The Malin Family

"The Edge"

2012-02-02T11:48:00.003+11:00

We went to the top of "The Edge" at Eureka tower since it was one of the landmarks that we had to visit! It was good to see everything from high up and get a better idea of where things were located within the city.
This is where the Australia Open Tennis was played (every Jan)

Thought this was fun of the bees on the side of the building - took the picture for my sister-in-law, Erin! ;) ;)
The Eureka Tower

Our first day

2012-02-02T11:34:00.002+11:00

This is what we woke up to our first morning - Ha! The kids found these in the closet - they crack us up!
I was being funny and stuck a shower cap on Lance in the bathtub before Grace got in. Well, she thought this was great and had to have one, too!!
taking a little break while walking around
One of the walking bridges
Melbourne is a very "artsy" city and it's known for art and restaurants. There are sculptures and artwork everywhere! The kids wanted a picture with this one....

Melbourne Trip!

2012-02-02T11:23:00.002+11:00

One of our gifts to our kids was to surprise them with a trip to Melbourne. We left on Dec. 26th and arrived back home on Dec. 31st. It was a WONDERFUL trip and I enjoyed Melbourne even more than I thought I would. We were pleasantly surprised! ;) Josh travels there all the time for work, but the airport is outside of the city and the GM plant is also outside of the city, so he hadn't really seen much of it either. It was so much fun exploring together and seeing all the different things there.
A shot of part of downtown
taking a little walk after arriving.
having a Coke on the roof of our hotel

the view from our hotel room - you can see the ocean in the distance! ;)

Christmas pudding

2012-01-29T23:24:00.002+11:00

The tradition of the Christmas pudding is HUGE here in Australia! I would best describe it as a "fruitcake" and to be honest, I was quite nervous to try it. It blew my expectations out of the water!!! I LOVED it! It was so good! Of course, Dina's mom is an excellent cook and this is something that she basically works on for a full year - let's just say, it was VERY home made!! As in the previous post, you saw it hanging from the ceiling. This part of the process is letting all the flavors settle. Basically, after the previous Christmas, she begins to soak the fruit in brandy for the next Christmas. I think (if I remember correctly) she makes it at least 4 -6 weeks in advance and then wraps it in the cloth. Then, about an hour or so before we eat it, she boils it. She also hides several sixpence inside the cake, so you have to be careful when eating it! If you get a sixpence it's supposed to "bring good luck for the next year". She likes to keep her sixpence for the next year, so she actually handed out money to those that found one!! I found one in mine - I was pretty excited!! They also eat it with ice cream and you can pour custard over the top. Again, not normally my style, but I would SOOO eat hers again!!!!Here's my piece with the sixpence sticking out - yeah!! (I'm sure they thought I was very weird taking pictures of the cake - Ha!)
My sixpence!
before eating it, with custard poured over it.
Josh had some ice cream on his
The Christmas Pudding - before it was cut into.

Enjoying the day

2012-01-29T23:16:00.002+11:00

Everyone at the dinner table.
This was cute, one of their grandchildren and Lance were sitting under the table playing together.
playing outside with the "kitchen"
another table shot - that's Dina in the front!
the men sitting outside talking - it was kind of weird having our first "summer" Christmas, but I LOVED it!!!

Christmas traditions!

2012-01-29T22:57:00.004+11:00

We had some invites from people to come spend Christmas day with them since we didn't have family around - we were overwhelmed with how sweet and generous everyone was. We ended up going to Dina's parent's house in downtown Sydney around noon after opening presents, etc. Christmas morning. Dina also works for General Mills and is Australian. When in college, she decided to study abroad at Iowa State and ended up marrying a guy from Iowa!! Anyway, they live here in Australia now and have two daughters, about Grace and Lance's ages. We've been to her parent's home once before, so the kids had already met! It was so much fun to be a part of a true Australian family's traditions. Thank you again for letting us be a part of your day!wearing their crowns for dinner! Too funny!
Trying to open one of the poppers!!
Our meal consisted of different types of cold cut meats that Dina's mom had made/roasted the day before and lots of different salads - it was DELICIOUS!
Another tradition is the Christmas pudding - I'll explain more about that in another post. The "pudding" is hanging from the ceiling on the right.
They have several Christmas traditions in Australia. One tradition is everyone has a "Christmas Popper" at their place at the table. You're supposed to pull one end while another person pulls the other end (kind of like a wish bone) and it makes a "pop" when it's opened. Whoever gets the bigger half "wins" what's inside that popper. You keep trying until you "win" one! Inside are different little "gifts", sometimes an ornament, a joke or riddle, and a crown. Everyone is supposed to wear their crowns during the dinner. It was a lot of fun!

Jesus is born!!!!

2012-01-29T22:41:00.002+11:00

Merry Christmas!! Jesus is born! It was a beautiful day in Australia! Oh, and Santa also came, so the kids were pretty excited about that as well! ;) Good thing we threw out the reindeer food to help them find our house!searching for the pickle ornament on the tree.....(thank you Uncle Paul and Aunt Angee!)
opening their stockings
seeing their gifts!
getting ready to head downstairs to see if Santa came!
It looks like Santa made it!

Thank you

2012-01-25T22:35:00.002+11:00

Thank you, also to Uncle Ben and Aunt Jill for the awesome books you sent! Great choices! They got here a little later, so I don't have any pictures...sorry! Also, thank you Aunt Lis and Uncle Josh for Grace's new AG Kanani outfit and the leapster game. They LOVED them! Also, thank you Grandma and Grandpa for all the gifts you brought for them. You are all very generous and the kids had a wonderful time with you here. (more of those pics to come, after the Melbourne trip! Ha!) Will I EVER catch up?????

And up on the rooftop....

2012-01-25T22:22:00.002+11:00

throwing out our food for the reindeer! Of course, it has glitter in it so they can see their way to our house!
Ready for bed with our new p.j's on. Even our Build-A-Bears have their new outfits/p.j's on!

Our big gift to the kids, was surprising them with a 5 day trip to Melbourne. Josh travels there a lot for work, and the last time he went, he told them "maybe he would take them with him the next time he goes!" They were really excited! LOTS more pictures, etc and more of that to come...
The kids got each other gifts, too. Grace got Lance an Angry Bird, and Lance got Grace a Mermaid Barbie for the bathtub. They picked them all out on their own! Very sweet.

