Jazz in the Vines

Knowing that our family enjoyed music, our friends Emi and Gavin invited us to join them for Jazz in the Vines last weekend.  On Friday we drove to the Hunter Valley and stayed in a family cabin in Pokolbin, picking up Thai food on the way in and enjoying our combined four children chasing a herd of kangaroos (what do you call a group of kangaroos?).  We put the kiddos to bed and sat around chatting and enjoying a peaceful desert before we were off the next morning.



Jazz in the Vines is an annual event held at Tyrell Winery in the Hunter Valley.  It is a day long concert, with musical acts varying from a Dixieland group from England - which amused me to no end, although Woody Allen enjoys them - to a swing band, the man from Snowy River, and the runner-up on Australia's The Voice.  There are several local wineries and restaurants represented, although you are encouraged to bring your own picnic lunch, which we did.  Now, my idea of a picnic meal is a cheese plate, sandwiches, chips, and a fair amount of fruit.  I have to say, Emi put me to shame with her Egg & Bacon pie and Barbecue Chicken.  At least our kids can be bought with ice cream!

We weren't entirely sure how the kidlets would do, but having four children the same age makes a parent's life easier.  We made sure to bring books, a footy, and - most importantly - we had phones and iPads on which to play games!  What did we do before technology?

We were able to stay the entire length of the day - 7 hours in total - with no real issues from the kids.  Even better, the adults were able to relax and spend "adult" time just being together.  I had no idea we'd be in for such a relaxing time!  We even went down to the stage with the kids and danced together, and Nathan didn't even cover up his ears!  He does have one particular spin he likes, so I can usually bribe him with that.

Peeping around the umbrella

Keira is much cuter under her parasol!

Emi and Keira

Nath doing what he does best

Will making a mess with his Wizz Fizz

Anique and Nath reading

What can I say - my boys like Aussie girls!

We headed back to the cabin and collapsed.  It's amazing what a day out in the hot sun doing nothing but listening to music and hanging out with friends can take out of you!  We bathed the kids, barbecued, and put the kids to bed.  Sadly, we weren't that far behind them!

Possible even better then the concert was the next morning - the kids actually slept in for a bit!  We had a late breakfast that Brian made, consisting of bacon and French Toast with fruit.  Yum!

Nobody had anything pressing, so we wandered around the Hunter Valley.  Here is what happens when the kids (and boys) get tired of waiting for the coffee to arrive:

Don't worry, Gavin doesn't hit my son with his daughter!

Possibly my favourite picture of Will ever!

Luckily for everyone involved, a helicopter landed in the open field where they were playing.  This pulled the kids through until the coffees and hot chocolates arrived.

I really love this picture of the dads with their kids.  Two pretty good fathers, I believe!

And here's what happens when Gavin catches you trying to take pictures of the group stealthily:

I love that Nath is completely oblivious

We also were able to have a lovely long, late lunch.  We ate outside, basically in a courtyard, so the kids once again had green space.  They also had their parent's iPads...

Thank you, Mr. Jobs

And just so there are no complaints that I'm not in any pictures -

Hi there!

The food was good - nothing fancy, but nicer then just boring food.  For example, Emi and Gav had a Pork Belly pizza that was heavenly!  Nathan also enjoyed his salad, but only because it had Vinaigrette dressing!

He had no idea why we were all laughing

And not to be outdone...

It's a good thing he's cute

When we went into the weekend, we weren't entirely sure how it was going to be.  I mean, we enjoy music and love the DeVries, but honestly, with kids anything can - and usually does - happen.  We were all pleasantly surprised with how amazing the all of the kids were the entire weekend and came home completely relaxed.  We look forward to making this an annual event.  Will even cried on the way home because he wanted to spend more time with Anique and Keira, which is silly since we see them several times a week, but at the same time very sweet.  Thanks for inviting us, Emi and Gav!

Trick? I Think a Treat, Mostly

Halloween is not a big deal here in Australia, especially in comparison to the US.  That said, it would be difficult for two American boys to not do trick or treating, so we decided to go out with another family like last year.  Nathan's friend Claire had lived in the US and was keen to go out as well, so her mother asked if we would like to go with them.  We met them in their neighbourhood, where notes and streamers had been placed into mail boxes.  If a house was choosing to pass out candy, they simply tied the streamers to their mailbox.  That way we didn't bother anyone who had no interest.  There were several more houses participating this year, so the boys ended up with plenty of candy.  Once again, not nearly as much as they would've gotten in Kentucky, but that is certainly ok!

