Letter to Santa

I'm not sure who's more excited about Christmas this year...me or Ben! It is SO much fun talking about Jesus' birth, santa, reindeer, and presents to a 4-year old full of questions. Today we were discussing how santa comes down the chimney and it turned into a 30-minute barrage of questions - why doesn't he take the door? does he carry a ladder? isn't he too big? how will a trampoline fit down the chimney? I LOVE the magic of this age!! And even more fun this year, we don't have to do our shopping with luggage restrictions in mind so I'm having a ball picking out gifts for the kids.

Ben has been putting lots of thought into what he wants from santa so yesterday I helped him write a letter and he took care of the signature and decorations.

So proud of his letter! And I'm so proud of how well he's beginning to write his name. (And his glasses are broken, hopefully to be fixed this afternoon...the crossed eye is so much more obvious without them) I love how he told Santa that Alex needs a few gifts, too, although I'm thinking the drum request may benefit Ben a little.

Signed, sealed, and ready to be delivered! Fake stamp but real airmail sticker at Ben's request. I can't imagine many 4-year olds know that letters going a long way require an airmail sticker. Mail isn't picked up at the letterbox out front so we drove down the street to the post box, gave the letter a big kiss, and sent it on its way.
Now we are all excitedly awaiting santa's big visit next month!

November Already??

We got our first taste of summer weather last week (highs in the 90's and hot wind) so it sure doesn't feel like November. It's hard to believe Thanksgiving is just around the corner. Of course, it's not celebrated here but we'll do our own and then get together with the A&M club for our second Aggie Thanksgiving. Meanwhile, we've been having fun at home.

I caught two little men playing in the dirt outside. Judging by the evidence, I think this one had an early dinner...(and this was the day after the heat ended and it was only 69, so the jackets came back out)

Fun game! I promise I had nothing to do with it...but I will keep it in mind for days when I need a little peace and quiet.

I love how these guys sleep. Ben was curled up on the edge of his bed one night.

Alex has been gathering all the friends and toys he can find lately. I don't know how he finds room to sleep! I have to dig him out each night before I go to bed. And he loves sleeping in his robe.

We have a new chapstick addict in the house, except I haven't exactly been able to teach him that it only belongs on his lips.

On Saturday we wandered through Fremantle for some shopping and lunch and happened on a street performer. He was using a whip to break pasta out of that brave woman's hand and the boys apparently thought the whip was too loud.

That evening we had a barbeque with another great family by the beach and were amazed to see whales breaching in the distance. If you click on the picture to enlarge it, you can see the spray from a whale directly over the man's head near the horizon. It was so much fun watching them! Even better, we got the same show last night from our own porch. Through the binoculars we could clearly see flippers and tails and watched the whales jumping and splashing for over an hour.

The family. Unfortunately the entire group shot including the Smith family is on their camera.

On Sunday we spent the afternoon at King's Park in the heart of Perth. We typically don't make it past the big playground so this time we skipped the play and went straight for the scenery.

Ben kept asking why we had to walk around but Alex got right into the spirit of things and loved running wild.

The WWI memorial on the hill overlooking the Swan River.

The city skyline.

My crazy boys rolling down the green hills.

Some of the bush flowers are really pretty but it's not exactly a lush garden.

A huge boab tree that came from the Kimberley region in northern WA. It took a lot of people, a big truck, and 6 days to make the trip.

The boys' first time to climb a tree. Ben loved it until he realized how far he was off the ground, then he freaked out a little.

My main reason for visiting this side of the park was to see this treetop walk. The bridge was pretty exciting for the boys...nothing like confined spaces to get them running.

The view was nice but overall it was nothing special. We all enjoyed our afternoon at the park, though.

More Halloween

We celebrated Halloween #2 with several other expat families from all over. The kids all took part in a cake walk for prizes.

Later they trick or treated around the adults...it doesn't get much easier than that!

Alex learned the "trick or treat" line very quickly!

Ben, aka Buzz, with some of his loot. We let the kids trade costumes but it turns out this one is made for slightly shorter kids.

Woody was pretty excited about his candy, too.

Alex took it all in one bite, as usual.

On the 31st, we went to the American Women's Club Halloween party, which was a bit disappointing but still fun for the boys to dress up and come home with buckets of candy. It was at Perry Lakes, which is a beautiful park I've driven by every week but never been into. I never get tired of smelling eucalyptus.

Instead of trick or treating, lots of people backed their cars along one row and decorated their trunks instead. It's actually funny to call it Trunk or Treating because they call the back of the car a "boot" here.

You can't get more than a dozen people together in Perth without calling the coffee truck. It was really hot and dry and there were still people lined up for their coffee fix.

All the kids walked around in a costume parade.

Popsicles...yum!! And kudos to the person that thought of a white popsicle.

