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!