costumes

COSTUMES!!
Over the year there were many occasions for us girls to dress up.  I sure was missing Mom's tickle trunk, but friends were very gracious in helping us out and sharing.

Holy Cross had a cultural day, obviously I chose Canada to do in my room.  My class put on a skit of a hockey game at the school assembly.  The students had fun dressing up in scarves and beanies (toques), and mitts I rounded up for the skit.  The best was locating a puck, we eventually used an ice pack shaped like a puck!

pink puck near the green stick

Moose vs Grizzly

School had a dance for the students on a Friday night to raise money.  Students were asked to dress up for the theme 'Enchanted Forest'.

Your guess is as good as ours!

Jason from across the street turned 40 in October so they had a party.  The theme was the 60's & 70's.  Scott was out of town working, but that didn't stop us from venturing across the road for the party.

nice shades!

Ready for the 70's party across the street

Brody's field hockey break up party was a tropical theme.  So the girls got into the theme and dressed up for the day.

The Year 3's based a unit on pirates, thus we had to have a pirate day.  We dressed as pirates and plundered the Principal's office for pieces of eight.

Ready to kill, I mean teach!

During book week at school we all dressed up as our favourite book character.

Lilo from Lilo & Stitch

Good Witch or Bad?!?

Crazy Canadian!!

Nov. 1 was the Melbourne Cup, so at school we had a sweep for $2 or $5 bets (a pool).  We ordered in pizza for lunch and the Dunaden's Cup horse race was at 2:00.  The Americana came in first and Juke Box came in second.  The staff wore fascinators (hair thingy) for the day, but we didn't get all dressed up in frocks (fancy dresses).  Melbourne actually gets the day off for the race!

My fascinator for the Melbourne Cup

Of course we had to dress for Halloween, though it's not as big here as it is back home.  We still went out to trick or treat in our neighbourhood.  I can honestly say this was the first time I was sweating while trick or treating!  Scott & Brody stayed home and had just over 30 trick or treaters come to our door.

Indian (Hailey) and 2 witches(Darby & Meagan)

Creative pumpkin

Christmas time even had us wearing unusual outfits!

Swimsuit calendar

A year to remember.

Heading Home

Heading Home Dec. 26, 2011
A crazy morning with last minute packing, cleaning and exchanging Hailey's Christmas Uggs for a bigger size.  Even had to leave some towels on the clothes line as they weren't dry yet.  Was able to squeeze in a quick skype to Mom as it was Christmas day in Canada and she didn't know we were coming home so soon.  Last minute check revealed 6 boxes of Tim Tams and 3 boxes of Australian chocolates in the freezer.  Quickly threw them in a grocery bag for Brody & I to divide into our carryon luggage later at the airport.  We weren't leaving without them!

Friends came to take us to the airport and 4 cars later we were at the international airport. Jason's ute took all of our 10 suitcases totally 500 pounds, we doubled the weight we took to Australia. Shawn & his family followed us so he could drive his other car back they had loaned us, after we got to the airport. Hailey's friend Kit and her mother Liz came as well and gave Hailey a ride to the airport.  They went to the domestic airport and we were at the international airport.  A little scary thinking she might not make the flight! They made it and all was good.  Teary goodbyes with the neighbours and friends!

Cairns International Airport

That's just Darby's luggage!

Checked in and got rid of our suitcases until Vancouver, what a great feeling.  Went through customs and security without any problems, then had 2 hours till our flight left.  Waited around the airport playing games, shopping and watching the airplanes.

Playing snakes & ladders!

Is that our plane?

Ready for our 11 hour flight to Hong Kong.

Which movie to watch first?

Are we there yet?

Nice beanie

More waiting and trying to get a comfortable sleep at the Hong Kong airport.  We had 4 hours to wait till our next flight to Vancouver.

Staying entertained

Found this comfy chair in our last 15 minutes!

Our next stop was Vancouver, but since it was our first port of entry into Canada we had to get our luggage and go through customs.

3 very full carts

Last flight!! Enjoy those clothes while you can!

After landing in Calgary, Tina, Kim, Darrell, Cary & Tom met us at the airport with our expedition.  Good thing, as we needed all the room in the back for our luggage!

Welcome Home sign

Good to be home!

4 FULL carts

Shorts & coats!

In our own comfy bed by 3:00 am and slept till noon.
Started unpacking and gathering all our souvenirs and gifts. I guess there really was a lot we had bought when we put it all together in one place.

Books, must be a teacher in the family.

Jewelery ,must be girls in the family.

Christmas ornaments

Good to be home!  Memories that will last a lifetime!

Christmas Day

Christmas Day 2011
Had a great 'Chrissy' morning opening up our stockings and gifts.  Had to remember that anything we got had to be packed the next day or eaten right away.  I think considering our circumstances we did pretty good.

See HE found us!

My home

"Advance Australia Fair"

Big money!

Billabong - a water hole in the outback

Proof we survived Cyclone Yasi

Chrissy morning

Another gem for Brody

My gems - opals!

UGGS!!

After we were done opening gifts and having breakfast we made our way to Trinity beach for the morning.  We indulged in very different activities on Christmas morning then we were use to.

Christmas beach babe!

Not a typical Christmas morning

All fun and games until...

Baywatch look out!

Good thing Scott doesn't practice catch & release!

Brought our own snow to the beach!

Back home to change for lunch at Wendy and David's place in Freshwater.  They had about 20 family and friends over for the day.
Kids did yet some more swimming in their outdoor pool.

This is their backyard pool!

Lunch was fresh prawns, raw oysters, ham, salads and buns.  Yummy!  I have been enjoying the fresh seafood while in Oz and that now includes oysters.  Dessert was cream cheese cakes, gluten free orange cake and pavlova, YUM!!

What a feast.

Kids table

Shawn, Tasha, Wendy & David

Raw oysters!

Extra guest on the shower wall

Such a wonderful opportunity to experience Christmas in Oz!  I'm glad we stayed in Australia for the holidays and had such good friends to enjoy it with!