Friday, December 31, 2010

On the fifth day of Christmas...

My true love took me to a crazy, kid filled science center!

We took off on an adventure through Questacon, the science center here in Canberra.
The girls loved every second of it. They got to explore and play all day.

The theme right now is how water works in our world. The center of the building contains and huge display of how rain falls from the sky to water the Earth. The girls both wanted to go for a swim :)

Destiny really liked building with the blocks.
Addi headed straight for the veterinarian play area. She just loves pupps (that's what she calls them)
Addi playing at the water table.
We had such a wonderful time exploring the science center. We have to go back some time :) The girls are the perfect age for experimenting in science!
As we left the parking lot, I noticed this line up. Matt's office is to the left of the flag and the monument that Matt calls "the chicken on the stick" is to the right of the flag.
Addi on the car ride home. What a happy baby girl! Today is her 1/2 birthday. Yep, that's right, she is officially 1 and a half! wow! Time flies!
This is the day that Destiny turned 3 1/2; on the 28th of Dec. We celebrated with yummy fairy bread!
It's so hard to believe that my girls are growing up so much. It has been fun to watch them grow and I am so happy I can spend each and every day with them helping them learn new things!
We received some lovely gifts from my cousin in the states...Matt with his STARBUCKS coffee!
He says, "thank you!"
This picture just snuck in there! It's some yummy corn bread I made! I am having tons of fun with my adventures in the kitchen!
Here's the picture that was supposed to come next :) haha! (I'll figure this blog thing out, some day!) The girls received special books from both my parents and my cousin. They are recordable books. When you open the book, you hear the voice of the person who gave it to you, reading the story. They are precious and wonderful gifts! The girls LOVE them too!

Happy New Years in the states!! We are celebrating New Years Day here today! We had great fun last night at a party hosted by another family who works for the Embassy. It was fun to get together with people from both the U.S. and Australia! Plus they live walking distance from our house which is nice! Destiny had a blast jumping on the trampoline and getting her make-up done by the older girls and Addi was a champ! Both the girls stayed up until 1 AM. As soon as we got home, their heads hit the pillow and they were fast asleep! However, Destiny was up bright and early at 7 A.M. (lucky us!)
What ever you are doing to celebrate, I hope you have a great time! We miss celebrating with our family and friends in the states! Be safe while you ring in the new year!
Well, I'm off to finish making lunch for the crew, we are having our first lettuces from the garden that we planted! I'm excited! We also have cucumbers, tomatoes, squash, bell peppers and carrots coming in! Dusty ate our first strawberry...that naughty dog! haha!
Enjoy today! I'll be back at you in 2011, tomorrow :)

Sunday, December 26, 2010

On the fourth day of Christmas...

My true love took me, to a place called Cockington Green!

Our adventures at Cockington Green started with a visit to the Roo and the Emu:

The Australian government uses the Roo and the Emu on their Coat of Arms.

Cockington Green is a garden "small scale" village, crafted by people who work with wood. The houses stand about as tall as Destiny, some are a little bit taller than her!
They had various trains running through the villages. These trains made me think of my Uncle Dave and cousin Hank! Destiny loved seeing the trains whizzing by her!
Lily pads.
The majority of the park is based off of houses or areas of England. There was also an international part that showed buildings from various countries around the world.
Though it was filled with people, this area seemed to be so peaceful!
Destiny by one of the "castles" in the International part of the park.
This is for all of my Norwegian friends :)
Destiny was SO happy to ride on the BIG train that goes through the park.
There was a cute little pond with this bridge over it. I thought it was so beautiful so each of the girls took a turn getting their picture on it.
We enjoyed a super yummy lunch, played at the playground a bit and called it a day!
Today we are off to explore the parliament area. We'll see what kind of trouble we can get into *wink wink*
Aussie word o' the day: Brumby = wild horse. There is a street near us named Brumby and I always thought that was a cool name of a street, Matt just informed me that it means "wild horse".
Try that one out on your friends today!
Special thoughts and prayers to one of my favorite Aunties (who follows the blog) she broke her ankle. We're thinking about you, Dianne!
Enjoy today!

On the thrid day of Christmas...

My true love took me, on a lovely bush walk!

We have all sorts of trails right here in our neighborhood. This is one that is about a 3 minute drive from our house. On our walk, we were lucky enough to see another kangaroo and met some nice people picking wild mushrooms for their soup...yikes!

