Capital

We went on a weekend excursion to Canberra this month...Australia's capital.  (Bet you didn't know that!) 

Our friends Caylee, Dan and fam joined us.

We had a lot of fun and this is what greeted us on our way in... 

First stop was the Old Parliament House...but even more first was the Aboriginal Embassy out front.  The Aboriginals have claimed this land as their 'embassy' and have a whole campsite permanently set up there.

Aboriginal drawings on the courtyard tiles

then the Old Parliament House.  This place was top notch!  My fave.  I want to go back and walk every inch of this place.  I love old buildings with history and culture and this had heaps of both. 

It's a beautiful building with perfect Australian verandas out front.

And straight out the front doors you can look all the way down the road, straight down to the War Memorial.  That was done on purpose by the architect so that the members of Parliament would always see it when entering or exiting the building and remember those that protect their country.

(the War Memorial is all the way down there...I promise!)

See!-culture and history...

.love it.

...Questacon came next but there will a a whole other post on that so we'll just skipperoo like a kangaroo to the next stop...

New Parliament House.

I live in Australia...crazy!

Here's the Australia seal

{cue national anthem}

View from the top of the New Parliament House...directly in front is the entrance to the New House, then further down after the courtyard is the Old Parliament House and then on yonder there is the -not so small in real life- War Memorial.

The inside was immaculate.  So pretty.

Check out my prince charming on those steps ;)

I just love this place!  It was gorgeous and I learned a lot about the government of Australia.  They follow the old rituals of parliament passed on from England.

So cool.

...more on that the next time we go back and have more time...I keep saying that...I really need to go back.

I loved driving around to see all the embassies in Canberra.  There must be at least 25 or so and they're all built to look like their native country.  They were interesting to see!

Here's just a few...

~South Africa~

~Papua New Guinea~

~Thailand~

and

~China~

The last one is my fave.  Can you guess which one it was?

~USA~

YES!-Canberra was good to us.  I even got to go home...almost, American soil at least.  Thanks Canberra!

The US Embassy was huge.  While the other embassies were a single or maybe a couple buildings, the US embassy too up a few blocks!

We definitely were taking pictures of the entrance, sign, seal and flag.

We definitely saw 3 guards at this embassy and zero at the all the others.

We definitely saw one of the guards come out with a camera-looking device as we were walking back to the car.

We definitely don't know if we were or weren't supposed to be taking pictures...but it shouldn't be a problem...right? :)

Guess we'll never know.  At least I got to see my flag, recite the pledge and maybe, just maybe got a tid bit excited!

Almost just like home. :)

and now just some randoms...

-the view from the War Memorial down to Old and then New Parliament House-

-the best tree ever-

-view from the Canberra lookout-

Canberra was just an area of empty land in the middle of Sydney and Melbourne and when Australia couldn't decide between the two fro a capital, they made Canberra.  It's laid out very geometrically and even includes a man-made lake.


-all smiles-

-the lovely Archibald family-

-me and the man-

and this is what greeted us on our way out...

good weekend Canberra, good weekend.

Pace-Face

I was just going through the photos on our camera and I found these leetle gems.

I love these photos.

#1- Pacey is adorable

#2- the faces she pulls just make me laugh

#3- it gets me excited for when her family will be here in a  few weeks

(#4- we have tans from america!)

We definitely miss Matt, Jade and little Pacey.

This is what I call a classic 'Pace-face'.

She can pull some goodies!

We're so lucky to have such a cute little niece.

Oh baby...there are two cuties in this photo for sure!
(they're even matching, not planned-how perfect)

.darling.

Ant's Birthday

We had a blast celebrating Anthony's birthday with him and all the fam a couple weeks ago.  We started off watching Tony in his primary program.  He said his part all by himself.  Such a grownup!

Then it was off to the park for a picnic lunch with the whole Bush & Bennallack crowd.

YUM!

Followed by cake and games at Jo's afterwards...

plus a new friend that likes to visit the balcony often.

Tony has named him Spike.

Aunty Llaine made Tones and Tarts their very own Halloween pinata.  Tony absolutely loved it...ha-especially beating it.  Watch out for that kid Jo! :)

We were all laughing so hard.  It was so funny to watch!

Phil convinced Tony that the broken pinata would be best used as a hat...

...and he loved it.  Tones wore it for the rest of the night.

Tony and Tarts had a lot of fun with their Halloween toys & candy from the pinata.

They've never really done much for Halloween so this was a first.

Dracula Tony even dropped in for a visit. 

and here's the traditional blowing out the candles...always joined by Tony and Tarts.

Every birthday is their birthday.

Happy Birthday Ants!

xoxo

Identity Crisis

More spring...more fall...same difference right?

Amid the confusion, Fall treats still managed to appear in the Bennallack household this year-straight from yours truly.

First off, the staple pumpkin seeds of course.

Chicken salt = yum!

and then my Graveyard Mud Cups.

I made these for my activity day girls. 

(and my hubby and I of course!)

They are SOOO yummy-complete with worms and all!

Perfect Halloween treat.

Mmmmmm!

Oh and this cute sailor here...

He's a huge fan of caramel apples.

.HUGE. I tell you!

I have never attempted making caramel apples on my own before, but you know how it goes

~When you're in America and it's convenient, you don't care; when it's inconvenient, you must have it~

(wise words from...me)

Story of my life.

