November 2014
November started off the best way possible, which was to have one of my longest and dearest friends come to visit us in Santa Barbara. We had such a wonderful time together (as always) and the time went way too fast!!! We started off our visit with a trip to Santa Monica and then stopped in Malibu at beautiful Geoffreys for lunch. Throughout the week, we explored Santa Barbara but we didn't get through enough of my list of things to see and do. Guess that means you need to come back Lisa :)
watching dolphins swim by from Butterfly Beach
We did a wine tour (Firestone Vineyard, Lincourt, Fess Parker and Imagine) in Santa Ynez and visited Los Olivos.
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| Los Olivos |
We walked Stearns Wharf (a pier in the harbor in Santa Barbara) and to the Marina
We had dinner at San Ysidro Ranch
We were treated to lunch by our friend, Michel at The Biltmore
We went hiking up Hot Springs Trail
Hendry's Beach (Patrick's favorite place for breakfast and the best dog beach)
There is an annual Thanksgiving lunch at the girls' school. My favorite volunteer opportunity at the school.
A photo of Jaeda and I from the day before the Crane Family Picnic
A few photos from the Crane Family Picnic
Our trip in November was to Phoenix, Arizona and Albuquerque, New Mexico to see some of my aunts, uncles, great aunt, great uncle, cousins and my Mom.
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| dinner in Phoenix with my cousin Stacy, my Uncle Dan and my Aunt Cathy |
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| at the hotel we stayed at.....the only ones in the pool (crazy Canadians) |
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| brunch with my Aunt Gwen, Uncle Rudy, cousin Chris, his wife Jamie and their son Blake |
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| the girls with gorgeous Cooper |
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| dinner in Albuquerque with my Aunt Kathryn, cousin Lesley, her husband Mike and their 2 sons, Cooper and Colten |
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| with Nana at the hotel after giving her her birthday gift |
Below are a few photos from Old Town
Our final family get together with with my Great Uncle John, my Great Aunt Jackie, Aunt Jackie's son, Eric and his children, as well as Aunt Kathryn, Lesley, Mike, Cooper and Colten
After getting back from our trip, Sienna and I went to El Capitan Canyon to celebrate one of her friend's birthdays. There ended up being a handful of families there from Sienna's previous class and we all stayed in cabins.
About 5 minutes from our place
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| Ellen DeGeneres driving her Porsche in front of us |
Our last exciting event for November was going to LA to see the Lakers play the Raptors at the Staples Center. Before going there we went to the California ScienCenter and to check out a few of the girls' favorite cupcake shops that they know about from tv.
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| Georgetown Cupcakes |
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| Sprinkles Cupcakes |
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| message that Patrick posted for the girls |
In early December, the girls had their Adderley performance of the Teen Beach Movie. After being introduced to acting in England, these girls still love to act, sing and dance.
Picking out our Christmas tree and missing Benjamin Tree Farm in Ontario :(
At home decorating and setting up the tree
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| look at those long legs!! |
My birthday
SmART (Museum of Art) family holiday celebration
Lower School Winter Sing (Jaeda's last winter sing. She will be in Upper School next year)
Holiday class parties on the last day of school before the holiday break.
Celebrating Christmas before leaving for Australia
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| girls skyping with Nana so she can watch them open the gifts she gave them |
Jaeda's basketball team did a Secret Santa gift exchange
Our lovely friends, the Hulfords (Rick and Patrick used to work together at RIM, they did the London to Paris bike ride together, we lived in the UK at the same time and they now both work at Sonos together) came to stay at our place for the 2 weeks that we went to Australia. They took care of Hershey the whole time we were away. He became so attached to them that he was depressed for a week after they left. He was well loved (and that we can never thank your family enough for).
Here are some photos of when we had a little bit of time together before we left.
The trip back to Australia had been a long time coming. We left living there in 2004 and had planned to go back in 2009 or 2010, but it took us to 2014 to finally get back. Fortunately from California it is a direct flight and only 14 1/2 hours, as opposed to flying from Toronto, which back then we calculated took us about 32 hours door to door.
Our first stop was Sydney
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| Harbour Bridge |
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| Opera House |
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| The Rocks |
We spent the afternoon at Bondi Beach
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| Darling Harbour |
Our next destination was Cairns, Queensland. We arrived very really at the hotel, so we decided to do a spontaneous trip (so unlike us) to Kuranda. We took a bus from the hotel to the area where the Skyrail Rainforest Cableway started. It took about an hour and half with a few stops to travel 7 1/2 km over the rainforest. We then got off for awhile in Kuranda to explore the village and have lunch.
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| getting on the cable car |
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| not for those afraid of heights |
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| rainforest walk |
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| that is the train in the far distance that we take back to Cairns |
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| we were not adventurous enough to try some of these menu items :) |
After a few hours in Kuranda, we got on the train.
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| the Barron Falls |
Back in Cairns
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| view from our room |
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| when the kids were swimming in the pool, we had thousands of bats fly over us |
The next morning we did a snorkeling trip on the Great Barrier Reef on Seastar.
