Wiggle Time!

Parking:                              $10
Tickets for family of 4:        $135
Dinosaur tail, feather sword, popcorn and drinks:      $59
Look on Alex and Ellie’s face when they saw the
actual Wiggles drive out on stage in the Big Red Car: $  Priceless

For more than five years we have lived in the cultural hinterlands. Not many bands, shows or other events came through Muscat or the Caymans. (The only shows we have seen are school shows where I teach.) Ever since Alex first started wiggling before he could walk, we dreamed about how cool it would be to take him to the Wiggles. They were never anywhere near us when we visited England or the States. I think one of the first things Emma did when she got here back in June was to buy tickets for all of us to see the Wiggles. Saturday morning at about 0930 we were sitting in a long line of traffic waiting to get into the Brisbane Entertainment Centre. The kids loved the show, but I think Emma and I did more singing and dancing than they did. It is hard to not know all the words after years of watching the Wiggles on TV!

It was a busy weekend of entertainment which was cut short by all the rain and storms we have been having. On Friday afternoon the kids had their Christmas concert at their school. They performed two songs they have been practicing for weeks now. They remembered all the words to “Catch a falling star” and their favorite; “Rudolph”. When Santa came in Alex was the very first kid to run up to Santa and give him a hug. Ellie, as usual, was so terrified she was in tears and couldn’t even look. Santa had presents for all the kids but as we were heading home Alex was checking out the roof wondering where the sleigh and reindeer were hiding. That night Emma had her work party at the showgrounds. They had lots of the fair games and food open for an unusual office party. She came home with bags of candy floss (cotton candy) and other toys and snacks.

Saturday morning we were off to the Wiggles. Saturday night we had the Swarts in to babysit. The kids had been excited for days that Cian and Niamh were coming over for a sleepover. It is easy to forget how quirky and bizarre your own kids are. While we were out they had some misunderstanding with the bath. Alex believes he has discovered that salt water doesn’t make any cuts he may have hurt.  To prevent bath-time wars, we get the salt shaker out and pretend to shake the salt into the tub. With the top on, no salt goes in the bath. The kids don’t notice and are happy. You forget that this might seem strange to outsiders. As they were getting the kids in the bath, Alex and Ellie started explaining how they always have salt in their bath. After a long search they found the salt in the kitchen and actually added salt to the bath. No harm, but we forget how weird that may seem to the outside world. Ellie knows what she wants and is not afraid to dictate her demands. Her bedtime diktat is “milk, in Tigger Pooh cup, warmed up”. Once again there are a raft of unspoken details that go with fulfilling this order. They did finally piece together enough to satisfy Ellie and get her off to bed.

With the kids in safe and fun hands, Emma and I were off to our first real show since we lived in London. It has been so long I can’t remember whether our last show was either Erasure or the Finn Brothers, back in a place where we could go see all types of shows anytime. Five years wait was worth it as we went into town to see the Hoodoo Gurus at the Hi Fi Bar. I last saw them in 1992 in Perth. They were great back then and we had a blast this time. The Gurus have just finished up a world tour over the last year and were still full of energy. “The Break” opened up for them. They are made up of three members of Midnight Oil and the bassist from “Violent Femmes” They play instrumental surf music. They were a good warm up and very interesting. The whole building was shaking to the Gurus and even the next morning my ears were still ringing. We really enjoyed the chance to get out and do something. We are feeling so spoiled with all the choices for culture we have a drawer full of tickets already for the next few months. The next day we had tickets to see the Pretenders and Blondie at Sirromet Winery, but because of all the rain we have had, and more predicted for Sunday afternoon, the show was cancelled. It might have been for the best as we were quite worn out by Sunday afternoon. Lots more concerts to see and plenty of time.

On Tuesday, Dec 21, I will be driving down to Sydney again with the kids. We will do the 1000km trip again in one day. Emma will be flying down on the 23d to join us. We will be at the Creech’s for a week over Christmas. On our way back home we will stop for a few days holiday in the Coff’s Harbour area for some family relaxing at the beach. Hopefully we will be home on Jan 3.  We hope everyone has a great Christmas, Boxing Day and New Years. We have enjoyed all the Christmas cards we have received and look forward to catching up again in 2011.

xmas train

Alex and Ellie with their new Christmas train. Of Course, Uncle Brad was the inspiration last year at Christmas with his Christmas tree train.

Straddie

We have been keeping busy the last couple months enjoying Brisbane. Although Halloween is not a big event down under yet, it is growing. We went to a Halloween party at Aunty Kat’s house for a great BBQ with lots of decorations. The kids both went dressed as Pirates, they still love their pirate heritage from the Caymans. Instead of trick-or-treating, Kat’s partner Ben hid candy in the yard and the kids went on a treasure candy hunt and found most of the candy before the dogs could find it! The next night, Halloween night, we went to a Halloween party at a Kindergarden that was organized by an American friend. There was lots of Halloween music, face painting, bouncy castle and lots of other fun games and crafts and everyone. Emma and some friends went on a cemetery ghost tour on the Friday night and learned lots about the local area although they didn’t see any ghosts.

The kids are enjoying school and their weekly swimming lessons. Alex is a fish and making great progress. Ellie enjoys being in the pool but is not as keen on doing what other people want her to do. We have tried to explain that is how she will get better but she prefer to do what she wants! She takes part in some of the class activities and is slowly making progress. The better news is the kids are slowly getting used to colder water and are spending more and more time playing in the other pools around even though it is not bathwater warm like their lesson pool. Yesterday Alex’s kindy class had its end of year ceremony. Most of the kids in his class will be going to big kid school in January when the school year here starts. Alex still has one more year before he goes to big kid school. Based on the date cut off here, Alex and Ellie will both be in the same school year when they start big kid school in Jan, 2012. Most of the boys in Alex’s class said they wanted to be superheros when they grow up, there were a couple pilots and Alex did his lttle presentation with his train and said he wanted to be a train driver when he grows up. He rotates between train driver, bus driver and rock star when you ask him what he wants to be. Almost all the girls in Alex’s class wanted to be ballerinas, while the remaining two wanted to be mermaids. In Jan Ellie will move up and join Alex in his class.  

In Nov, Emma’s mum Julie came for a two week visit. The kids loved spending time with nana and had her suitcases open looking for their loot before we could even get them in the door. We had lots of dinners with Tonks’ family friends. There are a lot of family friends in the area and it was nice to have lots of time to catch up, reminisce, and meet all these people I have heard about. The Swarts live not too far away here in Brisbane. Alex and Ellie adore spending time with their kids Niamh (13) and Cian (11?). They just love playing with the big kids and are always asking to have them over. They will be coming to babysit for us this weekend and the kids are really looking forward to it.  We all went with Julie to Niamh’s primary school to see her as Willy Wonka in “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.”  Alex and Ellie kept waving at Niamh and were very well behaved at their first live show.

