Boston

Did you know Jamie ran Boston?
That there line is our inside joke.
You see, two years ago when Jamie ran Boston he went a little crazy with the Boston swag running catalog. Firstly, when you sign up for the race you get a shirt - then Jamie proceeded to buy the following: a short sleeve shirt, a long sleeve shirt, a hoody sweatshirt, a running wind breaker type of jacket, running shorts, a hat, a teddy bear for Annmarie, and a couple of pint glasses. Am I forgetting anything? Probably (oh he also got a medal). Was it a bit excessive? Absolutely. When I saw everything, I rolled my eyes and told him there would be no mistaking that he ran Boston. Then I thought, if I'd ran the Boston Marathon I would have probably done the same thing. Shit I would have gotten a tattoo on my forehead that said - I ran Boston Bitches! Except I'm not really into tattoos, especially facial ones and I typically keep my profanity amongst friends. Also, there is no chance in hell you would ever see me run a marathon. Anyway, you get the idea. I guess you can't make fun of a guy after completing a lifetime goal. Although, that's exactly what I am doing.
So you see whenever Jamie wears one of his Boston items (which is a lot because it makes up half his wardrobe), I say to him - so, did you run Boston? Chuckle Chuckle ha ha. We've even added to the question - with Too Short? Our other code/inside joke for when we have talked about something too much and it starts getting annoying.
Do you follow?

Look. I'm not really sure what I'm trying to say here. Except that Boston is in our hearts. And I really really really wish this kind of violence would stop.

(John and Jamie Boston Marathon 2011)

Lately

The last two weeks or so, minus Easter.

1. The Wiggles. Ben is not really into TV, with the exception of the Wiggles. They drive me crazy, but Ben loves them. You do what you gotta do.
2. We've been really lucky to have found a great babysitter (one of Annmarie's preschool teachers) and Jamie and I have been going out a bit more. I always put Ben to sleep before we leave and Annmarie is easy to deal with. This was our entree from the other night- chilli calamari, form one of our fav restaurants, which we can walk too.  Here's to not having to worry about driving!
3. It was multicultural day a school, Annmarie dressed up as a American cowboy. All I had to do was get a hat and the snap shirt belongs to Ben. Not all that creative, but Annmarie loved the outfit and she thought she looked like Woody.
4. This never happens - Ben passing out on the floor. He had just thrown an epic tantrum and I think he just had had it with himself.

Two words - Golden Door.  I got away for the first time (since being in Oz) all by myself, without Jamie or the kids. I went with one of my Mum friends. I went the the Golden Door health spa for a little weekend retreat in the Hunter Valley. I rested, got my yoga on, went for a 10K hike, was pampered in the spa, ate really healthy food, went to the amazing Tamurlaine Organic Winery, and really missed my coffee. It was amazing. I'd go back in a second even if you can't get coffee or wine on premisses.

Do you spy the roo's boxing? This was right outside my room.

Jamie's cousin along with her BF are taking one amazing holiday around Asia, Australia and New Zealand and they popped in to stay with us for a night. We also met up for dinner in North Syd one night. It's always great seeing family and friends and we got to take them to two of our fav places - the Boat House and Billy Beach. It's a shame they didn't stay longer. I'm also still admiring the gorgeous flowers they brought us :).

In other news...
Annmarie just completed her first term at school, she goes year round. We had a teacher conference last week and the teacher said a lot of great things, but what I was happiest to hear is how she is becoming more confident in class. She loves bringing 'news' to school and the teacher also noted that she likes to chat it up with the boys ;).  She has a little over a two week break and hopefully we find a good balance of staying busy and having some down time.

Easter

It was like two weeks ago now, but here is some of what we did.

The four day weekend started with Jamie getting home from Japan and heading out for lunch at the Warriewood beach Cafe.

Since Jamie was gone all week, he took Annmarie to a birthday party on Saturday and Ben tagged along so I could have some time to myself. He sent me this picture of Ben on a little bush walk.

Sunday morning rolled around with a little visit from the Easter Bunny and packages from the grandparents.

I printed out this big coloring sheet for Annmarie and her and I enjoyed coloring it in.

We also did family portraits, here is my rendition :).

Annmarie had yet another party on Sunday (busy girl) and because I didn't feel like cooking we went out to Barbuto and I enjoyed this tasty Easter crab burger and Ben nearly ate all my hot chips.

Earlier in the week Annmarie had a Easter hat parade at school.

And Ben had a egg hunt at his playgroup.

Also, here is a little video of these two events.  You can probably tell from the pictures, but we have been having an incredible Indian Summer here in Sydney, the weather has been perfect.  And having four days off was a nice break for all of us.