New Zealand was amazing and words can't describe our experience there. I'll get on the ball one day and share some of our 600 pictures of mountains, glaciers, rivers, lakes, waterfalls, fiords, and wildflowers. The kids were pretty terrific considering we drove about 5 hours a day and covered 2000km in 6 days, then flew 15 1/2 hours to get to Houston. But the highlight of our trip is definitely being here in Houston and spending time with our families. I've taken lots of pictures here as well, mostly of the kids enjoying their grandparents, but I haven't spent any time on the computer because I'd rather be sharing in the fun with everyone. Tomorrow we're off to Alabama for 4 days to see Great-Grandpa Kirkham so it will be a while before I get around to those pictures.
From our family to yours, we wish you a wonderful Christmas full of love and laughter. May God bless each of you this season and touch your heart with the true meaning of the celebration.
Monday, December 21, 2009
Tuesday, December 08, 2009
And So It Begins....
Packing for a 6-day trip, 3-week visit, and overnight stop is no small feat. Not to mention each country we visit will have a very different climate, so I'm pretty much packing a little of everything. Multiply that times 4 people and we have a lot of suitcases! Since we always come back with about twice as much stuff, I'm trying to get creative and pack the suitcases inside one another on the way home to conserve space. Good thing I've got lots of help...
These boys are getting really excited. Now if I could just keep them otherwise occupied long enough to get everything inside their bags, we'd be ready to go! We don't actually leave until tomorrow afternoon so I still have some time to get everything together.
I can't believe we've already spent 4 months in Perth. The time has really flown by, even though the days have been really long sometimes. It's the most beautiful place I've ever lived but definitely lonelier than Singapore and feels much more isolated from the rest of the world because we're so far from everything. The closest major city is Adelaide, which is still a good 1,200 miles away. It's been hard to meet people here and even harder to find activities for the kids since there's not a lot offered for preschoolers and as a result the classes I've looked into have been full with very long waiting lists. At least we'll get Ben back into preschool 2 days a week in February and Alex is on a list to start 2 mornings later in the year, so I can finally get a bit of free time for myself. I look forward to going to the grocery store without it being a huge production with my supporting cast.
Anyway, we are thrilled to go home and visit our families and catch up with old friends and new babies. Please keep us in your prayers for safe travels, healthy kids, and happy journeys. Now back to packing and let the fun begin!
These boys are getting really excited. Now if I could just keep them otherwise occupied long enough to get everything inside their bags, we'd be ready to go! We don't actually leave until tomorrow afternoon so I still have some time to get everything together.
I can't believe we've already spent 4 months in Perth. The time has really flown by, even though the days have been really long sometimes. It's the most beautiful place I've ever lived but definitely lonelier than Singapore and feels much more isolated from the rest of the world because we're so far from everything. The closest major city is Adelaide, which is still a good 1,200 miles away. It's been hard to meet people here and even harder to find activities for the kids since there's not a lot offered for preschoolers and as a result the classes I've looked into have been full with very long waiting lists. At least we'll get Ben back into preschool 2 days a week in February and Alex is on a list to start 2 mornings later in the year, so I can finally get a bit of free time for myself. I look forward to going to the grocery store without it being a huge production with my supporting cast.
Anyway, we are thrilled to go home and visit our families and catch up with old friends and new babies. Please keep us in your prayers for safe travels, healthy kids, and happy journeys. Now back to packing and let the fun begin!
Thursday, December 03, 2009
Christmas at the Kirkham's
While most people are pulling out boxes from their attics with decorations or setting up their Christmas trees, December at the Kirkham household means time to pack up and fly across the world! Literally, we booked Around the World tickets this year on Star Alliance. We had to make three overnight stops and fly in one direction around the globe. No problems there! We decided to take a mini-vacation to New Zealand on our way home, spend 3 weeks in Texas and Alabama, then overnight in Singapore on our way back to Perth. Our entire trip is 22,500 miles and will take us through Auckland, Christchurch, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Houston, Mobile, Moscow, and Singapore. That's a lot of flying! And in New Zealand we're renting a motorhome and driving around the south island for 6 days so these kids should be pretty good little travelers by the time we get home in January. Thank goodness for DVD's! Needless to say, we can't wait but I think there may be 4 grandparents on the other end who are getting pretty excited themselves. They have missed these sweet little faces this year!
