The Year of Two Christmas's

            So this year we had the wonderful pleasure to go back to America for the Christmas Holidays.  We had been planning it for a year and a half and let me tell you that the excitement had built to a fever pitch.  And yet still, leaving my new, sunny home in Oz was bittersweet.  We were leaving behind our three youngest daughter's, who would be spending Christmas with their mum while we took Lucy and Esther over to spend it with their dad.  Knowing we would be having Christmas this year with no kids what so ever was like a dream come true, and yet... hmm... a bit sad.  We had put up our Christmas tree, artificial of course, and it would sit there all alone for a month in our silent house.  As we left early that morning I took one last look over at our tree and at our silent cleaned home and new I would be happy to come back. 

Lucy and Es were exhausted after our 13 hour flight.
This is Lucy at the LA Airport.

      Our trip was wonderful and full of new memories, but I must admitt to you it also made me not want to set foot near or in an airport for the rest of my life... If you have never made the looooooong journey from Australia to America, I will just tell you that it is exhausting... It is always quite amazing to me though to witness the utter miracle of how the female flight attendants on our thirteen hour flight are able to look as fresh as ever, with perfectly set hair and makeup not only in the beginig of our flight, but at the end too!  While I am getting off with ratty hair, smeared makeup, and rumpled clothes feeling completly gross I just stare over in utter amazement at their bright smiles... it is really miraculous and I don't get it...  But all in all, really, the plane ride itself is actually pretty enjoyable... I mean really I can pick to watch any show or movie I want and by the time I go through about four movies and some drug induced sleep you're arriving at your destination.  What I really just HATE and DESPISE... it all the crap to get on that plane... all the luggage... Eight large suitcases, four carryon's, and four back packs... and all the lines, and security checks, confirming tickets, renting cars, going through customs, and border patrol... it is stressful, and tiring... In the end, by the time we got back home to Australia I had cried twice... almost three times... once openly in front of perfect strangers in the middle of the airport... and been on the verge of it probably a few more.  Whew!!!  (no, I am not pregnant)

The very first place we went with my sister Corinne and her husband Jason was to our
favourite sushi place... BENTOS!!! 

          We had a blast in Oregon with my sister and her husband and her woderful, crazy, and always hillarious kids.  We ate out a TON and made our selves sick... It was hard to say no though when we knew this would be our only chance to eat at these places for another year and a half... And at such incredibly cheap prices too!  One very memorable day we drove up Mount Hood to go sledding with all of the kids and had a very fun, freezing cold time.

Mick was super cute sledding with all of the kids... He was probably the most excited out of anyone.

Lucy smiling, all bundled up from the cold.

            During our trip to America, more than anything, Mick wanted to give snowboarding a try.  Having lived his whole life in a tropical climate snowboarding was never really a readily available activity, and so Mick wanted to take advantage of this rare opportunity! And so we planned a day trip up to Timberline Lodge, a place that I had heard about for years while living in Oregon, but had never actually seen!  I was very excited. 

The veiw on the way up was UNBELIEVABLE!

On the way up to Mount Hood

           Mick went for a day of snowboarding and I went to read a book by the fire... It was actually a very pleasant time and a great memory... After he was all done we went exploring through the Lodge, which I soon discovered was where they had filmed certain shots for the movie "The Shining"... And I must say, I could definitly see it...  It was very cool and creepy all at once!

Oooooh... A hallway in the Lodge... look out for little girl ghosts.

Me sitting inside the main area of the lodge...



Mick, all ready to hit the slopes...

           

Having a blast...

Posing

          Oh, and by the way, I have to say here how impressed and super proud I was of my amazingly talented husband... That hot aussie took to the snow like he was born for it.  I will never forget how happy he looked after he came in... with his cheeks all red and hair all wet with ice... That made me happy.  I love you baby.
Then it was off to Colorado where we got to see my parents at their new place as well as all the rest of my family, minus one sister.  It was so wonderful to see everyone.  A few days before Christmas we got hit with a ton of snow and Mick was thrilled. 

Mick and I after landing in the Denver, Colorado Airport

Outside my parent's, playing in the snow!  Yay!!!

It snowed soooo much!  Mick loved the novelty of having to scrape piles of snow
off of the car, however, he told me that he knew if we lived there all the time
 it would get old really fast!

           In Colorado we got to have a lot of wonderful time without the kids, just as a couple... however we found that we still missed them so much.  One night we were able to go into downtown Denver to see "The Nutcracker Ballet".  It was gorgeous with snow on the ground everywhere and white lights in all of the trees... It seemed worlds away from hot, sunny Australia.  We were litterally "walking in a winter wonderland"...

