Ready or Not

I'm ready to blog about everyday life.

Oh but I'm not ready to skip these photos though...

so deal with it.

I warn you, there are heaps tons! (pardon my aussie)

Ready or not...here they ALL come!

We made a little road trip to Canberra with the fam.  We had to give them a little bit of Aussie culture to send them back home with.

It was a short stay, but it was a good one. We ventured through the embassies, stopped at the War Memorial,

and QUESTACON!

Mom saw my previous blog about it, and decided the family needed to have a whirl.  

Good choice Mom.

We all tried the giant slide...or attempted to try it...

Hear those screams?  Yup, that's our Jocey.  I love how she's frantically trying to get back up with her legs. :)  She never quite made it down, but she made us laugh!

The next day  we were off to Jervis Bay.  The first time I came to Australia (little 16yr old kaylee), I went to Jervis Bay with my mom and the Pettits.  It was beautiful.  We loved it and wanted the whole Perucca clan to experience it.  

Why do we love it?   Oh, just the birds folks!  Ha, but they're amazing!  Rainbow Lorakeets everywhere.  They were there just like last time...

And they were just as crazy as last time.  

Landing on our heads. (even when we weren't holding any fruit)  

Trying to nibble the beads of Mom's shirt.

and biting our ears.
Seriously. Like kamikazes guys!

It's worth all of it though.

Right down the hill from our Lorakeet party was the beach.

 These beaches are the cream of the crop.  Some of the whitest sand in the world.  It truly looked like paradise.  There were even dolphins swimming about 20ft out, right next to swimmers!  We lova, lova loooooved it!

(the hubs has a hard time opening his eyes...he struggles)

  

Oh and did I mention that Phil's parents and Rachael joined us for our excursions?  

We loved having them with us. They lead us through all the back-roads from Canberra to Jervis Bay and yes dear friends, we saw our fair share of dirt roads through the outback and road-kill.  

Kanga road-kill.

No visit to the beach would be complete with out a kanga just hopping along the sand.

Yup, it happens.  Check it.

And finally (you still awake?) we went on a dolphin cruise.  Everyone.  The whole kit-and-kaboodle.

Underwater viewing

We saw dolphins far...

and near!  They were so close!  I was so surprised!  They were right next to the boat most of the time.

There was a cute little baby dolphin jumping all around.  So cute!

Needless to say, it was a great road trip.  

We tuckered out the parentals...

had some laughs...

(eeeek!)

 ...and loved every minute of it.

-December 27-28, 2010-

xoxo

Christmas 2010

Merry Christmas...

oh boy: exactly 34 days late!

but even as (late) as it is, you know you all still want to see the photos.  And well, even if you don't, you can just click the X on your browser and no-one will know.  Me included.

But if you love me, here's just some snippets of our fine day.  

Yes, it was FINE.  

A fine 95 degrees. 

Santa found us in Oz...much to Jocelyn's worry and then delight.

We were spoiled. 

Australia trip for the Peruccas, family for me and pressies for all!  

Perfect.

 

No Christmas day is complete without the good ole relaxation.  Don't fret, we did our fair share!

The Bennallacks graced us with their traditional Christmas morning brekkie, ham and cheese croissants.

Yum!

DIG IN!

  After some R&R, it was time for the Bennallacks to arrive...well the rest of them.

That equals 22.  For Christmas lunch/dinner/lunner...meh, you get the picture.

 It was just too blazin' hot outside so we moved the tables on in.

Best decision ever.

The tables were complete with christmas crackers and all.  

It's an english tradition --> 

aussie tradition --> 

and now a Perucca/Bennallack tradition. 

The crackers had little toys and a Christmas crown for all.

We ate like 'kings'. 

(haha, yes I'm laughing at my own lame joke)

Merry (late) Christmas from me to you.

-December 25, 2010-

xoxo

Together Time

Can we just go back and re-live December?  In slow motion please?  

Oh I miss it so much!

We were so blessed to be able to crash at the Krok's place while they were away for the holidays. (thank you Kroks!)  It saved us the whole hotel shi-bang and gave us a place where we could all be together all the time.  

And when you live 14000 miles away, 

(that's about 23000km for my aussie pals) 

time together is as precious as it gets.

We celebrated Nick's 24th birthday with some cake and ice cream...aaand a trip to Australia! Hahaha-but really, he had 2 birthdays this year: his Australian one and then his American one the next day.

LUCKY!

We loved having the Krok's tennis court at our disposal.  Specially for those almost cool summer nights.  We all got pretty good.  Even miss jocey!

Braden became the favorite judge.  He provided commentary and all.  Don't want to have a bad serve with that one around to call it!

We had to keep up the tradition of making gingerbread houses, even if we were in a different country. 

 (maybe Jocelyn loves it a bit too much)

 Here's the girls/mom's finished product.

 and mine & Phil's.

Oh so much fun! 

-December 23, 2010-