I've done a ton of online shopping already and I know there is a mountain of stuff waiting for us at my parents' house. First item on the list - more pacis for this little guy. When he carries around three at a time no wonder they disappear!
And he usually gets a little help.
On Saturday Matt and Ben went to pick up lunch from the Flying Taco (a Perth version of Freebirds! Not as good, of course, but good enough) and happened upon a street fair. Wonder what color snow cone Ben chose?
Sunday afternoon we enjoyed a day at the beach. The weather has been beautiful but the wind is still a little cold and we had to leave when everyone started shaking. This was a great little pool made from the high tide rolling in.
Alex takes frequent breaks for snacks. This is his "more" sign, the only one he ever learned except for his "blankie" sign. Between the two of those his major needs are covered. He's talked earlier than I remember Ben talking so maybe he hasn't needed to communicate as much through signing. He also points a lot more than Ben ever did so it helps decipher the cries when he wants something.
This kid can polish off a bunch of grapes in no time.
Cute boys sporting their new Christmas tees. I thought they were memorable because of their Aussie terminology. Ben's says "I love toys, lollies, and Santa" and Alex's says "Happy Christmas". I also love that they can use the word Christmas here and not get sued.
Today I took the boys to check out the Perth Zoo. I knew I'd been spoiled to Singapore's amazing zoo and tried to keep an open mind, but this was a big disappointment. The exhibits are small, the animals are hard to see, and most of the time the bottom half of the windows were blocked to the kids couldn't see anything from the stroller. It was okay but I don't think we'll be going that often. There was nothing for the kids to touch or feed so they got a bit bored. A few of the highlights:
the little penguins
the echidna, an egg-laying mammal
kangaroos, of course
these beautiful plants are called kangaroo paws and I thought the colors on these were particularly pretty. They're usually all red or yellow.
The sun bear came right up to the window and gave the kids a good show.
Alex was talking and trying to touch him.
This is what we saw over and over - a dingy habitat, no animals, and graffiti on the windows. Even in the big animal exhibits, they had one elephant behind an electric fence, one crocodile sleeping far away, two giraffes behind a lot of trees...you get the idea.
This carousel was a hit, though! The kids both loved it and wanted to ride again.
Lunch was good as well. Fish and chips (an Australian staple) always hit the spot.
Ben got his first candy necklace as well, so we ended the day on a good note!
I've done a ton of online shopping already and I know there is a mountain of stuff waiting for us at my parents' house. First item on the list - more pacis for this little guy. When he carries around three at a time no wonder they disappear!
And he usually gets a little help.
On Saturday Matt and Ben went to pick up lunch from the Flying Taco (a Perth version of Freebirds! Not as good, of course, but good enough) and happened upon a street fair. Wonder what color snow cone Ben chose?
Sunday afternoon we enjoyed a day at the beach. The weather has been beautiful but the wind is still a little cold and we had to leave when everyone started shaking. This was a great little pool made from the high tide rolling in.
Alex takes frequent breaks for snacks. This is his "more" sign, the only one he ever learned except for his "blankie" sign. Between the two of those his major needs are covered. He's talked earlier than I remember Ben talking so maybe he hasn't needed to communicate as much through signing. He also points a lot more than Ben ever did so it helps decipher the cries when he wants something.
This kid can polish off a bunch of grapes in no time.
Cute boys sporting their new Christmas tees. I thought they were memorable because of their Aussie terminology. Ben's says "I love toys, lollies, and Santa" and Alex's says "Happy Christmas". I also love that they can use the word Christmas here and not get sued.
Today I took the boys to check out the Perth Zoo. I knew I'd been spoiled to Singapore's amazing zoo and tried to keep an open mind, but this was a big disappointment. The exhibits are small, the animals are hard to see, and most of the time the bottom half of the windows were blocked to the kids couldn't see anything from the stroller. It was okay but I don't think we'll be going that often. There was nothing for the kids to touch or feed so they got a bit bored. A few of the highlights:
the little penguins
the echidna, an egg-laying mammal
kangaroos, of course
these beautiful plants are called kangaroo paws and I thought the colors on these were particularly pretty. They're usually all red or yellow.
