Christmas 2009!

This Christmas was wonderful...probably my best in many many years. The last few Christmas's have been in the middle of a divorce (my parents side) and then last year was our first post divorce Christmas (nothing like hauling the three kids back and forth between my parents houses to do each tradition twice). I seriously called it quits after last year.

This year was what I always wanted but could never obtain while being students for 7 years and constantly traveling. For instance, I got to decorate for Christmas and we bought our first Christmas tree.

All previous years we were not home for the holidays and were scrambling to get through finals. Over the 7 years of not decorating, we have accumulated a lot of decorations/ gifts, like ornaments and stuff. I was so surprised to pull out ornaments I had more or less never seen that said "Stan & Eisha 02" or "Babies first Christmas 05" it was all quite magical!

I got to cook the food/ meal and set the table and pick the background music... and host the parties! I especially loved this because I could still put my kids in their beds while entertaining company and stay out late. So much better then dragging grumpy kids everywhere.

We did our own family traditions Christmas eve and Christmas morning. It was so fun to plan out what memories we wanted our kids to have about Christmas day (eat first or presents first or acting out the nativity or cookie decorating etc...so much to choose from). Anyway, the morning was perfect. We had a beautiful set up with the china, table cloth, candles etc...and Stan made a cinnimon sugar muffins and homemade wassil. We ate and then cleaned up. Then we opened gifts. The kids were so excited and so grateful!

Note: those gold and silver things are called "crackers" you pull the end and get a joke and toy, they are pretty much standard in England and Australia during Christmas time.

Somehow I got coal in my stocking (nice Stan) and the girls felt so bad for me they decided to share their presents and candy to make me feel better...so cute! I asked them what I should do this next year to be good and Olivia said "you just need to give us candy, not put us in time out and take us to the play place in the mall everyday." Then the girls proceeded to tell me all the reasons I deserved the coal, "remember the time you yelled at us? And that time you took our toys away? etc...yea, Santa doesn't like that!" Side note: that is so funny I was just talking about how this was the best Christmas ever and I got coal in my stocking (brilliant)!

Anyway, the kids all loved their gifts and they all really really believe in Santa, so it is extra magical. We spent the late afternoon evening at a close friends house for Christmas dinner and with our adopted grandpa who surprised us with a cake especially made for us. It was a really really nice gesture since he does not have a lot of money. After all the food and friends we went to a movie and slept in the next day. It was wonderful, thanks everyone for the gifts and cards, we love them and we love hearing from everyone stateside! Merry Christmas!

Olivia wanted a Polly pocket for Christmas (I was like, serious?...thats it?) AWESOME!

Mary wanted "a littlest pet shop, and a pink sparkle rainbow pony"

So today we went to feed the sharks and sting rays. The people advertised that the sharks were tame, had no teeth and that it was the only place in the world where normal people could just climb into the water with them and feed them. So we suited up the kids and went! Olivia did smashing, Mary did okay but spent most of the time out of the water, and Thomas was more or less terrified. I ended up feeding from the sidelines to keep an eye on the kids who wanted to run around. While feeding the sharks I dangled my leg over the side of the tank next to my food stick. Ten minutes later a shark swam up to my leg and bit me, YES I HAVE BEEN BITTEN BY A SHARK, and whatever about the no teeth thing, I was bleeding and have a big circle gash... maybe I should be glad Thomas didn't want to jump on in :-)

Mary feeding the sting rays with a stick

They literally would come up for food and hang on the side of the tank

That one is huge, each tank was a different depth and had different sized animals, this was the big tank!

My little marine biologist! She was so good with the animals!

Me helping Mary in the smallest, shallowest pool...after this she wanted out (I guess she is 4).

That was the biggest shark...I got bit by a weeny one!

Thomas not happy about the "fish"

Stan and Mary in the big tank...this lasted about 10 seconds. Next time we do this I will wait until the kids are a few years older so they enjoy climbing into the water, but overall a cool experience!

Camels

So today we started the day with a camel ride on the 23K sand dunes that run across the coast out here in Port Stephens. It is the largest block of sand in the southern hemisphere. Stan had been on a camel before in Egypt but this was my first time...and the kids first time too! I was surprised Thomas was allowed to come but excited to get all five of us in a picture. We went for a quick ride over the dunes and on the way back the guide lead the camels up to the ocean and let them splash around. It was fun and Thomas was squealing most of the time. Mary shared a camel with Stan and when the caravan headed into the ocean she turned around and Stan said "I love you Mary" and Mary said, "I love you too, but I love this day with the camels the best!"

The family shot, Stan and Mary's camel was named Jasmine, and My camel was named Ruby!

