Julia's 3rd Birthday

My 3-year-old!

Julia had a great birthday! She woke up to find her new dollhouse waiting for her, and then after breakfast we headed to Rocks Riverside Park for her party. Since we are always hearing so much about her little pre-school friends, we decided to invite her whole class this year. It was so fun to see all the littlies running around together, and I enjoyed getting to know some of the parents better. Of course, we also had a great turnout from the extended family and friends as well, and with fantastic weather, lots of food, and lots of space to play, we had a fabulous day! Here are some of the pictures (in no real order):

"Yesterday, I was this many"

"But now I'm this many"

Uncle Michael, Auntie Di & Cousin Scott


All eyes on Julia as she prepared to blow out her candles

Julia took too long to blow them out, so Elana stepped in and helped her

"Hip hip hooray!"

Close-up on the cake:
Julia chose a butterfly and was very particular about the colors as I iced the cake

Liam did his part to help the men with the tent

Then he tried to make off with someone's bike...
Hard to steal a bike when your feet don't reach the pedals!

Relaxed and contemplative.
I think Simon's blowing bubbles.
(Note: all the children were actually distracted elsewhere so this was purely for his own amusement)

Shyly opening her many wonderful presents


These next two pictures are my favorites:

Dirt-smeared and tuckered out

More presents

Cousins Melia and Cooper

Biker dude

Liam waited till he thought no one was watching then made of with one of the presents

Liam & Julia's friend, Indiana took off across the park...we found them in these bushes playing hide-n-seek -- very cute!

Kickin' back with seconds of cake

Cousins Connor, Maverick, Quinn, & Drew playing footy

School friends Emily & Monica

Cousin Tracey & son Cooper with Aunt Julia

Unwrapping her butterfly cupcake (round one of cakes)

Busy, busy

We have been very busy ever since Nana arrived. In just the first week we went to the Train Museum, the Children's Library, Downfall Creek Bushland Reserve (not to mention all the local playgrounds and 2 days at their pre-school!).

Our new discovery, Downfall Creek Bushland Reserve, has a great playground (nice and shady in the middle of the bushlands) and miles and miles of walking trails. I had an appointment close by and Liam was at home with our nanny-in-training, so Julia and Nana explored the reserve. They got really lucky because a young school group arrived when they did, and they were able to follow the children on their nature walk and learn about some of the Australian flora and fauna. When I joined them later, Julia had retained a lot of the information and told me about the different plants and even the snake skin they had found!

Sleepy eyes and dirt-covered knees....signs of a fun outing!

I am so glad that Julia loves books! The library is always a fun excursion for us (despite having to stop The Destructor, a.k.a. Liam, from pulling down every book on the shelf), and this time was even better because Nana and Daddy got to join us!

The giant books are always a hit!


Proud of her book selections

The Ipswich Rail Museum is also always a fun outing, and Liam is now old enough to really enjoy it too. We went for the Little Nippers Activity Time, but both children decided that they didn't want to be confined to structured play, so we just wandered through the museum instead and found plenty of fun things to see and do!

Climbing down from the steam engine

Tea time in the dining car....

Liam discovered the perfect seat to stop and have a snack

Liam was more than happy to hitch a ride from Julia


Science lesson: How trains move along the tracks


A Liam-sized train track


And a Julia-sized train

The simulator where you learn to drive the train --
I pretend Julia's the one interested, but really it's MY favorite toy at the museum!

Bridge climb


And the fun continues....more pictures soon!

Nana Arrives!

We were all very excited when my mom called me one Thursday morning and said, "I'm coming to visit." When? The following Monday!! Even better...no waiting around in anxious anticipation, just make the decision, hop on a plane, and come! Julia decided that we needed to make Nana a welcome banner, so that weekend we had a family art project...

Liam was more interested in drawing on himself than the paper.
He decided most of the stickers belonged on him too.

Julia pulled out a little foam cut-outs project we'd gotten months ago and with only minimal assistance created a beautiful butterfly for the banner.

Welcome to Australia, Nana!!

Matt's 31st Birthday

Another late post, but Matt turned 31 on July 26th. We had a fun gathering with his parents and brothers down at the Gold Coast on the weekend of his birthday, and then last week he and I went to see David Copperfield (the magician) as his big birthday present. The show was amazing, and it was such a treat to have a true date night!

Before the show

Family photo attempt #3,672

After brunch at the Sheraton Hotel....
Liam wanted to stick his face in the water, of course!

Like father, like son

The boys
(from L: Jon, Shane, Josh, Liam & Matt)


Julia reminded us many times that day that her birthday was next!


Happy Birthday, Matt! We love you!

Liam & The Roo

I know, I know...I can't just post a picture of Liam post-kangaroo fight and then disappear from the blogging world for weeks. Sorry! So first to update:

Liam's scratches were not too deep, and his face has healed well
That's right, roos. Don't mess with me.
I'm one tough little guy!

And now for the back story:

I've posted quite a few times about Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary. We have an annual pass and now go at least once a month to visit the animals. The children love it, and it's great for me too because they run around so much that a good nap is pretty much guaranteed afterward.

Just as an aside, the girl in the pictures with the children is not some random stranger but our nanny-in-training. She is from Thailand and goes by 'Apple'. We signed up to be a practice family for a local nanny agency, so for 2-3 days each week for 7 weeks she has been helping out with the children (for free!) and on the other days she attends classes on childcare and child development.

Anyway, we headed out to Lone Pine and had a wonderful few hours of seeing all the animals. We watched the sheep dog show and then stayed for the sheep shearing. We saw tons of koalas. We fed the lorikeets....

And then we headed over to feed the kangaroos just like we've done the last 10 times we've been to Lone Pine. These are the same kangaroos who are so docile and well-fed that sometimes they don't even bother to get up from their lounging when you put the food right under their noses and instead just offer a belly to rub just like a pet dog.

These two huge roos were sweet as can be

Then along came this little guy...
seeming all sweet and innocent...

My best guess is that it got spooked, not by Liam but by the other animals lurking around us --
a duck, a pigeon and a very pushy bush turkey (like the one in the background). Because about one second after I took this photo, the kangaroo swiped at Liam's face with both front paws and made a hissing sound like a cat.

Liam cried briefly and then wanted to get back down and pat the other roos. Julia wanted to leave immediately, although later she said, "Maybe he was trying to give Liam a cuddle." Yeah, we can settle on that. Cute cuddly kangaroo wasn't trying to hurt Liam (all hissing aside). He just went in for a hug and got his claws caught in Liam's cheek!

Only in Australia...

Liam's war wounds (3 days later) from his run-in with a KANGAROO!

Caydence Turns Three

The countdown to Julia's 3rd birthday is upon us. Her best friend, Caydence, turned three at the end of June, and we celebrated with a fun party at Rowdy Rascals (Julia has been not-so-subtly hinting that she should have her party there too).

Julia and the birthday girl, Caydence

While the girls were off playing on the big climbing structures, Liam tried on all of their shoes