Our annual Christmas letter (if such thing still exists)...

Where has another year gone? I doubt we are the only ones that feel like we just welcomed 2016's arrival. As we prepare to usher out the year we are without a doubt thankful for the year it was. Our first full year in Australia, our first year as a family of four, but far from our first year to thank God for all he has carried us through.

The year started out with our settling into the heat that January and February brought Sydney. While we complained about the heat and humidity and life with "air con" as it's called here, we were pleasantly surprised that albeit a few hot nights, summer in Sydney wasn't as bad as we had envisioned it might be. We enjoyed a trip to Batemans Bay and Jervis Bay to start the year, but unfortunately the rain came down in buckets for half of the trip. It did however mean that Emma got to enjoy her first ever trip to a movie theatre, and eventually it did lighten up to allow us several kangaroo in the wild experiences (thankfully none that involved meeting our car after dark) and sunny waves at the world famous Huskisson beach.

From there we got the final things ready for a certain someone's arrival including Abby's parents making the trek down under. Thankfully for all parties involved Morgan made a very timely arrival in mid-February, one day prior to her due date and right in the middle of Mary and George's visit. We were so happy to have extra caring hands to leave Emma with when it was time to go to the hospital (so much that we weren't even sure she noticed we left). And all of big sister's dreams came true when she found out she had a little sister and surely scenes of Frozen played in her head.

The first few weeks adjusting to life as a family of four were as seamless as we could have asked for. Morgan is our stereotypical "easy second baby" and we are still waiting for the day that all goes south. After Abby's parents headed back to the states we were thankful for continued offers of help and extra meals from our amazing church family. It allowed us extra bonding time while Steve had a few weeks off work as well. By the time Easter came around and Morgan was five weeks old we even snuck in a trip a few hours north of Sydney to the coastal region of Newcastle, Port Stephens and Hunter Valley.

We're not quite sure where the months of April and May went. Something about slight sleep deprivation, work for Steve picking up (busy season here is during the Australian winter), and Abby learning what staying at home full time with two little girls meant. Oh yes, but we do remember the part about glorious fall weather in Sydney.

Come June and we welcomed winter in Australia. No, it's far from the Minnesota winters Abby grew up with and even St. Louis winters Steve is more accustomed to, but it did get colder. And just as we complained about no air con in the summer, we learned a little about what no heating feels like and a lot about what poor insulation feels like (talk to most any Australian and you'll learn it's not just our house). That part about Uggs being house slippers? It's true, it's cold inside Australian houses in the winter!

We also graciously celebrated the Queen's birthday in June and took the three day weekend to visit the Snowy Mountains (about a five hour drive from Sydney). It was opening weekend and as we came to find out was more of a norm, there really wasn't any snow on the slopes. There were still tons of fun activities to welcome winter to the Australian "alpine" town of Thredbo we stayed in and it was a fun family getaway. We even made a stop off in Canberra on our drive home, so we could check visiting the capital of Australia off the list too!

Emma celebrated the big number four with plenty of her new Aussie friends at a nearby park at the end of June before kicking off her start to preschool here. It was mid-year (school year runs January - December here), but we were able to find an opening for her to go two days per week. While there was initial hesitation on her part (mostly because it meant she had to give up some other activities) it took her all of about 30 minutes to adjust according to her teachers. Being the socialite of our family she had no trouble making new friends, meanwhile mom and dad just had to adjust to the new Aussie vocabulary she is bringing home. It also meant Abby and Morgan adjusted to a much quieter house on Thursdays and Fridays, but are quickly learning to treasure that time!

We wrapped up the summer by Abby running two full marathons. It had been her longest break in recent time from running one. While it took plenty of effort and commitment on everyone's part, it made for a couple of fun weekends - one in the small town of Mudgee (about 3.5 hours NW from Sydney) and the second right here in Sydney and even included a run across the beautiful Harbour Bridge and a finish in front of the Opera House.

By the end of September we found ourselves already celebrating the one year in Australia mark and another holiday weekend meant a trip to the nearby Blue Mountains with friends. And the end of October brought us back to the US for a two week visit to Missouri, South Carolina and Minnesota. It was a busy couple weeks, but we loved seeing so many of you!

