Jon

At the end of March Uncle Jon and Andrea came to visit for a little over a week - it was about time!  Everyone had a great time, but the kids were over the moon. Ben likes to call him My Jon and wanted to know where he was at all times.  This picture pretty much sums up what it was like for Jon.

Some of our outings included..

A trip to the Sydney Zoo. It rained a bit, but I think the weather worked in our favor, as there were no crowds and the animals were really active. This koala jumped branches in front of us, which was pretty cool, considering they sleep like 20 hours or more a day.

Ben loved all the reptiles.

He actually really enjoyed everything.  Well, everything until we wouldn't buy him the chop chop (helicopter) from the gift shop.

Ben was a little scared of the emu, which he kept calling a dinosaur.

The emu also fancied Jon and Andrea.

The emu knew they had food.

The emu was also keen for a few selfies.

 It was a bit smitten with Andrea too.

We took them to one of our favorite beaches - Palm Beach.
Cheese.

 

We got a sitter one night and went to a restaurant in the village and then went next door to the new pub.  This way we were able to walk home. I think you would call this happy #ineedtogetoutmore.

These oysters form our night out were awesome and the following morning Jon and Andrea whipped up brekky inspired by Gordon Ramsay - yum!

Other memorable moments not pictured included: A day to the Basin where we hired stand up paddle boards, wine tasting in the hunter for Jamie, Jon and Andrea, fun dinners at home, Star Wars and Despicable Me 2 viewings, a beautiful morning at the farmers market and more I'm probably forgetting.

It was awesome. Come back!

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

Recent Snaps

 Trains. Always trains.

 Date. Boy gets my phone. Beach. Crazy smile.

 Tea time.

 Don't let the sweetness fool you.

 My favorite!

First day of school and losing teeth.

Annmarie started Year 1 the last week of Jan! All went well and she is happy to be back at school. 

Oh this picture.

She started back up on a Wednesday, so it was a nice short school week. We went for a after school swim at the beach that Friday and it happened to be low tide. Always awesome when you can time that.

 Ben misses Annmarie when she is at school and pouts after we drop her off, it's pretty cute.

Then the following week Annmarie lost her upper tooth, her two top teeth have been wobbly forever. Jamie pulled it out, I couldn't look, and Annmarie was happy to have it out.

 

Then a couple of days later her other tooth went. Jamie pulled this one out as well while Skyping with Grandma and Papa. I still giggle a bit when I see her smile. Oh I'm going to miss those baby teeth.

So back to school and losing teeth, it's been a big couple of weeks for that girl of ours.

xx

Summer Holidays, Other Stuff and a Recipe

For the remaining Summer Holiday from school we had a good balance of activities, going to the beach and time spent at home. Here is a look at some of it.

We did a nature/frog walk at a local wildlife garden with some friends. Annmarie was very proud of her little craft (a frog pond) that the kids did after the walk.

Annmarie loves making things with these beads from Ikea. I would often set her up during Ben's nap and this would keep her plenty busy. Coloring together, the best.

Annmarie got her hair cut! It was out of control, this was much needed.

Holidays call for puffed pancakes (recipe below), perfect for lazy mornings. We made these a few times. And isn't this picture sweet, too bad he had just bashed Annmarie over the head and he is apologizing.

We live in the bush.

Ben is always trying to trap a bug. We were a bit off schedule during the holiday, the kids were staying up late and Ben would often take three hour naps. Awesome, but if I ever wanted him to go to bed at night I would have to wake him up after that three hour mark. He's still in his cot. I plan on keeping him there until he's 18. There are only a few predictable things with this boy, his general behavior is not one of them, but sleeping in his cot, that, he loves.  We'll go with it as long as we can.

Probably the most exciting thing that happened over the holidays was Annmarie learned to ride her bike sans the training wheels! Yay! I take no credit for this. She did it all herself. For about a week she kept saying she was ready and wanted to learn to ride her bike (she had previously been too scared), so Jamie took off the training wheels and pretty much that was it. She got it really fast. Her balance really improved when she got the two wheel razor scooter, so it was just a matter of mastering the pedals. Obliviously, the bike is small for her. We'll probably wait until after summer and look into getting her a new bike. In the meantime, she is still having fun on this one.

Annmarie started back up with nippers (they took a break during the Christmas holiday). And lots of riding and scooting in the street.

Other happenings not pictured during the holiday include; a swimming intensive class for Annmarie (basically she went to a class everyday for a week), painting, other crafting and puzzles. We had a couple of barbeques with friends. Jamie went to Japan for five sleeps and I drank a lot of wine by myself. 

The summer holiday/break was a little over six weeks and it ended up being the perfect amount of time. I thought for sure I would be counting down the days for school to start back up, it helped that Jamie was around for the first two weeks. I know I enjoyed the time and I'm pretty sure everyone else did too. It wasn't all perfect, but there was more fun than not.

Any who.

Here is the recipe for the puffed pancakes:

Enjoy!

In other news. Annmarie started Year 1 and has lost some teeth. I'll be back with more on that!
xx