March....

as you would say was full-on. The month started out with a overseas trip for Jamie to Japan. While it was only for four sleeps, it was the longest five days.  Jamie traveling is nothing new, so I'm not sure why it was so intense, but it was. The kids were at each other constantly, and with me.  Ben who never has any sleep issues, was not sleeping.  Nothing was going right for Annmarie and oh the drama. When Jamie got home, he heard a mouthful, it wasn't pretty. Like everything, it passed and we moved on.  However, Jamie was only home for four days and would have to leave again. This time to the US.  I prepared myself and the kids and we took things really slow, I canceled some commitments, did take away for dinner a few times and really just enjoyed March. March by far is the best month here. The weather is mild, the sea warms up, all the tourists are gone, it's just very pleasant. So we took advantage of a beautiful start to March. We spent a lot of time at the beach, did what was necessary, and made sure Ben released enough energy so he would sleep. It ended up being manageable.  Jamie came back to a beautiful sunny day and literary hours after a fourteen hour flight did the Bilgola ocean swim, which then was followed by a crazy fierce storm and a black-out.

Four days later, we had the great pleasure of having Uncle Jon and A visit us. It's been a long over due trip, one I'll write up in another post.

The month also brought great sadness with the passing of Jamie's grandfather.  More thoughts on this in another post.

Here is a look at some pictures from the month.

Puzzles. Both kids love them.

Beach time with mates.  The best.

More water time. The first pic is from last week.

Selfies with my best lil man.

From the Bilgola swim. Seriously, when we got down to the beach it was sunny and then this storm rocked in during the actual swim. Moments after I snapped these pictures we made a run for the car and buckets of rain fell, it was like a scene from a movie with everyone running for cover. Crazy.

When you ask Ben to smile. And a coffee break.

Annmarie all dressed up for Multicultural Day at school, Jamie picked this up in Japan. 

Sunset.
And this recipe, great meal to bring to someone. I like to add sweet cherry tomatoes.

xx

Christmas

Here is a video of our little Christmas just the four of us. It was a fun, simple, special day.



Jamie sadly goes back to work tomorrow after having two weeks off. We had nice holiday at home and activities included: almost daily beach swims, a trip to the dinosaur exhibit in Sydney, a full day in Manly and we entertained friends at home a few times. Unfortunately, Jamie got some crazy stomach bug and missed out on a few fun days, but he did bounce back and was able to end his time off with a ocean swim in Newport today. I'll need to sort through pictures and post more.

Nippers

Annmarie started nippers at the local beach the weekend we got back from the US. It's a great program that teaches children about surf awareness. It's pretty low key at this age and they keep it fun and simple. Annmarie is going along with it right now, the thing is she's not very keen to go in the water right now, because the water is still pretty fresh (cold) - she is not a fan of cold water. Thankfully, they are not in the water all that long. But it's good for her to understand the temperament of the sea, especially while we are living here. That's what makes this program so great is that they start teaching the kids that while the beach is a lot of fun, there are a lot of things that you need to be safe and cautious about. She seems to enjoy most of the activities they do in the sand.  She is pretty wiped out by the end, but loves getting a sausage when its over.  The program runs over spring and summer with a break around the holidays, so we'll see how it goes.

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Caps. Here they jumped into the water at the rock pool and had to collect tennis balls and then try to climb back up to the side.

The girls were split into two groups and they had to run down to the shore and collect a bucket of water and put the water into a bigger bucket...the team with the most water wins.

Sausage sizzle.

Relay racing.

More running - here you need to pick up the flags in the sand, they take away one or two until the last girl is standing. 

Good old fashion tug-of-war.

Girls vs. Dads

Paddle

Athletics Carnival, Surry Hills and Misc.

Annmarie participated in her first Athletics Carnival through school. It was held at the Sydney Academy of Sport. It was pretty low key for the Kinders, the message being to just go out and have fun and introduce them to lanes. They ran one 70 meter race and they didn't give out awards or make a big deal out what place you got. Annmarie claims she got second, but Jamie thinks it was more like third. Unfortunately I didn't go because Ben was home with his man flu. Jamie said she did great, she stayed in her lane and ran right through the finish line. After the K's did their race they played games like egg and spoon on the infield while all the other years did their races.

Jamie, Ben and I headed into Sydney last Friday because I needed to link my visa to my passport. We are going on a 'holiday' very soon - Bali!! It will be an adventure to say the least, but a place we really want to go to while we are still here . Anyway, we went to Surry Hills for lunch and came across this awesome park - Prince Alfred Park and Pool. It was an incredible sunny day.

