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.
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.
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