I'm Gonna Miss This #2: Australia

 Maybe it's because they have less pollution?  Maybe it's because they have a hole in their ozone? I really don't know why the sky in Australia is different but it is.  Sunsets are more brilliant, the sky is bluer and the clouds are just more glorious than anything I've ever seen before.  Sometimes I'm in the car and I find myself looking up at the sky more than the road in front of me.  

I love this sky, and I'm definitely gonna miss this.

I'm Gonna Miss This #1: Australia

In about four weeks we will need to oversee all of our stuff moved across the world, sell two cars, clean our entire house, take a 17 hour flight with four kids, and that's the easy part.  The hardest part is knowing that in about four weeks Australia will just be a memory.  I am really struggling to leave, and  there have been tears.  We could live here forever if we didn't have our family living on the other side of the world.  When I left Long Beach I did a series of posts entitled "I'm Gonna Miss This" after the country song, "I'm Gonna Miss this.  I'm gonna want this back; I'm gonna wish these days hadn't gone by so fast."  I need to do the same thing for Australia so in no particular order, I'm posting what we are going to miss.  

The first day we woke up in our new house in Canberra, we looked out the window to see these cockatoos.  They were our little welcoming committee.  It was our first reminder that we were definitely not home since we had never seen cockatoos in the wild like this.  They are everywhere in Australia, and will always be a reminder to us of our days here.  They can be loud and annoying, but we have to admit, we're gonna miss cockatoos.

Don't Blink

I can remember James' preschool graduation like it was yesterday.  His teacher was Ms. Sivhui.  He loved to play on the bike path at his school. 

 James and his kindergarten teacher Mrs. Serrano in Long Beach.

 James in first grade with Ms. Kerrig.

 Second grade with Mrs. Rivera. 

 James with Ms. Fellows in third grade.

 And then he got to do part of third grade again in Australia with Ms. Blumenthal.

 Fourth grade with Mrs. Garven.

And now he is in fifth grade with Mrs. Nicholas.  In a little over a month James will be starting middle school.  Where did the time go?  There will be no DARE graduation or promotion ceremony for James since his school now has a promotion ceremony in sixth grade and Virginia has a promotion ceremony in fifth grade.  So in lieu of a promotion ceremony, here is a big shout out to our up and coming middle-schooler.  You have made us proud, James.  You will do great things in middle school!

Skate in the City

 Tonight for FHE we went down to Civic for Skate in the City.  We went last year, but the girls fell down most of the time.  They did a lot better this year.

The girls were able to stay on their feet more than their bottoms thanks to good old Buzz and Woody.

 It even snowed on the ice rink a few times (man-made from a blower of course).  If you wanted to get in this snow globe for a photo you had to pay more so we just stood outside for our free photo :)

 We had dinner at the Pancake Parlour after skating. We heard it was a must-do while we're here.  I gotta say we were not that impressed.

 Pancake, chocolate and ice cream.  What a dinner.

Another Busy Saturday

 Today was the last activity I organized in the Relief Society. I've been released and it feels great to be calling-free!  Our activity today was a Christmas in July activity.  It began with a performance from a Chinese sister in our ward and her Chinese dancing group.  They are beautiful.

 We had food demonstrations and crafts.

 I really love working in the Relief Society.  I'll miss these sisters.

This has nothing to do with Relief Society or Christmas, but while I was gone all day Doug fixed his car.  It had problems with the window or something.  Anyway, after lots of YouTube videos and ebay he fixed it himself and saved a bundle.  He was pretty proud and wanted his picture taken. At least he knows that if he loses his job there might be a future for him as a panel beater :)