Christmas Eve gifts

2012-01-25T22:02:00.003+11:00

An Architect Barbie from Nana and Papa! How appropriate!
Thank you Nana and Papa for our new Build-A-Bear outfits!!
Lego sorter from Nana and Papa
Thank you for our new books, Uncle Paul and Aunt Angee! We love them!
Yeah! More Leapster games, thanks Uncle Andy and Aunt Erin!

Christmas Eve

2012-01-25T19:51:00.002+11:00

After going to the Christmas Eve service at Hillsong, we came home and opened presents from all our aunts, uncles, cousins, Nana and Papa, and mom and dad! Normally I wouldn't post or take pictures of all their presents, but I wanted to share it with everyone who sent the kids stuff, so they could see their faces! I thought it would be fun for you all, after sending it all the way to Australia! Sorry I'm so late in posting!! They loved and appreciated everything you all got for them. Thank you so much for your generosity! Their annual Christmas Eve p.j.'s that they get every year. It was very weird buying them summery p.j's for Christmas!!
Thank you Aunt Erin and Uncle Scott! Lego Race game!!
Thank you Aunt Erin and Uncle Scott! Wait until you see our Melbourne pictures, she's wearing her new purse in just about every one! She takes it EVERYWHERE!
"Red" the Elf chose his hiding place wisely for his last day with us until heading back to the North Pole again!
Getting ready to open our presents!

Taking a break

2012-01-14T23:06:00.002+11:00

I just thought this was cute....they were "taking a break" outside between baking cookies, etc. Just enjoying the beautiful day!

Making Christmas Cookies!!

2012-01-14T22:57:00.003+11:00

Yup - I'm just a TAD behind on my pictures, BUT I will continue to plug away at it and try to eventually get caught up! Ha! Josh's parents, John and Carlene, are here right now and we're enjoying our time with them! In the meantime, I will forge ahead, and continue to BLOG! ;)

In December, we made some sugar cookies, chocolate chip sandwich cookies, and brownie/oreo/cookie bars - they were all DELICIOUS!! The kids had a great time!
Showing off their frosting skills

prefrosted sugar cookies
cutting them out
making our bars

Goodbye Wetherbees - what a great day!

2012-01-08T22:12:00.002+11:00

Riding back to Sydney from the beach

having ice cream before saying goodbye :(

Bob hanging out with the kids on the beach. Lance fell down and got soaked when Ellen was watching him - Ha! You know I'm just giving you a hard time, Ellen!

Thanks again for the awesome day! We enjoyed seeing our FIRST visitors from the states!!!

Off to Manly Beach

2012-01-08T22:06:00.002+11:00

Someone made this sand octopus on Manly Beach - pretty cool!
riding the ferry over to Manly
sailboat

This advertisement was in the train station. Coke has a great marketing idea right now where every bottle has a different name on it - "share a coke with...." they even had Santa as one in December! Very clever - people buying Coke, just to drink one with their name on it! I haven't found Raquel yet, though...

One last time....

2012-01-08T22:01:00.001+11:00

I know, I know......we always have to say good-bye to the koalas!great pic Wetherbees!

precious

We love the koalas...

Crocs!

2012-01-08T21:54:00.002+11:00

We saw the feeding time for the crocodile and it was crazy! It's amazing how high he can jump up when he wants something - scary!!
ready to pounce....
"petting" the echidna

Kangaroos!

2012-01-08T21:48:00.001+11:00

They were really hungry today!! Watch out for the emus - they were stealing all the food from the kangaroos - ha!

Koalas at Featherdale

2012-01-08T21:42:00.001+11:00

Petting a kookaburra with the wallaby in the background - Ellen was scared of the birds!

loving on the koalas - can't get enough!!

Day with the Wetherbees!!!

2012-01-08T21:28:00.002+11:00

On Dec. 18th we were able to spend the day with the Wetherbees!!! They are my sister-in-law (Erin's) parents and sister, Ellen. Ellen had been student teaching this past semester in New Zealand, so when she was finished, her parents came over to do a New Zealand/Australia trip! We were so excited to find out that they were happy to spend one of their Australia days with us! We went and picked them up at their hotel and drove out to Featherdale first. They loved being able to see and pet all of the Australian animals there - it's a winner!! We then drove to our train station, picked up some sandwiches, and ate on the train on our way in to Sydney. We then took the Ferry over to Manly Beach where we saw the ocean and had some fish and chips for dinner. We took the Ferry back to Sydney, had some ice cream and said good-bye (it was about 8PM!) We had a super fun, jam packed, Australian day! Thanks, Wetherbees, for sharing it with us!!

LOVE Cindy's face here - it really is amazing the first time!!
Ellen, Lance and Grace holding a bearded lizard - NO thank you!

The finished product

2012-01-05T22:45:00.002+11:00

We took some pictures of us eating the gingerbread house on Christmas Eve day because it's something we've never done before! Everyone I told was shocked that we just threw ours away after Christmas! Well, when you get it from a kit in Target, IKEA, etc., you don't even want to eat it when you're making it!off came the roof!
daddy helping...
This is where it sat, on our kitchen table, until Christmas!

all done!

Making of a Gingerbread house!

2012-01-05T22:34:00.002+11:00

We put together our annual gingerbread house again this year! It's different over here, though, in the fact that most people who do it, buy the pieces special from a bakery. Then everyone picks at it and eats it during Christmas day! It was very weird to eat the gingerbread house and not just throw it away this year! The kids had fun doing it and the candy stuck quite nicely to the frosting.
working diligently
this is the candy the bakery sent to us

the beginning stages

Dinner and the park!

2012-01-04T22:42:00.002+11:00

After Mary Poppins, we took the kids to the new park in Darling Harbor they just opened a month or so ago. It was pretty cool and LARGE! I don't think it would pass the safety inspections in America, but the kids seemed to enjoy it! Yes, that's Grace at the top in the red skirt - it was VERY high up and I was kind of freaking out! Not good if you fell!
The giant slide!
This was really cool...they had this huge section that was like a giant water table (you know the kind at kid's museums where they have water tables and the kids can make dams, turn things, etc.), but this was life size! I think Josh really enjoyed it as well! ;)
After the park,we had dinner in Chinatown at The BBQ King! We got it as a recommendation and let me tell you, it was GOOD!!! Some of the best chinese food I've ever had! We're definitely taking Josh's parent's there!
Yummy!

Next stop.....MAARRRYYY Poppins!!!!

