USA Holiday

Friday, December 14, 2012 - Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Sydney made snowmen with her friends.

We spent a great three weeks in Wisconsin. We had dinner with Dale and Gabby the first night.  Sydney can't wait to go to that steak restaurant again.  Then we were able to spend time with Adam's parents and our Mukwonago friends the first week.

Topaz!

Won't Dagan look cool on the beach?

Rudd and Sydney

The second week we headed Up North to spend time with my parents and Topaz.  We've really missed our dog.  Adam's brother joined us for the week. We went snowmobiling, sledding, walked across the lake, and much more. We were glad to see and play in some snow.  It feels more like Christmas when it is cold, and there is snow.  Adam's parents joined us for Christmas, and my brother's family came for a couple of days after Christmas. 

We have missed bacon.  We got some for Christmas!

Our last week was spent in Mukwonago.  We unfortunately missed seeing Adam's sister's family, but were able to see Robin and David.   It was nice to be home for a few weeks.

Disneyland

 Thursday, December 13, 2012

We are actually at Disneyland!

Family photo with Adam's phone.

Their late for an important date!

We let the kids guess where we were going today at dinner last night. Dagan made the right guess. We were parked and headed into the park by 9:30am.  Dagan was especially excited. It ended up being a great day to be at the park. It was overcast, but it didn't rain which I think helped keep the lines pretty short. Our longest wait was for Peter Pan.

I had to remind Sydney that she loved a few Princesses.

Look at their muscles!

My Mad Hatter

We went on all the rides the kids wanted to go on. A few attractions were closed, but that didn't effect us at all. We had dinner at the Blue Bayou which is located inside the Pirates of the Caribbean ride.  It had good food, and it was nice to be able to sit down for a while. We did see the Christmas parade.   I saved seats while Adam and the kids went in the Small World ride. They knew why I volunteered to wait after they went on it.  Sydney says she will never go on that ride again.  Her face made me laugh when she got back. Our favorite rides were Star Wars, Space Mountain, Big Matterhorn, Big Thunder, the Haunted Mansion, and Indiana Jones. We were going to stay for the fireworks, but we were finished by 8:00 pm. We were back in the hotel and asleep by 9:30pm.  Adam was surprised that we stayed awake for as long as we did. Both kids said this was a great reason to stop over in California.  Dagan wants to know when we will go again.

Santa in the Christmas Parade

Los Angeles, California

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Isn't this the best family photo ever?

Sydney gave jumping a try.

Dagan likes to jump into the sand.

We are heading towards home today. We decided to stop over in California for two days. Our flight left on time and went pretty fast. 13 hours later we were in California. It is strange that we left on Wednesday, December 13 at 3:00pm and arrived in California on Wednesday, December 13 at 10:00am.  After checking into our hotel, we went out for lunch at Pink's. Yummy and cheap chili dogs and hamburgers. Then we went to Venice Beach. It would be really crazy during the summer. Sydney wanted to go to Beverly Hills, so we found the Playboy mansion. You couldn't really see it, but the size of the other houses were amazing. We also drove down Rodeo Drive. The street looked pretty all decorated for Christmas. Adam was really excited to see a fancy car that I can't remember the name of. We headed back to the hotel to let the kids swim. Our goal was to stay awake until at least 8:00. We were all fading fast. Dagan took a nap in the car, and I almost did. We went to the Hard Rock Cafe for dinner.  After dinner, Adam fell asleep first. The kids and I were asleep soon thereafter.  At 11:30pm both kids woke up and thought we should have a party.  It took a little while to get them settled and asleep again.

Walking along in Venice Beach.

Adam's wedding ring

Sunday, December 2, 2012

Adam said I needed to blog this, so we wouldn't forget.  I don't think that will happen. 

Adam, Dagan, and I were sitting outside on our balcony.  Adam was using his hands while he was talking.  Mid sentence he jumps up and asks Dagan and I if we saw that.  Neither of us knew what he was talking about.  As he was talking, his wedding ring slid off his finger and flung over the railing of the balcony.  We are 7 stories up.  First, we looked under our furniture in hopes of finding the ring, but no luck, so we headed to the ground floor.  It was like looking for a needle in a haystack.  We took a few small rocks up with us to toss over the side to see where they would land.  A few really bounced, so we went back down to look some more.  We decided to quit our search and to call the management company on Monday because there is one open balcony beneath us.

View over the side of our balcony.

Adam's ring after the fall.

Monday evening, we got a call on our intercom system.  It was our neighbor who said she had something of ours.  Adam went to meet her and came back with his ring.  She actually found it on her balcony.  Needless to say, we are both rather excited.  It will have to be fixed, but we have it.  It is nice to know that we have another nice neighbor.

Wollongong Botanic Garden

Sunday, December 2, 2012

Dagan's work

Dagan was getting tricky taking pictures.

This was a beautiful hydrangea. 

We decided to go to the Wollongong Botanic Garden today.  It is pretty.  You can walk through a variety of gardens, and there are some great green spaces where you could have a picnic.  We spent an enjoyable hour or so here.

Manly

Sunday, November 25, 2012

Trying to stay cool

Manly is a popular beach.

