Down Under

Greetings from down under! I don't have the ability to post pictures at the moment, but those will come soon! Maybe some videos too.

We made it safe and sound to Australia and all of us are loving life at the moment. I am more relaxed than I have been in ages, Finn is loving the beach and swimming in the water and Nick is getting some good shots and enjoying his relaxed and happy family. The plane trip here was an incredible, intense 40 hour journey wherein Finn was a wreak and tantrum-toddler every minute we were in the airports (4 of them) and an angel on the planes (21 hours of flying). Luckily, right before our longest leg from LA to Sydney, Finn befriended a lovely woman from Equador (by befriended, i mean that he ran up to her and hugged her legs and then opened his arms upwards to be picked up by her). She was on her way to australia to meet her one year old grandson for the first time and was thrilled for some 'practice' with Finn. It was the first time he was calm in LA and I eagerly told Grandma Equador that she is welcome to keep him for the entire flight if she wants. She laughed and said she would love to sit with Finn! Funnily enough, she and her husband were actually sitting right next to us on the plane, and Finn sat on their laps almost the whole time he was awake and it couldn't have been an easier trip.

We have been staying at our friend's beach house 45 minutes south from Adelaide with my parents and brothers. Our days have ben filled with long walks on the beach, swimming and napping. Nick, Finn and I spent a day exploring the Adelaide hills and visited an animal reserve (Finn patted a koala, played with a baby kangaroo and fed some of the weirdest looking ducks and waterfowl I have ever seen).

Unfortunately, Finn has come down with a pretty bad cold in the past couple of days and we had tickets to visit Carlos and Sophie in Sydney. Sadly, we made the decision that Finn is not up for travel, so I am staying in Adelaide and Nick just left for a few days in Sydney.

Merry Christmas to all!

Wearing mummy's scarf, just like she does.

Finn is really into wearing our accessories these days. We will find him roaming the living room with Daddy's hat on his head. Or wrapped in my scarf. Or trying to put one of our shoes on his little feet. He loves to put on Nan's silver bracelet that she lets him wear when she visits and Racing Tiger's big burley motorcycle watch. These things dwarf his little arm, but he will hold that arm up high so everyone can see what he has. Adorable.

Doing big boy things. Like helping Mummy cook.

Finn has started tugging on my clothes and whining while I cook lately. At first I just thought he wanted attention and would bend down to talk to him for a few minutes before resuming the task at hand. But the tugging, whining, weaving-through-legs only increased. So, I started putting a chair next to the counter and giving Finn similar things I was using and asking for his help. Bless his sweet little self, he will stand on that chair for an hour 'helping' me cook. I have been deliberate about giving him 'dangerous' things like glass bowls and butter knives and telling him to be really careful with them and he is. He takes his role so seriously and I have a little helper in the kitchen every night!

The Bubble Man

Morning Drawing Lessons

I'm serious about music

Bananas

How does one tiny piece of banana turn into so many other tiny pieces and make their way in to every room in the house?

Finn meets Father Christmas

It was sorta scary, sorta fun. Father Christmas rang these really loud bells and in a swirl of big-red-soft-white-face-kindness swooped in, propped on lap, snap-snap-snap and a candy cane on the way out the door. Two seconds later, running up the big kid's jungle gym and sliding down the slide all on his own and it was all a dream.

Except for the evidence.

Who are you calling?