First week of Spring!!

Most of you who read this celebrated the first day of Autumn this past week.  Us "down under" celebrated our first week of Spring.  Of course the first day after the McMillan's left we had 26 degree weather and 26-28 degree ( high 70's low 80's) weather for the next week after that!  It doesn't sound that warm, but when there's not one cloud in the sky it gets a little toasty.

Kylie has been enjoying her first Spring as well.  In the afternoon's we've been lying out in the backyard and she absolutely loves it!  Pretty soon she'll be ready for picnics in Kings Park and walks along the Swan River, I can't wait!  Here are a few photos from our first week of Spring!

Game Day!!

Hanging out in the backyard 

 She loves her puppies!

Relaxing and watching the puppies chase the birds

How the afternoon ended! (until I took the photo, then she woke up!)

McMillan trip 2010 (Perth)

The McMillan's departed for home this past weekend and I can honestly say that this house hasn't been this quiet in 23 1/2 weeks!!  With 3 extra people in the house there was a lot going on and lots to entertain a 5 month old!  I may have to hire some extra hands to come in and entertain Kylie so she doesn't go through "attention withdraws"!  Who would have thought there would come a time when all of my attention isn't enough for her?!?  All joking aside, Jamie and I really were concerned that it would be hard to entertain her for a while because of all the attention she was used to, but it actually hasn't been that bad.  We're in the middle of a little rough patch right now, teething and a growth spurt, but she seems to be adjusting quite well.

In between our adventures to the east and then down south we spent a little time in Perth hanging out.  Mostly shopping and walking around, but it was a nice change to the site seeing chaos that always seems to consume a vacation.  We had lots of fun but like most other things all good things must come to an end!  It's funny how you get used to being on this side of the world alone (without family and close friends) and when people do visit you adjust to seeing them around all the time pretty easily.  The same cannot be said for when those people leave!  You would think it would be easy (since you don't see them everyday anyway), but I think the leaving is always harder!  I've even started the countdown to Christmas a little early this year hoping it will make the time go by faster!  So just so you guys know, we've got 84 days until take off and counting!!  After seeing that number not sure if it's helping or just depressing = (

Here are some photos from their trip!

Kylie informing Mama Connie and Pops on the sites they should see in Perth

Downtown Perth after Jamie's meeting (Hay Street Mall on right)

Showing off during swimming

Golf at Burswood Resort.  Started off as a nice day but around here that can change quickly!

Golfing at Joondalup Golf Resort (just north of Perth)

Just another day on the course!!

They are everywhere!

Watching the golfers play

Lunch afterwards

Breakfast with Pops

Hanging out with Mama Connie

Cottesloe Beach (It was a windy day and Kylie was less than impressed!)

Trying not to fall asleep while we pack the car for Margaret River

Going for a ride with daddy! (check out how she hangs onto his ears!)

Kylie showing off her skills and her new sunglasses

Our last day...

Kings Park

And dinner at our favorite restaurant The Boatshed

View from our table

Dolphins and Cows and Kangaroos OH MY!

Since Jamie and I moved here we've wanted to visit Margaret River.  It's about 2 hours south of Perth and is considered their "wine country".  We've heard wonderful things about it, but seeing as though I was pregnant when we moved here the trip wouldn't have been much "fun" for me.  Instead, we saved it as a "to do" while his parents were here.

Since we were taking the trip to Sydney as well I didn't want to leave the dogs again.  My answer for this problem was to rent a house instead of staying in a resort.  We couldn't have picked a better house to stay in!  The house had plenty of space and the grounds were beautiful! 

View from the front patio and view from back door

From the back yard we had this gorgeous view...

We spent the first day hanging out in the house and getting settled.  Not that we really had much of a choice since the entire town seemed to shut down on Sundays!  In the end it worked out and we were able to relax and enjoy the house.  The next day we headed over to Cape Naturaliste Lighthouse, Sugarloaf Rock and the Ngilgi Cave.  Kylie wasn't too fond of the lighthouse but I think it was because it was cool and windy and the tour happened to be at her eating time.  She fell asleep in Mama Connie's arms at Sugarloaf Rock (as she had just got done eating!) so I can't say she was too impressed with that either!  All of the adults on the other hand enjoyed taking in the beautiful views and watching the whales and dolphins splash around.  The site I can say with certainty that Kylie L-O-V-E-D was Ngilgi Cave.  She talked and smiled the entire time, probably because she was not the one walking up some 400 steps and then back down them again with an extra 16 pounds on her chest!!  My legs were killing me the next day, but it was worth it to watch the look on her face as she checked things out.

The lighthouse and view from the top

Sugarloaf Rock - Beautiful!

Kylie before falling asleep and us

The caves - Jamie tried to crawl through the "kids hole".  He made it through, but said it was a "tight fit"

The entire next day was spent touring the wineries.  I'm not sure how many there are down in that area but it must be close to 100 or so.  We made a list of some that we wanted to visit with our "must see" being Watershed.  It's our favorite wine here so we thought we had to see it while we were down there.  All of the ones we ended up seeing were great and I am happy to announce that Watershed did not disappoint.  Not only do they have great wine, but their winery grounds and cellar door are beautiful!  After our wine tasting and purchasing were complete we had lunch in the restaurant (which was great too!) and enjoyed the views.  Kylie was amazing all day and handled the "in and out" of the car seat like a champ!  Thank goodness I have a well behaved, easy going kiddo!

Jamie after a few drinks at Vasse Felix

Watershed

Our nights were spent hanging out at the house watching the kangaroos and relaxing.  It was a great holiday, even though it was a little short!  For as small of an area as it is, there are tons of things to do.  We were able to keep pretty busy and see a lot of sites while we were down there but there are still a few things we missed.  Jamie's golf group is planning a golf weekend down there in October, so we may be heading down that way again soon.

For those of you on Facebook you'll note that I do have photos with my hair down even though I swore I would not! (If you have no clue what I'm talking about I'll catch you up real quick - I got a haircut the week before Sydney and it was THE WORST HAIRCUT EVER!!!  It was WAY SHORTER than it was suppose to be and the lady did my layers completely wrong!  Jamie tried to make me feel better by saying "Oh no it's not the worst, but probably the second worst cut you've ever had"!  I said that for the next 6 weeks or so there would be no photos of me with my hair down.)  Even though I've gotten used to my ugly hair, I still don't like it!  I've just decided to live with it, hence the photos. 


Here are a few additional photos from our trip!!

Mama Connie and Kylie hanging out before bath time

Jamie taking the photo at the begining of the blog

Jamie going hunting for kangaroos! (we blamed the large herd of cows for running the kangaroos off by our last day, but this many have been a factor as well!)