While Julie was here we all went on a little three day holiday to Straddie (North Stradbroke Island). The kids thought it was great that we could drive our car onto the ferry to get to the island. They were excited to get out of the car and climb up to the cafe and lookout as we made the 40 min crossing. We had an amazing apartment on the north-east coast in Point Lookout. We stayed at the Whale Watch Resort. The apartment was up on the cliffs and we had a spectacular view down to the beach and south along 18 mile beach. (We thought seven mile beach in Cayman was a big beach) We will have to go back again with a 4-wheel-drive vehicle so we can go drive down and explore 18 mile beach. We could walk into the little town of Point Lookout to have a bite to eat and enjoy the views from there. The surf was quite big on that side of the island so the kids didn’t get a chance to try out their new boogie boards in the ocean. They still had a blast playing on the beach and swimming in the pool. On the last day before leaving we went to Brown Lake. It is a beautiful lake and the kids had a blast swimming in the lake. It reminded us of our Little Sand Lake with the reeds all around the edge and the peace and quiet.  We had another exciting ferry ride back to the mainland.

On the weekends we have lots to explore. We have found a lovely beach down on the Gold Coast on Currumbin Creek. This past Sunday we went to the Ginger Factory up on the Sunshine Coast. We went primarily to see Santa’s Workshop and the puppet display. The kids loved the puppet display, not quite as amazing as the Santa’s Workshop display we saw in Minneapolis last Christmas, but very nice. Alex did his best good-boy smile and had his picture taken with Santa. Ellie is still terrified of Santa and even refuses to look at Santa. We then had a nice lunch in the cafe and went on the cane train through the factory grounds. The kids love any train and really enjoyed it. The wet season is in full swing here and it rained all weekend. Fortunately we didn’t let the rain interfere with our Christmas outing and we even managed to stay relatively dry on the train ride in the open-sided carriages.

The house is all decorated and surprisingly, we may have the best outside light display on the street! The kids are so excited. They have written their letters to Santa and we delivered them to him at the Ginger Factory. Alex delivered Ellie’s as she refused to go near Santa. Some of the items on Alex’s list were a train that carries cars, a truck that carries cars, and an airplane that carries cars, people and aliens! It warms my heart that the kids enjoy the old classic Christmas shows. Gumby and Pokey Christmas DVD, Rudolph, Frosty, and O Christmas Tree play almost non-stop now. Perhaps the best holiday news is I have the last piece of paper needed to get my visa so hopefully I will have the visa before the end of Jan as the Australian embassy in DC is closed until the end of Dec.

Sydney road trip

A couple weeks ago we decided to head down to Sydney to see friends and family, some we haven’t seen since we were last in Sydney six years ago and some who visited us while we were in Oman.  Emma couldn’t take many days off from work so I drove down on my own with the kids. Early Wednesday morning, we packed up the van, made sure we had lots of DVD’s and headed out. Our trusty GPS assured us it was 1000 km (620m) to the Creech’s house in Sydney. We had a wonderful drive down the Coastal Highway and the kids were very good. Despite the name of the road, you only get about two small glimpses of the ocean. It is a really pretty drive and the kids were kept very entertained by their DVD’s. With wireless headphones for them, I can listen to what I like and we are all happy. We made a few stops for fuel, food, toilet, and to change the DVD. As we went through Coff’s Harbour, Alex was asleep and Ellie was engrosed in her DVD so she paid no notice when I tried to point out the large banana and decided there was no point in stopping this time.  Am sure this won’t be the last time we do the drive.  Our total trip was 14 hours and we pulled into the Creech’s just in time for a snack and bedtime.

On Thursday, the kids and I took the Rivercat ferry into Sydney and then the slow ferry out to Manly.  The kids love riding on big boats and enjoyed the gorgeous views all along the way. We had a lovely picnic lunch by the beach then walked around to Shelly beach where the kids had fun playing and running in the sand. It was another fun couple of ferry trips back home. Emma flew in on Thursday evening after she had finished work.

Friday we met up with Emma’s good friend Renee, who had visited us in Oman, and her kids Will and baby Emma and went to Taronga Zoo. I had never been before and we had a fabulous time. The zoo is on a steep hill across the harbour from Sydney. As you walk around and look at the animals you have spectacular views of Sydney Harbour in the background. The kids loved the elephants, giraffes, gorillas and many of the other animals. Once again they loved seeing the snakes and even got to touch a snake for the first time. The seal show was a lot of fun and watching the seals and penguins swimming around was a huge hit. When we got to the bottom of the hill we rode the cable car back to the top. This was the kids first ride in a cable car and they loved being able to see all the animals from above as well as the views of the harbour!

Saturday was more relaxing as we had a big BBQ at the Creech’s. We got to see the rest of the clan, Mrs J, Uncle Daryl and Aunty Lynn for the first time in six years. We had lovely warm weather and enjoyed a lovely BBQ, lots of catching up and chasing the soccer ball in the backyard with Alex and Ellie.

Sunday morning we stopped by to visit a friend and former colleague of Emma’s from Oman for a quick tea then off to Renee’s for a huge brunch. The kids had fun playing with Will and baby Emma and all their toys and trampoline, while us grown ups had a few minutes of peace to chat. Renee’s aunty Sue was there and we hadn’t seen her since she was in Oman with Renee visiting us.  Ironicaly Renee had to head up to Brisbane for work so we headed off the Bronte Beach with Aunty Sue, Will, and baby Emma.  Alex and Will spent the afternoon chasing the waves and Ellie found a friend and enjoyed digging in the sand. The surf was really pounding and it was rad watching the surfers riding the huge overhead waves.  Alex tells us he wants to be a surfer boy.

Monday morning we headed back into the city on the RiverCat.  Since our trip to Disney World in March Alex has been obsessed with monorail trains. Fortunately Sydney has a monorail so we couldn’t pass up a chance to ride another one. Then we went to the Sydney Aquarium.  Ellie was too scared to have her picture taken in the fake shark mouth at the entrance, but as we walked through the first few exhibits all she wanted to know was where the sharks were. She was running as we got to the shark tanks and they both thought the sharks were awesome! There were some huge ones.  The kids enjoyed the ferry ride home once again. Emma had to fly out Monday night, no time to drive back up with us!