2012-01-04T22:32:00.002+11:00

I saw Mary Poppins on Broadway before we moved when I went with some friends to NYC, but the whole time I kept thinking about how much Grace would love it! We were thrilled when we moved here and realized it was playing in Sydney! The kids were MESMERIZED (sp?) the whole time! It was supercalifragalisticexpealidocious - HA! I have no idea if I spelled that right or not - you know what I mean! ;)
Fun shot inside with the umbrellas
Ready to see Mary Poppins!

Visiting Santa

2012-01-04T22:22:00.002+11:00

This was definitely the coolest experience we've ever had visiting Santa! It was GORGEOUS!! AND he was the NICEST, most engaging Santa I've ever met as well!!

These were all the crystals (and you can see the top of the tree) hanging above his head.
picture time!

Grace telling him what she wanted and Lance listening on intently! (Notice the nice bruise between his eyes!)

Swarovski Christmas Tree

2012-01-04T22:07:00.003+11:00

Josh took a day off in December and we went to see Mary Poppins in Sydney! It was a truly magical day!! We took the train in the morning to the QVB (Queen Victoria Building) where they have a 75 foot Christmas tree completely decorated in Swarovski crystals!! It was beautiful! This is also where they have an "ice palace" (also made of Swarovski crystals) where you can go and visit Santa! So, of course we had that on the agenda! It was perfect because they gave us a buzzer and we were able to walk around the building and see all the shops and displays instead of having to wait in a long line. The kids especially enjoyed watching the model trains. After visiting Santa, we grabbed some lunch and headed to Mary Poppins!

part of the tree

You can see part of the tree behind the kids on the same floor, and then the ice palace with Santa behind them one floor up!
The bottom floor and the bottom of the tree! :)

Carols by Candlelight

2012-01-04T00:02:00.002+11:00

We enjoyed a beautiful service at our church - Carols by Candlelight. Everyone had "safe" candles and enjoyed singing Christmas hymns and remembering what the true meaning of Christmas is. It was a lot of fun!

Decorating the Christmas tree

2012-01-03T23:50:00.002+11:00

Ok - so I know Christmas AND New Year's are both over, but I'm running about a month behind on the blog!! We were VERY busy this month and I just didn't take the time to keep up with it. We enjoyed our family time and holiday!! Obviously we decorated the tree in early Dec. It's our first official artificial tree we've ever had and after we get back to the states - it will be our LAST!! We are definitely a "real tree" family!! We're used to having 9ft. plus trees, but this worked perfect for the time being. It was the quickest we've ever decorated a tree that the kids even said, "That's it?! It's done already?!" Sad! Josh will be enjoying these next 3 easy years - ha!! Even so, I had to post some pictures - we had a great time!

Last Christmas Card pics

2012-01-02T23:00:00.001+11:00

Here are the last bunch I wanted to post. We took a lot and had fun doing it! Can't go wrong with a backdrop like that! ;)

More Christmas Card pics

2012-01-02T22:54:00.000+11:00

pictures on the beach

Christmas Card

2012-01-02T22:47:00.002+11:00

Some more pics - we were having fun!

Christmas Card pics

2012-01-02T22:33:00.002+11:00

I know most of you have probably already seen these, since they were on our Christmas card this year, but I just wanted to post them since they were actually good pictures! They were taken on one of the northern beaches (about 30 min. drive) from our house. It was pretty funny as we took all of them ourselves - had to haul a stool out to the beach and everything since, unfortunately, our tripod somehow got put into storage! :( One of those things, I guess!

Last day of 2nd Grade!

2011-12-23T00:22:00.002+11:00

Grace had her last day of 2nd Grade on Dec. 8th! It's so crazy to think that she will be starting 3rd grade in Feb. and Lance will be starting Preschool! Where has the time gone?? We are really proud of Grace because she received the "Most Cooperative" award (which is like the Citizenship award) in her class!! We're amazed at what she's accomplished and how far she's come since jumping into 2nd grade halfway through in July! She also tested and was put into the "Independent Learners" class for 3rd grade! We're so proud of you!! Good On Ya, Grace!! ;) ;) I was also pretty excited about Mrs. Stephen's gift that we made for her, something cute to put in her classroom - thanks Pinterest!! What a great site!

receiving her award at the assembly

Sydney Harbor Dinner Cruise

2011-12-23T00:11:00.002+11:00

Back in early December, the Social Club at Josh's work had a Sydney Harbor Dinner Cruise. It was our first time to get a babysitter since we've lived here! We found one and she's amazing!! She's actually from Tennessee and goes to our church! She's attending Hillsong College right now. It was cool to see the Opera House and the Harbor Bridge at night on the water. The pictures aren't very good as it was on my phone and through the window, but we had a great date night!

Iowa Shirt!

2011-12-23T00:07:00.002+11:00

Random post, but I had to share......we were shopping a few weeks back in the big mall near our house and saw this t-shirt in one of the nice Australian clothing stores! It's actually a really cute store, but SUPER expensive - I think this kid's t-shirt cost over $40....really?!!! So, unfortunately, we didn't get it, but HAD to take a picture - who knew?!

David and Jane's house

2011-12-22T23:54:00.002+11:00

So this post is actually a continuation of the previous kangaroo post. These pictures are from that same day that we saw the wild kangaroos, but were on my phone, and I just now got around to loading them onto our computer! Needless to say, I'm WAY behind on the blog!! I have A LOT to catch up on! Anyway, they're wearing the same outfits as our Christmas card, because we also took those photos on the beach that day before heading out to the Blue Mountains to David and Jane's house. Besides seeing the wild kangaroos, David and Jane's son, Ben, gave the kids a little ride on his motorbike. It looks really SCARY in the pictures, but let me to tell you, he went VERY slow and was super awesome with them! Even if they would've fallen off (which they wouldn't have), they wouldn't have gotten hurt. You know me, I'm ultra protective anyway, so you can imagine it was fine. The kids enjoyed feeding the ducks in their yard

Lance holding on for dear life! Hilarious!! He wasn't sure he wanted to do it until Grace did (she couldn't wait to get on and even said after her first ride that he could've gone faster - oh my!)
Grace is ready to go!
Thanks Ben! That was very sweet of you! This is the "oval" they rode around in.

Wild Kangaroo Sightings!!

