Back to Blogging -- a summary of the last three months

Well after sometime away from the blog we are back at it and hopefully will keep everyone up dated. I can't believe that it has been nearly three months since we had an entry into the blog and specially since we have came back from our epic tour of Australia and Hawaii. Lots of exciting things have happened since that time and probably to many to list out. But the high lights are:
Tennis lessons for Gabbie and Baseball camp for Gavin when we first got back.
Back to school and the fire station for Stephanie and myself.
Gabbie getting her tonsils and adenoids out.
Start of football season, so Gavin and I heading down to watch the Beavers play. Both good and bad.
Start of 1st and 3rd grades for Gavin and Gabbie. New back packs, meeting up with friends after a long summer, all day at school and lunch for Gavin, new teachers and principal.
Starting of soccer season for Gavin, so far he had two goals, he is on a good little team of all 6 year old kids playing kids up to age 8 plus they only have 7 players and they play 6 on 6 some the kids get lots of playing time. Haven't won any games yet but a couple of draws but most importantly they have fun and play hard.
Decision to get a new dog. Chocolate lab born September 9th, will finally see them this weekend and get to take her home in the first week of November. Her name has already been picked out, ROXY.
New vacation home in Eagle Crest. We are actually headed up there today to check it out. Pictures to follow of the house, but it will be a great family vacation house.

Well I am sure I have missed a lot of other things that have occurred over this time, but at least this is a brief run down on what we have done. I will post picture today of the happenings of the last couple of months plus some of our Australia and Hawaii pictures.

July 23rd -- Botanical Gardens and a Ferry Ride

Today was spend getting up early and heading into the city for a day of adventure and site sighting. Our first stop was a walk through the center of the CBD in the heart of Sydney and looking at all the different shops. We continue our walk all the way across the city until we got to the Sydney Royal Botanical Gardens. There we walked through the gardens and saw all the different plants. The kids were amazed to see thousands of bats hanging in the trees. There is so many that they are actually trying to get rid of them as they are destroying the trees. We then headed around the harbour front to the Opera House for a couple more pictures.
The next part of the day saw the four of us take a ferry ride across Sydney Harbour to Manly enjoying a nice scenic trip. Once in Manly we headed to the beach area were we enjoy lunch with the seagulls that Gabbie really did not like. After lunch we walked back to the ferry for the ride back across the Harbour to the city. After a quick stop to get the kids some ice cream to refuel before jumping on a train and heading back home.
Monday night the kids enjoyed dinner and a movie, while the adults got to enjoy a grown up meal. A beautiful home made dish of Chicken and Seafood Paella made by our sister in law Carol.

July 22nd

Sunday we headed off across Sydney after a late morning brunch prepared by my brother to one of my cousins houses in Cronulla. This is another beach community just 30 minutes south of the city. So we enjoyed a nice afternoon catching up with my cousins and his wife, and like all Aussie gatherings so far, we had good food, wine and beer.

July 21st

Today was our day to head back to Sydney from Surfers Paradise after a great week in the sun. Our morning was nice and smooth, just packing bags and heading down to the shop for a coffee and one last look around. After a 30 minute shuttle ride back to the airport we had to sit for another 4 hours as the schedule flight was delayed due to fog in Melbourne. We rescheduled onto another flight back to Sydney and then waited and waited. All this waiting and the flight is only an hour long.
Once we finally got back to Sydney it was off to my sisters house in Liverpool for one of our nieces Confirmation. After that we had another big family dinner and some wine and beer, plus watched a little Australian Wallabies in a rugby game against New Zealand. Once again the kids had their cousins there to play and run around with.

July 20th --- Surf School

After a morning run by Stephanie and myself we enjoy some relaxing time around apartment we were staying in. Then it was back down to the beach and another day relaxing on the beach. However in the afternoon we all headed for surf school. Yes all four of us went and took a surfing lesson for two hours, and we all had so much fun. Both kids showed no fear in the water and just kept on heading back out to catch more and more waves. By the end of the two hour class both kids were standing up and being real surfers.

July 19th -- Another day at the beach

Today we spent the most of the day at the beach enjoying the beautiful weather. Once again the kids loved the surf and even with the water being a little cool today you could not get them out of the water. We also run up the beach a little which the kids liked. There was also lots of sand castle building going on as well.
Before and after the beach was shopping time, the kids trying to spent the last bit of their money find all kinds of wonderful Australian treasures.
That night we meet one of my cousins Greg who lives up in the Brisbane area for dinner. The kids got to enjoy a true Aussie dinner at the local Surf Life saving club. We had a good time catching up with him and hearing abut his family as it had been about ten years since we'd seen him.

July 18th -- Currumbin Wildlife Santuary

Another day with the Australian native animals. This time we head a little south of Surfers Paradise to the Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary. The great part about this place was you could get up close and feed the Kangaroos and Wallabies along with a Lorikeet feed. The kids had fun feeding the kangaroos and wallabies, Gavin freaked out when the hundreds of lorikeets came in at their feeding time. We also got to see several animal shows and talks, and after each one the kids got to hold some of the animals. The high lite for Gavin was holding a snake and Gabbie got to hold a ringtail possum. There was also an aboriginal show were they song, played native instruments and danced. I even go to participate in this one with being pulled out of the crowd and had to do one of the dances.