Since last we "spoke".....

About nine hours after my last blog post we were on a flight to Sydney to catch our cruise ship for a 14 night cruise around New Zealand.  It was such a relaxing trip and New Zealand is a beautiful country. We all had plenty of time to decompress and we stayed 100% unplugged the entire time.

Ahhhh....not a stress in the world....until SCREECH -- BANG --WHACK!  We got home and returned to life as we left it. The dishwasher needed to be unloaded, the 2 weeks of laundry was begging to get washed, and...well you get the picture. 

The girls had one week of school left until end of the school year when we arrived back on December 7th. Normally we would have never taken the girls out of school for two weeks, but the teachers had to have all the final grades turned in the day before we left. As a result, they missed ten days of review and revision only to come back to parties, movies, and clean up days. 

Between school party treats and teacher gifts, birthdays and birthday parties, and Christmas shopping, I haven't taken more than a glance at our New Zealand photos until this week and why you haven't seen a post about our trip yet.  So, while we start to sift through the 1000+ photos from New Zealand, I will post about our last three weeks.

Anna's requested that we go to Dreamworld, the largest amusement park in Australia and similar to Six Flags, for her family birthday celebration.  I was a bit nervous since the last time I was on a rollercoaster was probably 1995.  Heck, getting on a swing puts my stomach in my mouth these days, but Anna was so excited and after all, it was her birthday. Anna had a plan and had picked out the four thrill rides she wanted to ride.  That plan lasted 30 seconds in the park when David led everyone over to the Buzz Saw, one ride that wasn't on her list. After much protest from Anna and myself, we all got on anyway. We survived and the girls thought it was "awesome!"  This discovery, lead us to the Giant Drop, which also wasn't on her list, but was loads of fun for everyone except the one of us afraid of heights.

 

The Buzz Saw with the Giant Drop behind it.

But for the love of the birthday girl, and the fact that the park was empty due to everyone Christmas shopping, I actually dropped from the sky twice and managed not to have a full-on panic attack.  We ended up riding all of the "Big Eight" thrill rides in the park.  It's a good thing the lines were short and we got them all in, because I'm 100% positive that it will never happen again for at least two of us in the group. The downfall of the day was riding this one, the Wipeout, after lunch.

Let's just say, some of us were wiped out for about an hour after that.  Thankfully we found this ride and stayed on for about 8 laps which aided in our recovery.

Who doesn't like the cool breeze through your hair on the Vintage Cars?  It was a successful birthday outing and I'm pretty sure Anna said it was her "BEST DAY EVER!" 

The next day was Anna's "Minute to Win It" birthday party.  She had eight friends over for a blur of tissues, ping-pong balls, balloons, dice, coins, etc.  It was a fast paced party and 2 hours went by quickly.

 

To help ring in the season, we had some good friends over for a Christmas fiesta of margaritas and fajitas.  Yes, tex-mex not normally on the Christmas menu, for us or our New Zealand and Australian friends, but what else do you do when Christmas falls in them middle of the summer?



My fabulous friends who are beautiful both inside and out!

Crowns and prizes from the Christmas crackers.

I surprised Anna and Ashleigh with tickets to the Nutcracker Ballet.  I haven't seen it since I was a little girl and it was the first time for the girls.  They thoroughly enjoyed it and I thought the Brisbane production was fantastic!

Christmas is hard for us northern hemisphere folk in Australia.  The summer heat does not put me in the Christmas state of mind. We even decorated the tree with Discovery Channel's shark week in the background.  I kept the Christmas music playing as much as possible to keep reminding of the season.

However, Christmas in Australia is very similar to the States in terms of mall décor, church services, Santa, parades, parties, department store window scenes, etc.

The Christmas tree in downtown Brisbane.  It's solar powered!

The one major difference is that the home decorations are minimal and simple and there are very few homes with lights and outdoor décor.  I do miss the evening drive through the neighborhood to look at all the lights, but I don't miss the hours of "putting Christmas away."

This little guy is also a novelty here. We are the only ones with a special little elf.

Christmas was a quiet day of Lego, Rainbow looming, and PS3 Move, with breaks for a dip in the pool. All in all, a very enjoyable day.

We hope you all had a very special and memorable Christmas!  It's time to wrap up 2013 and ring in the new year.  Here's to a happy and healthy 2014!  We'll be off to kick off the new years celebrations around the world in a few hours.  We look forward to the adventures that lie ahead and a return trip to the USA, whether its a move or visit, in the upcoming year!  CHEERS!