Day 19 - Family time...P.M.

So a brand new day and another chance to see some family. This time we drove to Balgowlah and visited Storm's Uncle Julius, Aunt Sandra and cousin Sarah. This was the first time that I had met them all (despite the fact that we lived quite close when we lived in Sydney). Really lovely people and it was a shame that we only had a small amount of time to spend with them.

Remember Kendall's reaction to most males on this trip? Well her reaction to Uncle Julius was the same. She freaked and this time I got the pic. It may be the side/back of her head but you can tell by Julius' reaction that she did.

After leaving there we were supposed to go and help my Grandmother but she ended up not needing it so we visited with Storm's other Aunty and Uncle and cousins at his cousin's house nearby.

Storm and Uncle Ross.

Sydney with Aunty Lyn.

Sydney with Michelle and Lisa.

It was great to catch up with everyone. We got back around 9.30pm and crashed big-time!

Day 19 - Locally minded... A.M.

So we finally made it into Sydney - the last leg of our trip. We were staying at my Dad's house in Beecroft so luckily as it's it the north point of Sydney it was easy to get to and not a lot of traffic to get through which worked well for us all as we were stuffed.

I wanted to get the girls out of the house so we went to a local park with my dad. Gee, it was nice to be somewhere green and lush again. So different to Las Vegas. I miss trees and grass and the greenery. Sigh...

Storm with Sydney and Dad pushing Kendall. Both girls just love the swings (which is why we bought them one for their birthday!)

On the slippery dip with Kendall. She just couldn't get it into her head that she should slide and enjoy it. She kept putting her feet down and as a result, stopping! I had to lift her feet up so that she could slide down.

 Dad with Syd and me with Kendall.

This was at the end of the park - a cute little bridge that shortcuts through the houses to the train station. It covers a tiny, teeny stream of water (and that's a stretch!). 

This was right next to the bridge. Remember there were houses all around and someone had decided that putting a red telephone box in amongst the foliage that they call their front yard was a great design idea. It really was cute though. Quite whimiscal!

Ok, so I just wanted to throw this pic of the street we walked along into the mix. I miss trees and even tree lined streets ok? Gotta love Eucalypts. No Koalas though....

A friendly Cockatoo in the backyard. I wasn't going to close to it just in case it bit!

Sydney started doing this dinky little smile around the time we were in Sydney. It's such a cute smile and it continues today.

Day 18 - On the road again

Ok, so it was on the road again at 9am. But of course we needed some brekky so Simon and Katie came in from the farmhouse where they were staying and Mum and Lauren all joined us at Mickey D's before we hit the road.
One last family pic...

So off in the car we went to Kincumber to visit Storm's grandparents and his Aunty and Uncle. Blake and Dylan (Dana's sons) came up from Sydney with their girlfriends (who for the life of me I cannot remember their names - forgive me but by this stage I was pretty much shagged!)
Pa with Sydney.

Nanny with Kendall.

Dana making the potato salad for Storm. All he wanted was the food that Nanny used to make when they owned the butcher shop in Sydney. It was all meat and potato salads according to him. Dana was kind enough to make a feast for him and pass on a few recipes.

The family sitting down for the meal on the patio. Dana and Ian have a beautiful property that borders on crown land (I think) and it was just wonderful to sit down and enjoy the solitude that the Aussie bush can bring - that and the kookaburras.

So, it seemed that throughout the visit that Blake did not want to touch the babies but I got him! He was most uncomfortable feeding Kendall but of course that didn't interrupt her from eating

So after a brief visit we continued on to my dad's in Sydney to unpack the car - yet again!

Day 17 - The recovery

The next day.

I was one of the lucky ones. I didn't have a hangover I was just exhausted as it had been go, go, go for us since we arrived and the morning was not different with packing up again and on the move. This time it was to hang out at the pub all day waiting until we could check into our hotel that we were staying in that night. Unfortunately, I had originally told Mum that we weren't going to stay the Saturday night so she let the house go and by the time that we changed our mind it was too late - somebody had already booked the Saturday night. So we were all staying in a cheap arse (well not that cheap as it was the Hunter Valley) hotel. And of course we couldn't check in until 3pm (or so we thought - we later found out that we could have checked in around 12pm!)

So, as part of the recovery Simon and Katie put on a brekky with bacon and egg rolls and fresh fruit for whoever wanted to turn up. it was great to see them both a lot more relaxed and be able tos pend some time with them. Kendall actually let Simon hold her! I know - this is the girl that screamed every time he looked at her. Maybe she's changing? We'll know when we all meet up in Hawaii later this year.

Aunty Lauren and Sydney.

So I was very lucky to have friends that would drive an hour to come and visit with us. Obviously, it was just so hard for us to go and see everyone so I say thank you Liz and Damien. Liz was my best friend in high school and the only one that I still keep in touch with from them. I don't manage to keep in touch with anyone apart from her but she manages to keep tabs on everyone. Gee, we all need friends like her. Damien is her boyfriend and actually went to school with my brother (yes, it's a cougar alert!). So he was able to have a quick chat with some guys from school during the lunch that we had at the pub.

