Summer holidays

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.

Christmas Day

  

On Christmas Eve we stayed at Mum and Dad's the night. It was the first time that we have stayed at Mum and Dad's on Christmas Eve and Santa knew to pay a visit at Grandma and Grandpa's. Mum had made a nice roast lamb for tea and the kids stayed up a little later to watch Carols by Candlelight on TV. The kids left a cookie out for santa, and a carrot for the reindeers, with a note. It was nice to wake up on Christmas morning, listening to the sounds of the country- Cows mooing, the dairy equipment humming and birds chirping. Linc was the first awake at around 6.45am and the kids weren't too long after. Maddi was so happy that Santa had given her some Fairy Dust, one of the things on her extensive wish list. He also left a note to say thankyou to the kids for the treats. The kids opened some presents from us and then we got ready to attend church in Launceston. When I was a kid I really didn't like Christmas Day being on a Sunday, but this time I really enjoyed it and Christmas meant a whole lot more being able to sing Christmas hymns and hear the different christmas messages in church, and feeling uplifted afterwards. After church we had Christmas lunch at Lisa and Aaron's place and we had a delicious lunch of  seafood and salads. It was nice to be able to briefly spend some time with the Kings and Mum and Dad. All the kids love their cousins so much. Linc is especially fond of Jay, and kept pointing and telling us during sacrament meeting that Jay was there.

Mum got these ripper party poppers from Chickenfeed, which we left a great mess and colour in the Kings loungeroom before we left.

 We then headed to Hobart to Moppy and Poppy's house. Maddi was glad that the drive was going to be a whole lot shorter than normal as we were travelling from Launceston. The boys slept most of the way down.The kids were lucky that Santa had filled the kids stockings up in Hobart too, and opened them up on arriving at Moppy and Poppy's. 

We had a roast turkey, stuffing, roast vegetables and ham for mains and summer pudding and raspberry mousse for dessert. Alex's Nana was over for the afternoon, and it was lovely to spend some time with her. Linc is becoming quite familiar with her and will call out "Nana" with his arms widespread wanting her to pick him up to get cuddles from her.

After dinner we exchanged presents. The kids were quite gracious about all the presents they got and I was pleased that they didn't really care what they didn't get, but loved what they did get. Little Alex enjoyed opening presents and would ask when he was going to open more. I don't really think he was into receiving the presents, he just seemed to really enjoy unwrapping them and anticipating what was in them. Linc enjoyed unwrapping the presents and had already had the hang of it well before Christmas, when he unwrapped a lot of the presents we had in our room!

Little Alex in some new sunnies.

Santa had brought the kids all a new pair of PJS. So they went to bed wearing their PJS.We all had a wonderful day. I was pleased that the kids were grateful for what they got and that they just seemed very content to spend time with the family.

It seems as though time has been flying by of late. I am finally around to blogging about our weekend away in Sydney which was about a month ago. It's harder and harder to spend time with Alex of late, as his work takes him away so much at the moment, but it made it even more exciting to be able to spend a weekend away with him, and visit Gina, Damien and Beth. The kids were just as excited to be able to spend the weekend at Moppy and Poppy's house, and I'm sure they hardly missed us at all.

Gina and cute little Beth picked us up from the airport and our first stop was to the Adriano Zumbo shop. We watched his show on SBS when it was on, and said we'd always like to go there and try some of his treats when we visited Sydney. We were hoping to try his famous V8 cake but had no such luck, but tried every single macaroon and a few different cakes.

That evening we stayed with Gina and Damien, and Chrish came around for a barbeque with us. He travelled far out of his neighbourhood, so it was nice that we were able to catch up. The rest of the time with Gina, Damien and Beth consisted of shopping at Miranda, visiting Cronulla Beach and eating lots and lots at a Brazillian Barbeque place. I think we must of got our iron intake for a month there. There were lots of different marinated meats to try. It was all very tasty and we were glad that Gina and Damien introduced us to it.

Beth is just the cutest baby, she was a but unsure of Uncle Alex looking a bit rugged with his beard, but then warmed to him by the end of the weekend. Probably after he shaved the beard for church did she become more comfortable! She is such a GOOD baby too. We got to meet her when she was less than a month old, and now she is such a happy little person.

 

A lovely lunch was had before we left Gina and Damien's.

The last time we were in Sydney was over 5 and a half years ago, so we did lots of reminicing while we were there, as it was where Alex served his mission, and where we were married and spent a bit of our honeymoon. We have lots of fond memories of spending a christmas up there when I was pregnant with Maddi. It was good to just see Gina and Damien's new place, and spend time getting to know Beth.

In the afternoon we caught the train into the city. Our hotel wasn't far away from Circular Quay, so it made was very convenient to catch the train in. We did lots of sightseeing through the city and then finished our walk through the Botanical Gardens. It was so lovely and peaceful there, so different to the city. There were several weddings going on.

We walked around the Opera House and then went to Aria Restaraunt for tea. The views were spectacular as it faced the bridge. The service was great and so was the food. I liked that they gave us several free tastings, so we didn't leave hungry at all. My dessert was the brandy snap mille feuille with caramelised bananas, hazelnuts and salted caramel sauce. I love caramel and bananas. 