Now that the boring part of the post is out of the way, on to the more interesting - costuming.  I was hoping that they would wear the costumes that they wore for their book parade at school.  Nathan was Peter from The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and Will was Willy Wonka from, well, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.  Alas, they had no interest in making my life easy!  But Nathan likes to dream big...

Nath liked the idea of The Chronicles of Narnia, so he decided to be Aslan.  Thanks kid, that's an easy costume!  Not to mention it's way to hot to wear a full body suit, so we decided to go simple.  I had him wear a pair of brown pants, a yellow-orange shirt with a "tummy patch" (patented term), and I made him a mane and tail.  I also bought face paint.  For those of you familiar with my abilities, I'm only good with simple makeup on my own face and certainly do not have any drawing abilities!  So I looked up some pictures on Google - where else - and found something I thought I could replicate.  I'm not saying that we're winning any contests, but in my opinion it worked pretty well!  And again, dear American readers, this is about as good as costumes get here, so no judging!

So it's not The Lion King quality....

Nathan clearly had a theme, and I was able to convince Will to be Peter.  At least that costume was mostly made, although the original Aslan on the tunic had come off and I had to redo that.  Also, the boys couldn't remember what they had done with the original sword made, so I Alfoiled a sword we had  on hand.

Pretty cute little guy

And for whatever reason, Nathan decided that I should dress up as well.  It's been a long time since I've dressed up, like since university long - Em, if you have evidence, feel free to keep it to yourself!  But Nath was really keen on the idea.  So, who did he want me to be - Susan, Lucy, Mrs. Badger...

Nope, I got to battle it out with Aslan as Jadis, the White Witch.  I guess I know what my kidlets think of me!  Oh well, it's always fun to play a character your nothing like, right?  And for authenticity...

...would you like a Turkish Delight?

It paid off, Nathan told me I was prettier than the witch in the movie.  Take that, Tilda Swinton!

Having a Ball in Brisbane

After a terrible move - blog to come - I was happy to get away to Brisbane for a 24 hour vacation with no children.  As I said in the previous blog, we had been invited to the Defence Charity Ball.  Proceeds benefitLegacy, an organization that provides support to families of military personnel that have been wounded or killed in action - quite a worthy cause.  This is an annual ball that is put on by a high ranking member of one of the branches of the armed forces and sponsored by several groups, including one business that Brian works with on a daily basis.  We were looking forward not only to supporting the organization, but just having a fun night dressed to the nines.

Saturday morning I dropped the boys off with our friends and headed out to the airport to catch my flight.  It felt very odd flying by myself.  I always at the very least have the kids with me.  After a little over an hour flight, we landed, albeit rockily, in Brisbane.  Brian met me at the exit and we were off to check into our hotel and have a quick bite for a late lunch on the river.

After lunch I headed out to get my hair fixed.  My hair has gotten significantly longer since we moved here, but not quite long enough for me to put up easily by myself.  I had my hairdresser recommend somewhere close to my hotel, so I only had to walk for about five minutes.  I explained what my dress and jewelry looked like to the stylist, and off she went.  When she finished, it took me a few minutes to decide if I liked it or not.  It was fairly curly and for some reason I was assuming it would be straighter.  Since there wasn't much I could do about it, I decided to just go with it and it grew on me.  I felt like it was big (it was) and possibly 80's-ish (yes, but not in a bad way), but I decided to just rock it.  Here are some pictures from the side and the back -

This view shows off my earrings as well

We had more time to kill then I thought, since my hair only took about 30 minutes.  We decided to order a cheese plate from room service since we were unsure of when dinner was going to be served, but assumed it might be later.  That ended up being an excellent choice since our main was served a bit after 9:00.  Afterwards, I started getting ready.  I haven't fixed myself up that much for awhile, and it was fun to do again.  I think the end result was pretty decent!



In the hotel room

At the convention center

 We quickly found our group and were seated.  It wasn't too much later and the night was underway.  There was an Aussie comedian emceeing, and while I don't remember his name, he did an excellent job.  There were many ways you could donate to the cause, including a silent and live auction with some serious items being auctioned off.  There was artwork from Australian artists, a guitar signed by Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, very cute puppies, and a signed shoe worn by Usain Bolt. 

Since those were worth more than we were able to spend, we chose to participate in the "raffle" to win a gorgeous tennis bracelet.  There was a dive tank with one of the Navy divers in it.  You could buy submarines that were numbered and toss them in the tank and at the end of the night he would put a blacked out mask on and chose one submarine.  Sadly, I do not own 30 more carats of diamonds.  Happily, a servicewoman won the bracelet and looked like she could have been knocked over with a feather.

