FUN IN THE SUN

Sydney has many, many fun outdoor activities.  Tom has been told that the motto around here is "8 hours of work, 8 hours of play and 8 hours of sleep".  We are starting to understand why that is the case because there is so much that you can do outside.  We have been very busy enjoying just a small piece of it. 

Even in a boot....this girl loves to play.  Not much slows Miss Jane down.

Biking through Manly Beach.  It is beautiful and we discovered the hidden beach around the cliffs....Shelly Beach.

The girls hanging out on the rocks with Shelly Beach in the background.  That is our yacht "The Princess Crusier" waiting for us to finish biking. Tom is off changing into his Seersucker Suit so he can captain the yacht.

Jane was riding the waves today.  She loves the water and the beach.  

Claire's first time paddle boarding.  She loved it and is now wanting one.....big surprise, Tom open your wallet.  Life is going to get more expensive with all of the new TOYS that she wants.

To finish things off....the two little girls hanging loose. Cheers mates!

TARONGA ZOO

Claire turns 14 this week and we decided to celebrate with a trip to the zoo.  My girls are known by many to be quite "wild" so I thought this would be the perfect place to visit.  It is located in Mosman a suburb of Sydney and a very gorgeous little place.  It has amazing views of the city, throw in many animals and you have quite a lovely excursion.



We had a blast and really enjoyed our day seeing all of the animals.

 Gorilla Momma and baby

 Huge Saltwater Croc

 Seal Show

 Asian Elephants 

Wow this one was not the real thing but, we were not allowed to climb on the real thing.  :(

 King of the Jungle - Mr. Crazy Haired Lion

We were able to go into a section of the zoo that is called the Australian Walkabout.  In this part of the zoo, you are able to walk around with wild kangaroos (Red & Grey), emus and Australian Geese.  It was unbelievable to just be a few feet away from them.  This part of the zoo was a favorite!

Jane was a big fan of the Koalas.  She wants to go back to the zoo and actually hold one.  However, in New South Wales you are not able to hold a Koala.  Some lady was holding one years ago and got frightened.  She dropped the Koala and that was the end of holding Koalas!  We will need to go to Queensland...travel is needed to fulfill Jane's dream.

We came home and celebrated with Chocolate cupcakes with Gram's famous chocolate frosting.  Our Claire is now 14 and we are really dreading the fact that in four years she will be off to college.  She is a complete joy and such a sweet, sassy, smart, studious, and superb girl.  We love you Claire! 

Happy 14th Birthday - Claire!

MAGNIFICENT

We had the opportunity to take the girls to the Sydney Opera House for a tour.  WOW!  WOW! WOW!

It was fantastic and the place is stunning.  The tour guide that we had was amazing and kept us all entertained for an entire hour.  It is an unbelievable structure and beautiful inside and out.  

The girls happen to LOVE Drama!  Big surprise.  :)  This is the perfect place for them to see lots of DRAMA on display.  When we lived in Cary, I had season tickets for two years at the Durham Performing Arts Center.  The girls had the opportunity to go with me many times to the theatre to see a play.  You can imagine by the end of the tour of the Opera House, they were begging to come back to see something on one of their five stages.  I promised them that we would return again!  

 Outside the concert Hall

 View into the Opera Hall

 Jane climbed 200 steps throughout the tour that day.  What a trooper in that boot!

 The roof - the girls think it looks like a reptile.  

Some of the tiles are shinny and glisten in the sun.

The View!

Before the tour started, Tom challenged them to remember their favorite fact and we would share it at the end of the tour.  However, if someone shared your fact before you had the chance you would need to think of another one.  The girls listened very attentively because they were searching for a unique fact to share.  Our tour group was very small only about 15 people....normally they have about 30 people in each tour group.  Because of this we had the chance to ask many questions and the tour ended up being 20 minutes longer.

Waiting for the tour to begin :)

Our facts that we learned: 

Jane:  The top half of a sphere cut into pieces was used to design the shape of the shells that cover the Opera House (the roof).

Grace:  The Opera House was opened by Queen Elizabeth II in 1973.

Claire:  The original budget and time table-table to build the Opera House were incorrect.  They projected it to take 3 years and 7 million dollars.  In reality it took 16 years and over a 100 million dollars. - so much for the budget!  Sounds vaguely familiar to my construction projects in life...just kidding Tom.

Stephanie:  The Opera House has 1,056,006 swedish tiles on the roof and in the years that it has been open only 20 have had to be replaced.

