December Holiday with Lilly and Jeff, Part 1

My sister and brother in-law came to visit us over the holidays.  It had been 16 months since we had seen each other.  We had a wonderful time visiting and touring around Australia.

We began our visit in Melbourne.  Uri, the girls and I travelled down by train the day before Lilly and Jeff were to fly in.  I hadn't been to Melbourne yet - saving it for just this visit.  The city was decorated for Christmas setting us in the mood.  We had dinner in Chinatown, saw the street art and spent a few hours in the famous Chloe's room.  All this before Lilly and Jeff arrived.

Waiting for the train

Melbourne's Young & Jackson hotel is home to the Chloe painting.  Painted in Paris in 1875, it arrived in Melbourne in 1880.  Many men and women have raised a glass to the lady and said, "Chloe, here's luck!".

Our Chloe in Chloe's room

Young & Jackson's, home to Chloe

Town Hall

St. Paul's Cathedral

Flinders Street Station

Santa in the park

Street Art in Melbourne

Australian War Memorial

By far one of the best places to visit in Canberra.   

Halloween at the Embassy

Halloween almost came and went without me noticing.  I think it may have something to do with how non-commercialized they are, that is, by American standards.  It didn't help that there were no trick-or-treaters at our door.  However, we did get in the spirit by attending the Embassy's Halloween party.  Even I dressed up!

For the Birds

Stumbled upon this art display that I'll call "For the Birds".  Off of George Street in Sydney.

A Balancing Act

It has been awhile since my last post.  I started working full-time and it has been a bit of a balancing act.  I was in a routine each day of dropping the kids at school, running or going to the gym, having lunch, blogging/facebooking, errands or chores and picking the kids up from school.  But, after eleven months, this routine got a bit old.  Truth is, I enjoy working and so it is good to be back at it.  However, I do miss parts of my daily routine like exercising, blogging/facebooking and picking the kids up at a reasonable hour (now they are in "afters" til 5:15).  I am still trying to figure out the best time to run each day, the house is rarely clean, clothes are not put away and we are cramming in the chores on the weekend.  Recently, I started running a couple days a week during my lunch hour.  This works out pretty good.  I've got great support to do this too.  I work with people who also exercise during the work day.   
Here are some pictures from a hike we took in the bush last weekend.  We came across this really amazing lizard and for the first time, we were swooped by a magpie...a very territorial magpie.  The swooping was unexpected so I do not have a picture of that.   

Cairns Holiday: Part 2 Kuranda Rail and Skyway

After a relaxing day hanging around the resort enjoying the pool and the beach (oh, did I mention our 3 bedroom apartment was right on the beach?) and delicious food, we took to the railway and headed into the rainforest.  A beautiful 90 minute train ride took us up into a quaint village called Kuranda.  We took a nice walk through the rainforest to stretch our legs and work up an appetite for lunch. 

Following lunch, we visited three sanctuaries in Kuranda including butterflies, koalas and birds.  Another check mark off of my list of things to do while in Australia: hold a koala.

Holden, the Koala.  This is the closest Uri is going to get to having a son.

Maiya and Holden the Koala





Maiya and I saw fish that had this same color scheme at the GBR

a nice fuzzy spot



The animals sure do like Uri



Uncle Tom's new hobby

 We ended our evening with a birthday celebration for my beautiful daughter, Anabella.

LB made chocolate balls for the party.

And, Uncle Tom made party hats!

Chloe's true feelings about chocolate!