A toasty hot Christmas

....or at least not a freezing cold snowy wintry Christmas like it is back in Somerset, UK.  We had some friends fly over and visit us for 4 days over the break and we had an amazing time.  The weather was a bit of a disappointment considering that we are in Sydney, Australia and it is the Summer! We went in the pool on Christmas Eve and day but those were the only times it was warm enough.  In fact it was only sunny on Christmas day and for the rest of the time was overcast.  Our house guests had come all the way from Perth where it was in the high 30's and blazing sunshine every day!  A bit of a shock for them.

I had a lovely feast planned for the holidays and so after popping down to the airport on Christmas Eve morning we headed over to collect our seafood from the local fishmonger who had in fact opened at 3am that morning!  Madness.  Anyway we rocked up at around 11 and the queue was through the shopping centre and around the corner!  We joined the queue with Gloria Jeans coffees in hand and thankfully it only took around 45 mins to get to the front.  I bought 2kg of the most amazing pre-cooked Australian medium king prawns and 4 Moreton Bay Bugs.  All of it was totally delicious and the best prawns I have ever had.  The rest of our festive party concurred!

A dip in the pool helped with the jet lag and refreshed us all.  Andy came home and the festivities really started!  Surf and turf for tea and then Finn & Isla went off to bed after leaving some food out for the reindeer and Father Christmas himself!

Finn has reached the age where he really gets Christmas and was therefore pretty excited....a 6:10 start for us this year....!

 Father Christmas came!

 New Christmas PJ's!

Super cool sunnies from Father Christmas

It was a hot and sunny day so after breakfast we headed out into the garden and spent a great few hours in the pool.  Andy had a practice on his body board which I gave him!

We then cooked some chicken on the barbie which turned out pretty well - we experimented with beer chicken which was good!

 Christmas happiness is up to your elbow in a Pringles tub next to the pool after a refreshing dip!

The chicken turned out very well! 

We had a late lunch/early tea before flaking in front of a film and then off to bed.  A very different Christmas day for us but it was nice.  I had been struggling with feeling festive but having children and their excitement is contagious!  Spending time with the people you love makes it easier.  The first time in decades that Somerset has had a white Christmas and we have missed it though....typical!

On Monday we decided to brave the beach as the weather was not great, a bit chilly and overcast but Andy really wanted a go on his new bodyboard.  So we decided on Manly as it has the beach right next to the town so we could head there for lunch.  Without further ado, here is the evidence:

 Look at that cloud cover.  Seconds later Andy went under that wave and out the other side!

 Post body boarding - he looks good in a wet suit!

Chuffed with his accomplishments!

Back to normality now really, the tree is still up and we plan to try and see the 9pm fireworks on Friday night but our guests have gone.  Finn & Isla were very lucky and have had some lovely toys which are their current favourites!

One last pic which is so cute, Isla was given a beautiful tea set and wooden cake stand from Granny and Grandad and she and Finn had such fun on Christmas day having a tea party in her room.  Too cute!

Summer is on its way

The temperature has cranked up a notch and we are coping well so far.  I approach summer with a little trepidation as although we have been here during December and January when it is pretty hot, we are not on holiday now!

The thermostat in the car reported 32 degrees pretty consistently today and I have spent the day with Isla at a shopping mall making a huge dent in the Christmas shopping.  What a relief to have around 75% done by early November.  Finn has been at pre-school so it is ideal to shop when I only have 1 littly with me!  Isla and I were ladies that lunched.

I picked Finn up a little early as it was scorching hot and I thought the best and most fun we could all be having would be at home in the pool!  We have the paddling pool on the deck and if I leave it uncovered then it gets to a tepid bath temperature which is just lovely.  As the children walked through the door they were pulling off their t-shirts in anticipation of a good cool down.  I have a convoluted system of parasols, pegs and sheets to shade the pool completely when they are in it.  I then profered a toe in the big pool and found it was in fact warm enough for a dip that wouldn't necesitate sharp intakes of breath!  So I took the children in one at a time to practice their swimming.  Back to the paddling pool for more playing with toys and I joined them.  The deck behind our house where the paddling pool is juts out over the garden and looks into the bush behind our house.  Lying in the paddling pool with Finn & Isla, lounging over the edge, watching the parrots I could almost believe I was in an infinity pool - we have a poor man's infinity pool!

Andy came home and after a 30 minute commute in his leathers he was a little sweaty......  I told Finn to suggest Daddy jumps in the pool.  Finn pads in and I hear him tell Andy to strip and jump in the pool!  Chuckle.  So he did.  A few refreshing laps and he tried his hand at diving in.  Never been his forte apparently.  There is some room for improvement!  ;)  He has all summer to up his game though....

I reflected on this couple of hours that we all had and smiled.  What a wonderful opportunity for Finn & Isla.  What great fun.

 

Pool days

So much to do and time is ticking away

We heard today that our house exchange is going to be Monday or Tuesday next week.  When we first accepted an offer on the house the buyers were really pushing for an exchange before Christmas.  In one way I really want us to exchange as soon as possible as we then know it's definitely going to happen but on the other hand it means that we really start this journey (aside from the huge amount of money already spent on a visa for Andy!) and are committed to changing our lives.  I mean, I am already committed in my heart and mind but this means legally things will happen to us!

We have a rather dull but practical weekend ahead of us as we drastically de-clutter our belongings, as what is the point of shipping lots of bits and bobs that we haven't used for 12 months (read 4 years since we moved into our current home!).  We have the joys of clearing out the attic, which thankfully we have already made a good start on.   Then we have the challenge of having a good clear out in our study.   Hmmmm, Andy likes to game.  This means that we have large amounts of PC game boxes which may or may not have the actual CD in them.  It is fair to say that Andy is not good at putting the CD's back in the boxes - why for the Love of God, Why?  Anyway, we have some serious clearing out to do.  All this with a 2 1/2 year old "helping" and a 14 month old wanting to be carried!  Should be interesting, what should take 2 hours I imagine will take 6.  I have decided that to delay the trauma in the morning a little we will go and have hot chocolate and croissants for breakfast in our local Costas.  Finn is excited about this!

I am beginning to get fed up with the snow now as it is seriously impinging on my socialising during the day.  We cope as a country with snow as well as well as a one legged man does in a butt kicking contest.  It really does debilitate an otherwise developed and modern country!  It has been so cold here but we are starting to get back into the routine of life now as Finn went to nursery this morning (which was lovely for him, me and Isla!) but I did get the car stuck in the snow on the drive on my return.

I slipped into Australia dreaming this afternoon and fantasised about what we will make of our life when we get there.  I'm hoping that we can get a small boat quite early on to just potter around the estuaries and waterways - nothing too flashy but it must have some sort of roof to protect us from the midday sun.  When we went to Brisbane in April 2008 with Finn we spent some time in Noosa which was amazing and we hired a boat to explore the water.   I can truly say that was an amazing way to spend time as a family.

I aspire to spend days like that in the near future with Andy, Finn & Isla.  I can think of nothing better than getting up nice and early to be met by the Australian sun beaming, loading up our car with an eskie full of snags, drinks and salad, heading off for a day on the water with the boat on the back.  Cooking our lunch on the copious amount of barbies in the numerous parks, slathering on the sun tan lotion and splashing around in the water.  I can't wait.