2011-12-14T21:27:00.004+11:00

A couple Saturdays ago, we were invited to go and visit the house of someone that Josh works with. His name is David and he is actually the "old" plant manager at the GM plant in Sydney. He and his family are moving to Melbourne in January. They live in the Blue Mountains, so this was our first time to head over in that direction! They live on 5 acres and everyone in their neighborhood has about that much land. We were not in the city anymore!! We started out at their house and had a fabulous BBQ outside. They have two dogs, a cat, horses, chickens, and ducks, so the kids had a great time!! David's son, Ben, who's 13, is really into motorbikes, so we went to an open area (the oval) in their neighborhood where Ben gave Grace and Lance some rides on his motorbike - they had a great time! After Grace's first ride, she says to me "He could've gone a LITTLE faster!" Oh MY!!! He was really great with the kids. After our walk, David and his wife, Jane, knew of an area where you might be able to see wild kangaroos! They usually tend to come out around late afternoon/evening when the day starts getting a little cooler. They knew we would LOVE that!! So we drove over to that area and started walking around. Right away we saw about 5 of them walking around - it was AMAZING!!! There's just something about seeing them in the wild and not in a zoo! As you can imagine, I was DYING!! We took some pictures and I will try to see if I can download the video I took. What an amazing memory! They're super tame and people don't seem to bother them at all. It was really special. Thanks David, Jane, and Ben for an amazing day!!There's one hopping down the road.
Jumping!!
I got a close-up
Here you can see about how close we got.
There were some campers around and they came right on up - it's like seeing a deer, but WAY cooler!!!

Lance's last Mainly Music class

2011-12-12T21:25:00.002+11:00

Lance had his last Mainly Music class (the same idea as Kindermusik) on Friday. He loved going, but had to "graduate" since he'll be in Preschool next year!Having his morning tea
Graduate certificate
standing up with the other graduates
receiving his gift and certificate!
getting his "shaker" on!!

Grace's Christmas program

2011-12-12T21:14:00.002+11:00

They had a "primary" grades Christmas program at Grace's school last Wed. morning. The white shirts are the 2nd graders. They sang Hillsong's new Christmas song "Born is the King". She's in the bottom right hand corner.

The 2nd graders
Where's Waldo?? See if you can find Grace in this picture - ha!
Kindy - 4th graders

Minnesota Address

2011-12-06T22:23:00.003+11:00

In case some of you are still wondering.....we have a Minnesota address that you can send mail to and we will receive it! We would LOVE receiving Christmas cards (it's one of my favorite parts of December - I love seeing all the fun pictures and reading the letters to see what everyone else is up to!) ;) I just wanted to let everyone know, so you don't think you have to send a card all the way to Australia and pay for extra postage. Thanks to General Mills, they take care of that for you! Our cards are on the way - we hope to hear from you, too! :)

Josh and Raquel Malin

1 General Mills Blvd

M01-EX

Minneapolis, MN 55426

We are blessed!

2011-12-06T22:09:00.002+11:00

Here's the turkey! As you can see, it was so small it fit into my 9X13 pan - we didn't even bring my roaster over here. It's a good thing, too, because this is as big of a pan that would fit into our oven anyway - Ha!! It was very good and only had to cook for almost 3 hours - low maintenance! Here's the spread! Turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, carrot souffle, and fruit. We were going to make cranberry salad, but realized you can't buy cranberry jelly over here! Also, didn't have the french's onions for green beans. This 1st year will definitely be trial and error for us, as now in hindsight we wish we would've planned ahead a little better. Next year we're going to invite a bunch of Australian friends over to share in an American Thanksgiving celebration (probably on a Sat, though!) We will also maybe know some more American students studying at Hillsong college who would enjoy a home cooked Thanksgiving dinner. With a little more planning ahead, just wait - next year will be great!!
We went around the table and said what we were each thankful for - the rule was to say 2 things, but it turned into more like 10 things each!! We have a lot to be thankful for and our number one is loving God and having Jesus in our hearts! Our families and friends are very missed and thought of often. We hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving over in America!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-12-06T21:52:00.002+11:00

I know I'm a little behind on getting the Thanksgiving pictures out, but better late then never - right?!! We actually DID "celebrate" Thanksgiving this year - kind of! ;) It was just another work day Thursday here in Australia, but we really wanted to have a "turkey dinner" anyway, so Josh came home a little early to help me finish preparing dinner. He had made the the stuffing for the turkey the night before and taught me how to prep and bake the turkey. Our turkey was very small for two reasons: 1. Being that Josh and I were basically the only ones eating it (4 if you count the kids) we didn't want too many leftovers. 2. Our tiny little 7 lb. turkey cost almost $40 and really, you wouldn't have found one much bigger anyway! Yikes!! We tried to hang on to some traditions, but it was tricky! We made our usual "oreo turkeys", but had to make some changes. Since there aren't any candy corns, we had to use smarties for the feathers. Oh-well, the kids thought they tasted great!Here are there finished products - they did pretty well!
Oh, you're probably wondering why Lance's face is painted like a tiger! Well, that day was our last day of Hillsong Sisterhood for the year, so the kids had a party. The girls had to dress as princesses and the boys as princes/knights. Apparently there was face painting, so he was a tiger knight! I have pictures on my phone, I will post later......basically, he wanted to keep it on until daddy got home to show him! Ha! There was lots of growling at our Thanksgiving!

making their oreo turkeys

Christmas Traditions

2011-12-02T14:10:00.003+11:00

Every other week, Grace's class has "news" week where they have to stand up in front of the class and give a presentation or talk about something for 2 min. or so. A couple weeks ago, they had to talk about a Christmas tradition that they have at their home. Grace talked about different things, but we always bake and decorate sugar cookies, so she decided to make some for the class. Fortunately, my cookie cutters got packed and shipped here for the move, so we had Christmas shapes to cut out! The big Christmas tree she decorated specifically for Mrs. Stephens - she loved it! :)
working on her cookies for the class

Teddy Bear Picnic

2011-12-02T13:58:00.002+11:00

At storytime at the library, Lance had a Teddy Bear Picnic day! Everyone had to bring their favorite bear, of course Lance picked his blue one! He enjoyed listening to teddy bear stories, coloring, and having a snack out of the picnic basket! It was cute, but we really miss you, "Ms. Mickie"!!! There's no one else like you! Storytime just isn't the same anymore....

coloring

Daddy/Daughter date

2011-12-02T13:37:00.004+11:00

We've started a tradition of Josh taking just Grace out on a special daddy/daughter date! We think a dad's part in his daughter's life is very important and special (well, a mom's is, too but they're just different!) :) Grace was beyond THRILLED to do this and she was able to pick where they went to eat and what they did afterwards. She chose Outback Steakhouse (yup, they have one here - which is hilarious!!) for their ribs (definitely a midwest girl at heart) and then bowling!! She asked me to help her choose what to wear and everything. It was really cute! At first, Lance wasn't very happy about this, but he got to hang out with mommy and watch a movie at home - Kung Fu Panda it was! :) Good times were had by all.

