Christmas Round One

        Guy & Abby have certainly been spoiled this Christmas with two full days of Christmas. They spent one day at each grandparents house, had Christmas here at our house, and then to top it off, they received tons of presents from the States sent by both my parents as well as my grandparents. They each got a bike for Christmas and a Nintendo DS, which I was very thankful for during the twelve hour car ride to Melbourne, and then lots of other fun toys and books.
         I decided somewhat last minute that I wanted to set up a treasure hunt for them for my gifts to the kids, and it worked out really well. They kind of didn't understand the concept at first, but as soon as they did they were off and running. My own mother has done this several times on Christmas morning and it was fun to carry on the tradition. These are the clues I gave them. They may not all make sense without really knowing the house, but you'll at least get the idea.

First: This rude reindeer you both must share, but finding your other gifts could be like pulling hair.
On a mission you must embark and find a new clue at every mark.
For the first you won't need to look far, but you will need to know that it's in your mum's car.

2 In this room we hardly use, next to a giraffe, you'll find your next clue.
3 Dozens of shoes your mum does own, look inside a red pair to learn where to go.
4 I see London, I see France, the next clue is hiding with Guy's underpants.
5 In the Playroom, high on a shelf, a rugged group of pirates treasures your next clue for themselves.
6 To be honest I've found a cockroach in here, but mostly this closet is used to store beer.
7 Now don't be thick and maybe think twice, because this little house could be a home for mice.
8 What's soft and pink and turns night into day? It might be your gifts, but until you find your next clue in the garage I really can't say.

Last: In this cabinet I hardly use, under the sink you'll find a gift for Abby and for you. 

I'm going to attempt to include video one more time so hopefully it works! Fingers crossed!

Clue # 4

 

Clue # 5

Overseas Visitor

        Recently my friend Joseph visited me briefly here in Sydney. He's from the States, but we met in Paris on a bike tour and then hung out in London and have never actually spent time together in the U.S. We have now been friends in three different countries which I think is pretty spectacular since we just happened to find ourselves in all of them at the same time rather than planning to be.
        He was here in Sydney for only a day because the following day him and his father, who is a professor here in the city, flew to New Zealand to spend Christmas there. That particular day I was watching the kids, so he got to meet them and we went to Pancakes on the Rocks together and then walked around at the Rocks Market before heading back to the house for dinner and to catch up. It would be an understatement to say that the kids fell in love with him and were quickly climbing all over him as kids love to do. He got a pretty clear picture of what my life here looks like and it was nice to share that with someone.

Ice Skating

        This ones pretty self explanatory. I went ice skating with the kids. We had a fun little day out and picked up a few things to put together a stocking for their parents and also had lunch and ice cream at the mall in the process. The two of them really can't skate well so it was slow going, but we had fun and I think I can honestly say they had improved a bit by the end. It's summer here, but on the ice I could pretend it was winter for a little while!

Downtown Christmas

       Wednesday was the last day of school for the kids and they're now in summer break! They'll be off school for about a month and a half  and then will be starting their next year of school. Everything is so different here! To celebrate their first day off school and to get them out of the house for a bit, Caroline (their mom) and I took the kids to the city to see the decorations. We went to the QVB first which is one of the oldest buildings in Australia and has been converted into a really spectacular high-end mall. They had a three story tall tree that went right up through the floor. It was amazing and by far the most enormous Christmas tree I have ever seen. It was sponsored by a famous crystal company which as you can imagine made it all the more beautiful and unique.
        After stopping by the QVB we walked to a department store called David Jones which had all of their store windows filled with various puppets representing different Christmas scenes. I personally think puppets are a bit on the creepy side, but they really were pretty nice displays. We saw several other trees in the city and then headed to China Town and ate Yumcha which is a restaurant where they push carts around with lots of different Chinese food and you pick what you want right off the cart. All things said, it was a really great day and we capped it off at big market where I bought my first Australian tourist t-shirt. :) I think it was about time.

 

Meat Bob

         Earlier this week the 18-25's of Hillsong City had a BBQ at Tamarama Beach. It was one of my favorite nights here so far in Sydney! I met a lot of great people and if it's possible, I may even love the beach more at night. My friend Ange and I grilled hamburgers and we had so much extra meat leftover that we made one huge mega burger with the rest.....which we then named Bob. ha. It was just a really great night and I want you all to "meat" Bob. :-D

D-I-N-G-O and Dingo was his NAME-O

         My friend Anri and I both wanted to pet a koala, so we took a little trip to Featherdale Wildlife Park to complete this mission. The website insured us that we would be able to pet and get our photo taken with a koala for free, but it would be an understatement to say that I had my doubts that this was true. My expectation was that we would maybe get to pet a koala or a wallaby, but those expectations were completely blown out of the water! I was able to see every classic Australian animal with the exception of a platypus and I got to pet not only a koala, but also a kangaroo, a wallaby, an echidna, an emu, a parrot, a quokka and a wombat!! It was so amazing!
         We got there during the day on a weekday when not many people were there and got to spend all the time we wanted with the animals and then made it around the park a second time to watch several of the animals being fed which allowed us to pet the echidna (like a porcupine but cuter) which wouldn't normally have been possible. We got to feed a few of the animals too. I just can't get over the fact that these animals are so common in Australia when in my head they are so rare and exotic. It's safe to say that Featherdale made some of my Australian dreams come true!

On a random/nerdy note... when I look at these photos, I can't seem to stop thinking about what my score would be if I were playing Pokemon snap!  :-P

Animals Pictured Below

• Parrot
• Wallaby
• Kookaburra
• Quokka
• Little Penguin
• Crocodile
• Flying Fox
• Pink Cockatoo
• Kangaroo
• Wombat 
• Koala
• Peacock
• Echidna
• Emu
• Tasmanian Devil
• Tawny Frogmouth 
• Dingo