Coughing Symphony

A few weeks ago our entire household had a cold.  Claire thought she should cough if someone else did and Gabby thought she should join in if Claire was and Jason thought it was hilarious and would join in, too.  So this became my constant background music for the week.  Humorous at home, slightly embarrassing when grocery shopping.  Yet another reason to be grateful for good health....

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do I Owe You?

Brown Bear from Jennefer Boyer on Vimeo.

You've got to love when the kids start "reading" bedtime stories to themselves....

This is Gabby at age 2 1/2.

(PS  Yes, it is still light outside long after Gabby's 8PM bedtime these days in Seattle.)

Mother's Day

Thank you.  To Gabby, Claire & Jason.

For my best Mother's Day yet.

I am so blessed to be the mom of two precious girls.

Australia: Day 7

Apparently we couldn't leave the city without trying Australian meat pies, so Chelsea & Spencer directed us to famous Harry's.

Our last day in Australia, we explored Manly, a charming beach town that is just across the harbor from Sydney.  Our friends, Chelsea & Spencer, live here and were kind enough to let us stay with them.  After Manly, we went to Darling Harbour and explored the many things that beautiful area has to offer.  Since it was pouring the entire time, my camera never made it out of its bag there. We ended the day at an Australian rules football game.

Manly Beach

Sydney vs. Carlton.  Australian rules football.

We had great seats for this game, with one drawback - it was pouring and we had to just sit their and let the rain pound on us.  After we were wet enough, it was actually very enjoyable because we knew we couldn't get any wetter and we sat back and enjoyed the close game.

Australia, I will miss you.  Being able to explore without calculating nap times and whether or not kids can handle an activity, I will miss that, too.  But I have to admit, now that I have returned to my cute snotty-nosed kids, I am a whole lot more patient and happy.  I missed them.  And while I may think fondly of our rainy days in a distant city, every morning I realize I am where I want to be - with my two favorite little girls.  (Note:  When I say "every morning," I am not including the first 10 minutes after waking up to a child alarm clock.  But the rest of the day after that.)  :)

Australia: Day 6

Our sixth day, we returned from Cairns back to Sydney and explored the city on foot.  (By the way, we still have no idea how to pronounce "Cairns" since every time we said it with our American accents the Australians laughed at us and repeated back a completely different word.)  

Every once in a while, the sun made an appearance and I pulled out the camera from its rain cover.  Without the girls to take photos of and a husband who I had to trick into turning around to get any pics of him, we ended up with a bunch of scenery shots, which may not be particularly interesting to anyone else.  Posted is a condensed version.

The Rocks historic neighborhood.

Here we went to a museum and learned about some crazy facts about the colonists and the Aborigines.  For example, 2 years after settlers came to Sydney, the Sydney Aboriginal population went from about 1,500 to 3 due to a smallpox outbreak among other things.  A similar population decline took place throughout the country.  So sad.

One benefit of the rain: lots of rainbows.

Some views from the Pylon Lookout, part of the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

You've gotta love the one-handed photo shoot, with exposed arm.

As the sun went down, we walked across the bridge and checked out North Sydney.  If it weren't for the torrential storm, we wouldn't have discovered the view from under the bridge, where we had to seek cover.

Then back on the ferry to Manly for dinner with our friends.

Australia: Day 5

(The picture above of us just after our dive is the only thing we actually captured on film.  Apparently the water pressure gave me a humpback and messed with my face - not really sure what's going on there.)

We couldn't go all the way to Australia and not see the Great Barrier Reef, so from Cairns, we took a day cruise to a couple of Reef sites.  There we did some diving, snorkeling, and went out in a glass-bottom boat.  It rained (noticing the theme yet?), but since we were in the water, we didn't really notice much other than the super high waves at our second site.  The view while diving was indescribable - bright fish coming right up to your face and swimming by things like a massive clam that could have fit both Jason and I inside.  Unfortunately, we forgot to buy an underwater camera.

Upon our return, we randomly went to a magic show.  The magician, Sam Powers, was actually quite impressive - we are still trying to figure out how he did some tricks.  Jason even got called up on stage at one point.

For dinner, we ate at an Australian restaurant overlooking the water.  We ate kangaroo, crocodile, emu and Barramundi among other Australian specialties.  Right now I am feeling a little strange telling you this since I was just talking about how cute some of these animals were in another Australia post.  Hmm... well, they tasted good, too!

Australia: Day 4

Our fourth day in Australia, we took a three hour flight north to Cairns, to see the Great Barrier Reef.  We started the day off right - we were supposed to catch a 6:30AM ferry and woke up at 6:45.  Somehow we caught the next ferry at 7:00AM and made our flight.  I still don't know how we did it, but I am glad I didn't have to sit next to me on the plane, considering I was straight out of bed.

Some of you may wonder why my darling husband has so many strange expressions on this trip.  It is because he was trying to speak with an Australian accent.  Not easy, I guess.

Good-bye gray skies of Sydney.  Hello blue skies of Cairns.  (Or so we thought.)

In Cairns, we were able to learn more about the Aborigines at Tjapukai Aboriginal Cultural Park.  We danced with them and enjoyed a show while we ate dinner.  Jason still wishes he could master the didgeridoo.  Maybe next time....