Even had to have a purse - hilarious!

Lance getting in on the action.

Fun at Palm Beach

2011-11-28T16:33:00.003+11:00

A hang glider landed at the beach, so I watched a little as he took everything down. He had to be a least 75 years old!!! It was AMAZING! That "sport" is very dangerous!

Josh took the kids on a little walk while I stayed with all the "stuff". They were on this rock that jetted out pretty far into the ocean, so I zoomed in and took a picture. It was pretty blurry because I had to zoom in so far, so I had fun with it.
There they are!
The fog is beginning to clear up

Boogie Boarding

2011-11-28T16:25:00.000+11:00

Doing some boogie boarding on daddy's new birthday gift! ;)

Palm Beach

2011-11-28T16:18:00.002+11:00

Two weekends ago we went to Palm Beach to check that one out. It was gorgeous, but when I was taking these pictures in the morning it was very foggy! By noon or so the fog had cleared and we were able to see out farther. The kids had a great time playing in the sand and ocean.

perfect sand

Until next time!

2011-11-21T22:14:00.002+11:00

The zoo is on a hill, so you gradually work your way down. They have a lift at the bottom that you can ride back up to the top! Very convenient, AND a great way to get a birds eye view of the zoo and the beautiful scenery. A great end to a great day!

A giant seal
Mr. Silverback! His head was HUGE!
momma with her baby
some of the gorillas, waiting for their feeding time.

Koalas....again!

2011-11-21T22:05:00.002+11:00

We found a cool spot for pictures, but the lighting wasn't right. It was MUCH prettier in person, oh well!At least we were able to get a shot of the 4 of us!

Grace in front of the koalas - still LOVE the koalas, but it's SO much cooler to see them at Featherdale where you can pet them!!
Adorable!
We thought this was pretty funny how he was sleeping! Doesn't look very comfortable to me!

monkey-ing around!

2011-11-21T21:56:00.002+11:00

cute picture of the kids in front of a cassowary
Lance pretending to be a monkey
Grace pretending to be a monkey!
in front of the gorilla cage
Grace wanted to take a picture of us - she did pretty good!

zoo!

2011-11-21T21:43:00.002+11:00

Of course we had to get some pictures of Grace's favorite animal - the zebra!

In front of the zebras
a view near where the mountain goats live
can you spy all the mountain goats?!

New baby Tigers

2011-11-21T21:35:00.002+11:00

3 new baby tigers were born on August 27th, so they were only out to view at certain times. They were really cute and mama Tiger was VERY alert to all of us!

the three tigers playing together

She was looking right at me!! Scary!!
A big brown bear, probably the last one to be in any zoo in Australia

Taronga Zoo

2011-11-21T14:18:00.002+11:00

Two weekends ago we went to visit Taronga Zoo in Sydney - always doing the "tourist" thing! It was the most beautiful zoo we have ever been to! The views of Sydney are amazing and we had a lot of fun visiting all of the animals.
This is the view the giraffes get from their homes! Must be nice! Can you see the Opera House in the background?
Our little giraffes - they were giving these masks away at the entrance - ha!
View as you start the zoo - you can see the Opera House and part of the Harbor Bridge in the distance. Gorgeous!

School Pictures

2011-11-15T13:39:00.002+11:00

Since 2nd Grade is only about 3.5 weeks away from being finished, I thought I would take a couple of pictures of her "school pictures" to share with everyone. This way, you can also see her teacher and the other students in her class. Fortunately for us, the pictures that were first taken at the beginning of the year (before we were here) didn't turn out, so they had to redo all of them - class pictures included!!!! Yeah!!! This meant that Grace was able to be in the class pictures and everything - I was SOOOO HAPPY!! Otherwise we wouldn't have had any "professional" pictures taken for her 2nd grade year, nor any of her class. It worked out perfect for us! Aren't they all so cute in their matching outfits?? Hilarious! Never thought my kids would be wearing uniforms to school.....
Top left is the school principal, Dr. Boyce (Prep-Grade 12), the next lady is Mrs. Caldwallader (head of Junior(Elementary) school, and Mrs. Stephens is Grace's teacher.

Grace's class (there are actually 3 -2nd Grade classes)

Vegemite!!

2011-11-15T13:27:00.002+11:00

In case you've never hear of it.....Vegemite is a very popular item here in Australia! I have yet to try it - I'm very scared!! Josh tried it, did not like it, and same for Grace. HOWEVER.....Lance "accidentally" had a Vegemite sandwich at music class and LOVED it!! I couldn't believe it! Now he actually asks for it sometimes for lunch - I just HAD to take a picture! Enjoy! ;)

(This was actually taken about 3 weeks ago)

crazy kid!

Drive to Palm Beach

2011-11-09T13:52:00.002+11:00

We decided to drive a little further north to look at some other beaches since we were already in that area. We drove up to Palm Beach (which we will probably check out next time) and saw some beautiful sights. Since it was a windy day, there were lots of sailboats out, parasailing, and para surf sailing - I'd never seen that before! They're actually surfing, while holding onto a sail as it carries them along! It looks really hard!!So Cool!
Can you imagine living there??
one of the beaches at Palm Beach
Para surf sailing

leaving Mona Vale

2011-11-09T13:45:00.002+11:00

We have to take pictures of the signs, so we will remember all the different beaches!!

Being silly
crazy hair!

Mona Vale Beach

2011-11-09T13:25:00.002+11:00

Last weekend we decided to hit one of the "off the beaten path" beaches. There's hundreds to choose from, and all are a little different from each other. People have their favorites and then hit those throughout the summer. We'd heard "Mona Vale" a few times, so decided to check it out. It was gorgeous! It was an extra windy day, and the water is still cool from winter, so we only stayed for a couple of hours. It was the perfect amount of time - kids went on a walk with dad along the beach (while I relaxed with a book!), they played in the sand, and then we had some lunch. You don't want to be out too long in this Australian sun!!gorgeous view!
I thought this was cool - the waves were really high because of the wind, so there were lots of surfers. Wish we knew who this was.....it would make for a really cool picture!
playing in the sand...notice Grace's hat - windy!
This is where we were sitting

Happy 35th Birthday, Josh!

