You read it right! We are heading to Australia for Christmas this year! How pumped am I?
VERY!
It will be cold here at home...but hot hot hot in Australia. Because it's summer over there. And Australia in the summer is HOT.
I will get to see green again...and birds...and sun...and flowers...and go to the beach...and swim...
So yeah. I'm just a little bit stoked.
And I'm happy for Dan because this is his first Christmas with his family since leaving Australia 10 1/2 years ago. My maternity leave has actually made this possible. Usually I only have 1-2 weeks off at Christmas, which if you are going to pay for ridiculously expensive airfare, does not really make it worth it for a week or two. Especially given the length of the flights. So we will be doing a month. A month of-hopefully-sun. Although it is their rainy season. But we'll just gloss right over that. Oh...and we'll also have to gloss over the fact that all the really big, size of your head spiders come out in the summer. And I am absolutely stupidly terrified of spiders. Yeah. So there's that. The family better be spraying is all I have to say.
We leave the second week of December so we will be doing a pseudo Christmas with my family the week before. This means I really need to crank up the shopping. It also means Alex is super happy because she gets two Christmases. Lol...three year olds.
It WILL be very strange to celebrate Christmas in a warm, tropical environment though, when for 33 years, my Christmases have been snowy or at least in the 30's. But whatever...I'll go with it! Not really too much of a hardship.
AND...we are also taking an awesome vacation in Mooloolaba on the Sunshine Coast. Look it up...it looks freaking sweet! Swim-up bar here I come!
We have Hayden's passport, which is adorable. This will obviously be her first trip. This is Alex's fourth trip and Dan and I have been back countless times. I'm actually, actually thinking that this might be our *easiest* trip in regard to actually getting there, even with two kids. I know...I'm nuts. I hope I'm not setting myself up for disappointment. But I think it could be good. Knock on wood. I'll tell ya why in another post.
Anyway...I just wanna say...woohoo!
Friday, November 22, 2013
Tuesday, November 19, 2013
Fun is....
Fun is different these days.
Yes, Dan and I went to the Macklemore concert last week-which was ah-mae-zing. Yes....we went without kids (duh) for some adult fun. And it was great. Awesome. And very needed. Because adult fun is still needed. Alone time with your spouse is still needed.
But there are few things that compare to seeing your kid's face light up because her mind has completely been blown by seeing the "real life" Jake and the real life Sofia and the real life Cinderella and Doc.
Oh. My. God. You should have seen my child. I thought she was going to lose it. I thought she might just combust into a cloud of confetti. Seriously. She was THAT excited. And that's a hard thing to beat-seeing your child so overwhelmed. I mean, the kid was on the edge of her seat with a look of concentration on her face for a good 90 minutes. She was yelling "Go Izzy" and "Go away Captain Hook" as loud as her little lungs would let her. It was just priceless, seeing her that way.
Oh yes...and we went the full nine yards. We dressed up as Sofia for the show, we went with my good friend and her two little girls...who also dressed up like Sofia. We bought three cotton candies (for 36 bucks!!! What what???), a stuffed Izzy toy, a snow cone in a Jake cup and a Sofia light-up twirly thing. We spent a small fortune. But damn it...it was worth it just for the experience alone.
However, note to others who are going to go the any Disney Live! production...bring your own snacks and drinks unless you want to leave having consumed 12 dollar cotton candy, along with a 12 dollar snow cone. Forget popcorn...that will run you at least 15. Those Disney bastards...
But anyway...it was awesome!
Yes, Dan and I went to the Macklemore concert last week-which was ah-mae-zing. Yes....we went without kids (duh) for some adult fun. And it was great. Awesome. And very needed. Because adult fun is still needed. Alone time with your spouse is still needed.
But there are few things that compare to seeing your kid's face light up because her mind has completely been blown by seeing the "real life" Jake and the real life Sofia and the real life Cinderella and Doc.
Oh. My. God. You should have seen my child. I thought she was going to lose it. I thought she might just combust into a cloud of confetti. Seriously. She was THAT excited. And that's a hard thing to beat-seeing your child so overwhelmed. I mean, the kid was on the edge of her seat with a look of concentration on her face for a good 90 minutes. She was yelling "Go Izzy" and "Go away Captain Hook" as loud as her little lungs would let her. It was just priceless, seeing her that way.
Oh yes...and we went the full nine yards. We dressed up as Sofia for the show, we went with my good friend and her two little girls...who also dressed up like Sofia. We bought three cotton candies (for 36 bucks!!! What what???), a stuffed Izzy toy, a snow cone in a Jake cup and a Sofia light-up twirly thing. We spent a small fortune. But damn it...it was worth it just for the experience alone.
However, note to others who are going to go the any Disney Live! production...bring your own snacks and drinks unless you want to leave having consumed 12 dollar cotton candy, along with a 12 dollar snow cone. Forget popcorn...that will run you at least 15. Those Disney bastards...
But anyway...it was awesome!
Random one of Hayden
Ready to see Sofia!
It's impossible to get a good picture of two three year olds and one six year old...
Hyped up on junk food!
Friday, November 15, 2013
Concerts...10 years later.