Australia: Day 3

The Blue Mountains + rainy, misty day = the above view.

Day 3, we left Sydney to see the Blue Mountains and do some bushwalking.  We made it there, we just didn't see much of the mountains....  Actually, the first 30 minutes, we saw some breath-taking scenery from the Skyway cable car, which traveled 984 feet above the Jamison Valley, near a gorgeous waterfall.  We thought we would take photos on our way back, when it might be less crowded.  Oops.  

This is the only shot we got of the famous "Three Sisters" rock formation before the mist truly took over.

I have no doubt that this would have been a lovely view.

Despite being soggy while hiking miles in the rain and mud, we still had an enjoyable time with nature and with our friends, Chelsea & Spencer.  Plus, the highlight of the day was traveling down the Scenic Railway, which is the world's steepest at a 52 degree incline.  The rail line was originally used to transport coal and shale from the mines in the 1880s.  It was so steep and fast that the photos were just a blur and not worth posting.

Next to the railway was a real roller coaster built a few decades ago that was going to be the the steepest or fastest or one of those "-est"s.  The day before opening, they tested the coaster and all of the sandbags (representing people) flew out over the cliffs below.  The expensive project was abandoned and the skeleton remains, rusted over.  Awesome story.

Australia: Day 2

On Easter Day, we began the beautiful morning at church (the rain storm came later).  Then we appreciated God's remarkable creations that we had never seen before at Featherdale Wildlife Park.  We ended the day with a fireside, where our friend, Chelsea, was speaking.

The park we went to let us get close to many of the animals, some of which included dingos, koalas, kangaroos and emus.

You could come right up and touch the friendly koalas.  This one is a baby.

So cute.  (Yes, both of them.)

The kangaroos were able to jump around wherever they wanted in the park, with no true fences to keep them bound.

We were even able to feed the kangaroos.  Apparently they like stinky grass ice cream cones.

Australia: Day 1

That's right!  We celebrated our 5th anniversary this year by going to Australia!  It was AMAZING.  We left the girls with my mom for half of the time and we stole our friend's SuperNanny for the other half. Without the kids, we knew we had to make the trip worth it by going to the other side of the world, where no child has traveled happily before.  There is no way to summarize a trip like that, but I will do my best to share some pics from our journey Down Under.

Speaking of Down Under, Jason got into the spirit right as we were about to walk out the door for the airport.  He wanted to check the mail before we left, so out the door he went.  Then he promptly came back to change his pants ... because he dropped our keys down the storm drain.  I imagined him reaching his arm down into something about a foot deep to get them, but I looked out the window just in time to see his head disappear under the street.  The mailman even pulled up and had to wait for him to climb out from under the street before he parked in front of our box / over Jason's head.  But, alas, the deep dig paid off and somehow he managed to retrieve the keys as always (no this is not a first - last time our only apartment key fell down the elevator shaft).

After 18 hours in the air, we arrived in Sydney, home of the famous Sydney Opera House.  It was raining off and on (in Australia, not Seattle).

A view of the Harbour Bridge.

We came across exotic wildlife right away all around the city's main park.  The cockatoos (seen below) would climb on you and eat out of your hand.  There were also bats hanging in massive groups in many of the trees.

Our first day, we went to the highest point in Sydney - the top of Sydney Tower.  They have something called "Skywalk" where you walk out around the tower on an overhanging glass platform.  It is crazy to see everything 260 meters (more than 850 ft.) straight down below you, with only a thin sheet of glass holding you up.

You've got to love the bonus outfits we wore, although I am still confused at why they gave Jason and I the same size, so that mine was super baggy and his was, well... let's just hope we can still have more children.

Easter

Although Jason and I were out of town for Easter Day, we were able to bring the kids to an Easter egg hunt that our friends had at their home the week before.  The hunt involved more than 60 children and 1,000+ eggs hidden in their yard.  Gabby had a blast!

As many have noted, Claire has more expressions than we can keep track of.  Her face says it better than I can even make up thoughts for:

While Mémé stayed with the girls, they celebrated Easter making Rice Krispies Easter Eggs.

Gabby finally discovered that she really does like swings after all.  (I am sure it has nothing to do with the fact that she noticed Claire having fun swinging first.)

 And the girls got to go to church with Mémé in their Easter dresses.

Grandma's 90th Birthday

My amazing Grandmother, Ann, just turned 90, so we had a birthday party for her at our place.  About 50 of her family members showed up for dinner to celebrate.  She has Alzheimer's, so she had no idea who any of us were or why she was there, but she was a good sport anyway.  Well, at least until she started trying to swat at children for running around, but I think she's always done things like that, so I'm not so sure we can blame that on her disease.  Most of these pictures were taken by my talented cousin, Heather (check out her website at (www.heatherpuettphotography.com).

Gabby is all about parties, since they always involve food.

Claire likes to be the center/centerpiece of attention.

Gabby joined a "girls club" with her 2nd cousins and disappeared upstairs most of the evening.

Claire stuck around for her daddy-daughter moments.

Happy Birthday, Grandma!!