Needless to say we are thankful Morgan has adjusted well to our semi-crazy traveling lifestyle, especially since we still have one last destination left for the year as we prepare to head to southeast Asia to finish out the year. It certainly is a blessing to be able to explore and learn about new cultures (in addition to Australia). There is so much to be gained as we explore the world given to us and we pray that God continues to safely guide us while we do so. It truly is exciting to be able to teach Emma small things here and there as she understands more about where we live and travel to.

We look forward to our return to Sydney to start off 2017 as we know God has many great things in store for us, including a new address about a kilometer down the road from our current house (check out our Christmas card for the new address). In the meantime we will continue to ask for patience and enjoyment while we learn how to parent a very passionate, smart, creative and high energy four year old and to treasure the sweet innocence of another giggling, smiling, madly crawling, put everything in her mouth nearly 10 month old. We know there are many learning curves ahead for all of us. To learn our new norm of two little girls that clearly adore each other and are quickly learning how appropriately or not appropriately "tackle cuddle" each other while they play together. Hopefully 2017 will bring us more moments of laughter than "she took it from me" moments, but we fully expect both.

We pray that all of you are surrounded with love and laughter this Christmas as well. And while we might not be in the same time zone (or even close to it) for many of you, know that we think of you often and wish you a very Merry Christmas!

With love,
Steve, Abby, Emma & Morgan

Christmas card photo from the Santa Fun Run for Australia Variety Children's Charity. No, we don't normally walk around the city wearing Santa suits in the middle of summer!

Spit to Manly Part II

Worried she was too close to the edge!

In honor of our first Saturday of "summer" this December we headed out to finish the rest of our Spit to Manly "hike" we first began back in September, see here.

One might say it started out a little rough... more than a couple of wrong turns once we got off the bus trying to get back to where we left off on the trail led us all thinking we might just turn straight home and forget about it, especially with a four year old saying "when will the bush walk be done? Where's the ice cream? I want to go swimming at the beach!" All of course which were fair questions as she had been bribed with both of those outcomes, but not so great when we still knew we probably had two hours of walking to finish out the 5k+ we had to get to the end.

Sorry Morgan for cutting off your head in this photo for this selfie with your older sister.

We finally got back in the groove on the trail where we had left off previously and Emma enjoyed her role as leader and chugged along at a good pace while reminding the rest of us to walk carefully. We enjoyed some nice overlooks, tiny hidden beaches, and big friendly lizards along the way.

Beautiful views

Happy sisters!

Lizards have to take in the views too

Morgan came along for the ride nicely except for making both of us more than a little sweaty. The ergo and Australian summers really don't mix well.

Three of four were looking at least

Thankfully it wasn't until the last 1 or 2k that Emma really started to ask to be carried and we obliged a decent amount with hopes that we would make it to the finish and not have to camp out overnight instead.

Skipping over the tree roots!

And as all good parents do, there were plenty of rewards given at the end for everyone surviving including milkshakes, playground time, splashing in the fountains and beach time. It had been awhile since we had made our way out to Manly and we forgot what a fun area it is full of beautiful beaches every direction you look, trendy beach shops, cafes, markets, and street musicians.

These two seriously think each other are hilarious!

Based on this last photo, I think we ended on a high note, just wish we had a video of this one and her "roar!"

A defiant - I'm going to put my foot on this table no matter how many times you guys move it!

Running with 80k friends, some kangaroos and a photo finish at the Opera House

It was a busy winter here prepping for three different races! And can I just say that running in the winter in Sydney is just about as perfect as can get? Sometimes a little rainy or overcast, but rarely ever too cold and definitely not too hot. I think I'll enjoy training for something again come next winter, but let's just say I'm not planning to do any long distance training the next few months here... running and the heat definitely don't mix for me.

Finally catching up on writing this, my first race was the City2Surf right here in Sydney in mid-August. It was an odd distance at 14k (just under 9 miles for my US friends) and started in the Sydney CBD (downtown) and finished at Bondi Beach. I ran with 80,000 of my "friends." Yes, you read that correctly, 80k! I think I misinformed you all in a previous blog when I said 60,000.

Just a glimpse at one of many starting corrals

Surprisingly it really didn't seem that massive. I think the largest race I've run in comparison is probably a marathon or two that were about 25,000. City2Surf did a great job of segmenting out the different waves to start over the course of over an hour.

Beautiful Bondi Beach made a pretty good finish line

It was a beautiful meandering course through some of the most scenic of the city's "eastern suburbs" before encountering it's own version of "heartbreak hill," which was certainly no joke. It mirrored Boston Marathon's own heartbreak hill in the way that it deceptively seemed to finish 3 or 4 times before turning a corner and discovering there was still more to go!

