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.  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:)

We arrived very late Saturday night. Thank you Uncle Carlos for picking us up at the airport. You are, as always a STAR.

Lana was just too excited the next morning and woke up super early. Sunday was Father’s Day, but even if it hadn’t been, all I wanted to do was hang with my dad and family. Ti’Ze invited us over for a small picnic. I was SO happy to find that my two busy nephews drove out of their way to see their vovo and Auntie. They are such good boys!!! There was the additional treat of Jessica/Jason & a Skype call with Andrea. All so good. Carlos & clan arrived just in time to enjoy the Brazil game.

I wasn’t sure if Nuno would remember everyone, but it all just seemed to click. And Lana, goodness. She has been so happy to see everyone. It almost brought me to tears when she saw Maria for the first time. She just held her. I just stood there watching her embrace my sister in her arms, not letting go, and it just killed me to think of how much she must miss her aunt. I was so happy and so heartbroken at the same time.

For those of you who do not know my family, we sure as heck ain’t perfect. We’re loud, interrupt each other, eat with our hands sometimes and a few of THEM fart! Yet, I love them to pieces and was so happy to spend the day in their company. Sorry the rest of you couldn’t be there. It was a great day!

In the words of my son, “This is the Happy Place!” Yes, it is!

We had a blast and when I get five minutes I will add more, but right now need to say Merci to my niece. Jessica, you rock! And Ms. Jenny, you should be a travel agent. ALL your advice was perfect.

The purpose of my trip to San Diego was twofold: to see if we could live there and to catch up with friends. I was very productive on the “research” front. I will let you know what we decide on as soon as hubby & I get a chance to talk. But as for good times, we had those in spades! Thank you Jackie, David, Michelle & Allan:)

Note: Having some difficulty posting pictures right now, but they are on flikr for your viewing pleasure.

Carlsbad ~ Day 2, or maybe it’s three…

The plan was to get up at 7am and watch David surf. After waking at 9:30am, and realizing that was not going to happen, we sat around waiting for Nuno to wake, which took us to 11am.

We decided to go right to Plan B was to head out to the San Diego County Fair. The first step was the ferris wheel.

Although Jackie and I were DYING to get on all the crazy rides, we had to show some restraint since Nuno was too young. We were thrilled to find out that we were all allowed on the bumper cars. YIPPEE!!!

Forgot to mention that on the ride home my son asked me if he was going to get a driver’s license. I had to explain that 1) He’s too young & 2) He has to show us that he understands the objective when driving is avoiding crashing.

Wheee! A great day was had by all.

Left Sydney early morning, and as always saying goodbye to dad/hubby was difficult. Having three “homes” is wonderful, but leaving people in each of them is always hard. Always.

We arrived in California a couple of hours later. The flight was uneventful, for us at least. There were was a medical emergency and a woman who vomited (unfortunately hitting the people sitting in her row.)

We grabbed our car and as we headed out of the car rental parking lot  I noticed the gentleman checking the cars had his car trunk/boot open listening to the Mexico-South Africa game. It’s so great to see everyone so excited about the World Cup.

We arrivied at Uncle David & Auntie Jackie’s a couple of hours later. We were very warmly received by Manaia, their new puppy. Nuno quickly became best friend with her and Kilo.

We were all pretty shattered, so after a shower we all napped.

Waking from the nap was EXTREMELY difficult. But knowing that we were going to have American pizza made it worth it.

With temperatures dropping to 10°C/50°F, my poor son has had to resort to layering up to shield himself from the harsh elements. As he got dressed this morning he begged me for a jacket. When I also grabbed a vest, he could not have been more thrilled. We still have an hour before we head out the door, but this is how he stays warm: t-shirt, long sleeved hooded shirt, sweatshirt, down vest and sweatpants (a must, regular pants will not do under these conditions.)

So I’ll savor the moment.

(Lana, years from now we may forget this day, so let me note it here. You were asking Nuno if he wanted to hear about your day at the Australian Museum and the dinosaur puppet show. You drive your brother crazy most days, but I know you adore him:)