Phil and Kaylee Jo wanted caramel apples, so we got them!

Not so simple without caramels to simply melt-believe me, I looked!

Ha, took ten...or five...tries but we finally worked it out.

They passed the Kaylee test -barely- to be given away to Phil's home teaching families.

Phewph!

But that's not all folks.  How can you have caramel apples without making an apple pie caramel apple?

I submit that you cannot.

Problem solved.

We were in high heaven.

Goodbye Rocky Mtn $8 apples...hello homemade miracles.

We most certainly dug right in!

He may just possibly love that item in his hand more than me...possibly.

So there you have it.  

Fall treats at the Bennallacks.

Phil looked at all the stuff on our bed when I was showing my parents on skype and just laughed...

"I think my wife is having an identity crisis."

...at least it's a good crisis.

Right?

Did It!

Have a craving?

I did.

Current craving status...

.satisfied.

That's right folks, we did it.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies with no canned pumpkin.

Who knew fresh pumpkin would work too?

So proud.  So proud.

It was easy peasy and the hubs just kept telling me that in October (fall time) he is

"so glad I'm American"

(just his stomach speaking I'm sure)

The office loved them too.

So if you ever live in Oz, don't fret, 

you can still have your pumpkin chocolate chip cookies.

Phew!

We Carve

Yes, I may live in Australia, but gadzooks my American roots are just so rootin' tootin' deep!

October = Fall

October in Australia = Spring

.blast.

I can't complain too much but I do love Fall and I love pumpkins, so what did I do?...I brought Fall to Australia.  

I know, clever Kaylee right!?

Ha...or just crazy. Whatevs.

I got SO excited when I saw that Coles was selling 'Halloween Pumpkins' that I had to buy some.  I chose my pumpkins and marched right up to purchase them...without even looking at the price tag. 

(I'm getting good at that here in Oz)

I'll spare you the pricing pain, but just keep in mind, 'Halloween Pumpkins' are not normally in Australia meaning: not cheap.

Luckily Phil was SO excited too.  He'd never even seen an orange pumpkin in real life before let alone carved one.  

He couldn't get over how orange the were.  Bless his little heart!

We shared his first pumpkin carving with Caylee and Dan.  It was their first time too.  So much fun!

Here's to Phil's first incision .ever.

Ha! Check out his face.

You wouldn't know it by that lovely face of his, but he loved it.

Every bit of it.

Pumpkin guts and all.

See!...there's the smile!

We just had a dandy ole time.  Phil and I each carved our own and we gave Caylee and Dan one to share.  Dan's contribution turned out to be minimal when he decided the couch was his best friend. 

No offense to carving pumpkins mind you-Dan was just tuckered out.

Little Georgia helped too!

There no joking around with this pumpkin carving.  Nope-no funny business at all.  These guys went all out.  I'm used to just some basic triangle eyes and a crooked grin, but no, that does not suffice in Oz I tell you!  This was a first for me too!  

I was super impressed.

Caylee's is on the left.  We call it Mike Wazowski.

Phil's is the middle bloke.  We call him Cheeky.

and mine is on the right.  We call him Boogly Boo.

(okay maybe not 'we call', more 'I decided'...but still!)

Boogly Boo

 Cheeky

Mike W.

We are so proud.

Now you'd think that would suffice.  

Not for my hubs!

Friday night = first pumpkin carving

Saturday = this is what he came home with from the shops...

Yup, two more!

The middle on is little Cheeky.  Not a chance next to the new guys.  
We upgraded.

Round #2:

Oh how I love my Philip.

He got out his hobby knives and all.  This was not going to be just an ordinary pumpkin like last night's.  

He pulled out all the stops.

Paid off hey!?

He did this 100% by himself.  Not even an experienced American like myself had ever pulled off something like this.

I was amazed.

Mine again was a step up from my usual triangle eyes again, but nothing like Phil's.

Dagnabit.  

Outdone again by the hubs!

We really had a fabulous time.

We even attracted a bunch of trick-or-treaters

...to our landlord's door

...cuz our is through the side gate

...whoops!

and that is how we do it.

we carve.

the end.

xoxo

-9- Thank You Australia

.Australian Football.

A little while back our friend gave Phil and I some tickets to an AFL game.  We cheered loud and proud for the 

SYYYYYYD-NEEEEEEY SWANS.

{check out my team scarf-yup, we're true fans!}

That there with me is my fancy clapper, that they gave me FOR FREE.  

Just bend and clap-simple as that! 

Psh, nothin's free in Australia so we were pretty stoked.

It was heaps of fun. Freezing, but fun!

 Perhaps you are thinking, there is no such thing as this 'Australian Football' but folks, I'm here to educate you.  There is such a thing, and contrary to popular (well maybe just Kaylee's) belief, it is not at all like Quidditch ...

(darn!-even with the three goal posts and all)

...anyway, AFL is huge here in Oz.  The rules were easy for me to catch onto making the game fun to watch.  Now if I could just figure out how to keep my eye on the ball, cuz mate!-these blokes are quick!

None of those heavily padded big brutes plunkin' around on the field.

None of that giving the players some rest while switching teams for offense and defense.

None of that-NONE!

 Guys, this is intense!  

Honestly, after watching AFL I just thought, 

{oh NFL players...you are such whimps.}  

Sorry America, I'll have to go with Australia on this one.

AFL = Legit.

...and so to you, Australia, today I say

Thank You.