Thomas petting Ruby good-bye

Coming back from the ocean!

Mary when she said this day was the best!

Olivia leaning back when Ruby was standing up

Thomas and I at the sand dunes

Sporting the awesome hats!

And our little caravan in the middle of the desert

Port Stephens

So the week before Christmas we found a vacant apartment up in Port Stephens. It is about 3 hours north of Sydney and a beautiful groupie of beaches (26 to be exact) with some exotic islands off in the distance. It is smashed against a national forest (jungle) which has Kolas just hanging from the trees. It is the mating season so even though they are nocturnal they can be seen crossing the road to get to the other trees. We are mid week but I thought I would upload some of our pictures.

Our apt is on the water but you do have to walk through some brush to get to the sand. Olivia and Mary love the water and Thomas makes sand angels and blows kisses to girls that walk by...WHAT?!? Stan has been in utter relaxation mode, and after a year with no break it is really refreshing. In the seven years we have been married this is our first family vacation (all other trips have been with our extended family), so it is really fun doing things at our own pace and getting to make all the executive decisions. The trip was financed by Stan's recent promotion (ask Stan about the details), I guess you could call it a Christmas present from PWC.

The busy season....and yea that is US on the left (this is back at Shoal Bay!)

Stan taking Thomas into the water to jump the tide...Thomas was NOT a fan and was really excited to go back to the sand once Stan put him down!

Making a run for it! I love the reflection in this picture!

Mary super happy, she is my beach baby

Olivia learning how to ride the tide in...just wait until she discovers boogie boards!

Thomas is always finding stuff to eat that the tide brings in.

Mary at Shoal Bay.

Fingal Bay, when the tide goes out you can walk across those two islands. It is great for kids, no big waves or big fish and fairly shallow water!

Sand angles! We will have to settle since there is no snow at Christmas here :-(

Fingal Bay and my two girls!

Tired of the salt water and onto the apartment pool. Here Thomas is testing the water before he jumps off the edge. He has NO FEAR, so this man will be in swimming lessons ASAP.
Thomas recently got his first hair cut...can you tell? And I love the gap in his teeth, he looks so juvenile!
Daddy and the girls!

The pool from our balcony, I love it but I will be happy to be home for Christmas, and more to come....we are riding camels tomorrow across the dunes!

Beetles, Bugs and Butterflies

So I have been dying to do a post about all the creepy, crawly things out here but I always forget half the bugs when I start to write something. So here is a start, titled: Beetles, Bugs and Butterflies (title taken from an episode of Charlie and Lola...but it fit so well for my blog post too!) Beetles: So there is this tree outside Olivias school with rainbow beetles on it. I don't know what they are called but they are all different colors and they are SO COOL (check out my pix). We had to take some home...I hope they are not dangerous :-)

Bugs: Cicadas! So in Australia we have cicadas every year (not every 11 or whatever it is in the east coast of the United States). They are loud and every day I can tell how hot it is by how loud they are and how frequent they screech. The first summer I heard them I thought the apartment's fire alarms were going off. I apologized to a friend for our faulty fire alarms and she was like..."hey brain-o, those are cicadas!" I plan on getting used to the sound (like the locals) but it is taking a while! Moving on....

Huntsman Spiders: yea I know they are not "bugs" but these babies (Australian Tarantula's) are quickly growing up. They are not so bad in the spring but every time I go down to the garage I see the shredded exoskeleton of a Huntsman listlessly lying around the crevasses of our car or books or boxes. I think, gross, then I think...this only means they are bigger if they had to shred that body. I used to think the name "HUNTSMAN" sounded prestigious, but now I think it sounds creepy.

Butterflies: On the last day of school Olivia found a chrysalis on the playground and it opened up. The class watched the butterfly come out before school was out and I think it was a great way to end Kindergarten! Aussie schools are year round so Olivia will be starting first grade at the end of January!

Preggers!

Ok--I did delete this post but it is back by either popular demand...or utter confusion by everyone who could read the title and not the full blog! :-o

So NO, I am not pregnant! I just have a TON of friends who are pregnant and I am wondering what is in the water! Serious: Here is a drum roll followed by a long list of friends/family!

Jan:

Laura (Twin), Melissa (Neighbor from Uni), Linda (cousin), Ruth (Oxford friend)

Feb:

Susan (cousin), Cassy (neighbor under me), Gabi (school mom friend).

March:

Cheryl (cousin)

April:

Tiffani (friend from Uni),

May:

Natalie (my PR VP from student Gov), Katie (old roomie), Jenna (sister in law), Hannah (cousin, Stans side)

June:

Adelle (PR ED from student gov), Thora (from Oxford), Melissa (law school friend)

July:

Brittany (cousin, Stans side)

August:

Danalisa (Oxford friend), Stacey (Oxford friend)

I seriously feel like I am missing about 3-4 people...let me know if you feel left out and good luck to ALL of YOU!--Eisha

Honestly...