Coming from an event manager's perspective... these people were planners, glad I didn't bring my children to get lost!

And for mid-August it was surprisingly warm with picture perfect Australian blue, sunny skies. While my little team of cheerleaders didn't make it out to the mass chaos that was that side of town I still had a great time running solo and just taking the experience in!

She was upset it wasn't her own medal, but still pretty proud to think "momma won the race!"

Some last minute planning left me also booked the following weekend for a run, but this time for my first full marathon in over two years! I was excited but nervous and had thrown in this weekend trip to Mudgee, NSW (about 3.5 hours NW from Sydney) only a few weeks earlier.

Rest stop!

While I had already planned to run the mid-September Sydney full marathon way back in February as I had registered for it (in typical pregnant me fashion) the day before Morgan was born. However, in some crazy sense of training mode me I had decided I should do another full marathon as part of my training. I figured it was either run a race or run a 32-35k solo training run, and frankly the race option sounded more fun.

Mudgee was going to be a super small race (less than 100 people ran the full) so it sounded like a nice change of pace from the City2Surf. And in all ways except for one, it really was a great weekend away. The one negative - well Morgan didn't sleep but a few hours the night before the race. Tiny hotel room, first night away from home in awhile, who knows what else. But sleep is overrated of course, that's why they always say to make sure you sleep well two nights before the race and luckily I had! Nonetheless I was grouchy enough to the point when I started getting ready that I contemplated not doing it. Then I thought that was silly after our entire family drove all the way up and hurriedly ran the 800m from our hotel to the starting line.

Upon arrival the whole clan was happy to be out of the car!

It was a perfect, crisp late winter morning to start a race with a nice warm up forecasted for the day. And that it did. I enjoyed the rolling hills, vineyards and kangaroos as my scenery to an otherwise very quiet course. About 7-8 miles in I thought it wasn't going well at all while I endured a long, slow uphill and was worried the night before was taking a toll on me. But luckily just at that point there was a slight overlap in the course and I was uplifted by other runners ahead of me exchanging "well done mate" as we ran past one another. I enjoyed some fellow conversation with the rare runner I passed or passed me along the course including one that was sporting a jersey of a former client of Steve's and one whose watch had stopped and we spent an inordinate amount of time trying to convert paces between miles and kilometers so he could figure out how fast he was running.

Emma wanted to run the rest of the way with me when she saw me around mile 20

My little buddy at the finish line with me (no she didn't run the entire last 6 miles with me)

She even got announced when we crossed the finish line!

And in the end I finished far better than I anticipated. I saw my cheerleaders around mile 20 and then I knew I was in the homestretch, especially when I passed a couple vineyards handing out both wine and water to runners! It was again, picture perfect Australian weather and I even finished just one spot out of prize money (before you get too excited, really it was a small race). Steve is already suggesting booking our return trip next year...

Happy to see this face (even if she did keep me awake most of the night)!

Everyone's happy to be done!

Pretty cool when an extra medal shows up in the mail a few weeks later too!

With Mudgee complete I had one big race left on the calendar - the one that was first on my calendar to begin with. It is a rare day lately that I run a marathon in the same city in which we live, which is normally how I like it - making it a destination race and vacation all in one. However, this time I was excited to have a little less pressure in the preparation and packing of getting us somewhere new and instead just being able to sleep in my own bed the night before. I even got the VIP treatment of my personal team of supporters driving me to the start line.

Support team doing some prep work to find me on the course

I wasn't lucky enough to go three for three in the weather department though. It was overcast and rainy. At least it kept it cool. My body also didn't hold up quite as well for the third race as I had hoped. I was fighting a bad case of plantar fascitis and hadn't been feeling very well the week leading up the race. So I set out to just finish the race. And thankfully that's what I did. Far from the time I had hoped for, but I got a tour of this beautiful city on my own two feet and I even kept running the whole time. They even shut down all 8 or so lanes of traffic on the harbour bridge (which is a BIG deal) and we finished under the steps of the Opera House!

The race finished just in front of the Opera House!

It was a long, wet, slightly painful race but I could smile at the end because I was thankful that I once again had the opportunity to both start and finish the race. I guess it's time to start planning #18...

This girl knows what to do with medals!

