We're back in the US!

We are back in the United States. We are living in New Orleans with Blake's parents until we find a house and/or move to Jacksonville in June with my parents. House hunting has begun in Atlanta and will continue next week when I go back and Blake meets me for 2nd viewings on Saturday the 16th of May. Transition back to the States has been pretty easy, I must say. We had a few sleepless nights at first with the kids being so off-schedule, but since then it has all come together and we are getting into a bit of a routine. We still say "nappies" and "dummies" and heaps of other Australian sayings, but otherwise we have gotten pretty American again relatively quickly! Blake is even watching NASCAR as we speak!

Our Summer... pics and stories from January to March

I am soooo far behind with the blogging! I have decided to do a massive picture post to make up for it. I will try to be better from here on out but I won't promise much since we're moving overseas in 5 weeks time. Meanwhile....

Here are a few pics of Anna Paige...

at her first birthday party she was "officially" invited to along with Brady... it was Poppy's 3rd birthday, a Fairy party, at Fairyland in Mosman

Anna, or "Imelda" as Patty calls her... she loves her some shoes!

Anna Paige "train wreck" Watermeier eating spagetti

At our local park, Fiona and Kara

Fiona and I... Fee is my first friend in Sydney that I still keep in touch with. She has 2 sons... her oldest, Jack, is about 7 months younger than Brady and her youngest, Harry, is 5 months old.

Kara and I. If you don't know who Kara is by now then you don't read my blog or talk to me much =)

Brady playing at the park

Anna and the swing... the girl could LIVE on the swing if only I'd push her the whole time!

Brady and Anna throwing sand on the conveyor belt at St. Leonard's Park

Brady on the conveyor belt

The beach... I can't begin to explain again how wonderful it is to live 15 minutes away from the beach and be able to go whenever we want to. This was taken at Balmoral Beach on the harbour. Tessa and I...

Anna Paige on the beach at Clontarf

Brady on the beach at Shelley Beach Manly

Me watching 4 kids at Clontarf Beach near the Spit

Morgan, Allison and Tessa at the Sydney Olympic Pool under the bridge at Milson's Point

On a rainy day in summer we head to the mall and the ball pit

A BBQ at Lynnette and Cobus' new place in North Ryde

Brady on Australia Day, 26 January, in Darling Harbour fountains

Brady and Morgan at a playground in Newtown

Brady crashed out with Wags the Dog and Iggle Piggle during a rare nap

At Balmoral Beach with Daddy in February...

Back in Clontarf with Brady, Morgan and Anna

The Noodle Market... a Friday night event 2 blocks away from our house

Morgan eating ice cream

My darling friend Rachel and her son Tas

Anna eating tasty cheese

Our friends Robyn, Jeff, and Henry at the Noodle Market...

they made it all the way from the US!

Love our Tessa and her grins at the Noodle Market!

Pics of the kids from late December to early January 2009

Brady playing in the new fountains at Cammeray

Anna near the Cammeray fountains in Brady's crocs...

my friend Julie was also there for this but I don't have a picture!

Anna and Brady on New Years' Day at the North Sydney playground

Daddy helps Anna ride the zipline

Today I saw my first wallaby carcass on the side of the road...(worth mention simply because I don't often feel that I'm in another country anymore, but when it's clearly a wallaby and not a deer, I do)...

On another note, I was so happy to see Obama inaugurated today. It was a true moment in history and the whole world was watching it happen. I am always amazed by how much the rest of the world pays attention to American politics when, for 34 years back in the States, I cared very little. I hope he does a great job as our President!

As for what's new with us, not much. I'm loving getting out and about with the kids this summer and it's so nice that they love the beach. I'm really going to miss having beaches so close when we move back to the States since the likelihood of us living near a beach is slim. They both love the beach and it's so nice to get in the water on a hot day! I just love summer in January!!

Palm Beach

I wanted to share a couple of pictures of us on the beach in December. We drove about an hour north to Palm Beach, which is just gorgeous. We weren't really planning for a "beach day" so we didn't bring suits or toys, just ourselves and the camera. It is so pretty that Blake and I decided we need to go up for a weekend next time!

Brady and Mommy on the beach

Trying to get both kids to pose for a picture

(I was going to run off if they did, but that didn't happen!)

Daddy takes over looking after the kids... at this point Brady couldn't stand it anymore and stripped down to play in the water properly

Brady just LOVES the beach

And finally, a pic of Blake and I just after Christmas on our way out for the night

Happy New Year everyone!!