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| walking to the boat |
Many of the below photos are ones that the staff at Seastar took while they were snorkeling with us
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| Sienna |
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| exhausted after all of that snorkeling |
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| glass bottom boat |
Back in Cairns
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| fun at the park |
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| love the Christmas tree amongst the palm trees |
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| Christmas time in Aus |
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| HUGE couch |
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| we have an annual Christmas Eve tradition (passed down from my parents) for the kids to open one gift on Christmas Eve, which is always new pjs. This year we did it the night before Christmas Eve, since we were flying to Melbourne on Christmas Eve afternoon and we just weren't sure how exhausted the girls would be. |
Morning swim before flying to Melbourne
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| girls waiting for the taxi outside of the hotel |
We were very excited to get to Melbourne and even more excited to be spending Christmas Eve and Christmas morning with our very old and dear friends, Paula, Anthony and Matthew. Paula and I became friends when we were about 15 in Stratford. Paula is the friend that I backpacked around Europe with in 1992. In 1994, we took the train from Ontario to British Columbia, making many stops along the way. During one of our train trips, we met 3 guys from Australia; one of who is Anthony :). When Patrick had the choice of where to live in Asia Pac through RIM/Blackberry, we chose Melbourne because of Paula and Anthony living there. Thank you SO much for opening your home to us, especially at such a special time of year. We were so surprised and grateful that you met us at the airport.
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| Christmas Eve dinner |
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| their beautiful home |
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| "Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree" |
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| lots of giggles between sweet Matthew, Jaeda and Sienna |
Christmas morning.....thank you so much Paula for making our first ever Christmas away from parents/grandparents/siblings/cousins/aunts and uncles, so extra special. Your generosity and thoughtfulness was very touching.
After present opening, we went kangaroo spotting in their backyard......super cool!!!!
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| jumping the fence |
From the Serics' house, we went to see our friends Meg and Steve and their lovely little ones, Cooper and Willow. Unfortunately, we only had a short visit because they were heading off on their summer holidays that day and were kind enough to delay their departure, so that we could all see each other. Of course, it wasn't long enough but then again, no matter how much time we spent together, it still wouldn't be long enough. Meg started off as my personal trainer, when we moved to Melbourne. I picked her off the wall at the gym based on her bio, which part of it talked about her going to the University of Western in Ontario. Rather quickly, Meg became a very close friend of mine and then also started to train Patrick. Meg was the friend that would come over when Patrick was traveling and literally feed me food, while I was non stop nursing little Miss colicky Jaeda :)
From visiting with Meg and Steve, we went to see Sandy, Andrew, Aidan and Alexandra for a glorious Christmas dinner, with many of their extended family, who most were from Canada as well. We became friends with Sandy and Andrew when we lived across the street from them in Port Melbourne. Their daughter, Alexandra was born not long after Jaeda was (actually just 4 days later). In those first few months, it seemed like I all did was sit in the black chair in our living room, rocking and feeding Jaeda. Fortunately, it faced out towards the street, so I could catch a little action to peak my interest here and there. One of which was seeing a couple across the street getting out of their car with balloons, flowers and what looked like a new baby. Within days I was over there introducing myself and funnily enough, Sandy grew up just outside of Toronto. Over the years, we would meet up back in Canada and we also met up in the UK, when we were living there.
The Brighton Bath/Beaches houses on Boxing Day morning
Visiting our old house in Port Melbourne.....63 Beacon Vista
Patrick pointing out the park we used to take Jaeda to
A walk down memory lane in Port Melbourne
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| where we had brunch within a few weeks of Jaeda being born and she got a case of sun stroke....wow did we ever feel terrible (sorry JJ) |
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| our old gym |
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| where I first tried eating fish |
On Boxing Day, we stayed at the Biddicks' house. They graciously offered up their house to us while they were away at their holiday home. While staying there, we went to see our friends, Nick, Suzanna, Peter and Aaron. Patrick and Nick first got to know each other through Blackberry.
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| After a few days in Melbourne, we drove to Ballarat to see our friends, Brigid, Patrick and their 4 boys (Dempsey, Ronan, Sullivan and Rex). We had a great time reminiscing and going to Sovereign Hill and Ballarat Wildlife Park. Brigid and I met through a prenatal doula class along with 5 other women that we became friends with. We started our own baby group and called it the "Herbal Group". We had seen Brigid and Patrick just a few years back when they visited us in England, while there for a conference. |
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| panning for gold at Sovereign Hill |
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| underground gold mine |
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| Tasmanian devils |
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| wombat |
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the Melbourne skyline
From Brigid and Patrick's place, we drove to Sorrento, to see our friends Jackie, Marty, Will, Gemma and Joel. Jackie and I first met in our Port Melbourne neighborhood. Will and Jaeda were born around the same time, so we met walking about. Their family were our first visitors in California. |
We then took the ferry from Sorrento to Queenscliff, so that we could get onto the Great Ocean Road.
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| echidna sign |
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Koala spotting on the road to the Cape Otway Lighthouse |
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| New Year's Eve dinner at Chris' |
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| koala spotting in in Kennett River, which is where we always visited when we were on the Great Ocean Road and where we told our visitors to go |
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Back to Melbourne |
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Luna Park |
Showing the girls Southbank, the Crown Plaza and the city center
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| the Biddicks' house |
We took Jaeda to show her the hospital (the Mercy) that she was born at. Unfortunately, it had converted into condos but the address was still the same :)
We drove out to the Dandenongs.
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| the Biddicks' house |