  

The view from the hotel pool room.

Our breakfast at the Guylian shop.

The next day was a gorgeous day- Nice and warm. It was hard to head home, but nice to see the kids again. We kept saying the kids would love to do this and that while we were there, but it was nice that it was just us on the trip, and we were able to take time together over a meal or two or three!

"Flush it to Sydney!"

This blog post is a bit late, 5 months late in fact. WARNING: Do not read this blogpost, if you are not interested in details of toilet training.

Just before Easter our boy was finally toilet trained. He was aged 3 and a quarter. It was a long time in the making from start to finish.... He likes to test our patience a little. Anyway he started to show signs of interest back in the summer of 2010, just after he turned 2. This photo was taken when he was aged two. He totally surprised me one day when he did a number two in the toilet, when Lincoln was a newborn. Maddi being the helpful sister wiped for him and was excited to announce to me the exciting news. I got my hopes up a little, and thought that it may just be easier than I had anticipated. I thought I was so lucky to have a newborn and a toddler that was toilet training himself. After all it is a real no no to toilet train a child with big changes in his life. We had moved house and then the following day he had a new sibling, so I never wanted to push him to do it at this stage in his life. But if he wanted to do it himself, I was fine with that. Progress just stopped after a while and he had no interest to do it again.

Then with the warmer weather of summer, just after he turned 3, we tried again.We are lucky enough to live close to the town centre and live close enough to hear the Memorial Clock Tower. From 8am until 9pm everyday, this clock chimes a song on the hour in a minor scale. I used to think that it was so depressing being in a minor scale, but am now so used to hearing it.  On the half hour it dings just the once. This had Maddi stumped a lot, as she would often think it was 1 O'clock!  I have found this clock chime so handy over the years. If I'm out in the garden or elsewhere I know exactly what time it is as I don't wear a watch and have not for years because of the accidental scratching on the kids. I thought that we could use this clock to our advantage. So I started to get little Alex tuned into to listening for the chime. So every time he heard the clock he was to go to the toilet. It was very unlikely that he would have an accident in half an hour. It became quite a novelty at first, and Maddi got so involved in listening for the clock, that everytime she would hear it she wanted to be the first to announce that it was "toilet time!." Nothing like a bit of help and reminder from his big sister!

Then after a while of accidents, number ones were mastered without the aid of the clock. He took great delight in flushing his wees to Sydney. Well he used to say "flush it to Sydney!". Then it was time to master the number twos, because it's not nice at all having to clean underpants everyday with number twos inside. Sorry to be a bit gross with the details! We had a box of presents that he was to choose a present every time he did a number two. That box didn't even get a look in for a couple of months. So after some time, Alex and I did a roster of toilet supervision. Every night after tea, one of us would sit with him at the toilet for about half an hour. We most often would read books to him and went through lots of new books that we had borrowed from the library. Then one day...... a number two finally happened while he was on the loo. He was so excited, and we were too. It was like we had won Tatslotto! He then quickly obtained his gifts of funny glasses, glow in the dark stars, a magic painting book, cars, lollies and other things. After that day we only had a few setbacks, but he finally mastered toilet training with a bit of encouragement from us all and some presents..

All his number twos are being flushed to Sydney now. No idea why he decided they were going to Sydney and not Melbourne, but we are happy that they go to Sydney everyday. Sometimes twice a day! Sorry about sending our mess to you Auntie Gina, Damien, Beth and Uncle Chrish! He still wears nappies to bed but doesn't very often wet them at night. The only trouble we really have now is his independance of wiping. We have to listen out for when he is on the loo otherwise not all of it makes it to Sydney- Some stays on the seat and in his underpants. Sorry about all the details. He was toliet trained just in time to go to visit Moppy and Poppy while we went to Melbourne for the weekend back in May. We are so proud of our boy. He is now trying to teach Linc that art of toilet training. It is so nice to have one sibling pass their knowledge and encouragement of toilet training to their younger sibling. I think Linc will one day thank Maddi for her modesty in this photo!

An 80th Birthday

Back in early August we had a special occasion that brought us down to Hobart for the weekend. It was Alex's Nana's 80th birthday. Alex's Nana is a very special lady, always one to think of others and is such a humble lady. It's hard to believe that she is 80 years old as she is still so busy and young at heart. The kids love their Great Nana, and they are lucky to have her involved in their lives. She is always so busy knitting items for the great grandkids and is known for her very practical smock bibs that have been an asset to the kids wardrobes over the years! The above photo was taken during Christmas 2009.

We celebrated on her actual birthday by going to Blueskies Restaurant, with extended family and friends, from the state and some from interstate. Gina and Damien came down for the weekend and surpised Nana with their visit. It was nice that the occasion brought lots of the family together, as it becomes rarer for family get togethers. Maddi and Alex spent time and became acquainted with their second cousins Joshua and Megan. It turns out that Maddi and Megan are the same age, so that had lots to talk about.  I must upload some photos of the occassion from Alex's phone.