An outdoor eating area.  I just had to capture this image... It was beautiful!

Mick in downtown Denver

Beautiful

                    We had a very merry Christmas with my parents and siblings... but as they say, alas, Christmas just isn't the same without the little kids!!!  However, we did the best we could... ;)

Opening new pj's on Christmas Eve



Mick opening his Ralphy pj's... I love that movie.



I saw this Aussie flag towel and just had to get it for him...

Mick couldn't believe how huuuuge American pizza's are!

               However soon it was time to face the music and head back to the airport... and one long journey to get back home.  I was so ready to go back to Australia... I longed for summer and sun, and crazy birds chirping in the trees, and funny lizzards chasing each other across the road.  Most of all we missed all of our kids and we could not wait to go home and have Christmas with them! 
               And so a few days after we were home, showered, rested and unpacked we finally got down to the business of Christmas with our kids...

Sure enough...  Santa came to Australia too!

Presents!

Taylah is super excited about her skateboard!!

            

Lana and Taylah in their new church dress... They looked SO beautiful!

All the girls ready for church in their new dresses

In the end, we had two wonderful Christmas's.  We have wonderful memories of our time in America, but we are so happy to be home again with all our girls. 

Lucy, Carsen, Esther, and Taylah together again.  (Lana was swimming with Daddy)

 

The Feast of all Feasts

                 Thanksgiving, what can we say...  It is a day of family and eating turkey and stuffing until you feel like a stuffed turkey.  And I  am learning very quickly that Thanksgiving in Australia also involves the added heat and pouring sweat of cooking tons of pies and assorted dishes (that all must be baked in the oven...) in 90 degree weather...  Yes, this american girl is insane... and desperately holding onto a cherished family holiday and tradition at all costs, heat stroke, and stress.  And so with three air conditioners cranked full blast I began cooking on Wednesday for our feast that was to be on Saturday, as everyone in Australia is still working on Thursday...  including yours truly.  And so on Thursday I made two extra pies, one for Mick's coworkers and one for mine. 



The two pies I made for us to take to work, and the cute turkeys Lucy and Es made.



Mick being cute as usual while I made French Silk Pie... I think he likes it...

One of our fridges getting full.



Mick kissing the turkey last year



And kissing the turkey this year.

           So, my Thanksgiving was off to a good start as we got the turkey in the oven with plenty of time to roast before our afternoon feast.  I asked the girls if they would like to help and they all jumped at the chance to help clean the floors... I told them that they were all like Cinderella and I was the wicked step-mother... They liked that :)

Carsey helping to clean the floor before the guests arrive.

Lucy and Taylah helping too.

             Soon everyone had arrived and it was time to make pilgrim and indian hats and eat some yummy veggies and dip while we finished preparing the featst.  The indian hats were by far the most requested as everyone wanted to have a cool hat with feathers!

Taylah digging into the yummy veggies and dip.

Everyone making their hats

Esther told me that she was a turkey...

Esther crying over her dead turkey relative...

Mick showing off all of the food...

Everyone chillaxin... :)

Getting full about now...

Pies!!!

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Everyone digging into their favorite pie... or pies... :D

Yummmmmmmm

yummy

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Getting ready to play some Thanksgiving Bingo!



The girls getting their Bingo prizes from Jeff and Wendy.

Esther with Jeff and Wendy in their matching America shirts.

not long now!

Getting ready for some yummy bangers...

Bobbing for apples

playing "dress your mummy"

Freaky...

Hey guys how you going… good? That’s good.
Well I only have 24 more days of work till we are headed over and
I can’t wait. We have some busy weekends coming up which will make the time go
even quicker. Brookes work Christmas party is in two weeks and then
thanksgiving (what ever that is) and then good bye party for taylah and carsen
and lana.
My work is going good. This time of year things start to slow
down. The year 12s only have 1 week left of school then the following week the
year 11 and 10s finish. What this means for me is that I will have less classes
to teach and more time to clean the tools and make projects for myself.
The attached video is off the girls going crazy while brooke was
at work. It was really cute to see them all having so much fun together.
although half hour later they were all at each other. I hope they only remember
the good times.
We had a Halloween party last weekend. The photos are attached. Lucy
invited 3 friends from school and we had a blast. Brooke did everyones make-up
and costumes and decorations and cooked the best food. We played games and ate
yummy food.
I hope everyone over there is staying safe and planning a happy
thanks giving. We wish we could be with you.
Ok see you all soon.

also this is lucys first painting which she is trying to sell on ebay:

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/OCEANNA-Lucy-Steed-Collection-/140632471657?pt=AU_Paintings&hash=item20be593869

girls dancing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylXQ2OiwhEk

Rainy Weekends

          So a few weeks ago Mick and I once again found ourselves facing an entire weekend with a house full of all five crazy girls... and what was the forcast outside? Rain!  What on earth were we going to do?  Then in a shear stroke of brilliance my wonderful husband remembered the garage full of boxes we had from our recent move and thus our rainy Saturday was filled with Mick and I building a super awesome fort for the kids.  And to be honest I think Mick and I had even more fun than the kids! 