Wet, cold, HAPPY ferry ride home.

The Bluish Green Mountains

We visited the Blue Mountains, but according to Emma they were the Bluish Green Mountains. You can always count on a four year old to correct something that was "incorrectly" named... "But mom, they aren't blue mountains, they are bluish green." Anyways, it was the first weekend in October, so that means Labour Day weekend in Australia, which meant a three day weekend to us and a nearly mandatory reason to travel somewhere.

Here are the Bluish Green Mountains mom!

We decided to ask some fellow expat friends to join us on the short weekend away and were excited when they took us up on the offer. It was the perfect excuse to not go all that far away, but rent a great house so the kids could have plenty of time running around and playing while the parents got time to relax and catch up as well.

We stayed in the cute, touristy town of Wentworth Falls and just like all the other "mountain" towns it was packed for the long weekend (side note for newer fellow expats - when there is a long holiday weekend that falls during school holidays, you can be guaranteed that every possible place/thing you can think about doing is going to be absolutely packed, plan accordingly). The Blue Mountains always has a high likelihood of being busy too as it is both a prime weekend away destination from Sydney as well as a do-able day trip at only about a 1.5 hour drive to many of the highlighted locations.

After a late arrival Friday evening and a confirmed windy, cold, wet weather forecast for Saturday we decided to make the Jenolan Caves our destination for the day. It was another 1.25 hour drive west from where we were at in the mountains. The dreary weather and the scenic rolling green hills and valleys actually made it a really enjoyable drive for us as it reminded it of one of our favorite places we've visited together, Ireland. So we cranked up the Irish music until we got to the last 15 km or so of the drive when the road turned into an extremely windy, narrow (somehow still two-way), and steep white-knuckled sort of a drive where we just held our breath until we arrived at our destination safely only having to pull aside once for a car going the opposite direction. 

With a 5, 4, and 2 year old and 7 month old in tow we opted for the cave tour that was most well-suited for young children called the Imperial Cave. There was something like 20 different tours through various parts of these limestone caves. Our 45 minute tour was quite impressive as we wove our way through various formations down to a natural stream running through the caves. I was quite thankful after the fact for the excuse that we had the kids along and didn't do one that was smaller or involved crawling - although I don't consider myself claustrophobic, I really don't like to think about the logistics of being deep into a cave for very long... 

Narrow bridge crossing over the river in the cave

In the depths of the cave

The photos don't portray how beautiful it was inside!

While the cave tour itself I found quite interesting and the surrounding scenery beautiful, all in all, I felt like the whole area was perhaps a little over hyped. Maybe I'm just not enough into caves and stalactites, stalagmites or any other "mite" or perhaps the drive in had seemed a little more arduous than we would have liked. Or maybe we were just tired of telling the 4 and 5 year olds with us to stop touching each other (aka you don't have to hug each other every second). 

What two girls that won't stop holding each other the whole weekend looks like (note I think our daughter is really the one that won't let go of the other one in all these photos)....

So after a typical overpriced tourist-destination lunch, the cave tour, bribed hot chocolates after the tour, and then a promise of finding a playground that seemed to no longer exist we decided to head back. Unfortunately as we started to exit we discovered the "two-way" road we came in on was suddenly closed due to a tree falling over. There was one other road that led us out the exact opposite way and added an extra 30 minutes to our drive back. On the plus side, the extra 30 minutes in the car did not seem near as bad as the grueling ride that a team of cyclists was enduring to bike up and out of the deep valley that the caves were in. 

I love sign spotting when we travel, but I need help here Australians - what are slides?!

This was Steve's favorite of the trip...

We played it low key the rest of the evening, let the kids run crazy at the house, enjoyed a great dinner with good wine compliments of our friends, and made up for a late night the day before with an earlier bedtime for all (trust me, no one wants to travel with crabby children and parents). 

Super mum

Sunday morning came (with one less hour of sleep as well thanks to "springing ahead" with daylight savings - yes it's so strange that we spring ahead here while our stateside friends and family fall back in a few more weeks time) with much better weather. We were excited to explore the family-friendly tourist trap of the Blue Mountains, Scenic World. When we arrived in the town of Katoomba our GPS navigated us some funky back road way to Scenic World and I started to think perhaps for some crazy reason that it wouldn't be too busy. I was wrong. Upon turning the corner we were welcomed to the mecca of tourist buses and an employee pointing us to the overflow parking lot. Turns out a few other people had the same idea as us.