Ben was safe with his orange one because he's a bit more responsible with the drips.

On to the trunk or treating and LOTS more candy. Matt and I managed to sneak a few of our favorites out of the buckets before the kids hit the loot....they don't know what Reese's peanut butter cups are so they don't know what they're missing! Those are precious commodities around here.

One other picture I had to share...sleepy Alex just getting up from his nap. It's like all he can do is make it up the stairs then he stops for a break.

Halloween #1

We have three different Halloween events this weekend and kicked the festivities off today with a trick-or-treating playgroup. I took a few pictures of Woody and Buzz before we went in to join the madness.

"Hi!"

Checking out their cool accessories...

Ben shooting his priceless fake pistol at me. This is the one that was discovered in our checked baggage in Hong Kong on our trip back from Texas and took a few years off my life when the police escorted me into a van to locate and identify my weapon. But they let me keep it!

Posing with Wilder, Becca, and Austin. Alex's wings had to go a while later because he was knocking everyone in the head, although no one else seemed to mind.

Cupcakes, anyone?

Since I plan for the kids to wear the same costumes all weekend, we're going to have to avoid chocolate icing! Buzz definitely needed a good wash at home.

Ben also saw the ophthalmologist this morning and he was very pleased to see that the vision in Ben's lazy eye has improved with the use of his patch. It hasn't increased tremendously, but at our last visit several months ago, Ben couldn't even identify the first big picture using only his left eye. This time he made it through several successively smaller pictures before he started complaining that he couldn't see them. Great, great news. The downside is that the muscles don't seem to have tightened at all so we're probably looking at surgery next year to fix the turn of his eye, but we'll cross that bridge when we get there. And hopefully in Houston.

Last Days in Fiji

We decided to take Kevu up on the "waterfall adventure" and had no idea what an adventure it would be. The owner, Donna, drove us out to the main road with Suzann and Mark where we waited for the local bus in an interesting shelter.

The buses were really clean and nice and people all said hello to us.

It was a pretty ride taking us about half an hour down the coast.

One little guy was asleep about 30 seconds into the journey. It looks like I'm choking him but I was just keeping that big head from rolling around while the bus made turns.

We got off the bus at the airport, which was weird because there were no runways or planes. I should have asked how it got the name.

We hopped into another van and drove up a narrow, winding road to another village.

Inside the community hall we looked at some of the local handicrafts for sale, then hit the trail for the 30-minute hike to the waterfall.

Again, we got to take turns with the excess baggage. Ben was actually running a fever that day so I didn't make him walk much at all and he still managed to have a good time despite not feeling well.

At the very end we crossed a little bridge that probably took a year off my life. Not the sturdiest thing I've ever put all my weight on.

It was definitely worth the walk to enjoy the sight.

We were feeling pretty hot after the walk so the cold water was very inviting.

Bula!

The toilet facilities which thankfully we didn't need to use.


We reversed our path and rode a van back out to the main road and got popsicles at the airport while waiting for the bus. Any idea what color Alex chose?

Both boys conked out on the bus ride again.

When we got off the bus at our stop, Kevu's cell phone wasn't working so we had to walk back to the village to call Donna for a ride. Turns out Donna and Brian went out for Brian's birthday, got drunk at lunch, and bought a boat so they were still gone. Instead, they sent a resort boat over to the village to pick us up.

While we were sitting in the village, a man happened to walk by with a lobster he'd just caught and he was planning to sell it on the roadside. We'd seen several fishermen doing the same thing that day during our bus ride so we had no qualms buying it directly off him. For just $15 USD we bought this monster and took it directly to the chef at the resort when we got back.

Yum!!! The chef cooked it up with some creamy cheese sauce and it was divine. We shared it with Suzann and Chris and still couldn't manage to finish it off.

Happy faces with full tummies!

Finally, our trip to paradise had to come to an end and we reluctantly boarded the plane out. It was 5 1/2 hours to Melbourne and another 3 1/2 to Perth.

We successfully managed a trip without a stroller because Mr. Independent wanted to pull his suitcase everywhere and just the threat of having it taken away made him completely obedient.

We saw some gorgeous scenery on our way out.


A very unhappy little face after naptime!

The pilots invited the kids up in the cockpit in Perth and Ben was so overwhelmed that he didn't ask a single question. From the kid that can fire 100 questions an hour without even breaking a sweat.

Fiji was really an amazing adventure start to finish and a wonderful once-in-a-lifetime trip. (Of course, if we can ever manage it we'd love to go back one day!) Matt and I are so grateful that our overseas assignment has allowed us to visit places we'd only dreamed of before. It was a wonderful trip for all of us and a great time for us to get away together with no TV, no internet, and no shoes required. A great family vacation for us all.