The Wiggles

The Wiggles are just about the coolest guys here to any kid under 5. My boys love them, although Ben thinks he can't enjoy them anymore now that Alex is such a big fan, and we hear their music all over the place and watch the show almost daily. We missed their US stop in Houston by a week so I was excited to take the boys when they finally announced some Perth dates. Despite being in Australia, Perth only gets one stop a year! And since we're doing some local Christmas shopping on behalf of family back home, these made great gifts from Grandma and Grandpa Kirkham.

Inside Burswood Dome (one of those pressurized deals, only they pressurized it with warm air on this 97F degree day) and getting excited.

A quick stop for ice cream and a play at some display.

Then on to our seats and big smiles when the show started.

yay!!

Even for an adult it was a pretty entertaining show with lots of acrobatics and quippy jokes. The 4 wiggles showed up in their trademark big red car. toot toot chugga chugga!

We were seated in the grandstands instead of the floor and actually ended up in the ideal section because Murray came up the aisle on one side....

...and Anthony came up the other side carrying Dorothy the dinosaur. The kids thought that was really cool.

So much fun! Thanks for the tickets, Grandma and Grandpa! The boys LOVED it.

Thanksgiving and Santa

We spent Thanksgiving with some other lovely American families at Cottesloe beach over fish and chips and a beautiful sunset. It was a work day here for everyone and we didn't want to deal with the hassle of the big traditional meal, so this turned out perfect for some time with friends and plenty of space for little boys to run wild.

8 families and 13 kids made for a wonderful evening! It's always a little bittersweet to celebrate a major holiday without our families but our "family" of expat friends here makes it special.

On Friday we headed to Myer in the city to visit Santa for the first time. This is an event I've carefully avoided in Houston because of crowds, lines, and germs, and it couldn't be more different here! We arrived in Santaland and asked to see the big man. Immediately, we were escorted back to a private room with the big guy and the kids got to talk to him for a while before we took a picture. No line, no rush! Ben got really shy but still managed to tell Santa that he wants a trampoline. Alex babbled a little but had NOTHING to do with Santa's lap. He screamed and arched his back so no part of him touched Santa, so I ended up in the picture, too. Notice Alex's hands are on mine to make sure I haven't let go.

Afterward, we played in the rest of Santaland where all the rides were FREE. Things are so different from America here. The boys fought over this little train for a while.

Checked out the lights on the big Christmas tree.

B

A

And the main attraction - a little train the went around the room and through a tunnel. Little boy heaven! Don't let the faces fool you...these boys were obsessed and rode it over and over and over.

Hands up through the tunnel! (and boo bad camera!)
Now I'm so excited to decorate the house for the first time in 4 years. We plan to hit the Christmas tree farm next weekend for a little Griswold, oops, I mean Kirkham Family Christmas fun!

Thankful

Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; his love endures forever.
-Psalm 107:1

We are thankful for all the blessings the Lord has poured down on us, most of all our family, friends, and good health. Here are a few others from our week, in no particular order:

watching whales at the end of our street

watching Alex "watch" whales through backward binoculars

playing with the boys in a playground surrounded by gum trees so it all smelled of eucalyptus

watching Daddy take Ben surfing on the long board on a beautiful, calm day

spotting an eagle ray cruising in shallow water (and that no one stepped on it!)

a bucket and shovel and sand and water

laundry baskets

sticks and sunny days

finding bobtail skinks in the bushes

the beautiful kangaroo paws in full bloom outside Ben's school

water fountains at the park

a gorgeous flame tree that keeps enticing me to drive out of my way just for another glimpse

playing train at music class at church

We're thankful for so many things, big and small, today! Happy Thanskgiving!

What's On My Phone?

I finally downloaded some pictures off my phone from the past year and thought I'd share my favorites.

Sleepy Alex! This one must be really old because he doesn't have much hair. Other than that, his face looks exactly the same.

Chocolate mousse at Ikea

Always a favorite! Takes half an hour to get them to eat their dinner and the mousse disappears in 30 seconds.

A massive spider that was living in our yard. It had a pretty amazing web so out of respect (and the fact that I couldn't reach it and wasn't about to risk it jumping on me) I let it live, then it disappeared. It had better still be living OUTside our house.

Two kookaburras in the tree.

A nice rainbow over our house one rainy morning. I didn't notice it until we drove away and looked back.

Two sweet little boys enjoying the beach.

We happened on a big group of black swans and ducks by the river one day and had to stop.

Turns out the swans are much bigger up close and actually taller than Alex when they're fully upright....he was NOT a fan. The boys are on a little grassy ledge so once the swan jumped up and towered over Alex the fun was finished.

Enjoying a beautiful day at the playground.

Tons of sailboats at Port Beach.

I do carry my camera around with me almost all the time but it's handy to have a passable camera on my phone every now and then.

School Carnival

Cottesloe Primary School, where Ben will be attending next year, had a fete yesterday. I understand that word (pronounced "fate" to me) to mean something like a carnival but I guess it sounds better to use a french word. We walked over to play there for the afternoon and enjoyed seeing some friends, meeting some kids that may be in Ben's class next year, and letting the kids play. It's a fairly large school built in the 1800's and the sports fields were covered with people and activities.

The kids had to go to the petting zoo, of course. Matt and I considered running off with this turkey for Thanksgiving since they're hard to come by here and crazy expensive.

Passed on the duck poo lotto, but I think we could have won.

The boys had fun playing with the toys at the circus school display.

Alex was crazy about the spinning plates.

Ben got his hair painted red to match his shirt and immediately regretted it. It took a lot of convincing to not run home and wash his hair right then. Luckily, we were in line for the big trampoline so he quickly forgot once his turn came.

Alex LOVES trampolines and can jump forever. He was in heaven!

I love watching those little legs!

Ben is a pretty big fan himself.

He was trying to jump right in front of us so it took a little convincing to get him in the middle of the trampoline. Such fun!

Cute Pictures

I haven't taken many pictures lately, maybe because it seems like we're doing the same old things every day, but here are my recent favorites. After a trip to the park with a very exciting water fountain, both boys needed dry clothes and got whatever was in the back of the car. Lucky for me, they can both pretty much wear the same size so Ben's old school uniforms are really handy spares. Look at how cute these guys are in their matching outfits, yet ask yourself how people could possibly still ask me if they're twins. Happens more than you'd think.

A little brotherly love! Alex has been very physically affectionate towards Ben this week, sometimes with hugs, sometimes just by sitting on Ben's chest. (and don't get me started on the picture quality...we have 3 decent cameras here and none of them work reliably)

We borrowed a ball popper machine from a friend and all Alex wants to do is stick things, including his hands, inside. Usually I found about 15 cars jammed in there but thank goodness things come right back out.

This kid is obsessed with stickers and stamps. One usually leads to a dozen all over him. The kids both get stamps at the end of gymnastics class and Alex holds up the line while he requests them on his head, tummy, knees, nose, and forehead.

I love these boys. Never a dull moment around here!