Random Snaps

Jamie participated in another ocean swim. 

 Ben has a new vice.

 We went to the Basin with my Mother's Group and Ben passed out on the Ferry.

Annmarie went Boogie boarding for the first time and she did great! I cropped this picture but right next to her was a friend's mum helping her catch waves. There's a great place in Palmy called kiddies corner, perfect for kids. She was really brave, even after a dump.

 Frozen homemade smoothies - he liked.

 Annmarie before a superhero party.

Tassie

Last weekend we ventured to Hobart Tasmania for three nights. We've been wanting a good excuse to go to Tassie, so when Jamie saw there was a marathon there we (he) decided we should go. Hobart is beautiful, the water, the mountains in the back drop, and the harbour reminded us a bit of the Ferry Building in SF.  While the trip centered mostly around Jamie's run and diet needs (runners get weird with what they eat before a race - insert eye-roll), we all managed to get a little something out of the trip. 

We took the kids to a Tasmania wildlife park to see these little devils. Wikipedia characterizes Tasmanian devils as stocky and muscular build, black fur, pungent odour, extremely loud and disturbing screech, keen sense of smell, and ferocity when feeding. They creeped me out.

The park also had your standard Aussie wildlife. Ben loved the roos. The kid has showed no fear over animals, goes right up to them.  People on the other hand are a different story.

After visiting the park both the kids fell asleep in the car back to the hotel. There was a large market going on in Salamanca Place (near our hotel), so Jamie drove around with the kids while I did a bit of shopping and then I stopped for a chocolate brownie and champagne, it was bliss. 

The first night we were there we just stopped at a popular fish and chips cafe, and the second night we had some awesome pizza at Cargo Pizza, while the third night we ate at Barcelona. Always an experience dining with Ben, but we survived.

Ben would eat his weight in hot chips if we let him.

Jamie's marathon was on Sunday. The kids and I didn't make it out for the race, it would have been too stressful trying to get the kids out for it. The hotel had a shuttle for the runners, so it worked out fine. Jamie didn't have much to say about the race, the conditions were great and he was happy with his time.

It's a two hour flight from Sydney and it went by fine. Ben took a little nap both ways. Getting through the airport always seems to be the tricky part.

I really liked Hobart and it's a shame we didn't get to explore more of the island because there appears to be some really beautiful spots. Tasmania is also popular for it's wine and cheese, so it would have been fun to explore a bit of that - maybe one day.

My two little devils.

Visitors

It's pretty awesome when friends visit. Both the wonder twins (and Jamie's childhood friends) have crossed over to the Southern Hemisphere for a visit now. This visit we experienced some true Australian summer days. When Bonnie was here last year it rained for days.  It's lovely having friends visit and we're glad J and K included a stop in the Northern Beaches to see us.

We stayed local because when you are lucky enough to live in a place like this, you really don't need to go far.  Here is some of what we did.

Fun at the local rock pool!

Hearing some BIG news and having a little toast. Congrats again Bonnie!

Yum dinner.

Investigating Aussie spiders. We had a scary one, a White Tip one night and just some house spiders outside. The house is being sprayed soon.

Dinner at Ripples followed by drinks a Ferrall's Basement.

This is just an awesome picture K took of Jamie when we meet them in Sydney earlier in their adventure and had to post it.

Not pictured: Lunch at the Boat House, a couple of meat pie lunches, Toy Story viewings with Annmarie, morning at Clareville beach and the coffee boat, runs (me not included), bacon egg rolls, and a very full glass bottle recycling bin.

Good Times!

Visitors always welcome.

2012: A Year in Review

Pictures from 2012.

And a long slide show with even more pictures.  Man 2012 went by fast.





Music: Home Phillip Phillips and Ocean John Butler

New Year's Eve

New Year's Eve consisted of going to the beach, having dinner outside (again, we put Ben to sleep first) and roasting marshmallows on the barbie. We let Annmarie stay up to watch the 9:00 pm fireworks on TV and Jamie and I made it to about 11:00 pm.

Happy New Year!

Other Holiday Fun

My parents stayed with us for three weeks. They were here for Annmarie's Christmas Concert, her Birthday and Christmas.

Here are some other snaps of things we did while they were here.
Brekky. Ben enjoying a babyccino.

Lots of time at the beach

Annmarie and I had couple of dates together.

Grandma and Papa played countless games with Annmarie.

We took the Ferry out to The Basin one day. Where we enjoyed the clear water

And we tried our hand at paddle boarding. Very awesome. It was the perfect place to learn.

Even Annmarie had a go.

We cleaned up Christmas.

Jamie and I went out a lot. A lot. Seriously, we went out more in the three weeks my parents were here than we have the last two years we've lived here. We had a great dinner after Jamie's first Ocean swim at Barbuto. Great Indian.  Jamie's office had a little Holiday gathering in the city and then we ditched it and went to Jamie Oliver's restaurant. We finally made it to Clareville Kiosk, this was basically our Christmas present to each other. Went with some friends to a decent Mexican restaurant. And finally, we met up with some friends visiting and headed to the Opera Bar and then a fantastic restaurant in Surry Hills, Longrain. It was a lot, but also a lot of fun!

Christmas Eve and Christmas

Christmas Eve day started out shopping with the rest of the people that waited to the last minute to do all their food shopping - I'm guessing to get everything as fresh as possible. It was a bit crazy and Jamie handled most of it, he's good like that. Annmarie and I baked for Santa and we kept things simple the rest of the day. For dinner we had prawns and Aussie chorizo (which is different from the chorizo you get in the States). 

And a pumpkin salad.

We ate dinner outside, after we put Ben to sleep. We love you to bits Ben, but as dinner guest you are far too demanding.

We had these cookies and pumpkin bars for dessert.
Annmarie was very excited for Santa and colored a picture and of course left him cookies and milk, however I didn't take any pictures of this.

Christmas morning flew by as the kids tore through their gifts.

With the big hit being the bubble machine. Unfortunately, it rained Christmas day so we resorted to the garage for testing out the machine. Maybe the best $20 I've (I mean Santa) ever spent.

It's pretty awesome, it blow bubbles inside bubbles.

We grilled a huge leg of ham. We had ham for days.

A salad.  Potatoes, green beans and asparagus - not pictured.  We did have an early Christmas dinner so Ben joined us.

We had a Christmas Pavlova for dessert. 

It was a fab day and it was wonderful having family here.