This girls walking through the tall grass.
Addi in her cute overalls. ** the tall grass reminds me of North Dakota!
The trees are so beautiful here.
Destiny and Matt...We are finding out that Destiny is NOT the outdoorsy type. She complained for the WHOLE hike. Many of her complaints involved wanting to go home...she even said she was so tired and wanted to take a nap (that's a laugh!)
Here is a creepy lizard we found...good thing it was slow moving and didn't scare me too bad.
We had to crawl through little gates like this one in order to get around within the park.
Over the tree line, you can see our little suburb! It's called Harrison!
Little Addi! She is growing up so big though! It's amazing how well she communicates and her little sense of humor just cracks me up.
Destiny -- it was her half birthday yesterday. 3 1/2 Can you believe it? Next stop: 4! Crazy! We celebrated her last night by singing Happy Half Birthday To You! and eating fairy bread!

Daddy and his girl.

We had a great bush walk! It's nice that it is so close by our house, we may be back there, but there are so many other places to explore as well!
Aussie word o' the day: Bush Walk = Going for a walk in the Bush {anywhere that is not in town}
Take yourself on a little bush walk today! heh-heh! That would be a bit difficult in North Dakota right now...you would have to bring your snow shoes!
I'm off to get ready for the day!
Enjoy today!

On the second day of Christmas...

My true love gave to me...A stocking full of kitchen goodies!

We spent a quiet Christmas at home. We opened gifts from one another on Christmas Eve and then opened gifts from Mr. Claus on Christmas day!

The BEST gifts EVER right there in my arms! Two little girlies in their jammies, who could ask for more!?!?

Above me is our little "Charlie Brown" Christmas tree!

Destiny and I wrote a letter to Santa and left it out with some cookies, milk, and a carrot for the reindeer!

Destiny did a drawing for Santa too!
Destiny still asks to write letters to Santa!
From Matt's mom and sister, the girls got some lovely Dr. Seuss books. So much fun!
Destiny's face is priceless here! She was so excited to get a DVD from Sue and Pa in North Dakota!
Addi is showing off one of her sand toys. She makes funny faces in pictures now, because she is saying "cheese"! haha!
Us.
Time to brush those teeth! The girls LOVE brushing them! ** I have even caught Destiny eating the tooth paste a time or two!
She's getting the back teeth really good :)
a special note about this picture: She wanted to wear her apron from Auntie Dianne because she was being a "maker"...setting out the plate for Santa with cookies and carrot! She calls me a "good maker" whenever she likes the food I have made for her!
The stockings were hung (but no chimney here!) Stuffed full of goodies from Old Saint Nic!


Chocolate Chip Pancakes were a special morning treat! We all enjoyed munching them through out the day.
Yesterday, someone told me that in just about every situation, less is more. You hear that saying SO much, but if you really sit back and think about it. It is so true. We had a "less is more" kind of Christmas and it just warms my heart to think back on it!
So, go make today a "less is more" type of day!
Enjoy it!

On the first day of Christmas...

Hey All!

I am catching up with the blog world today. I have four great blogs ready for you that I will post within the next few days! This blog includes our special Christmas Eve adventure! We have been spending so much wonderful time together as a family and it is so hard to find the time to blog. The kids and Matt are all taking a nap, Dusty is snoozing too, so I thought I would take advantage of some "alone" time!

As I wrote in the title, I have a little song to sing about our Christmas adventures: On the first day of Christmas, my true love took meeeeeeeee...on a hike to the top of Mount Ainslie!

We drove to the top of Mount Ainslie here in Canberra and here is a picture of the sight we saw:

The road leading up the the water (Lake Burley Griffin) is filled with War memorials along the side of it. At the center on the other side of the lake is Parliament. Pretty fancy! eh?

I attempted to "wear" Addi. Before she became a toddler (I'm still in denial) I used the wrap all the time to carry my little babe around. I think the wrap will be going back on the shelf and waiting for baby 3 if that happens!
We ditched the wrap for a much cooler ride:
Daddy's shoulders!
Another view off the Mount. We truly loved the hike. We did it backwards, which was a bit strange. Drove to the top then hiked down and THEN hiked back up. It was a challenge and I dressed WAY too warm for the weather. I ended up with my sweatshirt around my waist and the wrap slung on my arm.
We are so thankful for all of the parks and nature reserves in our area. It is so much fun to go on little adventures!
Destiny looks so thrilled to have Dusty on leash...but where is Dusty haha! Dusty doesn't listen to Destiny very well!
Here's our sweet girl! She says, "merry Christmas!"
Here's a little toilet humor for ya:
haha! I usually don't post pics of the girls doing their business, let alone "take" pics of the girls doing it, but I thought this was priceless! She was so proud too!
For another lesson learned...aka...The Aussie word o' the day: The letter "Z" = Zed...my name has a "Z" in it, I bet you can guess how I learned that they say "zed" here! haha!
I'll be back tomorrow with another fun family adventure!
Enjoy today :)