Early Tuesday morning I headed out with the van packed and the kids as we headed home. The plan was to take our time and do the return trip north in two days. We headed inland and drove up Bucketts Way, Thunderbolts Way and the New England Highway. The scenery was even more spectacular than the drive down. Much of the way we were in the mountains at over 1000m elevation. The kids were really good again. We found a nice motel in Glen Innes. Staying in a little motel may have been the highlight of the trip for the kids. It still amazes me what things they get excited about. We were just a block from downtown so wandered through town and stopped awhile in the wonderful park by the river. We grabbed some pizza for dinner then had an early bedtime.

We headed out early Wednesday morning and went off road into the bush in search of Emmaville. Most people know of the famous Emmaville, Minnesota, not far from where my parents live, so of course we had to check out how the Australian version compares. It is actually much larger then Emmaville, Minnesota. The scenery as we drove on the very bumpy dirt road through several small towns and lots of farms was fabulous. I did get a bit nervous wondering if we were on the correct road as the trusty GPS was no help and I had no phone coverage. We were on the correct road, drove through several more small towns and then came back out on the New England Highway just where I hoped we would. We had an uneventful drive the rest of the way home with lots more pretty scenery as we drove through wine country and some more mountains.

It was a classic road trip and we got to see lots of the country between here and Sydney . It was really good to see so many friends again that we haven’t seen in a long time. The kids proved they are game for big road trips as long as we have enough DVD’s and don’t run out of batteries for the headphones. Australia is a big place so we have lots of road trips planned.

Brizzie

Many people have commented on my correspondence since arriving in Australia that it sounds like we are tourists! Well I can confirm that I am a tourist.  I am here on a tourist visa so am making the best of it. My paperwork to get my resident visa is all in, including all the extras that they don’t mention you need when you first submit your application. We have no idea how long it is going to take so I am playing the tourist role as best I can.

We had a good trip over and I highly recommend Air New Zealand. The food was excellent, the service was friendly, the entertainment systems did a fantastic job of keeping the kids entertained, and this was all for less than half the price of any other airline. They were very friendly and helpful with the kids and it was far easier than I had feared. It didn’t get off to the best start when only a few minutes into our trip, Alex peed all over his shorts while we were having lunch in the Minneapolis airport and some quick math had me worried that I hadn’t packed nearly enough spare clothes in our carry-on. We didn’t have any more issues though. We had a few hour layover in San Fransisco and it was nice to look out the windows and I could see our old apartment building just up the hill!  Our pushchair didn’t make the the plane change in Auckland but it was delivered later that day. It was very nice to see Emma again after two months!

The kids and I have really enjoyed exploring and seeing all the sights in Brisbane. There are so many everyday experiences in “civilization” (Oman and Cayman don’t count) that we have missed and are so exciting for the kids. One of the highlights is taking the train into the city and then riding the CityCat up and down the river. We are only four train stops from the centre of the city and a short walk from Central Station takes you to the river. It is a beautiful city and the kids love just riding up and down the river in the big CityCats.  Sometimes we even get to meet Emma for lunch. Her office is right next to the river.

One of the highlights of September was the Riverfire celebration on the river in Brisbane. It is a huge firework display all up-and-down the river. Emma’s office is on the 39th floor right by the river. Her firm had some food and drinks in a conference room and we had fantastic views of the fireworks all along the river. The kids oohed and aahed the entire time. The fireworks went on for more than 20 minutes. The highlight of the display is the dump and burn by a F-111. They dump the fuel out the back between the two engines and it creates a huge fireball across the sky.  They say this will be the last time as the Australian Air Force is retiring the F-111 and moving to the F/A-18. Check out the short version or a longer version.

We have been to the Australia Zoo twice already.  (Home of the Crocodile Hunter.) The kids enjoy getting to feed and pet the kangaroos and koalas. They also get to feed the elephants.        ( Ellie is “too scared” to feed the elephants but likes to play with the snakes.) The zoo has mostly Australian animals. One of the highlights is the croc show in the Crocoseum. The kids really enjoy it and it is impressive seeing the big crocs leap and chomp on the meat.

We have been up to the beach at Caloundra and Manly, South Bank several times, Mt Coot-tha, and many other sites. Brisbane has a huge number of parks. Many days I take the kids to a new park to play on the play equipment or ride their bikes or scooters. They just have a blast as every new park has different climbing frames and other fun play options. They have been so deprived that when we first got here they thought the bike racks were part of the equipment. There are also pools everywhere. Spring has just started so the weather is warming up. Alex and Ellie are very warm water swimmers so it is just getting to swim season for them. Last week they had a great time at Newmarket Pool. This week on Wednesday they start their first swimming lessons. It is also where I swim on the two days a week that the kids are at nursery.

Our shipment was delivered a few weeks ago and we are mostly unpacked now. Just about everything made it OK. For the first time in all our moves, even including our move from San Fransisco where we packed everything ourselves, we had some broken plates, pictures, cookie jar and some other small items. Australia is very strict on inspecting incoming shipments. After customs checked ours at the port we were told they had found a Christmas wreath made out of twigs and some other Christmas decoration made out of pine-cones. Our options were to pay $250 to have them sprayed or $25 to have them destroyed. Since we couldn’t even recall what these items were we are now without two of our Christmas decorations.  Every move we have made since we left San Fransisco we have changed standard voltage. We went from the 110V US, to 220V England and then Oman, then to 110V Cayman, and now to 220V Australia. This has caused major issues with our electrical devices. Some are dual voltage and we don’t need to worry about, family have received lots of hand-me-downs from us as we leave, and recently we have used a few voltage converters for some of our more expensive items that we didn’t want to buy again. It can get hard to keep track of which items are which and we have already had a small mishap when I blew out our electric toothbrush charger. I thought it was one of our dual voltage devices but I obviously didn’t check it well enough. Our other issue is plugs. Why do there have to be so many different types? The only break we got was Oman and England have the same outlets. (Although most electric devices sold in Oman come with a continental European plug.)  We now have a wide variety of plug types on our devices throughout the house. We have had to ship in a large number of adaptors from the US as they are much cheaper, even including shipping, than they are here.  The challenges faced by global nomads like us are really difficult as you can see!! ( just joking, and we wouldn’t trade the traipsing around the globe for anything!)

We have successfully tested the health system. One Saturday while out at the shops Emma took Ellie to the toilet. As Ellie tells it “ mummy didn’t hold the door and it pinched my hand”. There was a automatic door and Ellie likes to drag her hand along walls and doors and it closed on her left ring finger. It pulled her entire nail right out, even the part that is usually under the skin and it was hanging on her finger. We took her to the doctor and without any anesthesia he pulled it off. Other than a couple tears right after the door shut on her, she was very brave and is not afraid of telling even the doctor or nurse what she will or will not do, or allow them to do. Her nail is growing back nicely.

