in our extremely narrow lanes

·    An architectural tour of the Sydney Opera House and performance

·    Happy hour and outdoor movie seaside at Darling Harbour

·    Lots of flat whites after morning beach walks

The International Fleet Review  which celebrated 100 years of service of the Royal Australian Navy was on during her visit.  Navy ships representing countries across the world all entered the Harbour in unison.  Matt said it looked like a game of Battleship from his office window.   We got tickets to North Sydney pool and enjoyed an evening of swimming, music, face painting, a harbour side picnic and the spectacular fireworks display.  People said it was similar to the 2000 Olympics celebration and NYE fireworks.  We were so sad to take her back to the airport, but loved her two week visit with us.  It was time to get back to reality and go on a diet!

 

Wildman Boy's Athletics

Big congratulations to Matt for completely the Blackmore’s Half Marathon last weekend.  It was a perfect day, great scenery and we only heard a few rumblings following the raceJ He caught a bus at 5:00AM and we picked up from the ferry station later that morning.   It would have been better if he wore the white tank top that they gave him for race day.

The Nippers Program is an institution in Australia.  Thousands of kids participate in Nippers across Sydney’s beaches every Sunday morning.  The program is designed to teach children to have fun on the beach, gain some fitness, and learn some good safety techniques.  Balmoral Beach (our neighborhood beach) is the most popular Nippers program in all of Sydney with over 600 children (ages 4 -11).  Therefore, they have a ballot process that is incredibly difficult to get into, and our dumb luck landed Cade on the list for this season.  The program starts late October and we are excited to be a part of it.  Stayed tuned for more pictures.

Cade finished his holiday tennis camp this week with a few of his friends from school.  My Mom arrives on Monday and we have lots of fun planned before Cade starts Term 4, his final term of kindergarten.

Noosa

Matt has been spending a lot of time in Brisbane lately so after a long week away, the kids and I flew up north to meet him for a long weekend.    I had to request special permission from Cade’s school for him to miss 1.5 days.  It involved a formal submission to school’s Headmaster and formal approval of our request.    We met Matt at the Brisbane airport and drove 1.5 hours north to a cute beach area called Noosa. 

We spent three nights there and enjoyed the warmer weather, beautiful beaches and lively community.  The main street, Hastings Street, is full of cute beach shops, open air cafes and local art galleries.  The kids are happy as long as they are swimming and we had a great pool at our hotel.  We enjoyed great meals, cocktails and mocktails at sunset, and nature walks through the Noosa National Park.  Noosa has several beach rivers where the water is calmer.  Many of beaches in Australia are surfing beaches so they put me on edge with the kids in the water.  We 'hired' (rented) a boat and cruised the rivers. We attempted fishing but unfortunately didn’t catch anything.  The kids loved taking turns driving the boat.  The Great Barrier Reef is visible from Noosa and it was beautiful to see the different colors in the water.   We even had a whale sighting.   I didn’t realize that the reef extended 1500 miles over the coast of northern Australia.  It becomes more vibrant the further north you travel.    

On our last night, we were walking back on Hastings Street to our hotel and an acoustic guitar player was outside playing great music.  He attracted all of the kids in Noosa for an impromptu dance party, and it was the best entertainment of the weekend.   Cade’s class has been practicing hip hop dance this term so he showed us a few of his moves.

We returned on Monday.  We love Qantas Airlines.  The friendly and quality service is not typical for Australia, so I really appreciate them.  Cade has just a few weeks before his next term break and we are making big plans for early October when my Mom is here to visit for a few weeks.   

Biker Rider and Long Jumper

Soccer season wrapped up and we ended with a Sausage Sizzle party (what the Australians call a BBQ).  Now that our weekends have freed up and the weather is warming up, we are spending Sunday afternoons at the nearby Oval.  An oval in Australia is a large green space/park.  Franklin Park would be considered an oval.   We took Cade’s training wheels off and have been practicing on the grass.  We were so proud last weekend when he went all the way across the oval.  It was one of those great parent moments.  While Cade was learning to ride his bike, Paige spent her time practicing her long jump.   Last weekend she was trying to compete with 10 year old boys. 

Last week was a busy week at school.  Thursday was Grandparents and Special Guest Day.  I was Cade’s special guest and we did some activities talking about how school is different now compared to then and we had a lot to talk about!  The boys treated us to a concert and then joined us for morning tea.  Here is Cade’s kindy class picture...too bad their shirts only stay tucked in for the first hour of the day.  

 

 

Saturday night was the Great Gatsby themed fundraising party.   We started the evening out at a cute wine bar with a smaller group of parents and then headed to Cade’s school where they transformed the Hall into a Gatsby party.  We came away with a few gift certificates- one being an energy healing session that we won on a spin the wheel game.  Here is the description, “Our energy healing sessions combine auric cleansing, shamanic journeying, harmonic sound chimes and crystals from the earth to heal the body from a mind, body, Spirit and earth perspective. Energy healing aims to clear away stuck energy and create a strong and flowing channel through your body to open up your heart centre, creativity and intuition.”  Yeah, I will report back on that life changing experience in a future blog update!

Hope everyone enjoys the long Labor Day weekend.  It is Father’s Day weekend here. 

Lots of Activities

The past few weeks have been full of activities and sports.  Cade experienced his first Australian sports carnival.  Sports Carnivals are big events (similar to field days) and Kindergarten got to participate for the first time.  The school is divided up into three “houses” and Cade is in Yarnold, the yellow house.  Cade was enrolled in a 50 and 100M race.  He ran the first one, but was a bit thrown off by the ready, set, go gun.  When the next race came up, Cade was not in his spot.  Matt and I searched all over the field for him and when we finally found him, he told us he opted out since he did not like the gun.  Oh, sweet boy….how in the world are you going to survive New Year’s Eve fireworks in Sydney?

