Monday, May 30, 2011

Batemans Bay 2 of 3

Sunday morning we went to a scenic overlook


What a good helper


Then we went to Birdland - a small zoo with an emphasis on birds and native Australian animals.

Tons of peacocks roamed freely


Lots of pretty birds - but they were too small and too high for Emily (or Ethan) to see...so we didn't focus much on the birds.


Wallabies


We went for a ride on their little train around the park. Emily loved the bell

They let the kids play on the train


We saw koalas - close up!


Some of the animals were in a separate area because they were being rehabilitated to be released to the wild. Emily had a nice chat with him.


Looking at this photo made me feel sick...I kept thinking to myself "it's just a heavy scarf". Chris had Ethan in the ergo so I took Em up to touch the snake.


We got to pet a Wombat


Silly girl


She loved feeding the peacocks...


But she loved feeding the Kangaroos more!! I have 598 pictures of us with the roos...it was hard to just pick a few!


There were a whole bunch of them


Ready for a snack!








After naps that day we went down to another beach.

Playground on the beach!


Happy guy at the end of the day!

Bateman's Bay 1 of 3

What a weekend we have had. Because of the long weekend, Chris and I decided we would go to the beach! We found a last-minute deal on a beach house Thursday night, so we packed our bags Friday and drove 2 hours to Bateman's Bay

Our house was great - a 3 bedroom house felt so large compared to the 1 bedroom apartment we've been in! Emily got to sleep in an actual bed instead of a mattress on a bathroom floor :). It was on Surf Beach - about 10 minutes south of Batemans Bay.

We arrived late Friday and put the kids to bed as soon as we arrived. The next morning we woke up and explored the town of Bateman's Bay.

Breakfast with Daddy!


Standing on the north side of town looking down the water.


It's Nigel!


She loves her bro




Checking out our first beach!




That afternoon we walked down to the closest beach. It's about 5 minutes away at Emily's pace :)


We walked up the coast line to the next beach that had a playground!


And we played until it got dark. One of Em's favorite things to do was to pick up rocks and throw them into the waves.

Thursday, May 19, 2011

May Photos

So we finally have a car!! Chris and I both agreed that it was not realistic for me to use the busses to get around with the kids on my own. So we've been searching for a car the last few weeks and finally have it! I'm excited to be able to go grocery shopping with a car....previously I was limited to whatever I could fit in the stroller to take home. We can also go back out to Tidbinbilla whenever we want - and I can finally take the kids to some playdates at other people's house! Not to mention road trips to Sydney or the beach or blue mountains...having a car is going to be awesome.

But first I need to get used to driving on the left side of the road again! I did it once in South Africa (back to our house from the mall) and I did it for 3 years in England...so hopefully it will come back to me quickly and I'll get used to the roads around here. I'm going to drive us around this weekend - yay!

Ethan has officially switched to 2 naps a day. Em takes 1 nap a day...so our window of time to be outside of the house (when shops and stores are open) has decreased. Thankfully Ethan is pretty good about having a short first nap while we're out and about if he's in the carseat or Ergo. Then he takes a good second nap after we get home :).

We're also beginning to plan a little vacation for the end of our time in Australia...so far we've talked about going to New Zealand for sure...and hopefully Fiji and The Great Barrier Reef. I don't know how much snorkeling we'll be able to do since we have 2 little kids and I'm not about to leave them with a stranger babysitter..so we'll probably just have to take turns :). I'd love to see Tasmania as well...but I dont want to overlook anything! I need to get to a travel agent and try to price these ideas so we know what's realistic!

The other exciting news is that we are moving to a bigger place next week! The place we're moving to is supposed to have an extra study that we will use as a room for Emily. So we'll be able to use the bathroom/take a shower/insert-other-bathroom-related-activities here, WHILE the kids are sleeping! What a luxury ;).

Lastly - a few photos from this month. Mostly around the apartment as we haven't done much "picture worthy" stuff besides go to local markets on the weekend, and I didn't have my camera with me then.

Quite possibly - my favorite photo of the kids together!


Em shows E how to use his laptop


Emily playing with her buddy Aiden


This girl loves her skirts/tutus!




Chris' work had a fancy ball. Our friends watched the kids for us so we could go!


Happy guy with a little mo-hawk!


I just want to smooch that face!


Frequently we see hot air balloons out our window! They're so cool! One Saturday morning I woke up and there were 5 of them out there! I wish I took a picture that day.

Monday, May 9, 2011

Mother's Day

Mothers Day was a wonderful day! Chris made us a pancake breakfast. Then we went to a Mother's Day celebration at one of the main parks in town. We weren't sure what to expect - but it was SO much fun! Lots of big rides for big kids (think big bouncy castle and inflatable slide/toys...our kids were too little for them). But lots of food booths, tents set up for the smaller kids, a stage with performers all day...it was really quite nice!

Arts and crafts table - it was painful trying to get Emily to leave this table :)




Toys for the littler kids. They had a lot of cool home-made toys and were encouraging everyone to make similar ones at home.







On the way home we took a detour through the leaves - Emily loves playing in the leaves. :)








Walking with Daddy


This is how the little guy spent the last hour or so - on the verge of passing out.


As you can see, fall is in full-swing here. I'm dreading the winter...but apparently it will be nicer than Seattle or Maryland winters. I suppose that's a plus :). Hopefully it wont be too cold to go out and play at the parks.

April Photos

Here are a few remaining April photos from around the apartment.

First - I thought it would be fun to show you what the kids' diapers look like. They're so....Australian!! I thought Ethan's diaper had a wallaby on it - but a quick google search proves me wrong - I'm not quite sure what that creature is. Emily's on the right is (obviously) covered in kangaroos.



Being cute


Happy Boy


Daddy brought all of Em's painting things so we wouldn't have to buy it here :).


Apparently we have a "thing" for buying large stuffed animals when traveling away from home. But I couldn't pass it up for 20 bucks! Emily is in love with it - it's bigger than her!


So worth it.


"What...I'm busy cleaning my plate!"


Happy Handsome little man!