There are a few other daily activities that most of you take for granted but are highlights for the kids now that we live in civilization.  In Oman and Cayman there are no postmen. The mail is all delivered to a work PO box. A highlight of coming home in the afternoon after a day exploring here are the kids’ shouts of “post, post” as they rush to the post box on our front gate. Even better is if we get to see the post man ride his motorcycle down the sidewalk, with his bright yellow visibility jacket on, putting the post in the postboxes at the houses on the street.  Even on Sundays when there is no mail delivery, the kids still enjoy running down to the box to check anyway. Another is the gabage collection.  In Oman and Cayman, all rubbish was put in a large dumpster at the end of the street and was usually collected very early in the morning. Here the garbage truck and recycling trucks come down the street on Wednesday mornings. We can’t go out early on Wednesdays as the kids love to watch the truck from the front balcony as it stops in front of each house, the hydraulic lift (looks like a large claw) comes out, picks up our large green rubbish bin, lifts it up and dumps it in the truck, then slowly lowers it back down. The trucks look just like they do in their favorite movie from the summer, “Toy Story 3” and they compare them every Wednesday and relive how similar they are for me.

Much as I am really enjoying Brizzie, there are a few very serious issues that I have come across here that really worry me.

Beetroot: This is a vegetable that the quaint locals believe needs to go on everything. Now I may not be a vegetable guy, but I come from the US where our constitution gives everyone the right to eat whatever vegetables they want. There are some foods that beetroot just does not belong on. The beloved hamburger, served in more places around the world than any other food, other than the accompanying french fries, ( I know I have travelled the world in search of my favorite food) has been done in many ingenious, bizarre and sometimes unusual ways. Most I have enjoyed or could see why others would enjoy them that way Aussies have crossed the hamburger Rubicon when they decided that the standard Aussie burger would include beetroot, even in the hamburger standard around the world, McDonalds. I am not sure I can raise my kids for long in a land that believes beetroot and hamburgers are a national dish.

Australian Rules Football: I am really enjoying watching the Australian Rules Football (AFL). Even in the early days of ESPN they would show a little back in the US and my friends and I always thought it was chaotic, unusual, and somehow compelling to watch. I have watched more on TV since arriving as it is the number one sport in certain parts of the country (mostly Victoria).  A week ago they had their championship game, the AFL version of the Super Bowl. I was in Melbourne back in 1999 when the Grand Final, as it is called, was played and can vouch for the hoopla and excitement that goes with the game. Last Saturday the Collingwood Magpies played a really exciting game against the St Kilda Saints in the home of AFL, the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG).  After 80 minutes the game was tied for the first time in AFL Grand Final history since 1977. There are many sports where ties are part of the game, soccer being one which is frequently discussed in the land whose constitution strongly frowns on ties. Even soccer has a means to settle a championship game when it ends in a tie. You may argue whether it is the best way, and soccer has tried many different formats, but at least at the end of the championship, there is one winner. Australia is a great sporting nation, one whose passion for soccer trails well behind even the US. You would assume they would be just as desirous of having a winner. As I wondered what the AFL system was to decide the tie, I was shocked to my core, yes, I considered repaking my bags and moving again. What do you do when the championship game ends in a tie? The Super Bowl tied at the end of the game? They go home and come back again the next Saturday and play the game all over again!  Large chunks of life have to be rescheduled, even horse races in Victoria had to be rescheduled as a result. Supporters have to go wait in line overnight again to get tickets for the next match. This raised the question to my Aussie friends in the know, what happens if the second game ends in a tie? Do they come back the next week and keep playing every Saturday until someone wins? Fortunately if the second game ends in a tie they play some form of overtime until a winner is decided. The rematch was a blowout for the Magpies as I am sure they didn’t feel like rescheduling their holidays and weddings again.

Rugby shorts: It is obvious that you should wear rugby shorts when you play rugby. Much as I am enjoying watching the rugby, Rugby League is the top sport in other parts of the country, even someone with as tenuous a grip on the rules as I have, I know rugby shorts don’t belong off the pitch. It seems the national dress for many Aussie men is to wander around town in rugby shorts and a singlet. For those of you that don’t know, these rugby shorts are short shorts. They are like the original jogging shorts everyone wore in the 70’s when jogging hit it big, or the short shorts basketball players in the NBA used to wear in the 70’s. It is disturbing seeing so many men in short shorts and a singlet everywhere you turn: shops, parks, city streets, restaurants.  

In spite of these serious issues, we are loving being in Brisbane. The weather is getting warmer as we move into spring and the kids are enjoying having so many places and things to explore. I will try to be more current with the updates. Come on down and visit anytime!!

Fun at the lake

Our last week in Cayman we stayed in a vacation rental in West Bay. Jeff’s Resort is a really nice place. They are houses and there is a huge yard with chickens running around. The kids love their chickens so had fun their last week since they were already out of school. Eric worked the last week and managed to get everything wrapped up. It was much easier wrapping business up than it had been in Oman. It was sad to say goodbye to all the kids and friends at school but we didn’t have much time to reflect. On Sunday, July 4,  we were off to Minnesota to see the family.

We have all enjoyed our five weeks hanging out at the lake with family. The kids are exhausted at the end of every day after chasing around with their cousins from the Kirby and Hodgins clan. Playing with the toys and dressing up in the basement, swinging, playing on the beach, running all over the place and even smores by the campfire keep them going until well after bedtime! Alex has only been for one swim as he proclaims the water is too cold, so Ellie hasn’t even really tried. I think the water is really nice and even watching all the other kids swimming can’t coax them in.  The weather has been really nice, not too hot and not too much rain. We did have a tornado warning one night. The kids were asleep so I carried them down into the basement. A couple hours later after the all clear I carried them back upstairs to their beds in the library. They stayed asleep the entire time so don’t even remember their first tornado warning! We make room in our daily routine to go to the Dorset House for ice cream everyday. Eric loves his milkshakes and Alex is reliable everyday with “vanilla in a cup, no sprinkles”. Ellie is always having something else, different flavour, cup or cone, always with sprinkles. Her favorite is the clown sundae. All the girls at the ice cream counter know the kids and they love sitting on the old-fashioned stools at the counter and watching the girls work behind the counter. Ellie insists when she gets bigger she wants to work behind the counter.  