2011-11-09T13:14:00.002+11:00

We celebrated with a home cooked, grilled fish dinner (Josh's request), cake, and a NEW body board to do a little "surfin" when we go to the beaches!! We surprised him! The kids were really excited. Once we find a babysitter, we'll be able to go out on a date for dinner and celebrate, too!
The cake on the left is from us (Tiramisu), and the one on the right is from everybody at work! We're still not sure how they knew it was his birthday...... !!

Halloween Candy

2011-11-02T22:23:00.002+11:00

We thought it would be fun to share with you the different kinds of candy the kids were given this year - no Snickers bars! I thought it would be neat to show the different wrappers - the Caramel Koalas are REALLY good!! Yep, that's a Christmas one at the top! Some people even said Merry Christmas - I just don't think they get it!!! ;)
being silly

Trick or Treating

2011-11-02T22:12:00.002+11:00

The kids actually called it a "Trick or Treat Scavenger Hunt!" As we walked through the neighborhood you had to look for balloons on mailboxes. If they put balloons out, then they were participating in Halloween and you could go up to their door and knock. No balloons - not participating! The kids actually thought it was really fun and would yell "I spy a balloon!!" and go running to the house! It was really cute! We had a really fun night and didn't have a truckload of candy to get rid of - it was great! Nobody came to our house, I guess we're not in the right neighborhood! Our poor kids.....we lived in the middle of nowhere in Ohio, so nobody ventured to our neighborhood there to trick or treat, and now our neighborhood doesn't do Halloween in Australia - they'll be old by the time they get to actually hand out candy to people! Ha!!We found some balloons!
There's a couple more trick or treaters
walking the streets!
this house actually had some decorations on it!

Happy Halloween!

2011-11-02T21:53:00.002+11:00

Yes, we actually were still able to celebrate Halloween over here!! I was very sad and nervous that we weren't going to get to since I had heard that Halloween wasn't celebrated over here and was a "silly American holiday". So I did a little research to find that it's not very big nor really celebrated, but people do do it. Someone in Grace's class lives in the neighborhood across the street from us and she told me that some people participate on their street, so we should come up. That's all I needed to hear! I quickly got the kids to agree on Fred and Wilma Flintstone (because I could find costumes online that could be shipped quickly to us) and we were set! We also had to find some trick or treat bags, as we had left theirs back in Minnesota in storage, thinking we wouldn't be able to use them! Halloween is considered only scary here - not how in America a lot of us don't dress our kids up in scary costumes. They got comments like "well you're not very scary?!" or "those are actually really cute costumes!"....sigh.....I get now why they don't like Halloween - I probably wouldn't celebrate it if I was an Australian either!!

Yabba dabba do!!
singing and dancing Wilma
This is a planned pose of Fred pretending to fall (because he always trips) and Wilma posing! This was all Grace's doing - I love it!
Fred and Wilma Flintstone

Hillsong Live Recording

2011-11-02T21:40:00.002+11:00

As you know, we attend Hillsong church here in Sydney. We were familiar with Hillsong (as many of you are as well) before we came to Australia and owned some of their CD's. We've always loved their music!! Well, they have a new album coming out titled "Together as One" and we got to be a part of the Live Recording last Sunday night!!! It was held at Sydney Olympic Park and there were over 11,o00 people there!!! It was free and open to the public. They had amazing kids programs while the concert was going on, so Josh and I didn't have to worry about it being too long for the kids! Everyone was happy!!! They had a coloring contest for the younger ones and Lance brought his picture in and was one of the winners!!! He was SOOO excited!! It was truly an amazing experience with hearing that many people all singing and worshiping together. Our pastor had a message in the middle, so it was kind of like a normal service, only a lot bigger and with more singing! They only had to redo 3 of the songs (which we didn't mind) ;) Singing one of their songs that always gets the crowd going - it's a good one!!

These were our seats - not too shabby! It was a circle stage and seating all around. Before it started.

Concluding our day

2011-10-31T22:33:00.002+11:00

We ended the walk at Bronte Beach, where there's also a park. It was full of families BBQ-ing, playing Cricket and Rugby, and kids playing at the park! So fun! We took the bus back to the train station and were home by 7:00. What a great day!I've never seen anything like this, but it spins around and kids can climb it- not sure how safe it is....., but looked fun!

playing at the park

Fun Beach pictures

2011-10-31T22:26:00.002+11:00

I love this one because it is SO Lance! He just LOVES playing in the sand.

And this is SO Grace! Every time we go to the beach, that's all she wants to do is stand at the water's edge and stare at the ocean.

Cool surf boards!

Bronte walk

2011-10-31T22:08:00.002+11:00

Just some of the beautiful sights we saw on our walk

At the very top of the picture you can see the beach behind us
Bronte Beach is up on the right - you can see where we're walking on the right

Bondi to Bronte

2011-10-31T21:57:00.002+11:00

We started our walk from Bondi to Bronte Beach and it was GORGEOUS!! The walk is along the coastline with amazing views and beautiful natural landscape.A piece of rock that has been weathered and now looks like this!
waves crashing against a rock

This is a swimming club called Bondi Iceberg. If you're in the club, you religiously swim every Sunday throughout the entire year, no matter what the weather!! Crazy!! It looked really cool, though!
starting our walk, leaving Bondi Beach

Bondi Beach

2011-10-31T21:45:00.004+11:00

A couple Sundays ago, we decided to head for the famous Bondi Beach and check it out for ourselves! If you ask anyone from Australia, they mostly all say to stay away from it!! There are hundreds of beaches around Sydney and this one if very touristy, super crowded, and hard to get to. We took the train into Sydney, switched trains to head to Bondi, and then had to take a bus to the beach. It was beautiful and we had a great day, but we will definitely be on the lookout for our "own" favorite beach to play on! However, everyone DOES say to take the Bondi to Bronte Beach walk - it's very scenic and beautiful! So we decided that would be a great way to see it before it gets into the heat of the summer. Standing in front of the ocean looking back at the town of Bondi
Lance enjoying the sand

They are DYING to just get into their swimsuits and play at the beach - next time, I promise!!!
Stnading at the boardwalk with Bondi behind them

First swim in our pool!

2011-10-27T18:33:00.002+11:00

About 3 weeks ago, it was one of the first hot days we had had yet, so the kids really wanted to try out our pool! We hadn't turned on the heater yet, so it was too cold for us, but the kids didn't care at all!! They were so excited and they loved it! I can't believe how long they stayed in - hours - it's going to be wonderful when the temps are over 100 degrees here!
Josh is putting my lounge chairs together for the pool - they will get LOTS of use!!
Hanging out on their rafts
the pool (on the other side of the green shrubs on the left is a grassy lawn with a playhouse.)
playing in the whirl pool
getting ready to jump in for the first time - better take the vacuum out!

