Grandpa and Grandma come to visit!

I'm mainly doing this blog for our family, as I want to have a "journal" or "book" of our time here in Australia after we leave.  I'm horrible at this kind of thing, but I've made a promise that I will do it, so even though I'm technically 1.5 years behind now, I'm still going to get it done!!  Starting where we left off last time.....September 2012, Josh's parents came to visit us again!  This time we planned a trip to Cairns with them, but they spent a few days in Sydney on both ends of the trip with us.  When they arrived, we took the ferry over to Manly for some fish and chips and a stroll along the beach!  We have to keep them awake, you know, to get used to the time change!  As usual, they were troopers! 

 picture of the Opera house (again) from the ferry

 fish and chips at Manly Beach

 walking along the beautiful beach

 riding the ferry

Josh and I had been wanting to purchase a painting or picture to remember our time here in Sydney, Australia.  We found one we loved at the Manly Markets that day and took a picture of the artist with it.  He was still in the running at this time for the best painter/artist in Sydney of 2012 (there were only 5 who had made it this far).  Pretty cool! We loved it because it's a painting of Sydney, but it's not obvious at first.  After looking, you can find the Opera House, Harbour Bridge, and the tower in the background.

Sydney Running Festival

Last year General Mills had a team they put together to do the run/walk in the Sydney Running Festival, so we decided to do it!  It was so much fun!  Josh ran the 9K and Grace, Lance, and myself did the family walk/run.  It was a gorgeous day and so much fun to be able to enjoy the city we live in!

 Riding the train into the city- it was VERY early!!

 Getting ready to start with the Harbour Bridge behind us

 We went with some other GM friends - they have two girls Grace and Lance's ages.  This is how they started out the race, holding hands - too cute!!  Notice the Betty Crocker and Old El Paso on their shirts! ;)

 walking across the Harbour Bridge - they shut down the road just for this race for the morning - so cool!

 stopping for a pic with an awesome view

 We finished!!  Nathan in the back is from Nebraska and married Dina (Australian) who works at GM. His mom to his right was visiting from America and walked with us.  Dina was running the race with Josh.  Michelle on the far right, works at GM, and is the sister of one of my good friends here.  She was pregnant with twins.  Looking forward to doing it again next year!

 lots of entertainment for the kids while we waited for Josh and Dina to finish

 Posing with the Sydney Time's Kangaroo

 picture with Kurt Fearnley - he is an Australian paralympic gold medalist and has also won many world championships!

Lance "biting" his medal like the Olympians! ha!

Year 3 Camp!

This was a big one for mommy!!!!  It was her first overnight camp - EVER!!  Grace was so excited for Year 3 Camp, she was counting down the days!  Lance actually had a rough time with it.  He really acted out that night.  He really missed Grace.  It was kind of sad.  Anyway, she had a WONDERFUL time and we were all very excited to pick all our kids up the next day!  Success!

 waiting to get on the bus

 boarding the bus - ready to go!

waving good-bye with her friends

Skiing - Day 3

On our final day, the kids had their 2nd lesson lesson in the morning, while Josh and I did some skiing on our own again.  We then stayed at Smiggen Hole to be a little closer to the house, since I was in charge of food that day (you can see it with the blue roof in the first picture).  We ate lunch and all skied together again in the afternoon.  Grace had mastered the lifts, j-bar, t-bar, and was going down Blues with Brielle by this time!!!!  I was blown away!!  She couldn't even hardly stand up on skies the day before - amazing!!  Lance did a couple of Green runs by the end of the day - all in all, a success!!  We would love to make skiing a yearly event for our family.  As Josh puts it, an investment! ;)  We drove home early the next morning back to Sydney.

 Grace using the j-bar to get back up the hill

 This was one of the hills Grace went down.

 Lance ready to go down a Green run!

At the cabin, every night they would give out funny "awards" to the kids.  Grace and Lance each won the last night with most improved skiers!!  WELL DONE, MATES! ;)

Skiing - day 2

Somehow I didn't really get any pictures with our friends! :( This is the one I could find of Brielle, with Grace and Lance.  She's a GREAT skier and was so patient with Grace and helped her a lot!  So sweet!  This is right before our kid's first lessons and first time on skies.....EVER!!  They did amazing and we were shocked how quickly they both picked it up - especially Grace!  Kids are so amazing that way!  They took ski lesson in the morning, while Josh and I did some skiing on our own.  Then, we all took a break for lunch, then took the kids in the tram up to Blue Cow to have a family ski in the afternoon.

 riding the quick bus ride to the tram to Blue Cow

 At Blue Cow - what a beautiful view!

 We thought it was fun to see gum trees on a snowy mountain.  Never thought I would see that!

 showing us their mad skills! ;)

That night, we went with our friends night skiing.  What a treat!

Ski Trip

Last year, in September, we drove to the Snowy Mountains for a quick little ski trip!  We have some friends here that asked us to join them for a little holiday!  We are so glad we said yes!!  What fun!  We actually didn't even know you could ski in Australia when we first moved here!!  They have friends with a house right on the ski resort, so a bunch of us shared it.  It was amazing!!  Can't ask for anything better than to be able to basically walk out your door and practically jump right onto the ski lifts - Ha! We arrived the first day later in the afternoon and got settled - rented our ski gear, unloaded the car, and with a little extra time to spare we did some sledding just before dinner!

 Our first glimpse of the snow in Australia as we drove to the mountains

 Smiggin Holes in Perisher is where we stayed

 someone made a little igloo, so we decided to take a picture in it!

 standing just outside the house we stayed in

 Josh and the kids with the house in the background

 ready for some sledding!

Our room - the kids each had a top bunk, and yes, Josh and I slept in the double bottom bunk under Grace - nice and cozy! ;)