The last concert that Dan and I went to was either a Dave Matthews' Band concert or the Fall's Festival (big music fest in Australia). I don't really remember which was last. But they were roughly nine or ten years ago. Man, concerts were different back then. Done differently. By us.
Both concerts involved copious amounts of alcohol. With DMB, we met with a whole group of friends and tailgated for, I don't know, seven or eight hours? We drank and ate and hung out in the parking lot...nothing to do, nowhere to be. With the Falls' Fest, we slept in a van and camped and tailgated for pretty much a whole weekend. Concerts back then, they were not A single event, they were a whole day-or a whole weekend.
Fast forward ten years later. Ha. Different story. Not bad. Just completely different. There was no pre-gaming or tailgating. There was no alcohol involved at all for this concert. Which, ten years ago...would be like what the h%ll??? Oh, and we had actual seats for this concert. No standing in the pit. No getting crashed into when "Crash" or "Crush" came on. No...we had actual seats. And we actually SAT in them, at least for the pre-show performances. And 90 minutes before the performance...what were we doing? Not partying...we were eating Asian noodles and tofu, trying to shovel some food into the three year old's mouth, feeding the bub a MumMum, wiping down kitchen counters and stepping on princess Barbie shoes. So yeah. Concerts now do NOT equal whole day events. More like-lets try to fit this in wherever we can!
Anyway, we went to see Macklemore the other night. It was a fan-freaking-tastic concert. Seriously. He was amazing in person. And he was very engaged with the audience, which was awesome. It really was a stellar performance. I'm so glad that we went, that we got tickets...even if everyone around us was about ten years younger and probably in college. Seriously, I've never seen so many skinny jeans, Uggs, and midriff tops in my life. Are midriffs even in now? Because they shouldn't be. I don't care how awesome your body is. Just....no.
And since when are leggings passable as pants? I mean...wear them under a dress..ok. Wear them under a long tunic...ok. But dammit, people. They are NOT pants, nor should they be thought of as pant substitutes.
So Dan and I enjoyed our concert, completely sober, drinking coke (needed the caffeine, because two kids tend to suck you dry) and eating Skittles. We bemoaned the uncomfortable seats and rubbed our backs. We checked our phones frequently to make sure the kids were ok at home. We laughed at the stupid drunk woman a few seats down from us who's dancing was akin to a seizure. And we had a great time. Different this time around. Just different. But not less fun. And the best part: I can actually remember the concert this time. Do I sometimes wish to go back to my early twenties? Actually. No. I like thinking about those times. I like wishing for a day or two here or there, a day where I can be totally self-focused and self-involved. But to go back? Heck no. No desire. Things are good. Different...but good...great. And I don't have a nasty hangover to contend with either.
Both concerts involved copious amounts of alcohol. With DMB, we met with a whole group of friends and tailgated for, I don't know, seven or eight hours? We drank and ate and hung out in the parking lot...nothing to do, nowhere to be. With the Falls' Fest, we slept in a van and camped and tailgated for pretty much a whole weekend. Concerts back then, they were not A single event, they were a whole day-or a whole weekend.
Fast forward ten years later. Ha. Different story. Not bad. Just completely different. There was no pre-gaming or tailgating. There was no alcohol involved at all for this concert. Which, ten years ago...would be like what the h%ll??? Oh, and we had actual seats for this concert. No standing in the pit. No getting crashed into when "Crash" or "Crush" came on. No...we had actual seats. And we actually SAT in them, at least for the pre-show performances. And 90 minutes before the performance...what were we doing? Not partying...we were eating Asian noodles and tofu, trying to shovel some food into the three year old's mouth, feeding the bub a MumMum, wiping down kitchen counters and stepping on princess Barbie shoes. So yeah. Concerts now do NOT equal whole day events. More like-lets try to fit this in wherever we can!
Anyway, we went to see Macklemore the other night. It was a fan-freaking-tastic concert. Seriously. He was amazing in person. And he was very engaged with the audience, which was awesome. It really was a stellar performance. I'm so glad that we went, that we got tickets...even if everyone around us was about ten years younger and probably in college. Seriously, I've never seen so many skinny jeans, Uggs, and midriff tops in my life. Are midriffs even in now? Because they shouldn't be. I don't care how awesome your body is. Just....no.
And since when are leggings passable as pants? I mean...wear them under a dress..ok. Wear them under a long tunic...ok. But dammit, people. They are NOT pants, nor should they be thought of as pant substitutes.
So Dan and I enjoyed our concert, completely sober, drinking coke (needed the caffeine, because two kids tend to suck you dry) and eating Skittles. We bemoaned the uncomfortable seats and rubbed our backs. We checked our phones frequently to make sure the kids were ok at home. We laughed at the stupid drunk woman a few seats down from us who's dancing was akin to a seizure. And we had a great time. Different this time around. Just different. But not less fun. And the best part: I can actually remember the concert this time. Do I sometimes wish to go back to my early twenties? Actually. No. I like thinking about those times. I like wishing for a day or two here or there, a day where I can be totally self-focused and self-involved. But to go back? Heck no. No desire. Things are good. Different...but good...great. And I don't have a nasty hangover to contend with either.
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