Luna Park

To celebrate Lachlan's 10th Birthday, we visited Luna Park. We took some of the kids in the street and we had a fantastic time. We went on almost all of the rides like, the Ferris Wheel, the Ranger, the UFO, the Wild Mouse and many more. By the time we finally left, caught the train home and hopped into bed, it was just before midnight. Definitely a long night, but well worth it!

Miracles

This week we drove out of our driveway in a beautiful part of Sydney. We had packed, loaded the truck, cleaned and mopped till our fingers hurt and managed to overload our cars with things and kids and drive north, in the direction of Brisbane. The long drive gave me a lot of time to reflect on our 11 months spent in Sydney.




When we finally arrived to my Dad's house (where we will be staying for a few months) I watched a movie called the '17 Miracles'. It talks about how sometimes we don't see the miracles in our lives, unless we are really looking for them. So I have tried to see the miracles in my life during this past year. I know that myself and our family have really been blessed during this past year, even with all the ups and downs of moving and losing my Mum. I know that there have been numerous miracles that have helped me keep going on my journey, just like those Saints who needed physical pushing to go on their journey to Zion. As we drove across the Taren Point Bridge out of the Shire for the last time, Eryn and I turned and noticed how beautiful the sunset was. We almost felt like it was especially for us.



Well, now we are living in Qld, not quite sure where our journey is going to take us. But this last years experience has reinforced again to me that we are never alone, and that God is always watching over us. Goodbye Sydney!

Jervis Bay

Ticking off another of our 'To Do List' was to visit Jervis Bay. This is a beautiful part of the south coast of New South Wales.


The water is bluer than you can imagine, the beaches secluded and just so relaxing. We first went to that part in the National Park, then to one of the smaller beaches. It is not commercialised, no lifeguards etc, but just...beautiful.



I have definitely fallen in love with Sydney beaches. I'll always be a Qld girl, but Sydney beaches are so much better.

Lachlans 10th Birthday

Last week Lachlan finally turned 10 years old. In celebration of this and leaving Sydney we went to Luna Park. (More on that later) Lachlan is such a wonderful son. Smart, disciplined and funny. Happy Birthday Lachlan.

IKEA is now OPEN

Finally, the Grand opening of IKEA Tempe arrived. Dan finished up his works with IKEA a few weeks ago, so the kids and I headed off to the Grand opening. They had anticipated huge crowds, traffic jams and the like, but we got a smooth run and had no trouble finding a park. We took a tour of the building and liked the fact that we had seen how it looked before.



We ate in the restaurant and got a seat with a view. Incidently, the restaurant takes in the views of Sydney and all the planes landing on the West runway.



The meatballs were great, so was the Daim cake. Eryn said her cinnamon scroll left a lot to be desired, but we decided not to complain.



So glad that the store is now finally open. We are in the middle of packing up and will be heading back to Brisbane in just over one week. We are looking forward to catching up with friends and family, but will definitely miss this beautiful spot that we have called home for the past 11 months.

Happy Halloween 2011

This year Halloween was a bit of a fizzer in our place. Usually we would get dressed up, the kids would go to Mums and Kara's and trick-or-treat and we would even attend Kara's annual Halloween Party. Since we couldn't do any of those this year, the kids thought they would go trick or treating with the kids in the street. Well, homework got in the way and so did the fact that we weren't sure who to trick or treat to. I even bought a whole ton of lollies in anticipation of the all the kids who supposedly trick or treat in our area. The only people who visited us were two girls dressed up as Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz. Consequently I have a huge bowl of lollies that I have to keep away from Addison's sweet tooth roving eye!



Later that night while I was asleep, someone knocked at the door. Dan looked through the peephole and couldn't see anyone. He thought we were being 'pranked' so didn't open it. Ten minutes later the doorbell rang again, and ofcourse noone was there. By this time I had woken up and Dan was sure that something sinister was going on. He locked all the doors and waited to see if anything else was going to happen.



Well, the next morning I woke up and noticed something was on the front porch. Low and behold a huge basket of halloween treats. Someone had gone to so much trouble, and I'm sure was frustrated that Dan never opened the door to see the surprise. The food was delicious and we even took some left overs to the 'Mother and Daughter' Halloween Young Womens Party the following night. Eryn dressed up as a Sugar Plum fairy and I went as a witch! It was a fun night.

Braces round 1

Last week Lachlan got his new braces put on. They aren't a full set, and they are to help fix his underbite. The orthodontist tells me that he should only need them for 3 months. Lachlan hopes that is the case, as he has to put very tight bands on in a triangle shape after every meal!

Fun at the Park

One Saturday afternoon while Dan was at work, we found a great park up the road from Tempe which is full of great play equipment. The winning equipment was the slides. They all range in different sizes, and the kids enjoyed having races on them.

Igor the Actor

Lachlan recently participated in a play for school. It was an elaborate version of 'The Gingerbread Man'. He had been working for weeks on it and enjoyed acting in front of the whole school. He played Igor and acted so well, that he even received an award on parade for his efforts. His teacher tells us that she thinks it is his calling in life! Lachlan tells us that now everyone calls him 'Igor' at school!

Up the Tower

One weekend when Dan was at Young Mens Camp, the kids and I decided to tick another item off our Sydney-to-do list. We caught the train in to the city and headed up the Sydney Tower. I think it is now called the Sydney Eye, but we won't worry about that! It sits above Westfield Sydney, and on our way to the lifts we found the most fantastic shopping centre food court you have ever seen. It was full of gourmet food stores.



There was so much to choose from, but the prices were a bit too high for our afternoon trip. We took the long elevator ride up to the top. We also got to be one of the first to see their 4-D feature film about Sydney.



