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!