Easter Weekend at Wivenhoe

Judging from her complete exhaustion upon their return, her chocolate-stained clothing, and the photos and video clips Matt took, Julia had an absolute blast over the Easter long weekend. Jon's (Pop's) cousin, Peter and his wife, Jenni, have a beautiful house and acreage (that's increased since the drought) at Wivenhoe Dam, and each year for the Easter holiday, the McCarthys all gather there to camp out, eat tons of delicious food and lots of chocolate, ride bikes or horses, go for long walks or cool swims, and just generally relax and enjoy the company. I opted out of the trip because Liam's a bit too little for camping, but Matt and Julia went and enjoyed themselves while I caught up on some much needed rest. Matt's cousins all have kids who are between 5 & 10 yrs old (or so), and they all (the little girls especially) kept Julia thoroughly entertained, so Matt got a bit of a break too. I'll try to post some of the video soon (I've figured out how to post video from our normal camera but not from the actual video camera yet). In the meantime, here are a few pictures from the weekend.

The girls had their hands full with Julia and little 9-month old Sophia

The McCarthy clan's starting to look like a bikey gang (Jon's really started a trend with his motorcycle)...

Julia and Taylor -- this was a game played a lot throughout the weekend -- Julia was the passenger and the older girls were the horses pulling the hula hoop "carriage"

Julia and Malia hunting for Easter eggs (in Australia, all the Easter eggs for the hunt are pure chocolate -- none of those plastic eggs or colored real eggs -- and y'all Americans think your kids are on a sugar high at Easter!)

A soccer pro in the making...

More photos from Nana's visit

lots of cuddles

lots of sleep (for Liam)

playtime & story time with Julia









sweet big sister until Matt suggested she share her teddy with Liam






playtime & tummy time for Liam

Unwrapping Presents & Older Boys

Gran & Pop (Matt's parents) came over and took us all out to dinner before Nana had to fly back to Mississippi. We sat around at our house first so they could play with Julia and Liam while we waited for Matt to get home (he'd been on a "fishing trip"-- aka "boys weekend"...don't think the fishing poles actually made it out of the car!). Gran and Pop had brought us back a present from Japan, but I'd put it on the coffee table, waiting till Matt got back to unwrap it. While we were all talking, though, Julia decided it was too enticing and unwrapped the gift...beautiful sets of chopsticks. She was very proud of her handiwork but disappointed that I wouldn't let her play with the chopsticks (I could just imagine what fun she'd have poking Liam with those!).

We went to the Spring Lake Hotel that's just around the corner from us...great food and a wonderful kids' play area with a big open space, video games, tunnels and a climbing structure. Usually Julia likes to play in there but only if one of us comes in with her. However, this time there was a 3 year old boy, Ethan, playing in there, and Julia immediately forgot about us as she stared at this older boy amusing himself with the video games and crawling through the tunnels. Julia's always in awe of older kids, but she doesn't usually interact...she usually just stares. Ethan was really sweet though and quickly got her playing a game of tag with him (they were even alternating who was "it"). She was really tickled by all the attention, and we actually got to sit down and have a civilized conversation without jumping up every two seconds to chase after a rowdy toddler (we were sitting right next to the play area though, so I had an eye on her the whole time). Ethan even tried to teach her how to play one of the video games (that didn't really take...Matt's tried that with his xBox too with no success). Julia was so disappointed when he had to leave the play area to eat dinner with his family!

Shopping Spree

Julia, Nana, Liam, and I had a shopping spree to the new factory outlet mall in Jindalee. As usual, Liam slept through most of it. Julia, on the other hand, was wide awake and loved the outing. She happily wandered ahead of us, babbling excitedly (to herself or the passersby or us, I'm not sure), and occasionally rushing to the windows of the shops to exclaim over items on display (particularly the shoes, purses, and jewelry). She was completely in her element (and in her own little world), although she would turn around periodically to check on Liam asleep in the pram. My mom and I were having the best time just watching her! One scene in particular (the one I didn't manage to get on video but there is a picture) was really funny-- a shoe store had these mannequin legs upside down with shiny patent leather shoes on them. Julia ran up to examine them closer, but when she touched one of the legs it moved a bit. She was so startled that she actually jumped and came running back to us, but curiosity got the best of her and she went back three more times and tentatively touched the leg (each time jumping again when it moved).

Here are my first attempt at video clips. (Brittany, I'm jealous of your cool new video camera!). You have to hear the audio on the first one...it's Julia getting excited over the purses in the accessories store (she's obsessed!).


The second one I thought was particularly funny because of the end. Nana is calling Julia to come out of the store as she walks out of the store herself thinking Julia might actually follow, "Hey Julia, let's go this way" (instead of to the rows and rows of shiny watches and jewelry behind breakable glass cases). Surprise, surprise...Julia didn't follow, so filming had to stop. Gotta love our innocence when we parents and grandparents think we have ANY power to entice the toddler away from forbidden objects!

New Wheels

Nana gave Julia her first tricycle...complete with a basket and streamers! Julia's feet don't quite reach the peddles yet, but she could not be more thrilled about her new wheels! It was inside the house after we had first put it together (like all kids' toys it was "some assembly required"), and Julia would hope on the trike and say, "more, more?" to be pushed around the house. Outings on the trike are a little slow going since Julia's still learning about steering. She's got the concept of pointing the handlebars in the direction you want to go, but she just doesn't have the attention span for it! We'll be going along nicely and then suddenly veer into the curb because she got momentarily distracted by some passersby or a neighbor's dog or the sound of a distant lawnmower (it doesn't take much to distract her!). I let her ride it through the grocery store the other day (it has a parent handle, so I'm still in control), and I overheard this little girl who was about 4 years old, whining to her mother, "But Mummy, SHE gets to ride her bike in the shops!" The response was something along the lines of "yes, dear, but her bike is only little," but I think even little Julia picked up on this other child's envy because Julia's grin seemed to get even bigger as she sat proudly on her new trike! Of course, for the photos, she decided not to smile!

Good Morning Liam

I think I've mentioned this before, but it's just so cute. Every morning I get Julia from her room and then we go say good morning to Liam who is usually still asleep in our bed. She has has her own little language for him. She crawls into bed and babbles away while patting his head.

BBQ Lunch

This post is really backtracking since this was before Liam was born. I thought some of these pictures were really cute though. While Cam & Sims were still in town, we had a BBQ get together at our house. Flynn had a great time chowing down on the lamb chops and hamming it up to his audience at the table. Julia warmed up to Simon and Scott (she's usually wary of males...Matt's hoping that continues when she's a teenager ;-) and had fun playing with them in the backyard.