That was the highlight for the kids. The platform you stood on moved during the film, and you also got wet! Once up at the viewing section, we could see all the way to Cronulla and all the way around. The view was great.

Trip to Melbourne

During the September school holidays we decided to head off down to Melbourne to take in some sights and visit with family. On our way we made sure we stopped off at the Tuckerbox at Gundagai, visited the family cemetery and McIntosh Lane in Yackandandah, before heading out to visit with The Phillips family out in beautiful southeast Victoria. The kids love it there - with the green rolling hills, dog, horses and plenty of room to run around, play basketball, ride a bike or just enjoy the scenery.






The kids enjoyed catching up and playing and we certainly enjoyed having everyone entertained. We also headed down to Ashcrombe Maze down on the Mornington Penninsula. It was so much fun racing each other through the mazes. When we drove home, we were able to go home along the eastern coast, stopping in Lakes Entrance for lunch and having a delicious dinner in Batemans Bay.

Cinderella dressing up

Yesterday Morgans Kindergarten class performed on parade. They sung two songs and danced/acted with the music. The main song was about 'Let's dress up'. All of the kids in the class dressed up as different characters from the song. Morgan was Cinderella. Her class had been practising for a long time, but I was so proud of how she knew all the words and the actions. It is very hard for Morgan to learn things off by heart, so I knew that this was a fantastic achievement for her. And to top it off, she thoroughly enjoyed it!

English Champ

Today Eryn came home from school and casually announced that she recieved an award of High Disctinction by the University of New South Wales for the International English Writing Performance Assessment. Only 30 girls from her school were asked to compete, and Eryn was the only girl in her school to recieve a High Distinction. The results showed that she is in the top 1% of all NSW and ACT Year 7 students. Well done Eryn. I'm still waiting for her to write her first book.

Broken Bones, Book Fares, Singing & Visitors

It has been a little while since I posted. During that time we seem to have been inundated with little mishaps. A few weeks ago Lachlan was running in the house and kicked his toe. It ended up being broken and he spent a week on the couch. But not before he was able to dress up in the Book Week Parade. He went as Zorro and Morgan went as Tinkerbelle.



Eryn has spent the last month or two rehearsing with the other youth in our stake for their performance at Stake Conference. Her singing was beautiful, well worth the effort to go to Stake Conference all by myself because Dan was handing over the IKEA store to retail so that they could begin assembling all the rooms and stocking the shelves for the opening in the first week of November.



My Dad came to visit for a week, which was nice. I gave him plenty of time to relax and hopefully some good food too! We enjoyed having him around, as he fixed a lot of little jobs that had been on my mind to get done. Thanks Dad! We finished off his visit with a trip to the Tip!!

Two weeks ago Addi was jumping on the trampoline with Lachlan. As they both landed on the mat, Addi started screaming. At first we thought it was a sprained ankle, but when she wasn't walking on it 5 days later - it was x-rayed and found to be a greenstick break to her tibia. The next step was getting a cast on and I was worried as she had been so opposed to the therapist even touching her. I said a prayer that she would be calm, and miraculously she sat perfectly still the whole time they put on the cast. Addi has eventually gotten used to it, but the best news was that she won't need it on for the usual 4-6 weeks. The doctor believes that at her age, 2 weeks should do it.



To top things off, I recieved a call from Lachlans school on Wednesday to tell me that he had collided with another boy and could not walk. I had to carry him to the car to get him home. Turned out he sprained his knee. Since I am just sick of kids hurting themselves at the moment, after icing it for the remainder of the day, I told him that he had to spend the next day in rehab. So, while playing wii and watching TV, he also rode on the stationary bike and used the wunda chair (pilates chair). Result= next morning, he was walking without any pain. Thank goodness!!

Almost Done.....

Finally after so many days, weeks, months and even years, the IKEA that has brought us to Sydney is nearly finished. It is only a matter of days and weeks before it opens. Here is a view from the roof.


This is a picture of the outside.


Here is the inside warehouse.


We even got to walk through SMAALAND. The only time I'll ever be allowed in! It is located just near the runway of the Sydney airport, so it is fun to be standing outside and have a plane fly only metres from your head. The restaurant looks out toward the city. At night when all the lights are on in the city, you get a fantastic view of the city skyline. It makes a meal of meatballs and mash with a view like that pretty good value. We can't wait to try the restaurant out.

Similarities

I can't help but notice how much these two look alike - even though they are wearing the same outfit. 10 years difference in photos!

The new Triathlete

Lachlan has recently been asking repeatedly about starting to do Triathalons. He loves cycling, is pretty good at long distance running and ok at swimming. After some investigation I found that he can start at his age and last week joined the Cronulla Triathalon Club. Today he completed his first race. In winter they only ruan Duathons - run/bike/run. He finished with a time of 15:03.( Don't get confused by the time on the clock. He started at 11.00 minutes) Then we asked him what he thought " I loved it"! Well done, Lachlan.

Cliffs of Coogee

Recently we walked along the beautiful beach of Coogee. It was a Sunday afternoon and so many people were out enjoying the beautiful view. Right on the cliffs of one side was a plaque and marker. This is a picture of the kids and Dan when they made it to the top!

First Words

Addison has babbled many words, but is yet to put words together in a sentence. So each time we hear her say a word that resembles a real word, we all get REALLY excited. Last night at dinner we were eating chicken soup with cheese toast. She didn't really like the soup, but wanted all of the toast. When Addison had finished eating hers, she held out her hands and said to Morgan " Please, Please". It was the cutest thing I had heard all day.