Christmas 2011 United States

When we made our plans to head to Virginia for 3 weeks for the holidays, it seemed like a long time.....it is amazing how fast that time flew!!   We stayed with Pops & Dede for a week, Tutu & Grandada for a week and Aunt Woo & Uncle D for a week.  It was an amazing Christmas.   You appreciate time spent with family so much more when you only have a few weeks!  We also LOVED seeing SADIE!!!!  

Train ride to the airport!!

Cheers!!

The original Santa in Richmond, Virginia.

The massage chair was making Courtney "shimmy, shimmy!"

Family pictures below......

And it wouldn't be Christmas without Pops playing the accordian...

Hobson Family photos...

Thanks for the silly string Aunt Jennifer!!

Bowling fun...

Our BIG send off at the Richmond Airport!!!    WE LOVE OUR FAMILY!!!!!

Christmas 2011 Australia

Decorating for Christmas in 30C weather is a little hard to grasp.   It felt very weird to have Christmas decoration up with the girls swimming in the pool!   

The elves managed to find us in Brisbane and created some havoc in our new home!!    

We left for the US on the 16th of December and returned 8th of January.  The girls must have been really good this year because Santa visited them in the US and in Australia!!

Rainy Day Fun

We had a bit of rain one day and the girls took the opportunity to enjoy!!

Fun in the Pool

Troy & Taylor having fun in the pool!

GOMA

The girls and I visited GOMA (Gallery of Museum of Art) on a beautiful day in December.   GOMA is located in South Bank which is on the river not too far from CBD.   The first exhibit we visited was the Obliteration Room.   Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama is one of the most significant and influential artists working today. When she was a small girl she started seeing the world through a screen of tiny dots. They covered everything she saw – the walls, ceilings and even her own body. For 40 years she has made paintings, sculptures and photographs using dots to cover surfaces and fill rooms. Kusama calls this process 'obliteration', which means the complete destruction of every trace of something.  When the exhibit was first opened, EVERYTHING in the room was white.   As each child entered, they received a page of colored dots.  They were allowed to put the dots ANYWHERE in the room.   It was pretty amazing.   As you can see, we were there several days after it opened.

The next exhibit was Pip & Pops “We miss you Magic Land”.  Pip & Pop are from Perth, Australia.   Adopting the expression 'more is more', Pip & Pop have transformed hundreds of objects and craft materials into beautiful, glittery worlds for 'we miss you magic land!'. Using cake decorating tools, they funnelled rainbow-coloured sugar crystals, fine sands and glitter to create lacy patterned hilltops and valleys, dotting them with artificial flowers, plastic trinkets, crystals and sequins. The finished result is a series of delightful magical worlds where make-believe becomes a part of reality.  It took them weeks to set up this exhibit.

Household Visitors

Here are a few “friends” that have come to visit us in our new home.

The one in the pool is a Cane Toad....these guys come out in the rain and like to go swimming in the pool.   The cane toads have poisonous glands and are highly toxic to most animals if ingested.  We will have to keep a close eye on Sadie when she arrives.  

The possum, Polly, decided that she liked living in our attic.  Since they are noctunal animals, this did not fair too well with the family!  We had to call Pesky Possum to have her caught and removed.   No, you cannot kill them in Australia...they are protected and have to be relocated.

Sadie's 6th Birthday

Sadie’s 6th birthday was November 30, 2011.   The girls were missing her and so my AMAZING sister Woo and her okay hubby, Uncle D, made a big effort to make Sadie’s birthday extra special.....Just kidding Uncle D....WE LOVE YOU ALL!!   The other doggy is Heidi, Sadie’s BFF.....my nephew’s dog.

End of Year Bush Dance

For the end of the school year, St Aidan’s held a Bush Dance for the Junior School.   Each year (grade level) learned a traditional bush dance to perform.   Once the girls performed the dance, they then invited a parent to come and dance the dance with them.   Troy was exhausted after 3 bush dances!!!

Thanksgiving

So even though Thanksgiving is not celebrated in Australia, we decided to hold our own family Thanksgiving on Friday evening.

I went all over town (5 stores!) in effort to find the basic ingredients for a good Turkey Meal.  

Everything turned out great....except the TURKEY!!   Not sure what happened or if it was just a bad bird...but to sum it up, no one had seconds!!!

Just one for the memory book.....at least we were all together and healthy.   We are very thankful for that and also for the love and support we are receiving from our friends and family while in Australia.

Yes, we were outside on the deck.   It was around 85 degrees and beautiful!   We had to literally pull the girls out of the pool to come and eat!!!!

Taylor's Violin Recital

Taylor ventured into a new area for the Hobson family.....the violin.   She had weekly lessons and weekly group practices over the entire Term 4.   Near the end of the term, the group performed a wonderful recital.   I hope that you are able to view the video.   She did wonderful and we are all very proud of her!!

Halloween

Halloween is not quite as popular here as it is in the states and in some areas, it is quite discouraged.   There was a pocket of kids that trick or treated in our area and we hooked up with them.   Carter went home with a friend from school and those two and another friend made their own costumes and did their own makeup....zoombies!!    Taylor was again a cute little Minnie Mouse and Kennedy went as “Red”.   Kennedy’s friend Molly joined us for trick or treating.   We all had a ball!

This crazy lady is a new friend of mine....Bronwyn Hartley!

A HOUSE!!!

FoxRowan? Okay, we have never lived in a house that has a name but there is always a first. This house dates back to 1925 and at the time was only a very small portion of what exist today (top left room was raised and made part of current structure). The original owner, Mrs Fox, sold the property to a developer, Mr Rowan. And the rest is history....for the Hobsons to write

Above is a picture of the girls on the last day in the apartment....

We must admit that living in a 100m2 apartment for four months makes you appreciate certain things that maybe we were taking for granted.  Small things...

1. Somewhere to tell the kids to go..  2.Anywhere to go to get away...

But, we started this adventure with the thought that our family would become closer and spend more time together...

We are all ready to move to a larger home!

MOVING DAY.....

Our new next door neighbor provided us with the below pictures of what our house looked like prior to the renovation......big change, huh?

Renovation pictures....