We went with the Grandma and the Kirbys to the Hubbard County Fair. The kids love seeing all the animals and eating lots of junk. They even went on their first ferris wheel ride. We all went to Bemidji to see “Toy Story 3” in 3D. This was Alex and Ellie’s first movie in a theatre. They loved the movie and were really good. They took off the 3D glasses half way through but didn’t mind. They are still quoting lines from the film and asking questions about different parts of the film. I loved it too so we can recommend it to people of all ages.  We have also been to the Logging Camp twice for breakfast and the kids enjoyed the whole experience, especially seeing the chickens and eating at big tables with unbreakable dishes.

We have all been to Zhateau Zorba’s twice on a Sunday afternoon to watch grandma Gwen and papa Denny with the Upper Mississippians. ( The kids refer to it as “The Dancing Restaurant”) The first sunday the world cup football final was going on so there was double the entertainment. The kids love the music and the pizza. The second time we went down on the Hodgins pontoon boat. Alex and Ellie just love being out on the pontoon boat and Uncle Brad is an awesome captain, making sure everyone has a great time. We have had a fantastic time getting to see so many of our wonderful family: besides Grandma Gwen and Papa Denny, we have had a fab time with Herman, Patty, Melanie, Jay, Tricia, Jimmy, Barbara, Matt, Tam, Brad, Roro, Maia, Reese, Siri, Leah, Elyette, Jona (I saw him for just a couple minutes), Benji, Bronwyn, Luca, and Buzz. Everyone has been so helpful and we can’t wait to see you all again somewhere and soon!

It hasn’t been all fun and games. While we are having fun at the lake, Emma has been working hard in Brisbane. Besides being really busy at work again, she has managed to find a rental house for us, furnish what is not coming in our shipment, find a minivan, and get out with family and friends quite a lot. She also finished up Ellie’s Australian passport which we now have in hand. Ellie has now joined Alex as not only being American, but also Australian.

A couple weeks ago Benji came down with Lyme disease. I think last year only about 39,000 people in the US came down with Lyme disease. Not many days after he was diagnosed Ellie started getting red blotches. At first I thought it might be an allergy again as she has several allergic skin reactions to unknown things. More developed and finally the owner of the Ice Cream place even started saying Ellie should be checked for Lyme disease. The red bulls-eyes on the her skin were increasing so we decided to take her to the doctor. Friday was our last chance before the weekend but Eric was driving the Kirbys to Minneapolis as we needed to have the van back up north. Grandma Gwen took Ellie off to the doctor. The doctor pretty quickly confirmed Ellie had a classic case of Lyme. (The doctor said ten years ago she almost saw no cases at all in this area and now she sees cases almost daily!) State law requires a blood test even when it is obvious. Since she is so young, instead of having her go to the lab, the lab sent three people over to the doctor’s to draw the blood. They sent three people because they assumed they would be needed to hold the little girl down as she screamed and writhed. She lay there quietly while the put the elastic strap on her arm and drew the blood from her arm. There were no tears and no screaming, the extra people were not needed at all.  Ellie even told the doctor how much she liked her pony tail and commented on someone else’s nice shoes! The next morning we could have used the extra people as Ellie screamed and refused to take her antibiotics. We have worked out a solution and she eagerly takes her medicine now. All that was required was to give her very small spoonfuls, so what should be two spoonfuls of medicine now takes 10, but she smiles the whole time!   The red bulls-eyes on her skin are long gone and she should be fine after completing her medicine.

I have really enjoyed spending so much time with my kiddies. We are having a great time but the kids have initiated a new form of family time that I don’t know I am so keen on. I now refer to it as family poo time. Any time any of us has to use the toilet, everyone else is required to come. (This is not at my insistence, but at theirs.) We have family discussions on all sorts of topics while we sit in the toilet waiting for one or the other to finish their business. Fortunately here in the States, there are a lot of large family and handicapped toilets so we have space. It is not nearly as much fun when we spend our family poo time on the airplane toilets.  In an attempt to make my blog more interactive, I have a literary competition for all our loyal readers. (I am sure that number is going down as I spend more time discussing poo!) I believe there is a saying “A family that plays together, stays together”. My challenge is to complete the new Block age -old wisdom. “A family that poos together,...............”

I have been married to my lovely wife for just about 8 years now (2 days short) and we have lived in four different countries. ( It is a good thing I got out of the military so I wouldn’t have to move around so much!) We won’t be together to celebrate our 8 years on August 10. The good news is that on August 11 we will start year number 9 together in our fifth country. Alex, Ellie and I fly out of Minneapolis to Brisbane on Monday afternoon, Aug 9, and are scheduled to arrive in Brisbane on Wed morning, August 11. Wish us luck, I am going to need it on the trip....catch you on the other side!

Categories of Poo

The pooh I refer to is not the adorable bear in search of honey. No,things are not that slow and quiet here in the islands that we have nothing else to talk about.  (Those of you without little kids or high school boys might want to skip to the next paragraph, or my wife who can't handle wiping the bum of her own kids!) Alex and Ellie, newly potty trained, having taken to categorizing their poohs. In high school, during long swim practices or hours on the bus we used to do this also I must admit, but did not expect it from my 3 year old daughter. Some of the top categories currently are the rocket pooh, the pretzel pooh, and a new category yesterday from Alex; the number 7 pooh. (It looked like a number 7 and yes, he is getting quite good at his numbers also). Ellie just added a new category today, the snail pooh. I don't think I need to provide any more detail as the category names are quite accurate and descriptive! Let me know if you are interested and I will keep you updated on new interesting categories.

All our things are in the container and on their way to Oz.  It is hard to believe that we haven't been married eight years yet and this is the fourth container we have put on a ship. It was quite a chaotic and confusion packed week trying to get everything packed.  The movers had looked at our stuff and said it would all fit in a 20ft container.  After packing up our stuff in the house they went to our storage locker, which they had seen when they did the quote, and said it wouldn't all fit. If we had know that we would have prioritized and some of the things in the back of the container already we would have left out.  Emma spent some hectic days trying to prioritize our stuff in the storage locker and after packing what we had felt was critical, they said there was more room.  We went to look and there was lots more room; it probably all would have fit.  We were able to throw more things in and in the end didn't have to leave anything really worthwhile.  We have been trying to sell the rest of our stuff including a huge yard sale. Fortunately our house is furnished so we have most of the necessities we need to survive the next few weeks. In between packing and taking care of all the little things that need to be tied up before leaving a country we have been taking advantage of the beaches and the pool with the kids. (And mummy and daddy being able to go out to dinner by ourselves whenever we want.  We are not ready for a nanny-free life just yet!)  One Saturday afternoon we took the kids to "Margaritaville", Jimmy Buffet's bar and restaurant here. They have a large water slide with pool in the restaurant. It was funny to realize that on Saturday afternoons the long lines at Margaritaville are not at the bar, but the little kids in line for the water slide. Saturday afternoon is kids birthday party day as once the cruise ships leave, there is not much business. We all had a blast on the water slide, even Ellie who said she was too scared to try, eventually went down with me and had a blast! We then enjoyed some Cheeseburgers in Paradise to make for a wonderful family outing.