Hey Suz, how's my form?

There was lots of entertainment as well.  We were able to walk a red carpet and have our pictures taken.  You could also chose to have your picture taken in front of a helicopter or Navy speedboat.  There were other props to play with as well.

Even dressed up, I'm still more of a tomboy

I'm still convinced I could've gotten up in heels, but I'm nothing if not obedient -
at least when a man in uniform is talking to me!

View from the Light Armored Vehicle, not Tank!

We had a great time and even stayed out past midnight!  There was music provided by the Army and Navy bands, a casino and "funny money" provided, tap dancers, and a quick change act that had been on Australia's Got Talent.  We walked back to the hotel tired, but having had lots of fun.

The next morning we were met by one of Brian's coworkers and his wife for a quick tour of Brisbane before our afternoon flight back home.  They picked us up in their convertible and we were off for a lovely time.  We headed up to Mt. Coot-tha for a lovely look at the city.  That's is where the first picture in this post is from.  It is in a lovely national park and the weather was perfect.  The sky was a bit hazy as they are having controlled burns to hopefully prevent, or at least limit, bush fires.  You could see the Brisbane River curving around and we were given a good explanation of where and why the floods happened recently.  They were devastating to the food supply because the floods wiped out the storage for the produce.  That explains why bananas were $13.99 a kilo (about $7.00 a pound) when we first arrived!  That said, they still average around $4.00 a kilo!

After some time up on Mt. Coot-tha we headed down to Queensland University and onto a Rivercat to head into the CBD.  I love being on the water and enjoyed our time on the boat.  The sun was shining and the air was warm, which helped with the cool breeze!

Bri thought the white bridge was unfinished the first time he
saw it.  I'll let you decide what it looks like!

Lots of bridges together

We hopped off and walked for a few kilometres, along the river, through the Botanical Gardens, over a bridge, and down the South Bank.  The South Bank has lovely weekend markets, a beautiful arbor, lots of good looking restaurants, and either a beach or a lagoon, depending upon who you talk to about it!

After a quick bite at a Souvlaki stand, we were off to the airport.  Our mini-vacation was drawing to a close as we boarded the plane back to Newcastle.

Once we landed, we picked up the kids from our friends house.  Incidentally, they are the parents of Nath's best mate here.  They've actually decided they are brothers!  The boys had just as much fun as we did and were worn out when we picked them up - good job Amy and Wayne!  We feel incredibly blessed to have made lovely friends here - not just Amy and Wayne, but others as well.  It was so nice to know that the kids were well looked after and having a great time - we didn't worry a bit about them.  Next it's our time to watch your children guys!

I probably should have put this first, but Brian went to the Bronco's footy game on Friday evening, and apparently had great seats.  The group was 6 rows behind Kevin Rudd- the Prime Minister previous to the current PM Julia Gilard.  He had a great time and even made a few appearances on tv!  All in all, a great weekend by any account!

Sydney - One Year Later

Warning - this post is going to have a few asides and probably be a bit rambling!

Chris and Melinda headed to Cairns on Wednesday and we planned to meet them in Sydney over the weekend.  I wanted to spend a bit of time shopping for a ballgown.

Aside number one - Brian and I were invited to the Defence Charity Ball in Brisbane.  I was excited at the idea of going to any ball, but especially one with men in uniform!  It will be fun to have an evening out without children - and special thanks to our friends Amy and Wayne for keeping the boys while we're away.  Of course, this event calls for a new dress since I don't happen to have any ball gowns hanging in my closet.  Melinda helped me find a gown in Newcastle that I love.  It's simple - emerald green, strapless, and an empire waist cut that falls to the ground.  But since we were spending time in Sydney, I decided to look around.  I wish I had taken some pictures of me in the dresses, but I wasn't sure how to do that without looking obvious.  I tried on some ridiculously expensive gowns - one Alex Perry that was $2,500 AUD - but settled on the one from Newcastle.  I did find one turquoise gown that I completely fell in love with, but it needed taken in at the top and I was afraid if it wasn't done perfectly it would have looked awful.  I also tried on a gorgeous pair of Louiboutins, but once again, out of the price range I was willing to spend.

As we were heading into Sydney on the train, it occurred to us that it was exactly one year ago that we landed in Australia for our adventure.  I can't quite believe we've been here that long - amazing!  I still can't believe we live a couple of hours away from this incredible city.  We were lucky to have booked a room at the Intercontinental Hotel, which is a two minute walk from Circular Quay.  To tell you how spoiled we are, we didn't even feel like we needed to book a room with a harbour view, so we were left with a city view.  It was terrible, as you can see!