This week Cade starts swimming with his class.  Speedos compulsory (mandatory)! 

We have one game left in the soccer season.  Cade and his team received their end of season trophies at “Gala Day”, a big soccer event were the teams played several games and had carnival style activities.  After the last soccer game, we went to the markets near our house for some coffee and browsing.  The markets are filled with handmade items, foods, art and fresh flowers.  Paige has agreed to always be my shopping and coffee drinking partner.

 

We have wanted to try Jamie Oliver’s Italian restaurant, so we finally headed into the city last weekend for an early family dinner.  We got there around 4:30 with a one hour wait, but somehow we walked right in.  The kids menu was on an old school red picture viewer.   It was a real treat.   By the time we left there was a line out the door and around the corner down the street.

Happy 10 Year Anniversary

July has been a packed month, and on July 19^th Matt and I celebrated our ten year wedding anniversary.  We had a great family weekend to celebrate.  I have ten amazing cards with highlights from the last ten years that I will always cherish.  We went out to a nice dinner with the kids at Bathers Pavilion.    It is an iconic restaurant on Balmoral Beach and fortunately, they have a café, family- friendly side as so many restaurants in Sydney are not family-friendly.  We enjoyed a great dinner oceanside.  The next day we took the bus and went to Bondi Beach.  Bondi is a great place to go this time of year for whale watching as they are all migrating north. We caught a few glimpses, but nothing too clear.   Bondi is the most famous beach in Australia, with beautiful water and a very young and beautiful crowd.  I was hoping for a Hugh Jackman citing as he lives on Bondi, but no luck.  It was a great low-key weekend. The kids gave us two thumbs up for the next 10 years. 

The weekend before was a big night out when we attended a surprise 40^th birthday celebration for our friend.  His wife surprised him with a Bond style party at the Quay Restaurant in the overseas passenger terminal (where all the cruise ships dock).  It was quite the event with amazing views of the Opera House and Harbour Bridge, casino floor set up, DJ and a server who would not let my bubbly drink get past half empty.  Half way through the night, our friend’s wife surprised him with a motorcycle.  Matt and I agreed that we would talk first before surprising each other with a motorcycle.  We had a blast and felt it hard the next day.  If only we were playing for real money:)

 

 

Bula!

Bula!  That is hello in Fiji. We just returned from a one week get away.  The resorts were packed with Australian families away for the winter term break.   Fiji is a 3.5 hour flight from Sydney (like going from Kansas City to Florida).    We almost postponed the trip as Paige got bronchitis a few days before we left and I was still under the weather after two rounds of antibiotics, but we decided some Fiji sun would be good for us.    

As we were checking in for our flight in the international terminal, I turned my head and saw a K-State Wildcat.  Sure enough they were a couple from Manhattan, KS visiting Sydney and on their way home.    The international terminal in Sydney’s airport is so lively and you hear about every possible language spoken.  We were lucky to hang out in the Qantas Executive lounge before our flight.  The place was like a vacation in itself, with any gelato, alcoholic beverage or food choice you could imagine.  The kids did not want to get on the flight.  We stayed the first night near the main airport in Nadi as we had a very early morning flight to catch to get to Savusavu, the island of the highly recommended Jean Michel Cousteau resort.    Unfortunately, our wake-up call came 2 hours late and our phones did not adjust to the network/timezone change and we woke up to sunlight, 30 minutes before our flight was scheduled to take off.   And the Wildman adventure begins….

We got to the airport in 10 minutes after waking up and of course, they had closed the flight with no chances of us getting on board and all other flights to the tiny island were completely full.   The airline did not make any attempts to help us until a resort representative came over and worked her magic in her native tongue. I would have loved to understand the words exchanged.  Fortunately, Savusavu has another landing strip (a more appropriate term than airport in Fiji) about 1.5 hours away, so we were re-booked on a larger plan later that day and had to take a taxi to our resort.  

It was quite a drive seeing the small villages and young kids running barefoot through the streets and animals (goats and roosters) just walking along the road.  We finally arrived at the resort, and it was paradise.  

The food was fabulous and the kids had a ball the kids club and their special nanny friends, Laesa and Vuki.  

As part of the standard package, each child under the age of 6 is assigned a personal nanny for the week.  Initially it seemed a bit excessive, but it is part of the Fijian culture and service.  It was nice to have some extra hands when we were on excursions and so Matt and I could enjoy dinner together every evening.   Unfortunately, while I was there my bug returned and I was under the weather most of the time.  Fortunately, the doctor gave me a stronger antibiotic when I took Paige in just in case.   It got me through the week.   Also, the Fijian staff made me their home remedy medicines during my stay.  Next time you have the cold/flu, try this recipe:

• Full squeezed lemon
• Diced ginger
• Honey
• Hot water

We enjoyed family snorkeling trips every morning, kayaking on the coral reef, live entertainment in the evenings and the kids took a village tour with Matt one day, but most of their time was spent at the pool and kids club. 

After five days, we returned to Nadi (pronounced Nan-dee) and stayed two additional nights at the Hilton on the main island to extend our vacation.  There we hung out at the pool, knocked down a coconut from a tree and enjoyed some cocktails and mocktails during happy hour/sunset.  Real coconut is pretty bland and not nearly as sweet as I expected (proves how much food is altered before it gets to us).  

We returned home Saturday evening to watch the anticipated rugby match between Australia Wallabies and the British Lions which only happens every twelve years, but we all fell asleep about 20 minutes into the match.