The sun bear came right up to the window and gave the kids a good show.
Alex was talking and trying to touch him.
This is what we saw over and over - a dingy habitat, no animals, and graffiti on the windows. Even in the big animal exhibits, they had one elephant behind an electric fence, one crocodile sleeping far away, two giraffes behind a lot of trees...you get the idea.
This carousel was a hit, though! The kids both loved it and wanted to ride again.
Lunch was good as well. Fish and chips (an Australian staple) always hit the spot.
Ben got his first candy necklace as well, so we ended the day on a good note!
Saturday, November 28, 2009
Happy Thanksgiving!
A little bit late, I know, but I hope all our friends and loved ones had much to celebrate and give thanks for this past week. I've been so thankful for my beautiful, healthy family, a lovely place to live and the opportunity to see the Indian ocean from my living room all day, the perfect weather we've had for the past week, the fact that we'll be leaving in 9 short days to head back to Houston and see the rest of our families for Christmas, and that I'll get to see my sister pregnant for the first time! Just to name a few...I could go on a lot longer. God's blessings are so abundant.
Thanksgiving day was just another day here because we didn't make any dinner plans with anyone since our sitter didn't work out. That turned out to be a good thing because Matt ended up working until midnight so luckily we didn't have to cancel anything. Instead, we met up with the Perth Aggie Club (yes...Aggies are all over the world!) and had a wonderful afternoon yesterday with turkey and all the home-cooked fixins. Dressing, sweet potatoes, pecan pie...it really felt like Thanksgiving! It was a great afternoon with fellow Aggies and we thoroughly enjoyed it. I forgot to take any pictures but the kids had an absolute blast. Ben is definitely my child because he ate just a little dinner then had about 4 desserts. Wonder where he could have learned that? Alex was too busy exploring the house, stairs, koi pond, flowerbeds, and dogs to sit down and eat much but was a pretty big fan of the turkey and desserts as well. There were about a dozen other kids there but mostly older, so Matt and I were watching the parents that got to sit down and eat their entire meals uninterrupted while their kids played upstairs. One day we'll enjoy such luxuries!
Thanksgiving day was just another day here because we didn't make any dinner plans with anyone since our sitter didn't work out. That turned out to be a good thing because Matt ended up working until midnight so luckily we didn't have to cancel anything. Instead, we met up with the Perth Aggie Club (yes...Aggies are all over the world!) and had a wonderful afternoon yesterday with turkey and all the home-cooked fixins. Dressing, sweet potatoes, pecan pie...it really felt like Thanksgiving! It was a great afternoon with fellow Aggies and we thoroughly enjoyed it. I forgot to take any pictures but the kids had an absolute blast. Ben is definitely my child because he ate just a little dinner then had about 4 desserts. Wonder where he could have learned that? Alex was too busy exploring the house, stairs, koi pond, flowerbeds, and dogs to sit down and eat much but was a pretty big fan of the turkey and desserts as well. There were about a dozen other kids there but mostly older, so Matt and I were watching the parents that got to sit down and eat their entire meals uninterrupted while their kids played upstairs. One day we'll enjoy such luxuries!
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Margaret River Weekend
We decided to make it a long weekend and head south to Margaret River (about 3 1/2 hours south) so Matt took Friday off and we packed up the car and hit the road. Our first stop was Busselton for lunch and to let the boys run around a bit. Unfortunately we had a pretty good cold snap so the weather wasn't the best but it didn't keep us from enjoying anything.
Alex managed to stay very busy while we waited for our food.
Margaret River is on a cape at the southwest tip of Australia and the landscape is beautiful. The coast is rocky and the bush is colorful and full of blooming flowers and birds.
And one of the main attractions is the fabulous wines produced in the area! We stopped and tasted a few for as long as the boys would stay entertained. This was outside Sandalford winery, by far our favorite find here.
We finally checked into our little cottage and let the boys explore everything.
It was a great 2-bedroom chalet just outside the town.
It had its own playground out back.
