We kicked off the school holiday (Term 1) by celebrating our sweet Chloe's 6th birthday. We celebrated two days early as we were going to be in Sydney and I didn't want to packed up the presents. I baked beautiful vanilla cupcakes frosted in pink and chocolate and decorated with pink hearts and pink sprinkles. Chloe was so happy to bring these treats to her classroom on Thursday to share with friends. She enjoyed all of the birthday wishes from family and friends and the beautiful presents too.
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| Happy 6th Birthday Chloe! |
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| birthday skirts |
Our week in Sydney was fabulous. The weather, except for the first day, was glorious. Our CT friends/Aussie family, the Calis, were there too. So, Jodi and I had the kids to entertain for the week while our hubbies worked. I thoroughly enjoyed shopping the Markets in The Rocks on Sunday. Doing the markets with Jodi rather than Uri is a completely different experience (no offense, baby). In short, we shopped like Chicks! We found a wonderful Asian clothes designer and each found a fabulous, inexpensive new frock. Jodi helped me find a gorgeous, inexpensive gold-plated chunky necklace, too. And, it took me coming all the way to Oz to buy my first pair of Uggs. Funny, because I am not sure I'll need them, but they do look so cute -- greyish, green with ties up the back. Our kids, three in all, complained the entire time, but we were determined to get through every vendor.
On Monday, off we went on the 30 minute ferry ride to Manly Beach. One word to describe it: AWESOME! The beach, the shopping strip called The Corso and the weather made it quite enjoyable. The kids had so much fun playing in the water although we did not allow them to go in too far as neither Jodi nor I had our suits with us.
We enjoyed visiting the Aquarium, the Royal Botanical Gardens, the Sydney Tower and the Westfield Mall/Strand Arcade. We indulged at night by eating and drinking well: Malaya Restaurant in Darling Harbour, Odyssey Wine Bar and Restaurant in The Rocks and Pony in The Rocks. Jodi and I enjoyed one night kid-free. We pampered ourselves with a manicure, browsing in a couple of galleries, followed by drinks and dinner. It was so nice to be out in our new frocks purchased from the markets without our children.
A couple of new red wines that we discovered were: Epsilon Shiraz from Barossa Valley and a Cullen wine from Margaret River in Western Australia. I cannot recall if the Cullen was a Cab Sav or Shiraz...but it was yummy! Going forward I am going to take pictures of the wines I like.
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| A little pampering |
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| the Harbour Bridge |
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| A quick drive thru Bondi Beach |
Awesome to see the picture of the girls with the bridge. Thats a treasure of a picture. Melbourne next?
ReplyDeleteWow! Beautiful landmark scenery, two gorgeous granddaughters with an equally gorgeous Mommy! It doesn't get better than this for your old Dad! I am so glad you are enjoying the Australian experience and with such a nice friend as Jodi. We LOVE the pictures - we are going to run out of room for frames and it's only year one!! Love you all so much. Dad
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