 
We also got to meet Beth our niece and cousin for the first time. Beth is such a beautiful baby. She was four weeks old when we met her over the weekend. She looks a lot like Damien and reminds me a lot of Maddi as a baby. Maybe all baby girls do! She was sleeping well already and Gina is so relaxed and calm as a mother that she seems like she is an old hand. Perhaps all the babies that she has photopgraphed that have pooed and spewed on her over the years, has helped her with the experience!

Linc doesn't seem so babyish anymore. Although the whole weekend he was such high maintenance. He wasn't feeling great the whole weekend and was very clingy and insecure. I was exhausted the whole weekend as I had a sinus infection and Linc wasn't sleeping so well, and the only way he would sleep was to lay right on top of my body. Lucky he is light, otherwise I would of had back problems for the next week. It almost felt like we had a newborn! Little Alex did his nightly awakenings and vommitted after tea on Sunday night, so it was so busy dealing with all the sickness and lack of sleep. We didn't really know that he was sick as he just bounces still and doesn't ever tell us that he is feeling unwell.  Unfortunately, because I wasn't well and didn't want to spread anything to Beth, I didn't give her any cuddles and holds.

Alex and the kids were lucky enough to interact with Beth closely. Alex is such a cluckster when it comes to babies. It was nice to see him with his very first blood niece.

 On Monday morning we got some photos of all the cousins together. These photos crack me up as Will is so busy and wouldn't sit still for the photo. He kept trying to escape. After a while we figured it was easier to put him on the chair so he would stick around a little longer.Will is such a character, he was always cracking us up with his antics.

Before we left we had lunch with Gina, Beth, Becc and Will at Nando's. I love that Nando's conforms with our dietary requirements. We also discovered a great patesserie in North Hobart called Sweet Envy. It felt like a touch of Melbourne had come to Hobart. I had my tastebuds out for some macaroons, but they had sold out, so instead I got a piece of cake. We left Hobart in the late afternoon. It was lovely to meet Beth and be there for Nana's special occasion. I love that Alex has the flexibility in his work to have long weekends. Weekends with the family are the best weekends. Don't grow up too fast Beth. I want to have a cuddle, while you're little.

18 Months young

Time flies when you're having fun! The 12th of July marked Lincoln's 18 month of age mark. Linc was so brave when he got his immunisation for chicken pox- He didn't let out a sound. Little Alex has trained him tough! He's still not walking, (although he took 2 steps a couple of weeks back) or crawling, but bottom shuffling around. He is so quick that it's no wonder that he has no tummy- He must burn everything off. He is so powerful and efficient at it that he gets airborne and you hear a galloping sound on our wooden floorboards. He loves the outdoors although I do not let him outside unless the grass is dry, which is very rare at the moment. He leaves big tracks on the grass with his bottom shuffling.

He loves to climb into the cupboards and the dishwasher when he has the chance, he enjoys pulling  books off the bookshelf, playing with electronic devices, putting things in the toilet, having baths, dancing and enjoys playing in the saucepans cupboard.  His older brother likes to join in with all the banging and crashing of the saucepans. His favourite place in the whole house is the pantry. He goes in there for some "eat! eats!" and is on the hunt for some yummy food. He gets very excited when he finds some marshmallows and his special dairy free and gluten free chocolate covered biscuits.

A few weeks back he officially entered nursery. To us he still feels like a baby, and I really do not know where the last 18 months have gone. So far the transition into nursery has been smooth sailing. We have a great nursery leader who is on the ball and knows all the 15 nursery kids so well. Anna does a great job, she must be exhausted when she goes home to look after her two little ones! 

Little Alex will still be in nursey until next year with Lachie. Eamon will still be in for another year. It's great to go to church with some cousins. Uncle Jared is an assistant in nursery so there are lots of familiar faces in there for Linc to be comfortable with.

Linc plays on his own usually, but this particular day he started interacting with Seanan who is a day older than him.

 " I will know this child for all of eternity as an adult, but it is only for a short time that I will know each of them as a child. What a privilege it is to know them as a child " Quote from Hilary Weeks from the TOFW. Thanks Carli for sharing these quotes on your blog. This quote really touched me. We are very blessed to see this little boy as a child. 

They wish it were summer

The kids have been pretending that it's summer time of late. I brought the tunnel out of the playroom to encourage Linc to crawl through it. No chance of that happening though- All I see is a little head that bobs up and down as he bottom shuffles through it! Maddi came up with the idea of opening a waterslide down the stairs that is open "every, each season."

                                           

They have also been having lots of camping trips in the lounge room. Before I know it, little Alex has clothing off his shelves and packs it into every single bag they own. Blankets are brought out and summer pjs are on for their campout. The sure are fast at bringing it all out, but are very slow to put it all back for some reason!

Maddi 'camping' in her summer Pjs.

Maddi was very excited today when we went for a walk, as she noticed the trees were in blossom. Come soon spring, we love you and are looking forward to planting more vegies in the garden and getting outside more.