Oh well, we still enjoyed it. After making our way in via the gift shop (a really good tourist destination always ensures you have to both ENTER and EXIT through it), we headed first to the Scenic Railway where we were told the line was the shortest. I'm still not sure why it's called the "Scenic" Railway as it is touted as the steepest passenger railway in the world (it was originally built at a 52 degree angle). Now with modern technology you can opt to ride more "laid-back" or "cliffhanger" style. It drops 206 meters and is 415 meters in length and travels through a short tunnel. We were all set for what we expected to be a scenic, steep ride down into the valley. But in what I might term, typical Australian fashion, there was a rather lack of acknowledgement (really none at all) that it would drop quickly, suddenly into pitch blackness before slowing down slightly and coming out of the tunnel for quick glimpses of the scenic views.

How do you ride??

Just before...

Oh this is going to be a lovely leisurely ride!

While I often think American style rides and attractions are over the top with warnings, it is what was ingrained in my upbringing. Many times I have found myself feeling a little refreshed in other countries by the acknowledgement that people need to be a little more responsible and aware of their surroundings, and if they don't? Well it's their own fault, not anyone else's fault. However, there are times, like this one, where perhaps I would have just appreciated a tiny bit of warning by one of the three employees that walked by and talked to us and our kids while we were waiting in our line and clearly recognized that "we're not from around these parts." You know, just a little cautionary, you'll need to hold onto the little ones because we don't have seat belts and it's a pretty steep scary drop for some of them. Oh and perhaps you shouldn't let them all sit next to each other with only one adult in the same row (who happens to also have a baby attached to her body, aka me).

After the drop it was in fact scenic and I grabbed my phone quick enough to snap a video

I really do say all this in good humour (look at that - I'm even using the Australian spelling for certain words these days), we had fun and the majority of us would have ridden the scenic railway again if the line wasn't out the door. So from there we did a short "bushwalk" through part of the valley before taking one of the cable cars back up and out of the valley. We also enjoyed the glass bottom scenic airway across the valley. This was perhaps my favorite as the views were spectacular as we glided through the sky.

Testing out the original scenic railway car, thank goodness ours was fully enclosed!

On the other side of the valley we found another great lookout point and took a short walk to a beautiful waterfall. It was the perfect one to jump rocks across and splash in the basin. The kids especially enjoyed a great time exploring before we called it and took one last ride across the valley to find a late lunch. 

View of the Three Sisters

Orphan Rock

It's all fun and games until someone falls in... and in fact a little later Emma did just that (luckily only her foot)

And so it begins - trying to get four people to look at the camera at the same time!

With many of us in need of a nap we enjoyed the rest of the afternoon back at the house and out of the crowds. The weather was picture perfect and we were able to make use of a gorgeous backyard, something that has become a novelty for us now, as a proper yard in the city of Sydney is a luxury few enjoy and if they do they are lucky for it to be the size of a postage stamp. The extra hour of sunlight at the end of the day also was key and a BBQ for dinner was the ultimate sign that summer is on the way.

Steve practicing with three cheeky monkeys

Come Monday morning we said goodbye to our friends as they needed to make their way back home a little earlier than us. After Emma got over the fact that she was just stuck again with mom, dad and sister we decided to navigate to a few various lookout points throughout the mountains. 

The Jamison Valley

Wentworth Falls lookout

The falls

Emma smile!

It was a windy day, but we still had a great time as well exploring a beautiful park and playground that was near the house we stayed. Emma got to feed ducks and play pirates with daddy while Morgan thought just watching the other kids play was a hoot. 

Standing back and hoping Emma doesn't hurl her body into the water with the bread for the ducks

We ended our trip in the town of Blackheath and probably the best views of the trip at Govett's Leap Lookout. While Emma didn't appreciate the views and was tired of being asked to take photos, she briefly humored us. From there it was another late lunch and we made the relatively quick and easy drive home.

Govett's Leap Lookout and lots of obligatory family photos...

So beautiful with the waterfall too!

This girl is quickly becoming Australian and she couldn't keep her hands off the calamari that Emma and I were sharing!

It was a great holiday weekend. Relaxing, fun with friends, and beautiful views of "mountains" (still not sure you can quite call it mountains). And a nice change from our sometimes over-scheduled stay in a different hotel every night type of trip. You know, because staying in the same place too long really isn't our thing.