Tom:  A massive elevator shaft that was used to take scenery to the Opera Hall was made into a cool looking theatre called “The Studio” when they moved the Opera Hall to the other side of the Opera House.

We had a fabulous time and if you are to every visit us in SYDNEY it is a must see!

HAPPY FEET

Don’t you just love these shoes, these are the new looks that my girls will be sporting for school in a couple of weeks.  All three of my girls happen to love shoes.  They take after their parents, particularly their DAD and the thought of having to wear these ugly shoes is just overwhelming to them.  However, it is standard issue around this part of the world.  

We went to the uniform shop this week and got them all set for school.  The little girls - Grace and Jane will be wearing the following outfits.  

Jane is showing you the Fall/Winter look.  

 JANE

GRACE

GRACE -showing her enthusiasm!

Grace is sporting the Spring/Summer look.  

They are definitely not going to be gracing the runways in these get-ups for fashion week but, they serve a purpose.  They will have to express themselves with their individual fashion sense when they get home and on the weekends.  Quite frankly, I am a little bit overjoyed with the fact that the girls will be wearing uniforms.  We were embarking on an era where what you wear can be such a time sucker in the mornings.  Now we will have time to worry about other things--boys, make-up, teenage girl drama - Hooray...:)

Claire school uniform is below...she wears the same outfit all year long (with/without the blazer depending on the temperature outside).

She wishes that it was this instead....I am glad that it is not the rapper girl.  :)

SEA LIFE AQUARIUM

This last weekend we had the opportunity to take the girls to downtown Sydney.  We rode the train down to the Harbor Bridge and then took the ferry across to Darling Harbor to the SEA LIFE Aquarium.  We could not do a ton of walking because Jane is still not able to walk long distances with her injury.  However, what we did see of the city the girls loved.  They can’t believe that this wonderful beautiful city is in their backyard.  They said that it is one of the biggest, most gorgeous, most international places that they have every lived.  :)  It is considering we started in Orem, Utah, then to Kalamazoo, Michigan and then to Cary, North Carolina.  Sydney is very international--Big Surprise!

The girls are loving the climate.  The locals say that it is Autumn here and kind of cool however, we are loving the temperature.  It is about 70 degrees (20 degrees Celsius), our favorite temperature.  It is bright, sunny and beautiful.

While we were in the SEA LIFE aquarium, we got to see many of the fun sea life that surrounds us.  We were able to get up close and personal with Lemon Sharks and Grey Nurse Sharks.  These two types of sharks are common off the coast of Sydney.  They looked so peaceful in their TANKS.  I hope that is as close as we ever get to them.  

Above the sharks

GRAY NURSE SHARK 

LEMON SHARK

We had a wonderful day downtown and finished things off with an ice cream while sitting in the harbor as the sun was starting to set.  It was a perfect day and I am sure there will be many more of these to come.

WE MADE THE "LONG" JOURNEY TO AUZ

We made the long journey to Auz.  We flew out Saturday afternoon.  We made two stops (Dallas, Texas and Brisbane, Australia) before landing in Sydney Monday morning.  The girls did GREAT on the flight.  Tom and I were quite surprised that they did so well considering the longest they had ever flown was to California.  They slept, watched movies, and played video games.  They have decided that flying in anything other than coach is well worth the MONEY.  We may have created 3 high maintenance girls.  :(

Tom managed to keep his cool while traveling with his entourage.....4 divas and 18 bags.  It was quite the sight to see us walking through the airport.  Traveling with the family is always a challenge for him because we are not as savvy as he would like us to be.  However, we made it with very little discomfort and he seem pleased with the success.

We had the opportunity to pass through Dallas and visit with my little brother before heading out.  They had just welcomed a new little one into the world in January and it was nice to snuggle him.  We got to see my brother's new house.

Baby Tres with beautiful momma Shae

My little brother :) (JR) and his daughter Sloane.

My girls after leg 1....they loved being able to play for a couple of hours with their cousins.

When we arrived in Sydney, the girls really wanted to take a shower before heading out to see their new home.  After flying 22 hours, everyone needs a shower!  We proceeded to show them around.  Tom was much better at driving on the wrong side of the road this time around - practice makes perfect.  I was not ready to give it a try yet.

The girls seemed to like their new digs.  The movers pointed out that we live in 1D the perfect spot for three girls that happen to really LIKE the band One Direction.  Who knew that we would be so blessed!