Merry Christmas!!!

Merry Christmas Everyone!!! We miss you all.

Here's a quick rundown of our first Aussie Christmas. On Christmas Eve, we left tea, tim tams and carrots for Santa and his reindeer.


We woke up to pressies under our tree (actually a potted bush that Vic borrowed from work and Gus decorated using his crafty talents...the plant had been kept outside so when Vic brought it home a bunch of ants marched out of the pot, which we've been battling ever since. Later on, a lizard crawled out of the pot. Vic and Gus wanted to keep it as a pet so it could eat the ants, but I made them catch it and put it outside).


We had a yummy brekkie of pancakes and real maple syrup (mmmmmm) with nonna and grand-papa.



And after testing out all our toys, we headed down to the beach. It was a little on the cloudy side, but we couldn't resist a swim on Christmas day. Sure enough, in true aussie style, there were lots of other people at the beach having family bbqs, swimming and playing by the beach.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Countdown to Christmas: 7, 6, 5, 4...

Wow! I can't believe Christmas is less than a week away. I still haven't done a lick of shopping, decorating or planning. I think it's partly to do with the sunny, warm weather and partly because I'm having a hard time with the fact that we're going to spend Christmas so far from our friends and most of our family. Thank god my parents are here! They've already been a great help, by looking after Gus after school, often making us supper and scoping out the deals (as retirees, they have become masters at scoping out deals). And, it's so nice to be able to share the holidays with them.

This weekend, I dragged them out to Manly, which I've been wanting to check out for a while. Although it was disappointingly tourist-y, the ferry ride there was nice, and I'd like to go back soon with a picnic and spend the day at the ocean beach. While we were there this weekend, there was a band playing Christmas carols, but Gus was much more interested in the fountains.


Afterwards, we headed down to the beach on the Bay side of Manly, where Gus met some new friends and together they worked on 'waterfall city'.



OK, so Australia is defnitely making me fat. It could be a number of things...my daily intake of timtams with tea that has become a nightly ritual when Gus is in bed and the apartment is quiet, or the full-fat cappuccinos (no skinny caps for me) that I pick up from the cute boys working at the coffee cart at school, or maybe the mountains of pancakes we've been consuming since my parents got here with maple syrup. I think some New Year's resolutions are in order...which I'll sort out when Christmas is over.

I've also managed to convince myself that I need the perfect agenda to get me organized in the new year. I just ordered one like this from Etsy (I can't show you the exact one, because I picked up the LAST one - it was that good). I love the idea of supporting an artist rather than a huge manufacturer. And, I'm sure this agenda will be the key to my success in 2009!

Price of Admission

Hey all you Canadians back home, if you want to come visit, this is what you'll need to bring:

(oh yeah, and you'll also have to spend $2000 on a plane ticket and spend 20 hrs on various planes to get here).

Mmmmm, maple syrup. We've had a hard time finding it in Sydney, and when we have been able to spot a bottle, we've had to spend big bucks to buy it. But my parents have come to visit, and they brought with them seven cans of the sweet stuff (some of it bought by my sister-in-law - thank you!!!). We had pancakes yesterday with REAL maple syrup, they were amazing.

My mom is a big foodie, so I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to check out some of Sydney's markets. Saturday, we tried out the markets at Moore park. I don't know if you can tell from this picture, but the lemons are gigantic, like grapefruit.


...and lots of beautiful flowers, which would look perfect going home in one of these bags, which I've decided I must buy as the perfect accessory for our Australian adventure. Good for the beach and market outings.

We found some delicious cheese, sausages and olive bread, and Gus managed to talk Vic into buying him one of these cupcakes.


Sunday, I played tour guide and we toured some of the more famous sights in Sydney. We started at Hyde Park, made our way through the Royal Botanic Gardens to check out the beautiful plants, trees and flying foxes (can you spot them below hanging from the trees?) and finished up at the Opera House..


Christmas is less than two weeks away, and yet we have no Christmas tree and haven't done a lick of shopping. It's so hard to believe that Christmas is coming when it's warm and sunny and no snow in sight. I'm still trying to figure out what we're going to eat (cause we won't be cooking a turkey in 30C heat!). But maybe we'll head down to the beach for a bbq, which a few sydney natives have told me is traditional on Christmas day. Gus, on the other hand, is fully prepared, he's decided we'll have pancakes for breakfast and tacos for supper.