Great day for the beach!

2011-10-25T16:01:00.002+11:00

After our big walk around the two beaches, we came back to Manly and had some amazing fish and chips from a local fish market! What a great way to end a Sunday!!
Hanging on to my children for dear life! It actually looks like we are a lot closer than we were - it still stressed me out a little!!
awesome view

exploring Shelly beach. We actually didn't like this beach as much as Manly. It seemed dirtier and the sand was made of shells mostly, so not very soft. I think people like it because there aren't really any waves because it's inside a little inlet - good for kids.

Beautiful walk

2011-10-25T15:54:00.002+11:00

paddle surfing
on our walk, we saw this really cool "pool" that jets out into the ocean! It's open to the public, so anyone can swim in it - too funny!
You can see Shelly beach in the background
There was this rock that looked like a shell, so of course the kids had to crawl through the hole!
One of the many lizards on the walk, but watch out - they spit at you as a warning to stay away!! Not very friendly! :0

Walk from Manly to Shelly Beach

2011-10-25T15:43:00.002+11:00

This is a view of Manly as we started our walk to Shelly Beach

lifeguards
some shells Grace collected
I took a picture of the lifeguards because it's so different how they dress compared to lifeguards in America! They all wear yellow and red, sun hats, rash guards, etc. They definitely stick out, which is good!
running back to the "boardwalk"

checking out the beach

2011-10-25T14:23:00.001+11:00

Grace wanted to take a picture
looking for shells
here comes the waves!
Another view from the beach

Manly Beach!

2011-10-25T13:52:00.002+11:00

One of the most famous beaches in Sydney, is Manly Beach, so we had to go and check it out! It was definitely nice enough to sunbathe, but the water was a little too freezing cold for my liking! There's a famous walk from Manly to Shelly Beach, so we opted to try that before it got too hot out. The walk was beautiful along the ocean and the kids enjoyed checking everything out! Super soft!
Getting ready to check out the sand
Heading over to the beach - it was a cute beach town!
We made it to Manly!
Taking the Ferry from Sydney over to Manly - it's the best way to get there - by boat!

Grace's School Spring/Summer uniform

2011-10-25T13:40:00.003+11:00

So Grace was on break for 2 weeks end of Sept - early Oct, between Term 3 and Term 4. She is now required to wear her "summer" uniform, so I thought we would get a picture of her first day back to school for Term 4 wearing her new uniform! It was nice to get all of us back into a routine, but I must say, having a little break between every term is NICE!!

Modeling her new outfit (she actually has knee high's on, although it looks like tights in this picture.)

Birthday dinner

2011-10-20T10:39:00.002+11:00

After the Wildlife Park we rode the tram (a little train that rides around the city to get a birds eye view) around and then stopped in Chinatown for some Korean BBQ! It was very delicious! The kids even liked it! Then we had some gelato before taking the train back home.Birthday dinner, and I have food in my teeth - NICE! Thanks, Josh, for noticing that BEFORE you took the picture.... (sigh)
Korean BBQ!
making silly faces while waiting for the tram
There's the Aquarium and Wildlife park!
Here comes the tram!

Crocodile!

2011-10-20T10:30:00.002+11:00

Giant Crab!
They had a HUGE crocodile that had been captured because he was always in populated areas and they were afraid he would either kill someone, or something would happen to him. He was in the northern part of Australia. They can't find a mate for him to breed because he kills them......angry croc!!

Wildlife Park

2011-10-20T10:21:00.001+11:00

Petting a snake - EWW!!

Kangaroo
Sitting on a "wombat"

My birthday!

2011-10-20T10:10:00.002+11:00

My birthday was on Sunday, September 25, so we decided to go into Sydney for the day. We had originally planned to check out one of the beaches, but it was a rainy day, so we decided to check out the Wildlife Park (which is right next to the Aquarium) since we hadn't been there yet. It's mostly indoors, so that worked out well, too. We enjoyed it, and it was nice, but after going to Featherdale there was no comparison. Featherdale is WAY better!! It was much more "zoo-like" and you couldn't touch the animals. We enjoyed our day, though!Koalas sleeping in a tree
Lance liked the Kookaburra
Inside the butterfly exhibit

One of the butterflys

Unpacking

2011-10-20T10:01:00.002+11:00

These are some pictures of our first week of unpacking! It was perfect when everything came, because Grace was on her 2 week Term 3 break, so I didn't have to worry about taking her to and picking her up from school! It was easier to just focus on the house and getting things done. The kids enjoyed making forts out of the boxes and I let them play with playdoh all over the floor!! If you know me very well, this was a BIG deal for me! I don't enjoy big messes like that - I know, I really need to get over it! Ha! I will say, though, it kept them entertained for 4 hours straight, so I got a lot done!!! I couldn't believe it!!Their "house"
being silly
enjoying the big space for playdoh

Update

2011-10-20T09:34:00.002+11:00

I finally got all of the wedding pictures posted and seemed to have taken a break after that -Ha! To update you a little, all of our sea shipment arrived about 3 weeks ago! It was so wonderful to see all of our things and enjoy our own couch, beds, etc. again! It had been almost 3 months since we had seen it! We have been unpacking and getting everything organized for this house. We're doing pretty well, we need to start putting things up on the walls now, so it's still a work in progress for me! :) I'll post some pictures of these last few weeks so you can see more of what we've been up to! We are really enjoying our time here and can't believe how fast it is already going. Thanks for checking in!

Sunday Brunch

2011-10-15T11:12:00.002+11:00

Andy and Erin had a Sunday gathering after church the day after the wedding. We attempted to try and take some pictures with Grandma and all the grandkids......at least they're all in the picture! We had a wonderful time at your wedding and our week in Albuquerque! Thanks for everything - now back to Australia.......!Grandma giving rides on her walker
Grandma Stella and Stella
Th Malin grandkids
All of her grandkids minus 2 - Mark's kids
Another attempt

Off they go!

2011-10-15T11:05:00.002+11:00

Some cousin dancing - not sure what Lance is doing to Stella.....some breakdancing moves??
Grace dancing with Madeline, and 2nd cousins, Isaac and Noah

S'mores.......mmmmmmm!