I have also been taking advantage of some awesome ocean swimming. Several times a week I manage to get a swim in through some of the best snorkeling spots on the island. I start at Sunset House, a dive resort and hotel south of George Town and only a few minutes from our house.  I swim north past Don Foster's Dive Resort, past Eden Rock, and to the float out if front of Paradise Restaurant then turn around and back to Sunset House.  It is a nice 35 minute swim where I see lots of turtles, sting rays, barracuda and a huge assortment of tropical fish. On June 19 I returned to the Flowers One Mile Ocean swim. This year the course started north of the Ritz Carlton and we swam south. It was gorgeous, sunny and smooth. There was an even tougher field of Olympians, NCAA All Americans, and world class open water swimmers. (Even the Governor and his wife swam.) I went from 71st last year to 50th this year and went from 28 minutes down to under 24 this year. Just goes to show what doing a little training can do for you. There are lots of big prizes after the race but like last year, I didn't win a single raffle prize. When I got home and showed Alex my finishers medal (He loves to see the medals I get for my races) he looked at me and said "Daddy, did you win?" To all swimmers out there, I highly recommend coming down for the swim that Swimming World magazine has called one of the 13 must do swims in the world. 

A couple weeks my grandmother Block passed away at the age of 98.  Emma postponed her departure for Australia and the whole family went to Vermillion, South Dakota for the funeral.  At my grandmother's request the entire family, except for OJ who is in Afghanistan, were able to make it and we had a wonderful family reunion.  It was wonderful to see so many family we haven't seen in years and the kids just loved playing with their Block cousins all weekend. On our flight from Cayman to Atlanta where we had a connecting flight to Omaha, the two kids and me were in first class while Emma was back in coach. The first class seats were compliments of Priceline. Initially I thought I had won the jackpot, while after a few nonstop minutes of "why" questions, spilled juice and arguments about who got to sit next to daddy, I started thinking that maybe mummy reading her book in quiet in back had the better deal.  Then we got our wonderful lunch with open bar.  Emma had a bag of peanuts back in coach and kept trying to come up and steal our food.  I had to keep asking the flight attendant to move her back!  Little Ellie had an empty first class seat next to her the whole flight.  Even after we were in the air they wouldn't let Emma move up to the empty seat to sit with her kids!  In Atlanta, after numerous delays, our flight was cancelled at 2200. We were fortunate that because we had kids they put us up at the airport hotel while everyone else on the flight had to stay in the airport.  We had a 0600 flight the next morning so it seemed that we were getting up shortly after going to sleep to get back for our flight.  After seeing everyone else looking more dishevelled than us after a night in the airport we didn't complain too much.  We finally made it to Omaha, got our car and made the drive to Vermillion. It was a really nice weekend, we had some great family meals and lots of time cleaning out the house to reminisce, look at pictures and catch up with everyone. Back at Omaha we had to say goodbye to mummy as she was off to Oz and me and the kids were back to Cayman to finish school and tie up the rest of the loose ends. It was a uneventful trip home for us and Emma just made it to her flight to Oz in LA.

Last week we had our high school graduation at school.  The English system doesn't really do graduation, it is more of an American thing. In England you don't really graduate, you just finish school and you don't find out how you did until August when your exam results actually come out.  Cayman is a blend of the English and American so while the students don't know their external exam grades, they still have their school grades and know whether they have met the criteria. Some were graduating for the second time as they graduate after year 11 when they complete their IGCSE and then again after year 13 when they complete their A levels.  It is a big event and looked just like an American high school graduation.  Our main hall started filling up an hour-and-a-half before start time.  The soon to be graduates parade in with their gowns and mortar boards and everyone sits through lots of speeches.  What made this graduation different from American ones I am used to, is we started the ceremony by singing "God Save the Queen" and while some music was performed by the concert band, some of the music was provided by the school steel pan band.  It was a nice blend of America, England and Cayman!

Yesterday we went to the kids end-of-year picnic at school.  They finish Montessori on June 24.  We had fun eating lots of junk and playing in the yard.  The kids loved showing me the school rabbit and all the toys they play with.  At one point I was pushing Alex on the swing. Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye I noticed a little girl walking right in front of Alex. I turned around and grabbed her just before she was clocked by Alex swinging.  There was another dad pushing his kid and he said "Good thing you aren't Robert Green!" (For those out there not following the football, Robert Green was the England keeper during the match against the US).  It seems as if it was just yesterday I was off to MQ in July to watch the England-Sweden match one night at the outside coffee shop during the last World Cup while Emma sat at home, very pregnant, waiting for the satellite guy to come by and hook up our football package. She joked at what seemed like an eternity away, that by the next World Cup we would have a big boy.  (We definitely would never have considered having a big girl by then also.).  World Cup fever is evident here in Cayman too.  Last week I had a couple free periods during the US-Slovakia game so I went down the street to Wendy's to watch.  There were quite a few other people obviously taking an extra long breakfast so they could watch the game. 

I still remember the spectacular view as we first flew into Cayman in March last year. Being able to see the whole island and the reef around it is really something.  Coming in this time we had another spectacular view of the island again, only now we can actually recognize many of the landmarks we have come to know over the last year. It struck me that this might be the last time we see this view.  Once you land you get introduced to the island right away.  No jet-way, you go down the stairs and feel the sun on your face and smell the ocean as you walk down to the immigration building.  Live Caribbean music is being played and lots of people in the open on the second floor where you can shout hello to the arrivals. Today we took part in a Cayman farewell tradition.  We went down to the shoe tree and nailed a flip-flop to the tree for Alex and one for Ellie. It is only 12 more days to get things wrapped up before we are off to Minnesota for the summer and then on to meet up with Emma down under.  It has been another great adventure and once again this ending is yet another beginning.

happy bday alex and ellie

It has been a while since our last post. With another big move half-way around the world in the planning, we have been quite busy. We had a fun Easter.  Not only did the bunny bring a huge amount of chocolate and eggs, apparently he also brings presents. The kids got more gifts to go with the presents from Disney and the presents Latha had waiting for them when we got back from Disney.  Perhaps the highlight was the princess swimsuit for our little princess. 

