Sydney - Part 3

Nana (my mom) arrived in Sydney after well over 30 hours of traveling, and we didn't even give her a chance to rest before we were headed out for more exploring.

Matt & Julia were napping, so Nana, Liam & I enjoyed a late lunch of pizza at one of the harborside cafes

Not sure if Liam really remembered Nana from her last visit, but he certainly warmed to her immediately. Here he was busy showing her his new favorite activity of putting objects in and taking them out of containers (raisins into his plastic snack cups are always entertaining)

Side note: After multiple weeks of hearing in the news about the record high temperatures in New South Wales, I had packed very summery clothes for us all. However, we arrived in Sydney to cool, fall weather & overcast skies -- a great break from scorching Queensland but I had to go out and buy warmer clothes for the children.

The sleepy heads joined us after lunch, and Julia was ecstatic to see Nana (the other pictures are really out of focus but it was so cute to see her catch sight of my mom from a distance and then take of running, full-sprint, to give her a hug)

Girl talk:
Julia was telling Nana about our trip so far while we walked to the ferry


Meanwhile the lack of sleep finally caught up with Liam

On the ferry from Darling Harbour to Circular Quay (the Sydney Harbour that everyone knows from pictures)

Sydney Harbour Bridge in the background

(Last year I gave Matt a plane ticket to Sydney for his birthday to go visit his friend, Edson, and my parents gave him a gift certificate for a bridge climb where you actually go up to the top of the Harbour Bridge. Matt pointed out the people climbing that day as he told Julia all about his bridge climb. She stared intently until she spotted the little figures, and for the rest of the day she talked about the "tiny people" who climb the bridge as if they were all midgets...guess you can't teach a 2 yr old about perspective)

Approaching the Opera House


The rain forced us inside temporarily but Liam (in his 1yr old way) thought the inside of the ferry was far more exciting than the faraway sights we were looking at from the deck

Meanwhile, Julia stayed glued to the window


We walked around Sydney Harbour to the Opera House for a closer look

Liam and Matt waving to us from down below
(there were too many stairs to take Liam up, so we took turns walking all around the outside -- they won't let you see much inside without a long guided tour or a ticket to a show).


I was surprised that the roof wasn't actually smooth like it looks from a distance but was made up of tiny little tiles


Julia much preferred riding on Daddy's shoulders to sitting in the pram

Still more to come: The Rocks, Valentine's Day, Manly, Bondi Beach, & a visit with Matt's cousins