Nana's visit

We continued having a great time with Nana.

We made brownies.
Jamie and I got away for a night. Thanks to some Marriott points we stayed at the Harbour Marriott and had a great view.
We had dinner at Icebergs in Bondi. More incredible views.
Right below the restaurant is Bondi's Olympic size rock lap pool.
We took our first trip to the Sydney Zoo. Where Annmarie enjoyed all the stone animals more than the real ones.
Trying to get a family picture.
We celebrated Nana's Birthday.
Jamie and Nana spent a day seeing the sights of Sydney. They took the ferry from Manly into Sydney.

They saw the bats at the botanical gardens.
We enjoyed other activities and especially appreciated all the help. Annmarie loved having her Nana here and she will be missed.

It was great having you here, Nana!

My parents arrive this weekend.

Nana is here

Our first visitor arrived on Sunday. Annmarie is over the moon to have her Nana here.

Today we went to swim lessons and then headed over to Clareville for some beach time. It was a bit too cool to go swimming, but we were able to build sand castles and run around.
Annmarie looks so much like her Dad in these running pictures.
And lets jump.
We've been taking Nana to all of our regular stomping grounds. We've shown her around our town and the beaches. Gone to the park, library and cafes. It's been great fun.

Here are a couple other pictures.

(AM waiting for Nana)

(At the park)

(Looking up at the bats flying over our house)

Orange

Over the weekend we headed west to the town of Orange. It's about a four hour drive. Orange is known for it's white wine and apple orchards. We stayed at the beautiful Borrodell Vineyard.
On the way over we stopped for a quick break at Hungry Jacks (Burger King). A first for AM.
We got there right before the sun went down and took in the views.
We had a fantastic dinner at the Sister Rock Restaurant located at the vineyard that evening.
The next morning we started our day by picking apples right from the apple trees located near our cottage.
Annmarie thought it was the coolest thing.
We later headed over to the Adventure Playground for AM and then came back to nap.
That evening we headed over to the town of Millthorpe to have dinner at the award winning restaurant Tonic. Unfortunately no pictures where taken because we were trying to occupy AM as there was no cell reception on either of our phones. We ended up ordering AM a bowl of ice cream when our dinners where served and she was a happy clam.

(gas station)

The next day Jamie ran a half marathon in the Orange Running Festival, which consisted of 147 runners. Jame came in 25th place with a time of 1:32:55. Annmarie and I stayed back at our room to relax and picked some more apples.
It was a beautiful weekend. I would love to go back.

Sunnies

Annmarie has been wearing the same pair of sunnies for her entire life. Given to her by her Nana (maybe even before birth); they have traveled all over and have been lost and found countless times. As she got older she grew more attached to them and since we have been in OZ, she has worn them almost every day. And quickly started calling them sunnies after receiving several compliments from people. Unfortunately, a couple of weeks ago they snapped. They lasted longer than any pair of sunglasses I have ever owned. We have replaced them with a cute pair of purple sunnies, but she has told me a number of times that she sill misses her old ones and will ask to see them every now and then.

We will miss you pink sunnies.

(Annmarie and her sunnies)

(broken pink sunnies)