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This is the second year that Sydney has gone to her ballet classes. Last year she did not get to participate in the end of year performance. This year marked a different situation. Sydney participated in two scenes on two successive evenings. She had lots of fun. The fun included to be able to wear nice dresses, not to mention the generous amount of applied makeup.
Both nights got late, but Sydney was all excited and still months later keeps talking about performing on stage. I am sure she will want to participate again next year.
See for yourselves!
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Chindsgi or Kindergarten as it is known by was Sydney's big, ongoing adventure over the last two years. It is hard to believe that Sydney graduated this year and will start at Saint Peter's Preschool in the coming year. Before going there, though let's look through some of the more memorable moments from Sydney's 2011 program. (With acknowledgment and thanks to the parents and teachers who took these pictures during class time.)
The kids did a lot to prepare them for the next stage in their lives. This included learning about dental care and different jobs such as police man. They also had a scientific section that included volcanoes, the planetary system and last but not least dinosaurs. The finished the dinosaur segment with a memorable field trip to the museum to go and see the skeletons and learn more in a visual way.
In addition to learning there was also plenty of time for other activities, such as playing in the backyard - the sandpit is Sydney's favorite next to the mini trampoline. They also collectively grew some vegetables. Each of the kids got a few beans that they could grow on moist cotton balls. They saw chicken hatching from eggs the kids kept carefully warm for some time. The school also brought in some Labrador puppies.
Adding to this a lot of story, acting and dressing time and the kids got a much stimulation.
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Christy's Birthday shortly before Christmas poses some unique opportunities and challenges. On the opportunity side we typically manage to get a large part of the family together for a dinner. On the challenge side getting space for 10+ people a few days before Christmas is always difficult to reserve.
This year Christy mentioned a long time ago that she would like to go to have Brazilian food. She originally intended to have a party with our friends from Church. That was not possible for scheduling reasons. So Thomas tried to surprise her and arranged for an evening with Brazilian food in Brisbane.
The whole plan was almost upset when Christy, not knowing about the plan, decided to round up her family to go to Indian food in Brisbane. Lucky nobody disclosed the fact that we had already reserved another place.
The evening turned out to be very nice. We had all McMurries (and Asia's friend Damian) present. Sydney did not experience too much. She fell asleep a few hundred meters before arriving and did not wake up until the next day.
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Once more we spent Christmas in Brisbane with Christy's family. This year, Christy's father visited from the US. This meant that except for Melissa and Nathan all Christy's siblings as well as her parents were present.
Tyler made the trip timely for Christmas Day, arriving at 6:55 in the morning.
After having picked him up the time to prepare for the Christmas gathering had come.
This year we made the following foods:
- Turkey (stuffed with Celery, Onion, Herbs and Bread)
- Ham (glazed with Maple Syrup, Brown Sugar and Beer, the three reduced but we also applied syrup directly on the ham)
- Blanched String Beans with crumbled Feta
- Mashed Potatoes
- Oven Potatoes
- Rolls
people also brought food along including
- Salad with Root Vegetables and Pine Nuts
- Pasta Salad
- Rum balls
last but not least we had Christy's heavenly pumpkin cheese cake.
All in all a great meal with great company. We had the Whatleys and most of the McMurries in attendance.
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After almost a full year without a family vacation Christmas could not come fast enough. Again, the third time in a row we spent the time in Brisbane with most of Christy's family.
Her father had come from the US, which then meant that only one brother and one sister could not make it.
Brisbane was great. Summer and Jay just had their house extended. It is so beautiful and significantly larger than before. We stayed there for about how half the time. From there we went to different places, be it swimming in Chermside, Southbank, or to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary.
Needless to say we celebrated Christmas there. Soon afterwards David started his trip back to the US. We got to spend some days with Christy's mother in Briby Island. During this second part of our vacation, we visited the beaches. It was hot and sunny.
Too fast was the time over to head back to Melbourne.
Below a selection of pictures from our vacation.