So after a long day (where the girls did not sleep) we were finally able to check into the hotel and have a lie down (yes, we're so old!) and a shower. We caught up with Mum and Lauren for dinner at a local pub and went back to our room for a little time before bed. Mum and Lauren wanted some last minute time with the girls.

Day 16 - The wedding day

Ok, I know it's been a while but I'm here now to continue with the tale of the trip!

So it finally came to the day of the wedding and we all know how fast those go. For some reason I didn't get to take many pics (I did get to make a reading in the ceremony though - it was lovely and I hope I did it justice!) as Kendall and Sydney were both not feeling the vibe around all the people so you'll have to bear with the range of photos that were taken though. It's amazing how busy you can be at a wedding with kids in tow (sigh...)

Ok, so it was great to see all my Uncles and Aunties and cousins. I haven't had a chance to catch up with them since we left Oz and my cousins have grown up! My cousin Ben has shot up like, 15 inches! Man he's tall!

Here is my Uncle Steve, Aunty Isla, Jemma (studying criminology at Uni) and Jamie.

This is my Uncle David, Aunty Ruth, Jessica (now in Milan nannying for an Italian family- Jess, I've been meaning to write but you can see I'm a little behind!) and Ben (who is working on a cattle farm up in Nth Queensland. Now he had an an accident with a cow - I want you to know that I am holding my tongue on making a funny here and he actually knows what I think happened - which is a far cry from the truth of course!)

This is my cousin Robert and Aunty Diane holding Sydney. Robert and his wife Bec, had a baby girl (Hope) a couple of days after the girls were born.

Here is a pic of me that Storm took. I was really happy with the colour of the dress. In a wedding party where everyone wore either black or white I really stood out like proverbial dogs balls!

So I didn't manage to grab many pics of the bridal part during the afternoon but here is one of Katie and a barely visible Simon in a car that Katie's mum and dad actually used on their wedding day many years ago! How cool is that? Katie's sister Kristin is getting married in December so I'm sure it will be used there too. And get this - Kristin's fiance's name is Simon too! Congrats to you both!


So here is some pics from the reception.
Storm and Sydney.

Kendall and I.

Mum, Aunty Isla, Jemma, Jessica, Aunty Ruth and a very happy me!

Ben, Uncle David and Jamie (looking a little bored - he's too young to drink even in Australia!)

Uncle David and Kendall. He was one of the only men that Kendall actually allowed to go near her without crying hysterically! It made for such a difficult afternoon when everyone just wanted to say hi to the girls. Kendall just wasn't feeling very sociable (at all!)

Party on the dancefloor!

A happy snap of me with the groom. It was brought up in one of the speeches that I have irrevocably damaged my brother. Yes, it seems that he cannot stand watermelon due to me painting wartkill around his mouth as a kid (he was such a pain and I could, ok?) and for some reason he still remembers the day that I ironed his hand! I want it on record that I warned him to move his hand before ironing it. He ignored me - so since I am a girl of my word, I had to do it. Didn't I? At least it didn;t hurt as much as the time I broke his foot! Arrggghhh - little brothers!

A reverse rose between two thorns (go with it ok? Imagine how you would feel being surrounded by 2 tall ,leggy blondes!) here I am surrounded by Christina (my sister's cousin) and my sister, Lauren. Sigh...

One of the chandeliers that were on either side of the huge fireplace behind the wedding party table. It was so beautiful. The location was just stunning. I wish I had more pics to show it to you.

Both Uncles with both grandnieces. Thank god for my family as Storm and I were finally able to have a dance and have a drink with eachother. It was exhausting but so nice to have a chance to enjoy the night.

The bride and me! She looked stunning and so happy. Welcome to our family!

Day 15 - The Hunter Valley

So we arrived at the house that Mum had organized for us to stay in and it was just stunning. I don't know why I didn't take any pics of the inside as it was lovely and light and open. Our bathroom was great with a lovely atrium style window. We were all so busy thought we really didn't get time to enjoy the way that it deserved to be enjoyed.

Here's some pics of the peaceful view that we had.

Those are grapevines on the hill.



Storm and the girls.

Now I cringe when I see the following shots and wish that I could take them back in a heartbeat and get better pics. It was dark in the pub and I don't know why I just didn't change my camera settings to resolve the issues that I was having but I didn't and now I have all these blurry photos. I hate them but I'm putting them in so that you can see my family catching up after many years not seeing us all in one place. Surprise! It's a pub!
My cousin Gemma, Sydney, Lauren, cousin Jessica, Kendall and my Aunty Ruth.

My cousin Ben, Uncle Dave, Simon (my brother who was getting married), my cousin Jamie and Uncle Steve.

Simon with Sue (the mother of the bride) and our mum.

Lauren and Kendall. Again, can she smile any harder? I don't know why but she started to do this a lot when we were there. That smile is so contagious!

Now you cannot tell from the pictures that Kendall did not like her Uncle Simon. Every time he even looked her way she would burst into tears and cry hysterically for 5 minutes until he went away. (I think that Simon kept looking at her as a way of getting back at me for all of the physical harm that I gave him when he was younger as it was me who could calm Kendall back down!)
But Sydney had no problem with her Uncle Simon.