New Year's Day

The family above us consist of a man who is originally from Scotland, Brian, his Australian wife, Kirsten, and their adorable kids, Ailee who is 4 and Solly who is just 5 weeks. They invited us for a picnic in the mountains on New Year's Day. It was a great time and the views were truly breath taking!

Above is the view from our picnic table. We could see houses and horses in the valley and the famous glass mountains in the distance.

Ailee and I enjoyed drawing pictures and playing a game that originated from France. (I can't remember the name)

All day I was teaching her to "Gig 'em". She finally said it, but told me it was "our secret".

After lunch, we all went on a hike. Every few inches Ailee would stop to find something or tell us that we could not touch certain vines that were in the path...it made for an interesting hike, especially since all the adults kept running into each other each time she stopped! A couple of times Ailee fell down. The poor thing cried and cried, but then her Daddy told her that they would get ice cream after. She cheered right up! Who knew it was such a magical cure all?!

Here are some pictures from the drive home. There is always so much to look at!

Christmas Weekend

I got in at 7:35am on Christmas morning. My dad and his co-worker, Rusty picked me up. They drove me around and I was a bit overwhelmed. As we got closer to the water, my dad pulled up to a rickety shack with wood nailed to the windows and abandoned cars in the front yard. He told me we were home. I didn't believe him, but all of a sudden my dad turned off the car and Rusty began to get out! I took a deep breath and reminded myself I was on a new adventure as my heart kind of went to my throat. I was thinking, "It looked a lot nicer in the pictures". All of a sudden both men started busting out laughing and got back in the car! Talk about a Christmas practical joke! I really like our little home on the strand. The whole living room looks out to the bay and I enjoy watching the tide come in and the different wildlife. I recently got a bicycle and can't wait to start riding along the esplanade. (If I can get over my fear of riding on the wrong side of the road!) *Pictures of the house and neighborhood to come soon! I'll do a post on that later on!

I was running on adrenaline, so I cooked the boys homemade lasagna and Heavenly Sin for dessert. We ate outside about 4:30 pm and then took a walk down the esplanade. People were out bar-b-qing(sp?) and flying kites. I felt like it was the 4th of July! I was fast asleep by about 6:30pm that night!

The next day was a public holiday. I learned this was called "Boxing Day" and is similar to our Black Friday. Rusty, my dad, and I took the train down to the city to walk around. There was an outdoor mall, but it was packed! We also found some beautiful cathedrals. Coincedentally, my favorite one was St. John's (my dad's name) and right next to it was St. Martin's House (My dad's middle name) He got a big head that day and said that Australian's must have known what he had all along...that he was great!

Pictures truly don't do this place justice. I wanted to come back to take bridal pictures one day...if I ever get married! lol

The trees and plant life are beautiful here. There are trees called strangler figs that grow their roots from the top down. They eventually strangle the host tree to kill it. They are so neat looking!

There are so many different and unique sights that I soon realized that I would need to take my camera everywhere!