They're here! Ferry to Manly and visit to McMahon's Point

After 9 months and a REALLY long flight (with a "nice" 5 hour overnight layover in LAX) my parents arrived in Sydney on Saturday, 16 August. After some R & R we were ready to get out and about on Sunday. We took the rail down to Circular Quay and then the ferry up to Manly so they could see the harbour and the beautiful views along the way...

Walking around Circular Quay whist waiting for the ferry...

Sydney's Central Business District (CBD) from Circular Quay

Views from the ferry now, the "heads" where the harbour meets the Pacific Ocean

The Opera House from the side

The Opera House from the front

In Manly now, Mom at Manly Wharf

Anna is tired from the 25 minute journey

Allison, Brady and Mom on the beach at Manly

It was a long, fun and chilly day in Manly! On Monday we ventured out to McMahon's Point, which you've all seen views of in previous posts. Dad was exhausted from the walk down, around, and back up the hills, but we had fun taking them to see North Sydney for the first time. The kids enjoyed the little playground...

A great shot my Dad got of the bridge and North Sydney CBD from McMahon's Point

That's all for days 1 and 2... stay tuned for the next 10 days in pictures!!

Tourism at it's best... Sydney CBD and a trip to the zoo

On Thursday we took another trip to the zoo here in Sydney... we've become "Zoo Friends" in the past month so we are able to go whenever we like, which is great for the kids and for us to get out via car without feeling like we've got to see everything in a day... of course we DID see virtually everything on this day so my parents could get in a "real" zoo visit. My dad was a zoology major in college before med school, so he was especially interested in "Australiana"...

Taronga Zoo Sydney entrance

Giraffe... know you've seen one before, but I thought this was a great picture Blake took

Another couple attempts at a Watermeier family photo at the zoo

Another great shot of the zebra by Blake

Anna's getting a little tired of the animals... I swear this child doesn't sleep at home, but she's always exhausted when we take a long outing!

DUCK! I include this photo because every bird Anna sees is a duck, and she gets super excited to see one! We thought we'd show her what a real brown Australian duck looks like.

On Friday my parents and I went into town for some museums and "non" kid-friendly events while Blake stayed home with the kids... we planned it for Friday because it was cold and rainy and not a good day for them to be out anyway.

This was at the Australian Museum

In Hyde Park at the memorial

This one was actually from Tuesday when we took the kids with us down to the Rocks, but they didn't last long in the city, so we had lunch and then left my parents to explore while we went home.

This one I wasn't even there for, but I thought it was a great shot of Mom at Sydney Tower having lunch overlooking the city.

That's all for now... more to come in a minute!

Our "baby" is 3 years old!!

Happy Birthday Brady Patrick!! Brady turned 3 on the 24th of August and we had a small party for him on Saturday the 23rd. It was meant to be in the park across the street, but the weather forced us to have it at our small house! No matter, everyone had a great time and of course it was clear once the party started!

Here is Brady before his party getting excited to see his friends...

Playing his guitar that Nonna and G-ma (AKA Grandpa) brought him from the States before his party...

Yay!! Morgan is here and we're all happy to have a snack!

My dear friend Rachel holding Kara's daughter, baby Tessa

It's time to sing Happy Birthday! All the kids are excited except for Brady... he's a little confused and annoyed that the playing has stopped and not quite sure what to do...

Excuse my look... I'm trying to show Brady what to do with the candles while the other parents are keeping thier kids from blowing out Brady's candles before he does!

Now that the candles are out and the cake is served Brady is happy to eat an entire piece in one bite!

Yay, time for presents!!! Brady opening his Leap Pad from Boo and ABoo

A Wiggles Car Park, what could be better than that?!

Clothes from Kara, Gervais, Morgan and Tessa... well, Mommy was thrilled!!

Oh, man, a REAL guitar like Murray plays from the Wiggles?! He didn't put it down the whole party!

We brought out the keyboards last... Jeff from the Wiggles plays the keyboards and they were a big hit! Anna loves them too and currently screams into the microphone on an hourly basis... we LOVE that... ha ha

Brady playing the keyboards in his room whilst sitting on Anna's new riding toy

Rachel's son Tasman singing happily into the mike

Oh... the party's over? Where did everyone go? Oh well, I have a heap of new toys to play with!

Darling Harbour and the Aquarium

On Sunday we ventured out to the Sydney Aquarium at Darling Harbour. Although we have been to Darling Harbour on several occasions, we hadn't made it to the aquarium here yet. It was great and I can't wait to go back. Here are some pics from our day...

The first one is of a diver in one of the tanks... I thought it was pretty cool that the tank was so deep that a diver had to go down into it to do whatever it was he had to do... I'm sure he didn't have to dive to go in, but clearly needed to stay underwater long enough to use an oxegen tank. Sorry, I missed the earlier demonstration as to what he was down there for!

Shark!!!

We found Nemo in the Great Barrier Reef tank!!

Man, it is hard to capture pictures of fast moving fish!! Especially when you're busy making sure your 3 year old isn't so far ahead of you that you can't see him. Here is a pic of a fish head on...

Blurry Nemo in the reef

Here's a platypus

Saltwater crocodile... I had to take his picture and also wonder who the heck handles this animal. If you don't know anything about a saltwater crocodile (I didn't before moving here) then google the thing and you'll be appalled at how dangerous this animal can be.

There is one part of the aquarium where you're actually walking over glass with fish swimming underneath... Anna wasn't too sure about this at all and Nonna had to help her out!!

Brady had to get back into the pram after too many times of him running off ahead of us... here he's saying he wants to get out.

Anna LOVED the fish... this was only her second trip to an aquarium, the first being in Melbourne in April when she was only 12 months old, so she was really intrigued this time around.

"I want a cookie"... Anna's first sentence spoken a couple weeks ago and here she is getting her wish...

After leaving the aquarium we wandered around Darling Harbour and grabbed some lunch before heading off to the play area. Here are a couple shots of Darling Harbour:

Here we are at the playground at Darling Harbour... Anna was enjoying the sand pit until I decided to take her picture.

Nonna helps Anna out with her very first "big girl" carousel ride

Brady loved it too, but was too curious about what was going on outside to look at the camera

That's all for Sunday, August 24th... Happy "real" birthday, baby boy!!