We headed into Sydney and Manly today.  We decided to take the train.    We got off the train at Circular Quay and hopped onto the ferry to Manly.   We made it there by lunch time.  Our friends from the states had recommended a place to eat, so we found the Manly Grill.  Adam and I both think it was the best meal we have had since we got here.  Across the street from the grill, was the main beach.  After eating, Sydney and Dagan ran over to check it out.  They were bummed that I hadn't packed their swimmers because it was hot enough to swim (86 degrees).   The beach was absolutely packed.  All of us decided we would rather be here when the weather is cooler.  Then less people would be on the beach. 

A fun place to clean off the sand.

Watch out!

The shark looks like it is going to get Adam.

We wandered around for a while.  Adam said that Manly reminds him of Lake Geneva.  I would agree.  Manly is just larger.  We went to the aquarium here.  It was pretty good, but much smaller than the one in Darling Harbor.  We had gotten a pass for 11 different tourist attractions in Australia, so we are going to as many as we can.

a squid

The ferry we took to Manly.

After we took the ferry back to the Circular Quay, we went to the Rocks again to finish up some Christmas shopping.  Then we headed for home.  By that time, we were really warm and were looking forward to sitting in the cool train car. 

Darling Harbor

Sunday, November 18, 2012

at the base of the tree

near the top of the tree

We went to visit the Whites this weekend.  We had a barbecue and spent the night on Saturday.  Sunday, we decided to go to Darling Harbor in Sydney.  We headed to the train station by their house and headed into the city.  Sydney and Dagan were excited to have some other kids along.  We got off at town hall and went upstairs to see the Christmas tree.  It was really big and pretty, but still strange to see when it is so warm outside.

Sydney looking at a ray.

platypus

dugong

Sydney liked the shark's teeth.

"Dory"

We then walked over to Darling Harbor.  The kids decided we should go to the aquarium.  We really liked it.  It had lots of fish and sea animals found in the water in and around Australia.  We especially liked the platypus, sharks, rays, great barrier reef fish, and the dugong (similar to a manatee).  These animals were in tanks that went over our heads.  It was fun walking through the tunnels with the animals swimming close to your head.

They are looking up at a ray.

Sydney, Dagan, Sarah, Lucy, Sophie, Georgia

We got a quick lunch and then headed to a park.  The parks here have these great spider web climbers that Sydney and Dagan really like.  Plus, there were areas where the kids could walk and splash in water.  What more could they want.

They are at the top of the spider web.

On Sundays, you can ride the public transportation for cheap, so we decided to take a ferry to a different train station.  The ferry stopped by Luna Park which has old carnival rides.  We will have to go back to let the kids try them out.  We got home late, but it was a great two days.

Stardust Circus

Friday, November 16, 2012


We took the kids to the circus today.  They had never been to one before, and we saw the tent in the park the week before and thought it would be fun.  Both Adam and I were pleasantly surprised on how good it was.  We sat in the second row.  The big top tent had one ring, so we could easily see everything.  They had lions, goats, pigs, dogs, monkeys and ponies that did tricks.  There were acrobatics on the ground and in the air.  Both kids liked watching the kids their own age doing the tricks and the clowns.  Dagan played a game during intermission, and Sydney got some Fairy Floss (cotton candy).  I think going in a tent made the experience even more fun. 

Viva La Gong

Saturday, November 10, 2012

Sydney doing origami.

Painting their lanterns

 We went to Viva La Gong today.  It was a festival held at a park in town walking distance from our apartment.  It was fun.  They had crafts for the kids, food, music, and a variety of different performers.  We started in the craft areas.  Sydney and Dagan had their names written in Chinese.  Then Sydney learned to make an origami lotus flower.  Both painted Chinese lanterns and tried to win the big prize at a game station. 

On the far end of the park, they learned how to make a felt ball.  They had to get the felt wet in soapy water and work it into a ball.  Then they bounced it on a board to get it to harden a little. 

The wishing tree

There was also a tent that had a variety of circus toys to try out.  The kids had fun with these.  The kids would like to get some of the toys.  Sydney has been practicing with them because her sport this term is circus activities.  Can you imagine having that as a gym class in Wisconsin?

View of the festival from one end of the park

We tried the mini pancakes, corn on the cob, and lemon sugar cane juice.  The juice was super sweet and not our favorite.  We listened to a few bands and watched some dancers before we decided to head home.  

Halloween Party at Zen Dan Kwan

Saturday, October 27, 2012

The place where the kids take karate was having a Halloween Party.  The kids decided they wanted to go since this was going to be their only chance to do something for Halloween.  Halloween definitely is not as big here as in the states.  Kids for the most part don't go trick or treating.  That only happens if a subdivision plans that themselves.   Dagan's school is having a Halloween mufti day, so he will be able to dress up again.  Plus, spring is in the air not fall.  It just doesn't feel quite like Halloween.

You can see the image they wanted in the background.

Adam painting the details.

The kids decided that we would just paint their faces.  They found a scary clown that they wanted.   I painted on the white.  Then Sydney did a little work on Dagan and put black around her own eyes.  Adam finished with the detail work.   Each wore a blackish shirt and a black hat.  With the teeth painted on their lips, it looked funny whenever they decided to smile.

Our scary clowns

Dagan ended up having more fun than Sydney because a couple of his friends from school were there.  One of the instructors asked her if it was like being in the states for Halloween.  She said no, but it was fun to do something for Halloween.