Merry Chrissy

Dressed in our best for church!

Mina refused to smile for the camera once I told her she'd have to change shoes...

Christmas morning- opening presents!

After opening presents it was off to the beach to try out Kaiya's new surfboard. She was so scared to try surfing but by the end of lessons was begging for us to buy her a surfboard. Luckily, Santa was willing to accommodate a last minute request! Unfortunately, I hardly took any photos at the beach...this was all I got- two girls being silly on the surfboard!

Merry Chrissy to all- we hope you have an enjoyable holiday wherever you may be!

Christmas Eve

Every Christmas Eve in Perth we've spent at the beach watching the sunset. I love this tradition of ours. This year the Bexfield family joined us (funny that they are in our ward in Perth but we also used to be in the same ward in Houston)...

Family photo...Merry Christmas Eve!

Sharks

The shark alarm sounded twice during surf lessons. This chopper kept circling around- I couldn't believe how close it was hovering- less than 50 meters off shore! And since there was indeed a shark the girls had to wait over an hour until they could get in the water.

This has nothing to do with sharks but I thought it was a cute photo of Brian with the girls.

Surf's Up!

Kaiya and Emiko took surf lessons this past week. They did awesome- they both got up on their boards on the first day!

Kaiya:

Both girls up together:

Emiko:

In the meantime, these 2 girlies got to play in the sand...

Funny stuff

Mina: Mom, when I grow up I want to be a teacher, a doctor, a hairdresser...and a ROCK STAR!

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Yesterday we decorated gingerbread houses for family night. I find it hysterical that Emiko felt the need to have the gummy snake strangle the gummy pig in the front yard:

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In the car driving home from the hairdresser- Mina had 7-8 inches cut off.
Me: Daddy might get really mad at me for letting Mina get her hair cut.
Emi: Yeah, dad is going to be SO angry he will have to stuff his mouth with candy to feel better.

Other Celebrations...

Celebrated 2nd Thanksgiving (on actual Thanksgiving Day) with fish & chips at the beach with my AWC friends- love them!

Celebrated 3rd Thanksgiving (weekend after) with church friends- I tried a new recipe...salted caramel apple pie- YUM!

Celebrated new milestones...she's now strong enough to uncap the markers...and tall enough to climb the sofa and reach the light switch- scary!

Celebrated the beginning of Christmas season by putting up the tree! Our last house had a much taller ceiling than our current house...so this tree is missing it's bottom section b/c our tree was too tall. Oh well.

Celebrated the end of the school term with the annual school Christmas play. This year it was Wizard of Oz- so cute- Kaiya did awesome. I, however, forgot the camera...and I didn't catch a great photo on my phone.

Celebrated with PWP (Petroleum Women of Perth) playgroup friends at the annual Chrissy playgroup par-tay! I love that everyone is dressed in Chrissy colors except Mei- she's in pink.

Celebrated the discovery of a new "pet." The girls named him Ed (how do you like that, dad)! He lived in our outdoor kitchen sink. Unfortunately, after a couple weeks of enduring "play" time w/the kids...I think Ed left to find a new, more peaceful abode.

Celebrated and danced the night away at the Taylor Swift concert!

Well, one of us was too tuckered out to last the entire concert...

Celebrated getting a new swim hat and swim diaper with a dip in the pool. "Pool" and "goggles" are regular vocabulary words used by Mei...she sure is an Aussie baby! She loves to swim in our pool.

We hope you are all celebrating the season wherever you may be!

Thanksgiving in Dunsborough

This is the 3rd Thanksgiving in a row we've gone down south for the weekend to celebrate with our American friends. We have so much fun each year and we love spending time with our friends. This year we went to Ngigli Cave:

Then again to Canal Rocks- probably one of my favorite places in Western Australia!

Went for a leisurely stroll along Geographe Bay...kids can't resist getting in the water!

This was the 1st time we went to Hamelin Bay- this bay is home to many stingray. We bought bait (fish) and had a great time feeding the stingrays- and man, some of them were huge!

Pretty scenic drive on the way back from Hamelin Bay- had to stop for a pic! Emi wasn't too thrilled...