This year has been busy so far. The biggest highlight of the year so far was a trip to Australia! Mckayla's 2nd one, but first that she remembers, and Izzy's first one ever! Actually Izzy's first place ride ever too. Mckayla last flew when she was 1 and that summer we traveled both to Australia and to Illinois.
Anyway this trip to Australia was amazing, as they all are! We went with my mum and her boyfriend Marshall. The girls did well on the plane and seemed to be excited at first. The biggest issue on the plane ride iover was that Izzy wanted to go potty when we were taking off and we would not let her as we were not allowed out of our seat.- she had a pull-up on so we told her to go in her pull-up, to which she was very mad at us for suggesting. She is a BIG GIRL now and that was not acceptable! Aside from that, the flights went fine. The flight was smooth with not much turbulence. It was nice to be traveling with Mum and Marshall with us too.
Once there we spent one night at the hotel at the airport, prior to driving two hours the next day to our family's beach house (which is now owned by my uncle Neil). We loved our time there. The scenery was beautiful, as always, and there were plenty of kangaroos which the girls loved looking at. The kangaroos live on the golf-course which is just behind our beach house and we can wander along the golf-course and get quit close to them before they hop away. We spent time on the beach, relaxing at the house, and taking the girls to the parks. My cousin Stephanie came to stay with us one night, which was great catching up with her (as she now lives in another state than the rest of the family). We also had an open house one day where family/friends came to visit us at Anglesea (where the beach house is). After a week in Anglesea, James, the girls and I headed back to Melbourne, leaving Mum and Marshall in Anglsea to have some peace and quiet to themselves.
Back in Melbourne we stayed with my aunt Robyn and uncle Neil at their house in a suburb of Melbourne, called Eltham. It was lovely staying with them and they were so good to us. While in Melbourne we caught up with family. We went to a small farm with my cousin Krissy and her two little ones, who were 18 months and almost 3. The kids enjoyed looking at the animals and then loved playing on this incredible playground behind the farm. Krissy and I chatted while James followed the kids around making sure they were safe. Krissy's little one wanted to climb everywhere but is only 18 months so needed someone to follow him and Krissy being 6 months or so pregnat, was tired and was happy to have James help out. James being James, never minds helping out and having fun with the kids! We also went to a playgroup with them as well, which the girls enjoyed. One afternoon we invited them , along with my cousin Steve (Krissy's brother) and their kids over to play. His wife was unable to make it but their kids who are 3, 5, and 7 all came and the kids had fun playing together. It was noisy with 7 kids but they enjoyed themselves and thats what matters! The kids enjoyed each others company and it was fun spending time with them.
One morning I went with my aunt Bette to visit my aunt Beth (who now lives in an assisted living facility) and we took her out for morning tea.Beth has not been living there for very long and I had never visited her there. Since I was there 4 years ago, both my uncle Ian (Beth's husband and my dad's brother) and my cousin Leigh had passed away, so Beth was left living on her own. Family decided that having her live in the assisted living was the best thing for her as she has some early stage dementia and forgets things sometimes. It also gives her people to be around and they do lots of activities there and she seems very happy there. It was great to have a chance to see Beth. Another time Bette took all four of us out to a restaurant for dinner- so she could see all of us and get to know the girls a bit. We went to a pub restaurant at a hotel which had great food and a fun playground where the girls played while we chatted with Bette.
Another thing we all enjoyed was going to Healsville Sanctuary which is an animal sanctuary for Australia animals up in the hills about 45min drive from my aunt and uncle's. We took my aunt Robyn along with us and had a great morning, seeing all the native Aussie animals such as kangaroos, koalas, ehcidna's , wombats, dingoes and platapus. We all had a lot of fun. One evening we had dinner at my uncle Colin and aunt Kerry's place, where by that time my Mum and Marshall were staying. It was great to see the too!
One highlight of our time in Melbourne was also the girls first train ride!! (Well it was Izzy's first but may have been Mckayala's 2nd but first she will remember). We took the train into town and did some souveneir shopping and had some morning tea. It was fun and the girls loved the train ride!! It rained while we were in the city but it was still fun and we got some nice souveneirs, aminly for the girls.
While staying with Neil and Robyn, it was so nice to catch up with them and just "be" with them. They really got to know the girls more this way. We had dinner with them most nights and just loved our time with them. Robyn seemed to really love interacting with the girls and she would read them bedtime stories every night and when the eather got real hot out (well real hot for Melbourne) she went out and bought them a small plastic wading pool for them to play with, which the girls loved. We all enjoyed catching up with Neil too when he was not working. One afternoon my cousin Hamish and his wife Katie also came over to catch up. It was great to seem them as well. When leaving we told Robyn and Neil they had the stamp of approvl as grandparents as soon as their kids were ready!! (Both their son and daughter have gtten married in the last few years).
Anyway the trip was great and we were not ready to come home, when it was time to say goodbye.
Upon returning home, I went straight into continuing to organize a big fundraising event for my best friend. This past 6 months or so I have been trying to do various fundraising activities to help my best friend to py some of her medical bills. Her and her daughter Sage are abttling many medical issues and have huge bills to pay . The event just took playce on March 28th and went well. We had various vendors selling things and I sold raffle tickets, baked goods and coffee. All vendors broguth an item for the raffle. While there was not as much traffic as I would have liked there as some and through vendors fees and raffle and baked items and coffee we raised a good amount. For now fundraising is on hold, as its getting too hot outside to do events out there and I have found indoor events don't work well. We may look at doing a fundraiser at a frozen yogurt shop sometime though or maybe a carwash but otherswise we will wait til Fall.
I have just started working for another company and am working on getting my schedule put together. Planning to work Monday afternoons and possibly Thursday mornings while the girls are at school. Looking forward to getting back to having more than just one or two clients.
Anyway thats our family news for now. Here are some photos of our trip!!
