December 25th

Quite a different Christmas this year.  The girls knew that Santa would not be visiting, because we wrote him a note before we left letting him know we would be away.  I was a little nervous about how they would react to opening 3 tiny gifts versus their usual Christmas morning surprise, but to my surprise, they were happy to receive a couple books, candy bar, and a little trinket from Australia.  Since they seemed completely content, maybe this will be our new tradition:) After opening a few gifts, we had a nice breakfast and then headed out for another 5 mile hike.  Today's hike was completely different from yesterdays but just as beautiful.  This hike was called, Grand Canyon, and it was mostly down in the valley of the canyon.  Yesterday we were up higher on the cliff.  We still saw amazing waterfalls and the ground was covered with huge, beautiful fern plants.  The kids and nana and papa did great, but everyone temporarily forgot that when you descend you also have to come up at some point.  The climb back up was a bit challenging but everyone happily made it to the top.  We spent the remainder of the afternoon playing games and we are about to sit down to nana's Christmas dinner.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all of you.  Even though far away, you are all in our thoughts and prayers and we wish you a healthy and happy 2015!  We did not get Christmas cards out this year but hopefully the blog will suffice:)

  

Wishing you all a safe, and happy holiday season!

December 24th, Blue Mountains

Finally I am up to date.  Today is the 24th.  I think it is Wednesday.  I have lost track of the days, but I know tomorrow is Christmas.  Today we all slept in, and then went on one of the most beautiful hikes I have ever been on.  It seemed that around every corner,  there was a different waterfall or exotic bird, or a more amazing view than the one before.  We were able to walk on the outer edge of the cliff throughout the 4.5 mile hike.  At some points we were standing under the falls.  The pictures do not do the real image justice.  We are now all pretty beat and Chris and my dad are napping:)  Hard to believe tomorrow is Christmas, when we have no tree.  But wishing you all a wonderful Christmas day!

We see these beautiful birds a lot!

Restless natives!

December 23rd, Aussie time

Yesterday, we left Sydney and headed to the Blue Mountains.  On our way, we stopped by Featherdale Wildlife Park.  The kids had been waiting to see a koala and wombat since we arrived in Australia.  They finally got their chance.  I have to say the koalas are super cute, but all they do is eat and sleep.  Not the most exciting animals to watch.  After leaving the wildlife park, we got to our place in the Blue Mountains.  Our view from our living room window is amazing.  We are right on a cliff.  Within five minutes of being at our place, Kendall pointed out a spider on the kitchen window.  Luckily it was outside, but truly it was bigger than my hand.  Nana even let a few choice words slip:) We pulled the shade down and have not looked out that particularly window since.  I know there are lots of crazy insects here, but knowing and seeing are two different things.  We went for a small hike, had dinner and then taught the kids how to play Euchre.  Another great day, minus the spider!

Wombat

Rough life!

View from our living room window in the Blue Mountains.

Day 3 

This was our last full day in Sydney.  We met with another of Chris' acquaintances, Jennifer, who is an aboriginal woman.  She was kind enough to meet with us and talk about her aboriginal heritage and answer our many questions.  She took us around Sydney and pointed out some interesting historical places.  We found a great gelato shop along our journey.  Jennifer was so nice, and an amazing story teller.  She was so interesting to listen to and had so much information to share with us.  After meeting with Jennifer for several hours, we headed back to the hotel, and the girls swam in the pool, while we did laundry and packed up.  That evening we went over to some friends of ours, Nick and Nat, and had a wonderful home cooked meal!

Most well known tree in Sydney

Day Two (tour, bridge climb, dinner cruise)

This was a non-stop 12 hour day, filled with lots of fun activities.  We began our day with a tour through Sydney's Hyde Park and the Botanical Gardens.  Our tour guide, was Volker, he is one of Chris' business associates and a super nice guy.  Sydney is an amazing city to see, very beautiful and very rich in culture and history.  The adults took it all in, the kids got a bit tired:) Jet lag may be setting in.  We finished our tour with lunch at the Opera House, where we had an up close view of the Sydney Bridge we were about to climb.  Danika and Kendall were not able to do the climb because the age limit is 10 and up.  Chris took them to the aquarium because he had completed the climb during a prior visit to Australia.  We were all feeling pretty good about it, but I will say, Nana and Kylie were a bit nervous.  I think they helped encourage one another to go through with the climb.

Doesn't quite feel like Christmas without the snow.  

Reflection pool in Hyde Park

Sydney Botanical Gardens

View from Botanical Gardens

You are not allowed to have cameras during the bridge climb, but if you look at this picture closely, you can see the people climbing the bridge to the flag pole.  This is what we did.  

Lunch at the Opera House

They told us to remove our clothing and put on jumpsuits for the climb.  We initially laughed until we realized they were not joking.  The suits protect you from all the elements.  We lucked out and had perfect weather.  

Kendall and Danika at the Sydney Aquarium while we were doing the bridge climb. 

Sydney Harbour Dinner Cruise.  Great food and even got nana up dancing.  Lots of fun.  

Once again, Danika proves she can sleep anywhere!

On top of the cruise boat. 

Opera House at night.

For those of you who know my dad well, he is a little competive and likes a challenge.  He challenged me to hold two backpacks up while we were waiting for train home.  He didn't think I could do it, but I proved him wrong.  Of course after this, he had to show me he could hold three backpacks at once:)

Stay tuned for Day Three.  Feel free to post comments.  Also submit your email so you get notifications when new blogs are posted.  The girls have been journaling but have not started blogs yet.  Hope to soon! Hope you all are well!

We are currently enjoying our time in the Blue Mountains, 2 hours outside Sydney.  The views are amazing.  This is where we will be for Christmas.  

I am back!  Sorry for the delay in blogging, but we have been super busy exploring Sydney.  Today is our last morning here and everyone is still sleeping, so I thought I would try and catch up.  Here is a brief recap of our three day adventure in Sydney.
Day 1 (kayaking, swimming, cliff climb)
We left our apartment in Bondi Junction and headed to Rose Bay, to go kayaking in the Sydney Harbour.  We were greeted by Jo, a very friendly Australian woman, that gives tours to Chris's students when they are here.  Jo took us out to a small island called, Shark Island, because it is shaped like a shark.  Just to ensure the girls didn't protest the trip, we secretly asked Jo to refer to it as Dolphin Island:).  Once on the island, we had amazing views of the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House along with the whole of the Harbour.

After Kayaking, Jo took us to the beautiful little hidden beach, Camp Cove.

Just off the beach, there is an amazing cliff walk that leads to a lighthouse, which is all part of Sydney Harbour National Park.  This is where the harbour meets the ocean.  Along the cliff walk the girls were surprised with encountering their first "nude beach".  We tried to tell them to look to the right, as the beach was down below the walk on the left, but like most kids, they had to see what we were telling them to avoid.  I cannot remember everything out of their mouths after that but I did hear, "disgusting", and Danika said, "this is so inappropriate for a 5 year old!"  We continued on our walk and eventually made it to the lighthouse, with amazing views.  Needless to say, at the end of the day, the girls seemed to recall their brief sighting of the nude beach more so than the beautiful view.:)

My dad showing us his ability to stand between two rocks:)

The nude beach is down below in the background.  This is Kendall and Danika showing their disgust!

Nana and Papa overlooking the cliffs.