Legend of Bluey

Yesterday, we went to Clovelly Beach, a small lagoon-ish type beach about a 10 minute drive from here. Vic scouted it out last week while Gus and I were at the Christmas parade, and declared it a good beach to try out some snorkeling. So this weekend, all three of us drove up to try it out.

Clovelly is my favourite beach yet (this will be my fourth Sydney beach visited). Although it's surrounded on two sides by a lot of concrete, the best part is that there's no huge waves or big rips to worry about (which is a nice change from Maroubra beach, where we usually hang out). And, the snorkeling was great, I even saw legendary Bluey. Vic still doesn't believe me, and I guess it didn't help that I came out of the water saying "I saw a fish this big" - with my arms wide open....but no word of a lie, I saw him on the ocean floor in all his blue hugeness.

Our other big news is that my parents are coming this week! I can't wait, I miss them a lot and it's going to be soooo nice to see some familiar faces.

Below is a pic of Gus getting ready for a snorkel. And yes, I am trying to include a middle-aged man in a speedo in the background of all my beach shots. Clovelly beach had a larger than usual number of men and women in the 50+ age range sporting budgie smugglers and bikinis, and there's something nice about seeing people so at ease with their bodies, they don't feel the need to cover them up completely, a sight not often seen in Canada.

Is there such thing as too many Tim Tams?

According to how tight the waists on my shorts are getting, the answer is yes. ....must give up tims tams....starting tomorrow.

Christmas countdown 10, 9, 8...

It's been rainy and cloudy for the past couple of weeks, but we finally had a nice sunny day today (Sunday). What a perfect day to unwind after a long week! We started off with brekkie at a place down the street from us. Sydneysiders love their brekkie, and so do I. Is there anything better than bacon, eggs and coffee made by someone else and served to you?

Vic's big breakfast:

Then Gus and I grabbed a bus down to the CBD (Central Business District - or what us Canadians would call downtown) to catch the Christmas parade. It started off like your typical Christmas parade, with a reindeer and some marching bands, but got stranger and stranger as it went on. There seemed to be no particular Christmas/holiday theme to it, check it out:

Starts off with a reindeer...nothing odd there.

But then, Star Wars characters came marching down the street...


Followed by an inflatable whale and panda...

...and some people in crazy big-headed costumes (I think they were promoting the Philipines)

Even Gus seemed a little puzzled!


It was especially odd to be watching a Christmas parade on a warm, sunny day. At one point, a guy came by with a big tub of sunscreen, squeezing out a dollop for anyone who wanted/needed it. Surreal, especially when compared to our last Christmas parade in Ottawa, where I distinctly remember wishing that I had worn my longjohns!

When we got back from the parade, we met up with Vic and went down to the beach for a swim. Gus and Vic played in the waves and when they were done we headed to the ocean pool up the street so I could try out my new snorkeling gear (a recent b-day present). Once I got the hang of it (i.e., stopped swallowing water), it was pretty cool. I can't wait to try it out in some of the better snorkeling beaches close by.

Bringing home the bacon

Vic's been out sailing a couple of times since we did the harbour sail a few weeks ago. He helps out on any of the boats that need extra crew at the Friday nights' Twilight sailing races. This past Friday, they held a raffle afterwards and Vic won first prize.....a huge meat tray, with eggs, bacon, sausage, steak, pork chops and a leg of lamb.



If you know Vic at all, you'll know that this is one of the best prizes ever. A tray full of meat is right up there with winning millions in the lottery. It's the equivalent of me winning a tray filled with chocolates and puppies.

Aside from eating meat all weekend (eggs and bacon for breakfast, sausages for supper last night and lamb cooking in the oven as I write), it's been a quiet weekend. Yesterday, I dragged Vic and Gus out to an event called 'Good Food Affare'. Vic and Gus were mostly miserable the whole time (the traffic was horrendous and the 'children's area' consisted of a carousel for toddlers). It was also really crowded, with a ton of people trying to get at the free samples of yummy foods and wines. I did manage to eat some delicious all natural ice cream and bring home a baguette and award winning goat's cheese before either Vic or Gus suffered total breakdowns, so it wasn't all bad.

During the weekdays, I'm still plugging away at my thesis. At this point, I have a pretty clear idea of what I'm going to do, and just need to clarify some of the methods/analysis. If anyone has any good references for trend analysis or cost analysis, send them my way! Some weeks I'm very productive and others - not as much. It's sometimes hard to stay on task when the due date is three years down the road!

And for grandparents' and cousins' viewing pleasure...two pics of Gus at the skatepark, practising his dude moves. sweet as, bro.