After Christmas we stayed in Hobart for a whole week. It was nice to spend lots of time with the family, as Gina and Damien stayed on after Christmas too. It was great that the kids could play with Will and Beth all the time. The weather was great while we were down, and we made the most of it by going to the beach. Hinsby Beach just a short drive down the road from Moppy and Poppy's and one day we went to Clifton Beach for the waves to suit the body boarders in the family. The kids are so content at the beach and could really stay there most of the day.....if you keep the food and drinks up to them.
One evening we went to the Taste for tea. It was very busy, but we managed to find a table right in the middle. We had a Seafood platter and this generous dessert, with pana cotta, berries, ice cream and loads of cream.
We picked the right night for the Taste and was able to see the winning yacht from the Sydney to Hobart race cross the finish line. This was a first! In the past we have seen the yachts sail up the river in the night time past Moppy and Poppy's house, but this time the winner arrived in the evening.
Later that week we went and had a look at the yachts down at the wharf. Here are the kids with the winning yacht. We also went to the Salamanca market and had a played in the park which had some great activities for the kids.
The kids were always up early in the mornings, and did some yacht spotting with Poppy.
One day there was a waterfight at Moppy and Poppy's. It started with waterbombs and it esculated to buckets of water and the high pressure cleaner!
Uncle Damien was very good at multi-tasking and took all the cousins for a trailer ride.
One day we made a trip to Zoodoo in Richmond. Linc is very good at roaring like a tiger and he was very interested in the tigers. Maddi and Alex fed the tigers and it definitely worried me when the guide kept warning everyone not to rattle or touch the cage at all. It amazed me that Little Alex didn't do so. Any ideas in his head can be a dangerous thing!
The final thing which we did at Zoodoo was the safari bus to feed the emus. It was quite an experience! Alex sat on the outside with Linc next to Gina, Damien and Beth, and I sat in the middle with Little Alex and Maddi. The emus were in desperate search for the white food bags, and fearing that Little Alex was going to get hurt by one because he was about the only one left with a food bag, I quickly grabbed his bag and hid it under my lap. Fortunately it didn't sniff for it. When we got up to the camels Maddi was worried she was going to get sneezed on by one.
On the New Year's Day holiday we headed back home. On the way home we stopped on by at Hawley Beach and met up with some family.
Mermaids
We returned home to an abundance of oversized zucchinis.
Auntie Gina, Uncle Damien and Beth stayed with us for one more night before they caught a daysailing. We love "Bethie" (as Maddi calls her). Linc learnt to say her name very quickly but always referred to her as "babeeee". Little Alex is still at the "why?" stage and was always asking so many questions about his cute little cousin. Maddi loves to hold Beth and talk to her and I think she is pleased that she has a girl cousin to play with.
We went to the terminal to farewell them, and moved across the river to the jetty to wave them goodbye.
The Spirit turning in the river.
We spotted them from the deck as they sailed past and yelled out goodbye and hoped that they heard us. It was sad to farwell them and to know that next time we see Beth she will be a little older. When we got home Little Alex said he missed Beth.
I always like to see what Christmas stuff is left at the supermarkets post christmas. We picked up these gingerbread men decorating kits from the supermarket and the kids enjoyed decorating and eating them. Best of all the gingerbread was dairy free, so Linc was able to eat it.
That sums up the first couple of weeks of holidays after Christmas. Maddi thought that because Christmas was over, that school was ready to go back and that the Christmas school holidays were complete. She even went around announcing to our neighbour that she was going back to school really soon. So I had to quickly correct her on that perception, before it became too dissapointing. It was dissapointing for her as she loves school and can't wait to get back and be a Prep girl, and be a full-time school girl.
