City Beach

Tuesday, January 8, 2013

My mom, Sydney and Dagan

Dagan boogie boarding

Sydney boogie boarding

We went to the beach this morning.  We wanted to get out of the apartment before the temperature got really high.  My mom, the kids and I went to the beach. It was overcast, so we spent a few hours there.   Both kids used their boogie boards.  I tried it out, too.   It is rather fun.

Mom and I relaxing in our beach chairs.

Playing in the waves

Mom looking for shells

Doesn't he make a good mermaid?

Both kids practicing on their boards

I am boogie boarding with Dagan.

We came home for lunch and decided to say indoors for the rest of the afternoon due to the heat.  Sydney and Dagan watched a movie with my dad.  My mom and I tried to sit outside on the balcony a few times, but it felt like a heater was blowing warm air on you.  It ended up being a high of 106 today.  It was a "cooker" in Adam's words.  This evening while we were watching the news we learned there were the most fires in Australia history burning today due to the heat and the highest temperatures across the continent on record.  It is a little scary.

Walk to the Park

Monday, January 7, 2013

After wearing my parents out yesterday, we decided to have a quiet day.  Mom went with me to the grocery store.  She had fun seeing the different products. 

Walking back from the park on the bike path

I am on the balcony.  Dagan is looking up at me.

Across the street from our apartment

In the afternoon, the kids took my parents to the park.  They went by Sydney's school on the way.  Sydney and Dagan wanted to practice using their circus toys in an open space.  When they returned, they told us they were working out on the      equipment in the park, too.  Dagan thinks they should go everyday.  Then both my parents will be in great shape by the time they get back to the states.

Sydney, Australia with my parents

Sunday, January 6, 2013

Sydney Harbour Bridge

Sydney Opera House

We headed into Sydney today.  We rode on the train.  Adam made two trips to the train station, so none of us had to walk.  We arrived in the Circular Quay after changing trains.  We walked over to the Opera House.  We got some good pictures of it and the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

BJ and Bev with the Opera House in the background

Afterwards, we walked over to The Rocks.  We went to The Lowenbrau Keller.  We had some good German food for lunch.  We left my Dad and Adam there while we walked around the craft market.  My mom found a few things, and the kids found more items to add to their wish list for Australia.

Grandma and Sydney in the shark area.

Grandma and Dagan looking at the stingrays.

Next, we hopped on the ferry to Darling Harbour.  The ferry goes under the Sydney Harbour Bridge, so my parents got more views of the area.  We left my Dad and Adam again, and took my mom to the Sydney Aquarium.  The kids wanted her to see the different types of animals that live in the ocean around Australia.  By the time we finished in the aquarium, the four of us decided we were done for the day.

Riding the ferry back to Circular Quay

 We hopped back on the ferry to Circular Quay and hopped on the train to Town Hall.  We got something to eat and got on another train to Wollongong.  We got home a little after 8:00pm.  We put in a rather long day. 

My parents return with us

 Wednesday, January 2, 2012

On January 2, we headed back to Australia.  My parents came with us. We flew to San Francisco, had a two hour lay over, and then were on our way to Sydney. 14 hours later we arrived. We were picked up by a limo. Dagan was beyond excited. This was the first time both kids rode in a limo.  Dagan thinks we should have one of our own. It was lunch time by the time we arrived home, so we picked up some Chicko's. Then we ran a few errands and had a quiet evening.

On Saturday, we took my parents out for breakfast at Diggies. Sydney, Dagan, my mom, and I rode bikes. After breakfast, we went to Adam's office. He gave my parents a tour of the new space. On our bike ride home, we saw the parachuters landing in the park. We had another quiet afternoon. After dinner, the kids, my mom, and I went to the park. The kids played with their new circus toys. Then we walked home on the beach. All of us are feeling pretty good, but get tired early. Hopefully, we feel back to normal very soon!

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.