And the best part was that the kids could help feed the farm animals at the main house. The owners' daughter introduced us to all of their animals. They had two orphaned kangaroos that had been raised as pets, along with chickens, guinea pigs, a rabbit, cows, and ponies.
This little girl was so cute! She is still young and needs help holding her food.
Alex loved the chickens. What is it with him and chasing birds? You can hear him saying "bock bock" while he's trying to catch them.
After a nice dinner, we tucked the kids into their room and listened to them play for the next hour and a half. Ben kept getting in Alex's crib so no wonder they didn't go to sleep. I finally went in to tell them to go to bed and Ben was leaning against the wall with a paci in his mouth reading a book. I wish I'd taken a picture! Once I finally stopped laughing, we got them to sleep and got to relax and enjoy some of our wine.
Unfortunately, traveling farther south (where the sun comes up even earlier, if that's possible) and leaving the comforts of our own beds meant the boys woke up even earlier than usual so we started the day Saturday at about 4:45am.
This was about 30 seconds after breakfast.
We drove around and explored the area some more. I thought this carnation plant was pretty cool because I'd never actually seen carnations growing anywhere before.
We spotted more black cockatoos.
The first group of wild kangaroos we encountered. I think it's like spotting deer here but I still get pretty excited.
The area is dotted with limestone caves and we stopped in to visit Mammoth cave. I was a little unsure how it would work with the kids so we picked one with a self-guided headphone tour and well-protected walkways.
The cave had some beautiful formations.
And I shouldn't have doubted that the kids would enjoy it. Ben loved running in the semi-darkness and Alex thought all the walkways and stairs were just a huge playground.
He also thought the flash on the camera was hilarious and started counting "one two three" to have his picture taken.
The exit was a different story...it was a LOT of stairs to get out, then a trail down the hill back to the visitors center. Mama and Daddy had some tired legs afterward!
The trees around the caves were enormous.
The vegetation was so beautiful! Everywhere I looked it seemed like some kind of flower was growing wild.
We stopped at the next cave to let the kids explore in the discovery center and they loved this play cavern.
We took one look at the entrance to this cave and turned right around. It looked like hundreds of stairs going straight down.
Instead we wandered down a few more beaches...
...and stopped to do some more tastings, this time cheese, ice cream, chocolate, and olive oil. Alex was kind enough to pick up all the used spoons on the floor and put them in the trash can.
One of the pretty vineyards.
This is a kookaburra, an Australian cousin of the kingfisher. They are said to "laugh" but they sound more like very loud monkeys to me and kindly start their calls at sunrise, which is around 5am. No wonder we're all up so early!
These wineries are so beautiful!
Daddy and Alex stopped to smell the flowers.
We had dinner in town again and Alex did surprisingly well sitting in a big chair. Well, once the food came anyway. Nothing gets his attention like anything edible.
Sunrise on day 2. I thought the dewy spiderweb was particularly pretty.
While Matt went out to surf, the boys and I fed the animals again and played around on the little farm.
The swell came in on Saturday night and there were some huge waves on Sunday morning! This isn't what Matt surfed but was still fun to watch.
After a nice brunch, we meandered our way back toward Perth but stopped outside Dunsborough to check out the whale-watching point. Sure enough, we were lucky enough to watch several humpback whales leaving Geographe Bay and heading back towards their Antarctic feeding grounds. They were still a pretty good ways out but through the binoculars we got a nice look at the giants. Click on the picture for a bigger version and you can see two breaking the water. I really hope to do a whale-watching cruise and see them up close!
Once again, Matt and I got a pretty good workout after hauling the two kids on the 30-minute roundtrip hike. It was totally worth it to see whales for the first time!
These were two great videos of the boys playing basketball. I'm pretty sure Alex will be a natural athlete.
And Ben is finally learning how to throw a ball!
Alex managed to stay very busy while we waited for our food.
Margaret River is on a cape at the southwest tip of Australia and the landscape is beautiful. The coast is rocky and the bush is colorful and full of blooming flowers and birds.
And one of the main attractions is the fabulous wines produced in the area! We stopped and tasted a few for as long as the boys would stay entertained. This was outside Sandalford winery, by far our favorite find here.
