Never, I mean never, would I have thought that my daughter would want to learn to surf. But here we are during her school holidays with her a little brother Big Nuno (his nickname at the school is Big “—” since he and the instructor have the same name.)
They are taking lessons for the next 4 days so I am hoping that by Thursday I’ll have a picture of them standing on their boards. But even if I don’t, I can’t tell you how proud I am that they are giving this a go!
This Christmas was a little different than any other in that we were in ‘our home’ and without family. Â I know that I have been away from CT a few times for the holidays, but in those instances we were at Maria’s or my in-laws. Being with family during the holidays is Rule #1 with me, but there were a few reasons why that just didn’t make sense to pop over to NZ year this year.
1.) We are moving there in a month.
2.) I wanted Lana to finish out the school year and participate in all the year-end activities with her friends since she will not be returning next year.
3.) The weather is nicer in Sydney (knock wood, as the God’s have been messing with me lately in regards to this.)
4.) I wanted to spend as much time playing with MY friends before moving.
5.) Last, but certainly not least, Lana wanted to have a Christmas where she woke up in her own bed, in her own house. Fair enough!
So with all this, we decided to stay put.
In order to get ourselves into the Christmas spirit we set up our tree. It’s the same one I bought last year at a tag sale for $5. It’s small, but it’s ours. After putting up some lights, red beads, and some special ornaments Nuno expressed the desire to add some more Christmas ornaments. So while I was in a very long line at BigW he went off with Stephen to pick some out. He came back with colors that did not at all match the decorations we already had up. Rather than insist on a more traditional selection I capitulated and bought the one’s he wanted.
When we got home he & Lana wanted to hang them themselves. Their plan was to hang like colors together. WHAT?!?!? I resisted the urge to intervene and surprisingly it looked really good.
The kids both received Aussie ornaments and Nuno made these two beauties:
The other thing we did to get ourselves in the mood was pull out all our Christmas books.
As I alluded to before, the weather in Sydney had not been so great before Christmas. Although this put a damper on our beach time, it did facilitate a more Christmasy feeling. It’s still difficult to bake when it’s 38C/100F degrees. I have always had the kids help me bake, but this year was different because Lana was truly helpful. She has developed a keen interest in cooking and baking.
The chocolate dipped shortbread cookies were YUMMY!
Nuno of course helped too.
The kids also both had Christmas concerts that were just adorable.
With all the madness at the end of the year, I still wanted desperately to get a Christmas card out. The first day was overcast (How dare that happen in Sunny Sydney!)
It didn’t seem right, so we tried again the next day. Nuno was in a silly mood and tried to moon the camera. Fortunatley his pants were too tight for him to execute this. Not sure where he gets these ideas?!?!
Although the weather was perfect on the second day, none of the pictures spoke to me. My favorite shot did not have the kids in the best position between the Opera House & the Harbour Bridge, but I think it captured their joyfullness, so it’s the one I picked.
So with that we hope everyone had a Merry Christmas & no matter where you are, know that you are in our hearts.
We love you!
One of the things I so love about Sydney is that there are always a number of activities to participate in on any given weekend. Last year I had missed out on Sculptures by the Sea because we were too “busy.” So this year I was determined to make it to Bondi where we would start our Ocean Walk. Our good friends joined us, which only made the day that much better.
Since we had waited until the last weekend of the exhibit, which just happened to be one of the most beautiful days in a while, the crowds were pretty big. Other than slowing us down a little, it didn’t make for much of a problem.
As you can see in the pictures. The Bondi to Bronte walk is spectacular enough without artwork dotting the landscape. But add some spectacular sculptures, and it makes for a pretty wonderful morning!
This is one of my favorites….
After arriving at Bronte we had lunch at Jenny’s which serves up a lovely lunch. From there it was a short walk to the back to the beach to enjoy a swim in one of Sydney’s spectacular ocean side pools.
