Comment??

I have no idea if anyone reads this blog . . . . if you do could you please leave a comment (it's easy!) - I am just wondering if anyone is out there . . . . .

Thanks to each of you for leaving a comment - I really had no idea you were reading! It is fun to know that you (Sherry,Maureen, Davette, Julie, Tammy & Sandy), are keeping up with our lives - I am going to try to post once a week, usually on Sundays in the US so if you check the blog sometime after that there should be a new post. :)

Sand Sledding and Camel Riding!

We've been having so much fun with my niece Madeleine and my Mom here! This week the kids have been walking to a park nearby and they discovered some eels in a creek there - eeewwwww! A few days ago we spent the day at Palm beach, the gorgeous beach where the kids took surfing lessons last summer.

Yesterday we decided to drive 2 hours North (which is the direction to warmer weather by the way!) to Port Stephens. There is an area with large sand dunes, sort of like a desert right off the coast - it is known to be a fun spot to sand sled so we loaded up the loaner van and headed out.

Here are some photos from our very fun day:
The beautiful beachThe sand dunes as we rode the big 4 wheeler to the sand sledding site
Isabella, Mommy, Jonah & Madeleine riding the camels through the dunes
This is Ruby - she is a movie star! She was in the movie Nim Island!Ellie, Tia, Grandma Rita, Jonah, Elijah, Madeleine & Isabella on top of the sledding hill At the end of the day - everyone is smiling :)

Grandma Cookie loved sledding!This is Ellie & Tia! She screamed to go down and she LOVED it! She is a thrill seeker for sure!Madeleine at the top of the hill and Isabella on her way downGetting back up was the difficult part - Jonah carried Elijah's board and Ellie carried Tia and their board - it was a great workout!

The Great Whale Adventure!

My Mom, sister & niece are visiting us from the US. Because the whales are migrating along the Eastern Coast we decided to go whale watching. We were really excited about our Great Whale-watching Adventure . . . . . we left from Sydney Harbour and we did get to see a pod of whales up close. Unfortunately that was AFTER we were seasick for the first 3 hours of the adventure. The first photo was actually taken after we got off the boat - please note Isabella's reenactment of seasickness using the provided white bag :(
We were so thankful we did get to see the whales . . . and they really did come close to the boat - very cool and can you imagine going through all that and NOT seeing whales??? I felt especially sorry for Tia and Elijah because they didn't actually care much about seeing the whales! The 3 big kids came up with some alternate names for our fun time, here are a few of our favorites: Vomit Voyage, Barf Boat 2008, Barf Bunch, Pukes & Flukes and Barf on Board. As you can tell they don't actually plan to go again anytime soon! (Isabella actually said it was the worst day of her life :)

crazy hair day

It was crazy hair day at Elijah's preschool. He wanted "piky hair"!

isabella

i took this photo of isabella today . . . . love her :)

pj day

Thursday was pajama day at Isabella's school, this is especially fun for the girls because they wear their uniform every day. Here is Isabella wearing her pj outfit for the day . . .
note the pink packers hat!

Year 6 Excursion -

Part of the curriculum here in NSW (New South Wales -the state we live in) is a trip to Canberra which is in the ACT (Australian Capital Territory) to see the Parliament, the War Memorial, Questacon which is a science museum and the Australian Institute of Sport (where some of the Elite athletes train). Jonah's trip was this week. The Knox boys left Tuesday at 6 am and returned today (Thursday) at 4 pm. They wore the school uniform each day of the excursion - including the tie! Here is a photo of Jonah on Tuesday morning in front of the gates to Knox Grammar School.

Here is a photo of Jonah today with his souvenirs (a major highlight of the excursion of course!) right after returning home. (The tie was off as soon as he walked in the house LOL!)
Jonah brought home a mini rugby ball, a war memorial medallion, a pressed copper coin from the science museum and a rubber frisby :)
When I asked Jonah if he got much sleep he answered "not much"! Sounds like he had a great time! He is headed upstairs for a bath, with soap!