A day at the Park

This weekend we went to the park nearby our house.  Even though it was only a block away, Olivia was pretty excited to bike! 

It is really cold now (mid 60's) and yesterday I put away our summer clothes!

Thomas can stand and he has taken a couple steps here and there but he doesn't realize he can do it yet...thank goodness!

Mary is constantly telling me that Daddy is her best friend.  

Stan and Thomas doing some father-son time!

When the tide goes out we can find all kinds of jelly fish on the shore!  The girls like to put sticks in them.

Saturday, Stan took the girls to the Easter Festival up at Olympic Park. Basically the Olympic site used for the games in 2000 got turned into a huge theme park. Since it was the last day it wasn't too crowded so the girls had a blast riding the rides, petting the animals and winning prizes.  I stayed home with Thomas b/c he was a bit sick with a second cold.

The girls feeding the animals

Going home on the ferry!

Taronga Zoo

Taronga Zoo is Australia's largest zoo and it is in Sydney on the north shore.  Stan took a day off work and we went to go see it since the kids were on holiday.  It was HUGE.  It was right on the water and you could see the opera house from the giraffe and zebra exhibit. 

Mary on an elephant during the elephant show...we couldn't see too much, there were a lot of people

Stan and the girls before entering the aquarium

Mary watching a gorilla

There was a gondola that spanned over the zoo, which you could ride. It allowed you to look over all the animals. Thomas really liked this part, he was squealing!

Blue Mountains

This weekend we went sightseeing.  Apparently, here in Sydney the beaches take up the east coast and about an hour west there is a National park called the Blue Mountains. It consists of steep cliffs (ideal for rock climbers), caves and lots of jungle. We only did short hikes with the kids, but the views were spectacular nonetheless.

This view is from Echo point

This rock formation is called the Three sisters.

Here is an old man showing Olivia the face of the Three Sisters, through his binoculars!

There is a cable car across the gorge that you can ride...so long as you are not afraid of heights.

I thought this was the coolest tree, the bark just kept peeling back over the limbs!

Easter

So the week before Easter I started to look for egg dying kits. NOTHING. I asked my mom friends at the swimming pool, and the response was "well if you want to actually paint an egg you might want to go to an art store and get some proper paints."  I started to describe egg dying kits "you know, with the little tablets that dissolve?!?" Well, it turns out they don't have them here. I was starting to get frustrated.  First no trick or treating for Halloween and now no egg dying kits?  We decided to cope by making some homemade dye. . . how hard can it be right? We made some pretty strong stuff, we guessed on the measurements and the eggs dyed in less than 5 seconds.  I was paranoid about permanently dying our clothes and the balcony so Stan and I did the actual dying while the kids picked the colors. We let the eggs dry and cleaned up so I figured it was a success with no major stains....right?

Dying brown eggs with vinegar and food coloring... couldn't find any white eggs in the store!

Olivia decorating Easter sugar cookies

The finished result!

Easter Morning, Thomas found the first egg. He started to suck on it and got dye all over...I guess I do need those egg dying kits! (All my friends in the USA  feel free to buy some egg dying kits (on sale) and mail them to me for next year k?

The girls looking for eggs in the bathroom

Thomas found one chocolate egg...but the girls took it away from him about 2 second later!

Olivia & Mary going through their candy and books and new Easter dresses.

After finding our baskets we went out into the court yard for a neighborhood Easter egg hunt in the grass. Eighteen kids came, so it was a huge success put on by the mothers group!

It was a great morning!!

Shelly Beach at sunset

So in Australia it is a public holiday on Good Friday and Easter Monday. We have a 4 day weekend! Yesterday we went to Shelly beach to swim and BBQ and watch the sunset. I ate Kangaroo for my first time on a kabob!

Mary getting ready to hit the waves!

Building sand castles!

Olivia played in the sand, Mary played in the water (even though it was only 70 degrees outside...Brrrrrrrr), and Thomas didn't eat the sand (finally). He just kept throwing it in the air.

It is the only beach in Sydney that faces the proper direction to see a sunset (so it isn't behind you).

Later, some kids came to the beach and practised dancing with a fire stick. I was a little nervous about my kids running too close to them, but they didn't get hit.