It was simply a great day…
That line was meant to reflect my brother’s excitement for making home made chorico. We chops have always made chorico with pork, but Carlos’s excitement can’t be contained and he wants to try deer chorico.
Some families send pictures of nieces and nephews to entice you to return home…. but my family sends me these.
All jokes aside. Nice to see daddy looking so good. And I am not kidding, I will be ANGRY if there is no chorico saved for me when I get home in a few months! Serious!!!
Over the past couple of months we have had a number of birthdays. Maria, Gran, Zira and Nora. Unfortunately, we have been a bit slack in creating videos for each and every one of you, so this song is dedicated to you all. Now please keep in mind, this is a tricky piece because it involves moving one’s hand’s placement on the keys.
Not too bad for a 5 year old!
Enjoy!
May you always know how much you are loved! Parabens amor…
My baby boy with Lana and his  ‘other’ sister too!
While driving to swim the other day we got to the topic of my husband’s impending birthday. The kids & I were discussing what we were going to get him as well as what we could do to ease the transition for him. Lana suggested we not refer to it as his 41st, but rather his 30+11. Very clever I thought!
Nuno, realizing that we were talking about his father not being happy about aging piped in. “He has to be happy. He has two kids.” You said it my dear!
Happy 30+11th Birthday!!! We love you!
It’s been a crazy few months. I know my brother might smirk at that comment since he works 80+ hours a week and still manages to help neighbors, family & friends in his free time. But I swear it’s not the tennis that has been keeping my busy, but work! No, I haven’t forgotten what that word means, thank you. I have actually been really busy with tutoring. The students keep coming & even though it’s taking up all my free time, I am loving it. The three days that Nuno is in school I work with a number of students both at their schools and in my home. My primary role is helping kids with reading difficulties. I am happy to say that some of them no longer fall under that category!
As well as teaching, there is being a mom. Lana & Nuno have been keeping me really busy after school with piano, swimming, more swimming, Nippers & now cricket! I promise (I mean it this time:) that I will post more about these, but in the mean time I thought I’d share pictures from Nuno’s 5th Birthday! Can you believe it? He’s 5!!!!
He wanted a Halloween Party. Thank God my friend Jenny is a Halloween Party Queen and was able to help me plan and execute this event. It is no small feat doing this in Australia. It seemed that with each of the activities we planned there was something we could not get (unless you wanted to pay a fortune) here is Australia. Examples are: donuts – not available in any of the shops I went to, I could only get them at the bakery for over $2 each, candy corn – $8 for a bag, instant pudding – finally found some, but was HORRIBLE!, yarn – you’d think that would be easy to come across, but no, black paper – good luck! My only saving grace was that I had ordered heaps of treats from the States a couple of months ago.
Then there was Halloween. Last year I was completely under prepared. You see, we live on one of the few streets in the area that celebrates Halloween. So when we got 400+ trick-or-treaters last year I did not know what hit me.
Since last year had been so mad, we decided to open up our house to our Aussie friends so we could all enjoy it together. This year I figured I was prepared for the 400+ kids. Well, the joke was on me because there were more than 600 kids at our gate. Fortunately, most of the guests we had came with bags of lollies for the kids. I can’t believe I am going to say this, but this was one of the best Halloweens ever! Should we leave Australia, I will miss living on this street every October 31st!
Is it 35 or 53? Either way, we love you.
The kids ‘made’ you some special presents…
Check them out here: the music box.
The Happy Birthday one is LONGGGGG, but I thought it was cute that Lana went to her lesson and asked her teacher to show her how to play “happy birthday” because it was her uncle’s birthday. Â ps. It’s not an easy song, but she tried.
We had a fabulous trip home to the States, then got back home to OZ to barely hit the ground and head home to NZ to surprise grandpa for his 70th birthday. Yes, that has been our past few weeks. Lucky? YES! Confused? Most certainly!!!
We have SO many pictures to post. Just let me catch my breath:)