December 26th, 27th, and 28th

I am so terribly far behind on the blog that I almost just gave up on it entirely, but I know that my parents are patiently waiting, so I'll keep chugging along. From here on out I'll do 2-3 days at a time and keep it pretty minimal. As usual, my apologies for the weird lines.

The 26th was Boxing Day, and the whole family came up to Judy and Ken's for dinner. Their neighbors had kindly offered free use of their pool, so we took the kids over there for a bit.






And then we had dinner (I guess that I was too busy stuffing mah face to take pictures), and then had dessert. Pavlova is pretty much my favorite thing ever. If you haven't had it, you should call up my mom and have her make it for you.




On the 27th it was approximately 142 degrees F, so the cousins had the brilliant idea that we would hide out inside during the day, and then have a barbecue in King's Park in the evening. The best way to kill some time during the day was to see The Hobbit in 3D.




These guys were especially proud of their 3D glasses, and popped the lenses out so that they could wear them some more. (They were disposable - the glasses, not the kids - so they were fair game to keep.)




At King's Park we parked next to a memorial with Felix on it. We've seen his name on various things several times since coming here. It's almost like it's not a weird name here.




Then barbecue with a gorgeous sunset, before heading up to an overlook at night.












And then on the 28th, we headed to Penguin Island, which is always a favorite. I'm just going to chuck a bunch of photos up. We went on the sea lion tour on a glass-bottom boat, which was absolutely fantastic this time around (much better than last time, when we hit some bad waves and wind). After Penguin Island, we headed into Rockingham for ice cream. (Sophie spent the day wearing HER 3D glasses with no lenses, as that's what 11 year olds do.)

December 25th

CHRISTMAS!

The kids graciously let us sleep in until 6am on the dot. Last year Stephen and I had to go and wake up Sophie and Felix, but kids never sleep in when you want them to.

Opening stockings with Goblyn.






Sweet, goofy kids with their Minecraft Creeper necklaces.






Robyn got an Australian Christmas book from Santa.




Judy got a new bag.




And Leah got a stash of honeycomb.




Up next: opening the iPad Minis. I'm not sure where we go from here as parents. I guess we'll have to buy them all Audis next Christmas.






After thoroughly spoiling our offspring, we headed down to Perth to the rellies' house for Christmas lunch and swimming.






Dean provided the festivities with Skittles vodka.




Wearing our Christmas cracker hats.






Secret Santa! We ended up with a sweet emu mug.




Dayna (who is gorgeous) with Auntie Judy's lemon curd pie (which is also gorgeous).






Dana and Auntie Diane!




Stephen and Jemma. We all sort of fight over getting attention from her.




Mean Tim and his brother, Jeremy, with Jeremy's baby boy, Austin. Austin is probably the most laid back baby ever born.




After dinner, we drove down to the beach for a bit. Unfortunately the Gorder Santa photos are on their camera.
The four of us (NEVER happens, so hopefully my mom will be pleased).








A group of dorks.






Getting Bryan off the beach basically involves threats and bribes. And by the time that you've rounded him up, Stephen has wandered off. It's like herding cats.




Sweet! All caught up. Today (Boxing Day) has been quiet. We've gone swimming at the next door neighbor's house, and tonight the whole Robertson/Feldhusen crew is heading up for dinner. I'm really looking forward to seeing everyone again.

(OMG, those lines through the photos is going to make me nuts.)