Just getting started

Isn't he soooo cute!?

I love this man.

The girls relaxed while we built our creation...

Super excited!

Esther super happy inside the fort.

Not a Lover Of The Plover....

*Corinne, because I love you dearly as a sister, and I still would love for you to come visit me here, do not read this :)
              So, a few weeks back I learned a difficult lesson.... One I think that was only a matter of time, something I had only heard of but never truly gave much notice (or credibility....)... See as a relatively naive American girl, having grown up in middle-safe USA, far away from the more vicious forms of wildlife that the world can offer... I did not believe, no surely, the things I heard...  And this is where I introduce you to exhibit A.  The very first clue toward what I was bound to learn: 

...yeah...

            Now mind you, the first time I saw this I thought it was pretty funny... Then I thought it was some bizarre, cool trend to look "bad ass" or something... Like when people wear those dog spike collars on their necks... But then I noticed lots of people with these things sticking out of their helmets... People who traditionally aren't too concerned with putting off a "bad ass" vibe... Like grandparents... and cute little children... and overweight, middle-aged men... Hmmm... So I turned to my expert in Aussie lore, tradition, culture, and overall behavior, my dear husband Mick... Now apparently it all has to do with the birds... that's right, the crazy, psychotic, Norman-Bates-Motel- Alfred Hitchcock Birds.  Apparently, there are two main types of birds here in Australia, the magpie and the plover, that are known to be particularly malicious and aggressive if they so much as get annoyed by some innocent passerby... For example, in this case, someone out for an innocent bike ride.  Hence the spikes in every body's helmet.

             After Mick told me this, I honestly must say it was still a bit hard for me to imagine a scared, innocent little bird actually having the nerve to attack a big human... So I moved on... Days passed, I went outside many times, to parks, beaches and saw tons of birds... none of them ever attacked me or even came close.  And so it was that I became lulled into a calm, false sense of security that I carried with me up until a few weeks ago. 

The Plover... In his field.

             And this is where the real story begins:  Now all of you who read my blog are aware that we have recently moved.  Behind our house is an open plot of land that we have discovered is being lorded over by a very possessive plover.  Apparently he is the king of that tiny plot of land.  And more than once our girls have run in screaming, the older ones claiming that the bird was trying to "kill" them, and the youngest one crying her eyes out.  And I admit that when this has happened it has simply annoyed me... that they were being ridiculous and a bit annoying and they should stop scaring poor, little Lana!!  So the other day when Lucy and Esther, who had been in the back yard kicking the soccer ball, came in to tell me that they "lost" their ball and could not get it back, I couldn't help rolling my eyes and laughing when I saw that it was simply in the center of "Plover Field"...  And so feeling a bit annoyed and amused all at once that they were too scared to go get the stupid ball, I very confidently and naively marched on out to get their ball for them and to show them once and for all that there was NOTHING TO BE AFRAID OF!  ... Hmm...

A picture of the plover haunting me outside our living room window.

                This is what happened instead... As I got closer to the ball I could see that plover starting to get pretty agitated... He was screeching at me and began to swoop around in the air... I was invading his territory and he did NOT like it.  It was just as I was reaching the ball that I began to question my decision.  I looked over at Lucy and Esther who were standing under the porch with a look of horror on their faces.  I took a deep breath and tried to remain calm... I was trying to prove a point after all... um... yeah... But now I could see the shadow over my head of that angry plover and hear his loud screeches getting ever closer and closer.  I had heard of these birds taking out people's eyes and at this point I did not dare question it now to look around at what was happening behind me.  Lucy and Esther however, who were safe under the porch and were able to see the entire horrific scene could no longer remain silent and began shouting things out to me like "run mom! run!".  And yeah, at this point I seriously began to question my judgement, and so I picked up that ball threw it has hard as I could over to the girls and ran for my life.  
                  I am proud to say that I survived my brush with the Plover and have lived to tell the tale.  I have learned my lesson.  Never again will I question the things I learn from my loving husband about this crazy country of his... And now... well, those spikes on the helmet are looking like a brilliant idea...