A view of the Royal Botanical Gardens

View from the pool on the top floor - not too shabby!

We caught up with Chris and Melinda for some shopping and lunch before they took a cruise on a sailboat.  They had originally scheduled it for when we had left, but that cruise was cancelled.  We would've loved to have spent more time with them, but things happen!  While they were on the cruise, we headed to see the Sydney Tower, which stands at 309 meters, or almost 1,014 feet.  The kids were both excited until it was time to get on the elevator.  Nathan began crying, so we grabbed and dragged him into the elevator.  Nothing like looking like awesome parents in public!  As soon as the elevator started, Nath immediately calmed down and was very impressed with the view when we stepped off the elevator - vindication for us!

I love all of the boats docked

View of the Harbour



There is also a revolving restaurant there, which must be amazing at sunset.  I wonder if the food is any good?

Afterwards we caught the monorail to Darling Harbour, which is where we were meeting Chris and Melinda after their cruise, which thrilled the boys to no end.

Aside number two - when asked what their favorite part of the weekend trip was, it was the train ride from Newcastle into Sydney.  I think it's hysterical how much they love public transport.  To both boys, getting on a plane is no big deal, but put them on a train or a bus and they are in heaven.  Will was so excited about his first excursion (what we call a field trip) because he would finally get to ride a bus!  Never mind that he's flown half way around the world...

We wandered around Darling Harbour, enjoying the little shops and cafes.  I would have liked to have shopped more, but didn't think the boys would go for it.  Instead we found an anchor for them to play on before we met our friends.

Typical grin from Wills

Lots of fun

We wandered over to the dock that Christ and Melinda were arriving at, stopping to get me a Flat White on the way.  The boys were very excited to see the sailboat coming, jumping up and down, waving and yelling at Chris and Melinda.  Once they got off the boat, our boys took their hands to walk over to the Opera House for our guided tour.  Bri and I even joked about sending the boys back to the US with them!

I was excited about the Opera House tour.  We had been a little hesitant about taking the tour with the boys, concerned that they would get bored and begin to act out.  We shouldn't have worried - Nathan listened to the tour guide with rapt attention.  He followed the tour guide around - nearly attached to his hip - without any regard to where Bri and I were.  Of course, we followed Nathan closely, giggling all the way.

Aside number three - we shouldn't have been quite as surprised as we were, as Nathan loves to read non-fiction books.  His last library trip included books about how the brain works, how and why to save energy, poisonous animals, and what ancient Rome was like.  I love watching his thirst for knowledge and can't wait to see where his career path goes.  He's even taking French after school because he's read about Paris and wants to make sure people understand him when he gets there!

The tour was absolutely fascinating and I would recommend it to anyone visiting.  We were booked for the 5pm tour, which included the benefit of a beautiful sunset and great photo opportunities.  I had a lot of fun playing and (trying) to be artsy!

Harbour Bridge at sunset

Close up of the Opera House at sunset

Sailboats on the Harbour

View of one of the buildings from inside the other one

View of the city from inside the Opera House

After a quick bite for dinner and goodbye hugs, we hopped back on the train to Newcastle.  We got in decently late, but it was well worth it.  We loved hosting and are looking forward to our next visitors - my parents.  They will be in Australia soon - with the benefit of a guest room, which leads to..

Aside number four - we have to move soon.  Which is frustrating, even though it does have it's upsides.  When we rented this house, we felt like we were lead to believe that it would be a long term rental.  The agency knew what we wanted, but alas it was quickly obvious that the owner really didn't want to rent in the first place.  Without going into any major details, the owner wants to move in himself now.  I gave myself a few days to be not happy, and then went with the "there must be something better suited for us" approach.    One of the things about this move is God has clearly been teaching me how to trust Him better - even in the little things.  It's not a surprise to most of you that I like control.  Well, I basically have control over nothing in the whole house scenario, for reasons I don't want to go into on a public forum.  Suffice it to say, what our hopes were for a house were not only met, but ridiculously exceeded.  Not only do we have a guest room now - which is good since people are fairly consistently coming to visit now - but the landlord was happy to sign a longer term contract!  Not to mention the many friends that have offered their help, be it by watching the kids while we move, helping us unpack, offering us beds to sleep in if the move takes longer than expected, and meals.  It's such a reminder of how incredibly blessed we have been in this move.

Wow, that was a lot of info in one post!  I promise to post pictures from the ball and our house as soon as they both happen!

Our First Visitors!