At the school fair Eric spent part of the afternoon in the dunk tank.  The kids enjoyed getting to dunk me.  The up side is the water was warm and it was nice and sunny out so I quite enjoyed being in the tank.  I had another birthday and my lovely wife took me out for a lovely dinner at Prime, the local Brazilian steak house.  It is a meat buffet that they bring by your table. That is just my thing and I enjoyed all the amazing meats that kept appearing at our table. We even managed to roll around the corner to TCBY for dessert.  TCBY is going strong here in the islands! There was a big function going on at the Governor's mansion across the street so we enjoyed our dessert with some live music.

With the movers coming in a few weeks, before either of the kids' birthday, Latha had to get them their large presents early.  (She insists on buying big!!) Alex has a red racing car that is battery powered that he can sit in.  He loves to drive it around the parking lot in front of the house.  Ellie got a new, very large doll house that she and Alex love to play with.  Alex offers to let Ellie drive his race car but she is too scared she says. We decided to have a joint birthday party as the presents will need to be packed and we will not be here for Alex's. We ended up with 30 3 and 4 year olds at the local indoor play area.  Alex and Ellie refer to it as the "Gym, Gym slide". It has a large climbing area with ball pit, video games and lots of toys. We have been to many parties there and that is where the kids wanted to have it. Emma went into super mummy mode in her planning. There were two pinatas, one "Cars" theme and one with Princesses, two cakes, one with a picture of me and Alex with Lightning McQueen from Disneyworld and one with Princesses for Ellie. Everyone had a great time, got lots of candy, ate pizza, chips and chicken nuggets and enjoyed the two cakes with fire on it! Ellie is such a princess she has to blow daintily so she had a hard time getting the candles out! There were the goodie bags for all the kids at the end of the party.  Emma demonstrated a new talent we haven't seen before as a kids party planner. The kids had a huge mound of presents so it is a good thing we had the party before the movers come.

Later that afternoon I went to do my first ocean swim race in 11 months. I have only been swimming for two months so was mostly going to look at the fishies and enjoy the snacks. There were about 178 swimmers for the 800m swim north along 7 mile beach from Governor's Beach to Public Beach. The weather was great and I really enjoyed the swim.  First and second place went to the Cayman's very talented Olympic swimming brother, Shaune and Brett Fraser.  At the men's NCAA swim championships just over a month ago Shaune was second in the 200 free and 200 IM and won the 200 fly.  Brother Brett was 7th in the 200 free.  They both swim for University of Florida and have swum for Cayman at the Olympics and World Championships.  For an old man I was not too far back in 18th place, 2d place in the 40-44 age group.  They had very nice trophies for the top 3 in each age group.  The youngest kids swimming were 8!  Alex and Emma were waiting in the water at the finish and Alex had a blast playing in the ocean with one of his friends who was there with mom who had just swum. With the advice of some of the swimmers from the pool, I have found a fantastic spot to swim in the ocean down near our house. I have now been to swim several times in the evening or early in the morning before school.  I swim from Sunset house north to Paradise then back.  This covers some of the best snorkeling spots on the island so it is a wonderful swim with lots to see and distract me.

Ellie has been sleeping in the queen bed in their room and Alex has been sleeping on his single mattress because it has a Lightning McQueen pillow, sheets and blanket.  Even with a large bed for a tiny girl, Ellie squirms around so much she falls off and lands in the middle of Alex's bed in the night. Alex usually ends up waking up crying because Ellie is touching him.  Ellie just sleeps right through and we have to put her back in her bed.  Last week we sold Alex's mattress so now they are sharing the queen bed. I feel a bit bad for Alex because Ellie takes up a huge amount of bed for such a small girl!

One of our big worries was our family member that won't be coming to Oz with us. Latha had said she would like to stay here and we have been fortunate to find her a job with a Canadian family with 2 year old twins and a third on the way in August.  They seem really nice and Latha has been over several times to help out and get to know the family.  We have all been for a nice BBQ one Sunday afternoon.

Last week the older kids (year 11-13) at school went off to begin their study leave, a British institution, as they get ready for their external exams. That means I now have a shorter teaching schedule, except when they all come in to get help.  That is giving me time to start wrapping things up and getting things organized.  There is a lot more paperwork involved in applying for my Australian visa than there was when we got my visa for the UK. We are excited about the big move and also overwhelmed by having to do this again after just a year.  One benefit is we still have things boxed up that we never unpacked!  It feels as if we are going home and the kids keep telling everyone they are going to Australia they are so excited. I will be in Minnesota with the kids for a few weeks over the summer as Emma gets settled in Brisbane.

The Princess Diaries

We had our first family vacation on our own this past week.  We spent five full days at Disney in Orlando and had an absolute blast! It was all planned at the last minute to celebrate our next big adventure coming soon this summer. Alex was soo excited to be flying on a Cayman Airways plane again.  He spent the whole trip to Orlando telling everyone that asked where we were going; "on a Cayman airways plane". We stayed at the Disney All Star Movie resort in one of the "Toy Story" buildings. The kids loved walking to the dining room as we had to walk past the extra large Woody, Buzz Light Year, Dinosaur and Bo Peep. We also had fun wandering around the resort looking at the Fantasia figures, and even a favorite for Alex, Herbie the love bug!

Alex and Ellie have been Disney kids since they were born, thanks to the influence of mum and dad. They know all the Disney characters, even most of the older films like "Sleeping Beauty" ,"Cinderella", and "Mary Poppins". Ellie loves princesses and believes she is one, perhaps aided by mum and dad calling her a princess and a closet full of princess dresses and accessories.  Our first morning we headed to the Magic Kingdom.  Before even getting into the park we had ridden the tram in the parking lot and the monorail to get to the park.  Alex and Ellie had so much fun just doing that we were wondering if we even needed to go into the park! Ellie spent the day alternating between stomping around in a very un-princess like way and prancing.  There was never any question that Ellie owned the park.  She referred to Cinderella's Castle as "my castle"! Every time we saw it she pointed it out and said "there is my castle" Not long into the day she decided she needed a princess hat to go with her princess dress she had been wearing all day. She knew exactly what she wanted and picked out a tall, pointy, pink hat with her favorite princesses on it and some lace hanging off it. 