Honestly I should blog more. I have so many funny things happen to me, I even rehearse in my head how I would write the blog for that funny incident, and then time goes by and I completely forget about it. The worst part is, today I looked at my blog and realized it is boring. Seriously, the Melbourne cup, Jacarandas and a missing wallaby? What about the usual posts, laughing at the chaos of trying to celebrate American holidays abroad? Lets rewind!

Halloween:

This year for Halloween Olivia was a Devil and Mary was an Angel (I love what you can do with two girls close together). Thomas was Tigger from Winnie the Pooh. When I asked who wanted to be what, Mary said she wanted to be the Angel. Then Olivia decided that she wanted to be the Angel just to make Mary mad... clearly Olivia should be the Devil :-) Then we went to the store, Target! Me: "Hi can you tell me where your Halloween decorations/ costumes are?" Store helper: "we don't have any!" K-mart--me: "Halloween? do you have anything?" store helper: "no" 5 more stores later I trudge my way to the information desk at the mall and ask where I could find anything with a Halloween theme and they tell me the Dollar store!! Of course...what was I thinking going to target?!? I go to the Dollar store and they have three costumes: A Devil (score), A witch, and a vampire. Once Olivia saw the devil stick she wanted to be the Devil and she put the stick to good use! This year Stan and I went as vampires. For the record, this was my first time being something scary b/c I wasn't allowed to be scary things as a kid (my moms rule).

Our church was doing a trunk-or-treat so I invited some kids from school. For the record, when I invited our friends I said "would you like to come to a Halloween part at our church, it is ON Halloween" an hour after getting home from the after school pick up I get a phone call (Note: it is not Halloween yet) "Hey we are all dressed up (woman has three kids) and we don't see anyone at your church!" me: Oooooo--The Halloween party is ON HALLOWEEN. Today is NOT Halloween, today is just the day I invited you to come.... it is in a week! Usually trick or treating is ONLY done on Halloween...." I felt so bad for the lady...I just assumed she knew what day Halloween was, but then again....it is not on any Aussie calendars!

Trunk or Treat: So a week later we dress up and go. It is kinda empty (we are the only Americans at our church) and there are A LOT of people dressed up as Devils, Vampires and witches, because that is all you can find in the stores. Lucky for anyone who didn't come in a costume, I bought extra vampire teeth and capes...so we really DID have a lot of vampires. After the trunk or treat we went home. No pumpkin carving--there are no pumpkins in the spring here and I am not buying an imported one for $40.00 from the USA. Moving onto the next holiday!

Thanksgiving!

This year for Thanksgiving I had a very eager Aussie/Korean friend who loves to cook. She offered to cook Thanksgiving for us and even topped the event off by inviting lots of "people" over b/c when she read online about Thanksgiving it said you do it with PEOPLE. So we had a South African/ British family, a Chinese missionary (luckily paired with an American) and then her family who is a mix of Kiwi (NZ) and Korean.

The meal was close...a good try... but not quite American. We ate outside on the veranda in the evening and got a bunch of "mossy bites" the kids jumped on the trampoline!

We had some mango's with the cranberries because "it makes the cranberries taste better!" She was probably thinking, who would eat this stuff straight out of the jar? Me thinking: Well, Americans do once a year. So the mangos were unique! We did have potatoes, gravy, stuffing and turkey, so all in all it was close enough. The South African girl was in charge of pies and they were again close.

The pie crust was there and something was on top of it but it was more like a cookie! The whole ordeal made me smile (especially because it was obviously for MY AMERICAN FAMILY) and it will be a fond memory when I think back on it all! So thankful for friends who try!

Christmas: So it is beginning to look a lot like Christmas....and the 4th of July! Lets face it Christmas is in the dead of summer here so when people talk about their favorite Christmas foods the examples given are "ice blocks (Popsicles), Mango's, and BBQ's" During Christmas people go CAMPING. We were invited to camp in someones back yard for Christmas eve and I thought that was the funniest/ weirdest invitation I have ever received! All of Stan's co-workers were recounting their fond childhood memories of camping during Christmas. It is a big deal out here and everyone does it. We know because all the camp grounds are booked up for the holiday season and we just didn't book fast enough (like a month in advance) for a patch of cement in a national camp site. What will we do? Probably stay at home and go to the beach everyday :-)

Merry Christmas everyone, and I look forward to posting about New Years, Chinese New Year (huge here) and Australia Day ...all of which are in January!