OPERA SINGER

Our future "STAR"

This last Monday night, Grace had the opportunity to sing at the OPERA HOUSE.  Every year, her school puts together a choral group that combines with other New South Wales choral groups to put on a wonderful, amazing choral performance at the SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE.  The Festival of Choral Music is a wonderful concert series featuring hundreds of outstanding musicians from the local elementary and secondary schools.  All together it involved 700 voices and a string orchestra.

Grace happens to love to sing.  She has a beautiful soprano voice and "performing" in front of a huge audience, well this is a dream come true.  So when her choir teacher told her about this once-in-a lifetime opportunity she jumped at the chance to do it.  She spent many hours practicing the music.  She had the notes, lyrics and music memorized.  She made sure that I purchased tickets for us to attend and that we could actually "SEE" her from our seats.  She worked out a system so that she could tell us that she loved us from the stage (pulling on her ear).  

As the performance date approach, her excitement heightened.  She could not believe it, she was actually going to be performing in the Opera House.  She had butterflies in her stomach but, she was ready to sing.  Prior to entering the concert hall, we bumped into her  School Principal.  He told us to prepare to have our expectations blown away.  It was AMAZING!!  The music was beautiful and the children had outdone themselves.  We felt really blessed that she was able to be part of such a lifetime opportunity—singing in the main concert hall at the SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE!  What an experience.

Waiting to entry the Concert Hall

Tom and Grace went for a early dinner before the concert....another daddy daughter date. (Lucky guy!)

They grabbed a quick pizza prior to drop off for warm ups.

ROMEO & JULIET

Last term, Claire spent the entire time studying Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare.  She dissected and analyzed it in its entirety.  She and Tom spent many nights chatting and recounting the themes in the wonderful play by Shakespeare.  They had in depth conversations as they discussed what Shakespeare had written long, long ago and how it is still applicable to modern day life.  They compared and contrasted the elements of light and dark, good verses evil and how a simple decision can lead to complete destruction.  (Tom, being an English major, and I, an engineering major, have a little deal...he helps the children with English homework and I help with the Math and Science.  Divide and conquer, RIGHT?) 

So with that being said, he was happy to jump right into Romeo and Juliet.  It was a joy to him considering he spent an complete semester in college, many years ago, studying Shakespeare.  He could not have been more excited to share one of his great passion's with his 14 year-old daughter.  

Selfies

As the term was winding to a close, he really wanted to take Claire to see it on the stage.  He wanted to reward her for her HARD-WORK.  So last weekend, they went to see Romeo and Juliet at the Sydney Opera House.  Tom purchased tickets to a modern day version of the play.  The actors and setting were in modern times however, they were speaking the Shakespearean language of old.   It was a perfect daddy daughter date.  He took her to have lunch down in the Harbour and then they walked over to the Opera House for the play.

They both said that it was very well done.  They theatre was small and so every seat was fantastic.  They really enjoyed themselves and I was happy to see them celebrate all of their enthusiasm for such an inspiring story.  Good work, Miss Claire, your dad and I are really pleased with your success!

Here they are all set for their DATE!

IMAX

Metal Art at its best!

Getting Ready for a DAY of walking!

Stay-cation Day 5:

For our last day of our holiday we decided to take the kids to see a few more local beautiful sights.  We began the day with a walk across the Harbour Bridge and then up to the top of one of the pylons.  As you climb the stairs of the pylon, there is a museum that describes the process of building the Sydney Harbour Bridge.  At the top of the pylon is a stunning lookout called PYLON LOOKOUT.  There are breathtaking 360 degree views of the gorgeous Harbour.  We had a great time and learned quite a bit about this historical icon that we cross on a regular basis.

The Centre Pin

We love the view.

After spending a few hours at the bridge, we had lunch on the streets of the ROCKS.  Then, we traveled by ferry to Darling Harbour.  It is another area of the harbour that is the home of the world's largest IMAX screen and I had arranged for us to see "Flight of the Butterflies" later that afternoon.  "Flight of the Butterflies" is a beautiful documentary about the Monarch Butterfly.  As you watch the movie in 3D, you feel as though you could reach out and touch one.  It was very educational and reaffirmed my love of butterflies.  Someday when we move back to the states, I am going to plant a milk weed plant in my yard so that Monarch Butterflies can lay their eggs on it.  What amazing creatures! (I would highly recommend it if you are given the opportunity to see it.)

In addition to the movie, we sat, devoured GELATO and just enjoyed the warm sunshine as it caused the harbour waters to sparkle.  It is always a delight to be able to people watch in one of the most spectacular cities in the world.

The girls fell in love with this beauty as we were getting lunch at the ROCKS!

Let the FLIGHT begin

PORT STEPHENS

STAY-CATION DAYS 2, 3, & 4:
Last week during our holiday, we decided to take the girls North a bit to see Port Stephens.  Port Stephens is approximately a 2.5 hour drive from Sydney.  It is a port that is 2.5 times larger than the Sydney Harbour and forms a bay called Nelson Bay.  It is a beautiful bay with lovely beaches and the bay is the home to many bottlenose dolphins.  

We had a GREAT time filling the trip with sandboarding, shopping, watching bottlenose dolphins in their natural habitat, and enjoying their famous Bub's Fish and Chips (best in the state of New South Wales).   As we were driving there, Tom and I thought it felt like the rural towns that you see on the way to the Outer Banks in North Carolina.  It was a little weird to know that we are living in Australia where the vegetation and landscape is different being half a world away but we were having a deja-vu moment.

Sandboarding was a blast.  We rode in this really fun 4-wheel-drive red bus out to the dunes.  We hiked the sandboarding hill after a few instructions.  It was a little scary going down the first hill and then we got the hang of it.  Jane went down the hill 20 times in an hour (record is 65 times in 4-hours).  She was like a little energizer bunny....I was exhausted after hiking the hill a few times.  We had a few tumbles where our ears and hair got filled with sand but, we did not have any broken bones --- SUCCESS!  I have to say that I like the sandboarding more than snow sledding.  

Tom

Claire

Grace

Stephanie

CRAZY - Jane

We also took the kids on a charter cruise that took us dolphin watching in the bay.  They are stunning creatures and it was fantastic to see how playful they are.  Port Stephens is lovely.