Three months ago when we were in Minneapolis for Christmas we all went to the Mall of America to take the kids on some of the rides.  Alex had lots of fun going on some of the rides but Ellie was terrified and refused to go on any.  She loved watching the horses on the carousel but screamed if we tried to get her onto the ride.  Not long into wandering around the park Ellie insisted on going on the Dumbo, flying elephant ride.  We were a bit apprehensive about waiting in line to only have her change her mind.  She had a blast and not long after Dumbo she was enjoying riding on the horses on the carousel. At Epcot she had cried all the way through the Nemo ride in the clam-shell cart so we were concerned about how many rides she might want to go on. By the end of the week she was riding everything she could.  The only other ride she didn't want to go on were the racing cars. It was one of the highlights for Alex to get to drive a racing car. His legs were too short to reach the accelerator so I had to press while drove around the course, racing with the other cars. She has piloted the rocket ships, flying carpets and dinosaurs and the tea cups.  One afternoon while we were enjoying the cruise on the Mark Twain river steamboat, Ellie saw the runaway train roller coaster and was all excited to ride.  Unfortunately she was too short for that but on the last day we did go on Pirates of the Caribbean.  Ellie smiled all the way through the line in the dark with skeletons, loved getting splashed when we shot down the waterfall and kept smiling through the cannonballs.  Living in Cayman though, they are used to pirates. The favorite ride for the grown-ups was the Toy Story 3D ride at Hollywood Studios.  Even Ellie had a great time shooting all the targets with her cannon as we spun through the toy room. 

Alex and Ellie were really good standing in long lines for the rides and shows.  They were also really well behaved and enjoyed in all the shows.  We saw Muppet 3D, Country Bear Jamboree, Monsters Inc. comedy show, Tiki Room, Lion King show, Ariel's Little Mermaid, Playhouse Disney, and the car stunt show at Disney's Hollywood studios. Alex and Ellie just loved the car stunt show, watching the cars racing around and jumping. They are still talking about seeing  how one of the cars was controlled by someone attached to the outside of the side of the car.  They also loved the stunt where the motorcycle went through a wall of fire and the driver caught on fire. Alex has always been a car nut so he can't stop talking about it but the princess really enjoyed it too.  Earlier Alex had been so excited to finally get to meet Lighting McQueen and Mater in person! One afternoon we were sitting on the curb at Main Street enjoying a barbershop quartet singing, tap dancing and cracking corny jokes; well I was enjoying the corny jokes.  They started singing a song from "Mary Poppins", and after just a couple lines Alex turned to me and said "that is from Mary Poppins". Our kids know their Disney. One evening while wandering the roads of Hollywood studios a yellow truck with trailer that looked like a gardening company pulled up in the middle of the road and set up.  They were actually a band and soon were rocking to some classic 70's and 80's rock.  Now Alex is a rocker, and soon was rocking along.  Another boy was rocking along in the crowd and the band handed him an inflatable guitar to play.  Alex was disappointed he didn't get one. Emma told him to go ask to borrow it.  Alex shuffled over with his shoulders rolled forward and a sad face.  Rather than ask to borrow the inflatable guitar he just stood there looking dejected at the boy.  The boy didn't really notice him and after a few moments Alex shuffled back, sad at his missed opportunity for stardom.

One of the highlights of Disney for kids is the chance to meet the characters in person.  We met lots of the characters and Alex trooped in to get his picture taken with lots of Disney's famous characters.  He met Mickey and Minnie, Donald and Daisy, Goofy, Pluto, Lightining McQueen and Mater, Buzz Lightyear and Woody, some of the little Einsteins, Tigger and Pooh, Handy Manny and others.  Ellie wasn't keen on meeting any in person.  She tolerated being held to meet Minnie but that was it, she didn't even want to meet the Easter Bunny.  As she said, the others are boys.  After waiting in line at Ariel's grotto though, she clamored right up the rock that Ariel was sitting on and gushed over her she was so excited.  Alex didn't want to go near Ariel since she was a princess and only for girls! The only other person Ellie agreed  to meet was Alice in Wonderland. (While not a princess, she is a girl!)

Ellie loves animals, all types, but especially sheep and reindeer.  There are animals everywhere at the Disney parks.  We had a great safari ride at Disney's animal park and Ellie loved seeing the giraffes, elephants, rhino's and even a lion.  Of course at every turn Ellie wanted to know when we were going to see the sheep.  While not real, the kids loved seeing the animals on the river cruise.  Snakes, crocodiles, elephants, and hippos were all really exciting but Ellie kept asking where the sheep were? During the country bear jamboree show there are several large deer and moose heads on the wall that talk during the show.  Anything with antlers on it is a reindeer to Ellie so she was excited to see the talking reindeer.  At Epcot we really enjoyed the under the sea area.  While Ellie cried through the Nemo ride she really enjoyed the "Crush the Turtle Talk" as Nemo is one of their favorite movies.  We all really enjoyed the amazing aquarium with all the fish, sharks, rays, and manatees. At one point Ellie was standing up against the glass watching the fish and rays.  A boy who must have been about 8 was standing next to her pointing at a ray swimming by and said to one of his siblings, "look, a stingray". Ellie just turned to him and said:" that is not a stingray, it is an eagle ray." She was right too!

One night we stayed late at the Magic Kingdom so we could see the Electric Light Parade.  The kids loved seeing all the lights once the sun had gone down.  As we walked past the tea cups decked out in beautiful lights Alex said to Ellie, "look Ellie, Christmas lights." Ellie responded "yes Alex, but there is no snow here." Ellie was really excited to see her castle in different colored lights every few minutes. 45 minutes before the parade started, the best spot we could find was six rows back.  The kids were really good about waiting for the parade to start.  Once it started they just loved the lights, characters and music as they watched on our shoulders.  We didn't want to stretch our luck, so headed out after the parade and before the fireworks started.  We got to see some of the fireworks as we walked out of the park and up to the monorail station.  Ellie was still wide awake at 2200 as she told everyone the fireworks were coming from her castle. Ellie managed to walk to the car and finally fell asleep after a busy day at about 2230!

Our last day was a busy one at Magic Kingdom.  We still had more classics to ride and some favorites to ride again.  Alex and Ellie had a blast on "Its a Small World" and we got to see the big parade.  While Emma shopped at the Emporium, we had front row seats by the curb on main street.  Ellie even has the princess wave down,  fingers straight and together with a slight wave and hand rotation. She and Alex sat there waving excitedly at every princess and character that went by.  Every one of Ellie's favorite princesses went by; Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Belle, Ariel, Snow White, Jasmine, and even Mary Poppins too.   We had been worried before booking the trip that the kids might be too small to really get the most out of the trip.  Not to worry, as they had a blast, as did the big kids too.  It was a fantastic experience across the board, from the hotel, to the parks, to the atmosphere. The kids talk about all their experiences non-stop and looking at the pictures today on the computer, they can still remember where the pictures are from and what we did at each one.