We had our first visitors land in the country two weeks ago!  Chris and Melinda are friends of ours from Kentucky.  We met Chris in our church choir and soon found out that he lived down the street from us.  He met Melinda, and the rest is history!  It was lovely to have good friends as neighbors just down the street and we miss our dinners together!

One of our first places to take visitors to see is Oakvale, where you are able to pet Koalas and feed Kangaroos.  Let's face it, it's what any visitor to Australia is excited to do.  I know when I saw my first Roo I felt like I was truly in Australia!  I think it was a good first experience, but I'll let you judge from the pictures!

Chris enticing a Wallaby

Melinda being surrounded by Roos

It's still fun for me as well!

The boys enjoy it as well - and why wouldn't they?

Will's jumper isn't just any old jumper - it is an Australia jumper, hence the green and gold.  I always thought it was odd that those are there colors in the Olympics, but, as my friend Amy pointed out, it does make them easy to identify!  On a side note, Will was cheering for Australia in the Olympics.  We tried to convince him to cheer for the USA to win gold and the Aussies to win silver, but he wouldn't budge.  However Nathan's mate, Wes (pronounced with a zed, as are all of their s) was cheering for the US instead of Australia.

Sorry about this next shot, but I didn't have time to fool with lighting and I had to get this picture!

Clearly Will is an animal person!

And since we had other adults with us, Brian and I got a picture together - a real rarity for us!

Brian also ticked off a Cockatoo

A Wallaby with her Joey - so cute!

It was fun showing other people how much fun it is where we live!

That evening we met a group of our friends at the RSL club.  It was fun introducing friends from different continents and I even got to play translator.  I think everyone had a fun evening.  Melinda commented that she and Chris felt very welcomed by everyone and that it didn't seem like that was the first time they had met.  So glad we have such wonderful people as friends here!

After church on Sunday we went out to the lighthouse and had tea.  There is a beautiful view from there that makes the food taste even better!  I didn't take any pictures there, but I'm pretty sure I've posted pictures in the past.  Melinda, I still think you should do a guest post with your pictures!

After lunch we went back and changed.  Brian kept bugging me about what I wanted to do special since it was my birthday, but I just wanted to show them around some of my favorite beaches.  We ended up taking a walk up past Barry Point on a recommendation, and boy am I glad we did.  It was a fun walk with beautiful views and lots of places to rock climb.

View of where the spit is, although it's underwater

The lighthouse in the picture above is no longer a working lighthouse.  To get there, you have to wait until low tide and then cross the sand spit to the island.  So far, timing has not worked for us to be able to cross the spit, much to Nathan's chagrin.  It was nice to get a good view of it on our walk.

Some serious waves that day

I took a lot more pictures, but I figure that's enough for one post!  We did some more exploration of the area and even a bit of shopping.  It was nice to shop with a girl, especially since I found out I needed a ball gown pronto - but more on that later.

After a few more days in Port Stephens, Chris and Melinda were off to Cairns to see the Great Barrier Reef - something we will be doing with my parents in about a month!  After a few days there, they flew into Sydney and we were able to meet them there.  Now on to photo editing those pictures!

It's Winter?

I've always hated the cold.  Long ago I told Brian that if we had to move, it wasn't going to be one inch north of where we were.  He took me at my word and now I'm where the average high in winter is close to 16 C, or 60 F.  Some days it's even warmer and we like to take advantage.  We were lucky to have several of those during the last school holidays.  We chose to head out to Zenith Beach on one of those days for an informal photo shoot.

Zenith is on the Tasman Sea, not the bay, so I had to coax Nathan to get even close to the water.  He hates any type of wave.  I'm not sure if it's because of the noise or he's just frightened.  That's why he looks unhappy in some of this picture, but I had to get the water in the shot.

A tripod was worth every penny it cost

I was hoping that would have turned out better, but Will looks annoyed as well.  What kind of mom am I, wanting to get a picture with my boys?  They were much happier after I let them play around.

I've been letting Nathan take some pictures with my camera and he's getting much better.  I'm even usually in frame!

I love the bush behind the beach.  This beach is next to Stephen's Peak, which we've been wanting to climb for awhile, it's just never quite worked out.

Pretty short entry, I know.  We've been busy hosting our first guests since we've moved down here.  Our friends Chris and Melinda stayed with us for several days and are in Cairns (pronounced like Cannes, I've discovered) presently.  We will be meeting them in Sydney.  I have lots of pictures from our adventures and am currently in the process of editing.  You will be inundated with pictures in the next post, assuming I got some good ones!