2011-10-15T10:57:00.002+11:00

They had a photo booth set up, so we could do fun pictures all night - fun idea!
One of my favorite pictures, having a s'more with Grandma Ender
They also had fire pits where we could roast s'mores and hang out under the stars

Andy's beautifully decorated car!

2011-10-15T10:52:00.002+11:00

Yup! This was the crew that decorated your newly washed car!! GUILTY! :)
We thought we did a lovely job, Andy!
With RC Cola cans to boot!

Reception

2011-10-15T10:15:00.002+11:00

They did a fun, choreographed first dance - it was awesome!
Newly married happy couple!
The Lakers groom's cake
The wedding (cup)cake!

Grandparents

2011-10-14T17:10:00.001+11:00

Grace and Lance with Papa and Nana
Grace and Lance with Grandpa and Grandma

group pictures

2011-10-14T16:57:00.002+11:00

Jonas!
All the Malin and Ender relatives that came out for the wedding
the kids with the bride and groom
wedding party
Grace made a friend that she played with all night. She was one of the bridesmaid's daughter

After the ceremony

2011-10-14T16:48:00.002+11:00

sweet little Stella!
The entire Malin family with Grandma Ender (Carlene's mom)
immediate family with Grandma and Erin
After the ceremony Lance had to go and pick up all of Grace's flowers that she threw down the aisle and put them in her basket!! Oh dear!! OCD???
The kiss!!

Ceremony

2011-10-14T16:39:00.001+11:00

Here comes the bride!
They did a great job! The roses petals were FLYING!! (literally, although you can't really tell here)
waiting for his bride to come...

Family

2011-10-10T15:40:00.002+11:00

Between the time change, whirlwind short week, and wedding day, Lance was NOT all about pictures! Just trying to get in a good smile....

The MEN!
Andy with his brothers

More wedding

2011-10-10T15:27:00.002+11:00

The Malin side
Lance with the Groom - I'm bummed he wasn't smiling in this one
Lance and Grandpa

Lance looking dapper with Grandma and Grandpa

Erin's family

2011-10-08T22:22:00.001+11:00

Erin's new sisters - and Grace!
John and Carlene
Erin's brother, Jeremy
A sweet picture of Erin and her dad
Erin with her parents

The wedding location

2011-10-05T22:46:00.001+11:00

Wedding girls!

2011-10-05T22:19:00.002+11:00

Erin wanted me to make wrist corsages for the mom's, grandma's, and Jill and myself to wear at the wedding.
The bouquets!
Grace with the bride
new sisters!
the bridesmaid bouquets

Wedding Day!

2011-10-05T22:01:00.002+11:00

I really wanted to get some of the wedding pictures up from oh, a month ago!! I'm trying to pick out some favorites to post - I took a lot! It ended up being a gorgeous day and a beautiful wedding.Aunt Lis and Grace - she LOVED holding Lis's flowers for her!!
Erin and Maid of Honor, Laura
The bridal party - Jenny, Lis, Liz, Bride and Grace, Laura, Abby, and Katie
Her bouquet
Grace and Erin

Christmas in... September??

2011-09-29T20:38:00.004+10:00

So these are different crates (the one they put our stuff in at Ohio was green). They literally took EVERYTHING out of the green crate, went through customs, etc. and then repacked it onto these two crates - hence the reason so many more things can happen to your stuff.
This is the bubble paper our stuff was wrapped in (only about 1/4 of it). Our kids thought it was great!! They haven't even opened the second crate yet.
making forts
jumping into the piles

Yes! It's a very exciting week for the Malin's over here in Australia!! Our sea shipment finally arrived!!!!! It's been a LOOOOOOONG time coming, but the wait is finally over! When you have to wait for all of your furniture and personal belongings that you haven't seen in almost 3 months - it definitely feels like Christmas!!! :) Wednesday was the big day at our house. The week started with finishing lugging the rest of our stuff from the "old" house over to the "new" one in many trips. I also used that time to finish up some of my own cleaning in the new house - getting it prepared for everything coming in! It's been 5 years since our last move (and of course we've never done an international move), so I kind of forgot how insane it really is to move! I also feel like it's been the longest ongoing move in the history of all moves (well, for the Malin's anyway!!) Ha! :) I just can't wait to feel settled!! Wednesday was the big day when the movers came, but we also had to fit in 2 separate swimming lessons, and tidying up the old house as we moved out. Needless to say, we were exhausted at the end of the day! Oh, Josh and I have also caught little colds along the way, so we're not feeling perfect, but we're fine!

It's Thursday night right now. Josh left at 4:00AM this morning to catch a 6:00AM flight to Melbourne today and should be home by midnight. I'm taking a little break right now to update everyone on our news! The refrigerator, washer, and dryer arrived today (Yeah!!), and I have been unpacking boxes all day! I don't have everything unpacked yet, kitchen always takes the longest since I wash everything first, but we're getting little bites bitten off!! I've started washing the sheets so we have fresh laundry to sleep on! Our first night here was last night and our beds felt SOOOOO amazing! Our furniture all made it here, but this was BY FAR the hardest move on it to date. Lots of scratches, bumps, dings, and some with a little more major ones than others. We've taken lots of pictures to send in, so hopefully some of the major ones can be repaired. Oh well, it's only "things" and if that's the worst that happened/s - AMEN!! I definitely have motivation to keep on keepin' on, and we certainly have a busy weekend ahead of us! It's all very exciting, though! I'm feeling a little out of it with everyone as I haven't done much email or FB, so bear with me! I'll be back on track soon!

Oh, and more wedding pictures to come, I just wanted to share the excitement! See you soon!

Rehearsal dinner

2011-09-26T15:53:00.002+10:00

The rehearsal dinner was at a winery. Andy and Erin surprised everyone with a trolly ride around downtown Albuquerque! It was very informative and entertaining! Unfortunately, it started to rain halfway through, but by the time we got back and it was dinnertime, it had stopped. We had a great time!Auntie Raquel and Stella! I let her stir my water with a spoon and she loved me!!
Great Aunt Linda playing with Lance
Jonas munching on a cracker during the trolly ride. Lance actually fell asleep on it!!! Our kids did really well, considering they were completely messed up from the traveling and time change!
Lis and Josh with the Holcks! (Josh's parents) ready for the trolly ride
On the trolly with Nana and Papa!

Rehearsal

2011-09-26T15:38:00.002+10:00

Raquel and Lis
Jonas and Lance practicing for the big dance the next night!!
Pretend married!!
Flower Girl and Ring Bearer