Jack and I had a day alone due to Ella going to play with some friends. It was rainy so we went to the Mall for him to play in the play area. He had gotten hooked on asian rolls. In the food courts here there are generally two pr more Asian counters with a wide variety of rolls - california rolls, smoked salmon rolls, avocado rolls, etc. They give you the roll in a paper takeaway with a little container of soy sauce. You’ll see people walking around eating the rolls. And, since they are simply seaweed, rice and whatever, very healthy. Anyway…we had rolls and steamed dumplings. And, bought Ella a pair of shoes.
Ella’s feet are wide and she has a high instep - thus a really fat foot. So, for a shoe to fit her well, they are high dollar. Ella has now received two pair of $70 shoes (hopefully Ben will not read this entry). A really cute red pair and now a tennis shoe with pink on it.
Jack was excited to give Ella the shoes when we got home and Ella was soooo excited to receive! She loves shoes and her eyes literally gleamed with anticipation of putting them on her feet.
Picture of Jack helping Ella with new shoe…
Fortunately, that same day Jack received a package from Nana & Papa Cheeks.
Jack opening the package:
Jack was so excited. He was given a Spider Man t-shirt, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle undies, and a sticker card. Ella also got a cute little outfit.
All pics in this album:
Wow…to be surrounded by half a million people smiling, happy to be together, not minding waiting in lines, filled with excitement…I was very happy to witness the event.
I was able to attend Pope Benedict’s Final Mass at Royal Randwick Racetrack. I was happy to meet another lady, Frances, traveling by herself into Sydney at the train station. We anticipated a 4km walk once arriving downtown, but the city had buses prepared to transport us to the mass. It was incredible to see the many individuals, families and nations who had spent the night in the cold and damp to celebrate the occasion. Many families had their young children with them all bundled up nice and warm. Thousands of tents were spread out and many people still sleeping.
Frances’ daughter, Cristina, and her friend Louisa had been on the pilgrimage walk from North Sydney on Saturday and spent the night at Randwick. We were able to find them, which they had a much better location (closer to the altar). The Pope circled the air in a helicopter a few times around 9am and then went through Centinnial Park into Randwick in his Popemobile a little before 10am. Mass started at 10am and it was lovely. I was able to recieve communion with many, many other people which was I was really happy about.
The next World Youth Day is scheduled for Madrid. Maybe we’ll make that one…
Pictures…
I previously mentioned checking out books from the library. One of the items they checked out was a plastic horse. Ella loves to ride the horse and she has figured out she can drag it in the kitchen to stand on and get what she wants off the counter.
Mimi gave the kids marshmallow bunnies for Easter, I know, maybe a tad old, oh well…we found them and they wanted them… Ella has gotten particular about her hands needing to be clean while she is eating…so we washed up multiple times during the eating of the bunnies. Some of you may remember Jack not wanting to get messy while eating ?
We met our wonderful neighbors downstairs, Roberta and her daughter Simona. Simona is eight, very nice and a little helper. She came up yesterday afternoon and helped us post the rest of Jack’s alphabet wall and played with the kids.
We have been practicing writing the letters of the alphabet and Jack’s name. Ben and I alternate on who has the most patience to assist - Ben won today and I took their picture…
For Father’s Day we took a trip to Surfers Paradise, Gold Coast. The Gold Coast is very much like Orlando, but is on the Coast. It has amusement parks and many hotels. We went to the Gold Coast because I had read about the Top 10 Kids Clubs in Australia, rated by parents.
Kids waiting for bus to get to the airport:
The Paradise Resort has a multi million dollar kids club. The children are entertained by different themed sessions everyday. Ella’s room had a ball pit, lots of little cars to ride, a sand pit and lots of toys. Jack’s area had a submarine, a pirate ship, a play village to ride cars around in (with a gas station)… His favorite session was Pirate day with a treasure hunt.
We could view the outdoor area from our hotel room and saw Ella playing:
One night the hotel had a Polynesian barbque and dance. Ella and Jack loved the dancers and watching the band play the music.
We left on a Thursday morning and returned Sunday. It was a nice getaway for us all. Ben and I were able to go out and eat a nice dinner, a breakfast while reading (how nice!!) and play with the kids on the beach together. Ben had never been to play with Jack on the beach and so they really enjoyed that time together.
All other pictures:
We are enjoying our new home. It is an apartment right outside of Sydney called Breakfast Point. It is a development of homes, townhouses and apartments, set along the water that was started in 2002. The community includes a country club, grocery store, cafes and other small retail shops. It is almost like Oak Grove, but with retail and without the golf course.
Jack and Ella enjoy eating on the deck. There are pictures of them eating muffins (yes, chocolate) on the deck.
Jack and Ella made a tent between their two beds. Jack slept in the tent that night. He woke up screaming at 3:30 because he could not get out.
We can check out toys at the local library. They are for loan, just like books. The kids have checked out a toy kitchen (sink, oven, stovetop) and a plastic rocking horse. There is a small room in the library where the toys are located and they can be checked out for three weeks. This is a great set-up for us and allows the kids to go through lots of toys. Ella on the horse:
Ella performs random acts of love and punishment on Jack. This was a moment captured with the love extreme. Jack was sitting in the chair and she just crawled up and put her arm around him and sat there very possessive like. I was glad the camera was out so that I can show them these moments one day.
We can walk down to a little beach area. It is too cold and windy most days due to it being winter here. One afternoon we were able to walk over and stay for awhile.
In the above picture, the Breakfast Point development is in the background. You can also see a dock if you look on Jack’s left shoulder. This is where the ferries pull up and you can catch a ride into Sydney.
Rest of the pictures in this album:
Hello - thanks for the emails questioning if we had dropped off the face of the Earth! We have been busy the past month with the move to Breakfast Point, the kids being sick, a holiday to the Gold Coast, and finding Jack a preschool for a couple of days a week.
In June, we moved from downtown to Breakfast Point. The kids were a big help with the move:
Ella taking time out to feed baby:
The kids and I visited the Australia Museum. Jack and I had talked about going for a few weeks. The museum had Dinosaurs posted all over town advertising their new Dinosaur exhibit. The exhibit focuses on the dinosaurs that were in Australia. We chose to go on a Wednesday because children could attend a Dinosaur hunt on that day.
There were a number of other children participating in the dinosaur hunt. It was for 3 year old children and up, but the docent included Ella too. The docent talked to the kids about how long ago dinosaurs roamed the Earth. She also let them touch dinosaur fossils, eggs and poop! The kids didn’t seem to find that gross…
Jack posing in front of model dinosaurs:
There was a three-minute video that would play on one of the walls every 15 minutes. Jack loved this video. It showed a number of different dinosaurs all drinking from a lake (they were all plant eaters). The dinosaurs would take a sip and then quickly look around to see if there were any predators approaching, then go back to drinking. All of a sudden you could hear something very large approaching, oh no, a great big dinosaur! Run, run, run, for your lives - the thirsty dinosaurs would scatter in every direction, going back and forth, until one silly little dinosaur was left standing, and could not decide which way to run - the big dinosaur bit him on the neck and thrashed his head from side to side. Jack loved this video, so we would watch if for three minutes, go look at something else, and then hurry back to watch it again. We watched it at least five times.
The museum has an incredible play/education area for the children. It is called Kid’s Spot. Jack and Ella could spend days here due to this fantastically designed area.
Please view the Australia Museum album for all of our pics:
We plan to visit the Australia Museum again when my sister, Jennifer, comes to visit in August. They have introduced a new exhibit, Surviving Australia, to educate us on the species that have survivied Australia’s climate and landscape.