We finally checked into our little cottage and let the boys explore everything.
It was a great 2-bedroom chalet just outside the town.
It had its own playground out back.
And the best part was that the kids could help feed the farm animals at the main house. The owners' daughter introduced us to all of their animals. They had two orphaned kangaroos that had been raised as pets, along with chickens, guinea pigs, a rabbit, cows, and ponies.
This little girl was so cute! She is still young and needs help holding her food.
Alex loved the chickens. What is it with him and chasing birds? You can hear him saying "bock bock" while he's trying to catch them.
After a nice dinner, we tucked the kids into their room and listened to them play for the next hour and a half. Ben kept getting in Alex's crib so no wonder they didn't go to sleep. I finally went in to tell them to go to bed and Ben was leaning against the wall with a paci in his mouth reading a book. I wish I'd taken a picture! Once I finally stopped laughing, we got them to sleep and got to relax and enjoy some of our wine.
Unfortunately, traveling farther south (where the sun comes up even earlier, if that's possible) and leaving the comforts of our own beds meant the boys woke up even earlier than usual so we started the day Saturday at about 4:45am.
This was about 30 seconds after breakfast.
We drove around and explored the area some more. I thought this carnation plant was pretty cool because I'd never actually seen carnations growing anywhere before.
We spotted more black cockatoos.
The first group of wild kangaroos we encountered. I think it's like spotting deer here but I still get pretty excited.
The area is dotted with limestone caves and we stopped in to visit Mammoth cave. I was a little unsure how it would work with the kids so we picked one with a self-guided headphone tour and well-protected walkways.
The cave had some beautiful formations.
And I shouldn't have doubted that the kids would enjoy it. Ben loved running in the semi-darkness and Alex thought all the walkways and stairs were just a huge playground.
He also thought the flash on the camera was hilarious and started counting "one two three" to have his picture taken.
The exit was a different story...it was a LOT of stairs to get out, then a trail down the hill back to the visitors center. Mama and Daddy had some tired legs afterward!
The trees around the caves were enormous.
The vegetation was so beautiful! Everywhere I looked it seemed like some kind of flower was growing wild.
We stopped at the next cave to let the kids explore in the discovery center and they loved this play cavern.
We took one look at the entrance to this cave and turned right around. It looked like hundreds of stairs going straight down.
Instead we wandered down a few more beaches...
...and stopped to do some more tastings, this time cheese, ice cream, chocolate, and olive oil. Alex was kind enough to pick up all the used spoons on the floor and put them in the trash can.
One of the pretty vineyards.
This is a kookaburra, an Australian cousin of the kingfisher. They are said to "laugh" but they sound more like very loud monkeys to me and kindly start their calls at sunrise, which is around 5am. No wonder we're all up so early!
These wineries are so beautiful!
Daddy and Alex stopped to smell the flowers.
We had dinner in town again and Alex did surprisingly well sitting in a big chair. Well, once the food came anyway. Nothing gets his attention like anything edible.
Sunrise on day 2. I thought the dewy spiderweb was particularly pretty.
While Matt went out to surf, the boys and I fed the animals again and played around on the little farm.
The swell came in on Saturday night and there were some huge waves on Sunday morning! This isn't what Matt surfed but was still fun to watch.
After a nice brunch, we meandered our way back toward Perth but stopped outside Dunsborough to check out the whale-watching point. Sure enough, we were lucky enough to watch several humpback whales leaving Geographe Bay and heading back towards their Antarctic feeding grounds. They were still a pretty good ways out but through the binoculars we got a nice look at the giants. Click on the picture for a bigger version and you can see two breaking the water. I really hope to do a whale-watching cruise and see them up close!
Once again, Matt and I got a pretty good workout after hauling the two kids on the 30-minute roundtrip hike. It was totally worth it to see whales for the first time!
These were two great videos of the boys playing basketball. I'm pretty sure Alex will be a natural athlete.
And Ben is finally learning how to throw a ball!
We had a wonderful weekend. We all loved Margaret River and can't wait to go back. The best part was that Ben didn't wear a diaper, even in the car, and was accident-free the entire weekend. Now, back to real life!
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