December 24th

Christmas Eve!!

I did a dreadful job of taking photos today, but I know that Gorder has some great ones. We went to City Beach for the day, and let the kids (including Bryan) have a blast with the boogie boards. We basically had to drag Sophie and Bryan out of there, whining the whole way (well, Sophie wasn't...).

He's an engineer, which means that when he goes to the beach, he builds a cover for his feet and a beer holder.






It was a windy, but really gorgeous day.




Back up to Kalamunda with some really tired kids. Once we got them into bed, we wrapped as fast as we could, and were asleep just after 11pm (which I think is the latest that we've managed to stay up on the whole trip).


Matt Mittens got into all kinds of trouble on Christmas Eve. While wrapping this present for Felix, he apparently had some sort of huge mishap.




And pre-Christmas morning chaos with a big green line through it. Let's just pretend that it makes the photo more festive.

December 23rd

Once again, I'm days behind. My dad has given me a gentle nudge to get caught up, so I'm going to try. Falling behind is too easy when there's so much hanging out and doing nothing to be accomplished.

On Sunday, Leah and I went into the Kalamunda shops to do some last minute Christmas shopping, and ended up having a nice, relaxing lunch at the Zig Zag cafe. Bryan and Stephen were in charge of wrangling the kids, and it was nice to have a bit of quiet time.
I love kangaroo paws.




Once home, we asked Uncle Ken to please take the guys out to the pub for a well-earned break (and to get them totally out of our hair). Leah and I loaded up the kids and took them to Dawson's nursery, which was a favorite from our last trip. We needed to pick up a few gifts for Auntie Judy, and it's a great place for the kids to play and have ice cream while the adults have Devonshire tea.
Unfortunately Leah is terrible at eating scones, and refused jam and then barely scraped the cream on. I had finally had enough of this foolishness, and taught her the proper way to enjoy food.






Back up to the house in the late afternoon, because the rellies were arriving for dinner. We were all really excited, because a) we got to have paella for dinner and b) we were going to the airport afterwards to meet the cousins.

Wee beasts with their dinner.




Our amazing meal (mine is missing chicken legs and mussels).








And since we're going for the gold in terms of eating, why not add dessert to it? Judy believes in keeping a healthy selection of ice cream bars around.




Leah is flat out obsessive about honeycomb. This is a vanilla ice cream, dipped in chocolate, and then dipped in honeycomb.




Leah is also really enjoying the regional wine.




And finally, to the airport to greet the cousins. You can't hear the noise that accompanied this scene, but just imagine 150 kids trying to talk over each other, and you'll have an idea.




(And again, I apologize for the weird lines through the photos. I can't tell if it's a Blogspot thing or a Photobucket thing, but I just can't get around to re-uploading. Too many naps and hours on the patio to get through, you know.)

December 22nd

I'm being terribly lazy about the blog this time around. My apologies. Have been way too busy taking naps and hanging out and having a glass of wine at night to keep up.

On Saturday, Stephen started out the day strong. He woke up early, had some coffee and breakfast, and then went for a marathon nap while sitting on the patio. He's lucky that the kids didn't decorate him for Christmas.




After he got his beauty rest, we headed down into Perth to meet up with a fellow Thunder fan. That was really fun, especially getting to deliver a shirt sent from another OKC guy. Unfortunately I'm an idiot and forgot to take photos. You'll just have to trust me that he's a lovely person and that we ate some good pizza.

Then on to King's Park to let the kids frolic for a while. I didn't take a lot of photos, because we're going back for a picnic at some point. The kids (including Bryan) had a great time.












We zoomed back up the hill to get ready for Dean, Mio, baby Jemma, Steve, and Kerri's arrival. Tonight's dinner: grilled salmon.






Leah is quickly becoming the favorite of Uncle Ken's. Bah.




He still loves me too. Negative attention is still attention, so just pretend Bryan isn't there.




Sophie wants to move here to live with Kerri. (Those who read the blog last time may recognize the dress that Sophie lives in. Her cousins Declan and Paddy gave it to her for Christmas in 2010, and it's her favorite thing of all time.)






Mio, Robyn, and Jemma. OMG, Jemma is so cute that we all fall over each other to get her to pay attention to us.






Sunset!




And conference of the dorks.




King of the dorks.




And the whole crew, minus Felix and Kerri (who was taking the photo).

December 20th & 21st

By Thursday we were all so tired by traveling and going non-stop that we took a vote and decided to have a day off from everything but relaxation. The kids stayed in their pajamas most of the day, and we all just sort of took naps and ate great food. My aunt is a totally incredible cook, and so dinner is a huge highlight of the day.

Kids decorating the outdoor Christmas tree.










Finished product.




A chicken hat? I have no idea what's going on here.





The kids had some time in the small pool.




And then we went up to the Kalamunda market.




There we found an Elf on the Shelf cakepop.




And then we went home and were asleep by 10pm. We know how to party.



On Friday we decided to celebrate the world not ending by going to Sorrento Beach. We got there early, and it was cold and super windy. Not the best beach day, but the kids were insistent that it was fine and that they should swim. Whatever, dude. I'm just going to eat a meat pie and stay totally dry.








Then it was ice cream time at Hillary's boat harbo(u)r.







And then over to swim a bit here.





The kids ended the trip by dancing to that terrible Gangnam style song.





Another beautiful meal on the patio, and I was in bed and asleep by 9pm. I slept in until 6:58 this morning though, so I feel totally ready to rock today. Stephen woke up and had some coffee, and is now asleep on the patio.

On the agenda for today: lunch in Perth with a friend, and then going to King's Park for a while before having dinner with friends and cousins tonight. We're really looking forward to it.

(Sorry about the weird colors and lines on some of the photos...I'm too lazy to fix them right now.)