Australia

I was watching a documentary the other day about the world's best bridges and they had the Sydney Harbour bridge and showed how people do the bridge climb where you can scale the top of the bridge and enjoy the amazing view of Sydney. I thought to myself that we should have done that; who knows when we'll be back there again. Then I remembered why we didn't do it.

For those of you who were around me when I was pregnant probably remembers more than I do the reason why I didn't do a lot of things I should have done while we were in Australia. It's funny how I can forget how miserable I was back then and the months after coming back from Australia. I do have a lot of fond memories of Australia (like driving past 203 Kangaroos while in the Outback and taking a detour after seeing a sign for cane toads in Cairns!), and 3 years later, I appreciate that experience a lot more. I am bummed that I didn't scale the Sydney Harbour bridge. I wish I was able to go wine tasting in Australia. I don't regret not eating Emu or Kangaroo. I wish the Great Barrier Reef wasn't too rough that time of year. And I'm really regretting not buying an UGG boots while I was there (talk about being a lame cheapskate...) Note to self - try not to travel internationally when you're pregnant.

Since I haven't really shared my fond memories of Australia to most of you, I thought I'd share some pictures...

Hiking in Cairns...

Our trip to Ayers Rock (Uluru) in the Outback.

This was one of our many trips to Bondi Beach in Sydney.

Craig & Darin "trying" to surf. Actually, they were trying to find the perfect spot to not get beat up by local surfers...

Sydney's landmark, The Opera House

The boy and his girls...

I hope they'll be friends for a long long time. I'm looking forward to seeing them grow and share lots of happy memories together.

Another beautiful weekend at the beach

We went to the beach for the weekend and it was just beautiful the entire weekend. It was fun to hang out with friends and let the kids play. We were finally able to fly the space shuttle kite and Aden was in heaven! He didn't want to leave the beach house and the beach...we promised him we'll be back soon. Can't wait for more sunshine!

Aden with dad flying the kite...

Jade joined in on the fun.

Gotta love that smile!

Here's Ms. Julia trying to figure out what the fuss is all about...

Like mommy, like son?

When Darin & I lived in McMinnville (seems like forever ago...7+ years?), Darin had a motorcycle (crotch rocket) that we used to commute to Portland in. Since we had to leave before 5am, I used to fall asleep while riding behind him. It freaked Darin that I would fall off the bike. Well, Aden did the same thing riding the snowmobile. Darin took him for a ride and the boy fell asleep. Darin said that at one point, he stopped and killed the engine. Aden woke up and told him "more". As soon as he started moving again, the boy fell asleep again. He was out for 3+ hours, he enjoyed the ride!

Fun in the snow

It was fun to watch the kids play in the snow. The snow was so dry & fluffy, we couldn't even make balls to build a snowman. It would just collapse everytime you try to pack it into a ball. Aden & I made a snow angel, but I don't think he really understood what it was and it was hard to see it since it was snowing so hard. We had fun anyway...

I love this shot of Abbigail & Aden, especially her cutest bedhead curls! She's such a cutie and loves giving hugs and kisses to Aden. The kids get along so well, hopefully they'll be friends for years!

The boys and their toys...

The guys went snowmobiling on Friday & Saturday. I usually go for a 1/2 a day ride, but decided to do a spa day with the girls instead. Six of us girls headed to the spa in town and we were there for 6 hours, longer than we anticipated. We had a good time talking and hanging out, thanks to the babysitters!

We had a little scare on Saturday night when the guys weren't home at 7:30pm and no one could get a hold of them. We then heard from one of the guys' girlfriend who got a call that there's some guys missing and they're looking for them. It was a very vague message and it was hard not to think of the worst. My friend Kimberly & I ended up driving to where the guys are at to see if we can get some info. It was a 1/2 hour drive but it felt like hours. It was definitely the worst drive I've ever had and I hopefully won't ever feel that way again. Long story short, the guys ended up being in a bad area and had a hard time getting out. They were all together and everyone was ok. They didn't get back to the trucks until 10:30pm. It was a long night...

Lots of Snow

We went to McCall, ID last week for our annual snowmobiling trip. We left on Wednesday night, spent the night at Hood River with our friend, Matt. Then we headed early Thursday morning. The drive was pretty fun, we drove straight through and only stopped for gas. It was nice to drive during the day and not worry about being able to see the ice on the road. It also gave us the rest of the afternoon to hang out at the house. We rented the same house for the last 3 years, it has 7 bedrooms and is perfect for our group.

Aden had a lot of fun with his dad playing in the snow. Darin would tossed him up into the snowbank and he would just laugh as he slides down the snow. It was pretty fun to watch.

My little snowboarder

We bought Aden his snow gear for our trip to McCall, ID next week. Darin had him try them on this morning and he looked like such a snowboarder! I can't wait to see him play in the snow...

SNOW!!

We woke up Saturday morning with snow at our house. We had to run errands and left pretty early, so we didn't get a chance to enjoy it. We were disappointed that there were barely any snow everywhere we went. We got back to our house around 3pm and found a nice surprise. We had about 2 inches of snow still! Too bad Aden was asleep in the truck, so we didn't get a chance to play in it since we had to leave the house again. Oh well, he can look at the pictures!

I wished I had my camera...

Aden & I went to the library today after running a bunch of errands. My intention was to quick run in to pick up some books I have on hold and get home to put Aden down for a nap. He had a different agenda though. He immediately went to the children's section, picked up a book and sat at a table. He started going through books and making up stories as he went along. At one point, I looked back to where Aden was sitting at and he looked like such a big boy, sitting so well on the little kid chair with the book propped on the table. It was such a perfect moment and he looked so happy just being around all these books. Too bad I didn't have my camera. Hopefully that moment will forever be in my memory bank. It gave me such mixed emotions on how big my little boy is getting and at the same time, great joy that he's enjoying the same things that gives his mom pleasure.

Boys will be boys...

Aden & I had a lunch date with my good friend, Beth & her son, Zach at P.B. & Ellie's. The boys enjoyed playing with the toys in the restaurant, but they definitely enjoyed climbing up the tree on our way out to the car a lot better.

Trouble & Trouble

I was starting to get convinced that Aden might take after me and be a little more cautious, but now I know that he'll take after dad and be a daredevil too.

Happy New Year!

Wishing you all a great year ahead, full of wonderful happy moments!

What a difference a year makes...

This picture was taken exactly one year ago.

Now he can hold on to the stump on his own!

Another beautiful day at the beach

We took advantage of the great day over the weekend and spent most of the time hanging out on the beach and climbed the dune one more time.

And, Aden's new favorite thing to do is to slide down the dune. It was great watching him be a daredevil and try to launch off the edge...

Hiking the dune

The weather was pretty trippy today. It's nice and sunny for a while, then hail for about 5 minutes. It did this on and off during the day. During one of the sunny spells, we all went on a dune hike and let the kids run around. We had a fun time even though it was quite nippy.

One happy kid

We're spending New Year's at the beach with friends, which has been a yearly tradition for us. Aden is very happy to be back at the beach house, he has been asking to go for the past week. We have to drag him out of the house whenever we have to go anywhere, all he wants to do is hang out at the house. Our friend Matt and his daughter Aaliyah is also staying with us. Aaliyah and Aden has been having a lot of fun together, they play so well together even though they are 2 years apart. We told Matt that the 2-year gap wouldn't matter that much when they're older; Aden loves them older girls :)