 Ben liked the park, but was most interested in watching the airplanes and the trains.

We then stopped for Tacos at Mexico-Food and Liquor and we were quite impressed. It's hard to find good Mexican food around these parts.

And in other stuff:
We introduced some Aussies to s'mores. 
I made a curry (it was process) with the help of Curry Traders and I'm hooked and can't wait to try others.
And most days at 4:30 pm you can find Ben looking for buses around the bends.

Lately

Ok right, it's been awhile, like a month. So I'll just ramble and list some of what happened in July.

School Holidays -Annmarie was out on School Holiday's for the first two weeks of July. We didn't do much. Slept in, made pancakes for breakfast, played with friends and visited Dad at work. It was nice not having to live by the school bell, but we were all happy for school to start back up.

Annmarie's Teeth - A couple of months ago Annmarie's lower two bottom permanent teeth started coming up behind her baby teeth. Also known as shark teeth (Dr Google). We let them be for awhile to see if the two baby teeth would loosen and nothing happened; so we took her to the dentist. The dentist wasn't too concerned with them at the moment and told us we (and by we I mean Jamie - he took her) could wait a bit longer to see if they would fall out naturally, he could refer us to a peds dentist or he could pull the two bottom teeth. Right then and there Annmarie said she wanted her baby teeth out, so he pulled them. He numbed her up, told her he was going in with some water, but gave her shots of Novocaine (she claims she didn't feel the shots)! And just like that he extracted her teeth! She was a total champ. Girl will cry over writing a letter backwards, but having her teeth extracted, no big deal. I'm pretty sure if I would have taken her to the appointment, I would have said we'll just wait a bit longer and I certainty wouldn't have been able to see him extract the teeth like Jamie did. She even went to a birthday party right after. That evening the tooth fairy left her two, two dollar gold coins, she was thrilled. Sorry no picture, seems a little invasive.

Here are some random photos from my phone over the school holiday.

Walk/Hike - We went on this little walk down the road from us that leads to a waterfall. It's about 1K to the waterfall and Ben walked/ran almost all of it. It was a beautiful little walk.

French Knitting - Annmarie is really into French Knitting. Here is a link to it if you want the DIY. It basically makes a really long cable and I have no idea what you can do with it.  She learned how to do it at school. She is really into at the moment and it's a great way to kill time, versus TV or the iPad. 

Gross Motor - Annmarie's primary school has a great outpouring of parent support. Parents volunteer for literacy groups, math groups, computer time, gardening and others. Jamie and I try to do our bit and we have been helping out with gross motor. Once a week, weather permitting (it's outdoors), different little stations are set up that work on, balance, dribbling, eye hand coordination, etc. It's complete chaos. Kindergarten teaches rock, seriously. We've been doing it all year, but I've gone to the last two they've had this term and I leave with my head spinning and sounding like a five year old Aussie - it's not cute. 

Open Day - At the end of the month there was a open day at school. Jamie and I visited Annmarie's classroom and looked through her workbooks and saw all her art projects on the wall - she was so proud.  Then there was a little concert; all the years did a little performance and the kindergarteners along with their year six buddies sang The Silly Postman Song.  Afterwards, the parents were able to stay for morning tea and buy treats from the canteen, which consisted of sausage rolls and meat pies.

Man Flu - Ben got sick at the end of the month. Nothing a little babbyccino couldn't fix, well for 5 minutes at least. Ben is a bit dramatic when he is sick. Thankfully, this one didn't last long.

We also went out and saw Ben Ottewell of Gomez - so good. Enjoyed rainbows and sunsets and of course, lots of coffee. Oh the coffee (and wine), that gets me through the snotty noses, Annmaries' dramas, Bens' dramas and all the not so pretty stuff.

 xx

Random Phone Snaps

1. Play after school.
2. Saying hello to the chooks at Annmarie's school. Ben loves them. They roam all around the school and AM tells me they are always hanging around when they have morning tea and lunch. #freerange
3. Babyccino time.
4. Path into school.

 Facetime, it's just so cool.

Enjoying the Military Tattoo festivities in Avalon, which included a American Huey chopper, Ben and Annmarie ate snags (sausages), and we listened to bagpipes.

1. Peppa Pig trance.
2. Annmarie rocking the hike to the lighthouse.
3. Morning sunlight.
4. Double rainbow.

Barrenjoey Lighthouse

On Sunday we ventured up to the Barrenjoey Lighthouse. It's a 1k hike up to the lighthouse and it is all stairs. Annmarie rocked the hike and didn't complain once, we are so proud of her. Keeping her chatting I think was key.  Jamie carried Ben in the Ergo. Here are the snaps.