Up, up and away!

This week we had a mini Barr family Christmas party with Dave and Lou and O and A. All the cousins had a lovely time getting together and exchanging presents while Adam and I and Dave and Lou relaxed and enjoyed the afternoon. L and E went caroling with the youth from church before we remembered to get out the camera but here are the rest of the crew.

On Tuesday L, E and T flew down to Newcastle to visit Nanny and Poppy for a week and spent their time playing golf, swimming in the pool and going to the movies. Ted was also there at Nanny and Poppy’s holiday camp (since we went to Burleigh) and was very pleased to see them all. We got phone calls every day detailing their adventures!



Those of us left behind at home, Adam, J, M and me, made the most of the situation and finished all our Christmas shopping, had visitors over and did some tie dying of T-shirts to give as presents to the older kids. Adam played golf with J and his friend B and then we spent the rest of the week preparing for our trip down to the Central Coast of NSW for Christmas.

Burleigh and ballet

We spent this week on holiday at Burleigh Heads, as we do every December after the last week of school. We stay at a unit opposite the beach and spent the week going from the beach to the pool to the tennis court. The weather was very good to us and we had sunshine every day and a few night storms through the week. By Saturday we were all relaxed and ready for Christmas and the summer holidays. Here are some photos.


















On Saturday night M had her Ballet concert. She was so gorgeous ballet dancing dressed as an American Indian in Peter Pan with her class (aged 3-5 years) and then jazz ballet dancing to “All that Jazz” with another class group. She was so lovely and had so much fun! We really enjoyed watching her unique style and artistic expression, as well as her determination to always be first in line when dancing around the stage! There was the usual 3 year old distractions during the dance, like “something’s on my finger” or “what do we do next?” but we could see a little sparkle in her eyes as she gravitated to the front of the stage at every opportunity! Well done M!

Winding down

This week the boys started their school holidays, spending their days with friends and playing golf. Unfortunately for J, he still had another week left to finish so we tried to stick to the normal routine as much as possible for his sake but he did have a swimming fun-day on the Wednesday that finished at lunchtime and he finished school early on Thursday to go see a 3D movie with the other boys and Adam. J didn’t seem to mind too much!

After Molly’s dress rehearsal for the ballet concert on Saturday and some packing instruction for the boys from Adam, we headed off to the beach at Burleigh for a week with the Stendell family, our good friends from Melbourne. After the exams, assignments and commitments of the last few weeks the beach is a wonderful way for the kids (and us!) to wind down from that go-go-go mentality.

Bring on the summer holidays!

Bill, Adam and Paul at the airport in Hawaii.

Yay! Adam's home! We all raced out to the airport at 1:30pm on Monday, straight after L finished an exam, to see Adam fly into Brisbane in the new Embraer. It was very shiny and new but no where near as impressive as seeing Adam waving in the front window as they pulled up to the gate! The boys all met him in the baggage area and lugged his hoard of bags and presents through to the car. We had a wonderful evening going through all our presents (incl. three pairs of Brazillian sandals for me!) and watching a slide show of all his adventures. It was great to have him home, we missed him!

(Here is the Jim Shore nativity that Adam got me, Mum)

One of the presents that Adam got the boys was some 5 gum flavours only available in the USA. The boys sold them by the piece to all their friends who wanted them and made about $15-20 each. We had no idea they were such entrepreneurs but then again their Dad did the same thing when Hubba Bubba bubble gum first came out about 30 years ago. Like father like son(s)!!

This was the big boys last week of school for the year so on Tuesday Adam and I decided to go Christmas shopping while we could without an entourage! By Wednesday however, jet lag hit and Adam slept practically the whole day away!

The end of the week was spent quietly at home while Adam got re accustomed to our time zone again and the kids celebrated the end of school by lying around watching TV. Those who didn't go to golf or a friend's house went out and bought Jordan a new soccer ball because he still has one week of school to go and we promised him a surprise for being so good!

Things have slowed down so drastically around here now, we hardly know ourselves! Ahhh lovely summer.......maybe there's time to do some knitting again!

Ballet and Brazil

This week was thankfully a little quieter than the last. Being the second last week of the school year the big boys (L,E and T) were all busy with assignments and exams. Accordingly M and J had the most fun this week.

M got her Ballet and Jazz costumes this week for their end of year concert in a few weeks, which was very exciting! At the same time she had photos taken with her class for which hair and make-up had to be done. That was an adventure! After attempt no. 1 I left M for a minute to go and get a brush only to return to her with panda eyes! That is why 3 year olds don't wear make-up! After a little instruction on NOT rubbing eyes after applying eye make-up we had another go and then curled her hair. She was very impressed with her new look!





On Saturday we went to cousin A's 3rd Birthday party where there was a jumping castle and lots of water, games and activities to keep all the little ones busy. The cake was a huge hit!





J had a moment of glory when he was selected to be a mascot for the Roar A-League Football team for a game at Suncorp stadium. Jordan got to participate with two of his school friends and all the boys were given shirts to wear on the day and keep. J got to walk out with Sergio Van Dyk the team's striker and had a great time. (Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them - J is fourth from the right in the team photo)



Adam had a good time in Brazil particularly eating dinner at a restaurant called Villa D'aldeia where they were served various meats etc on huge swords. They had a special dial on their table to say if they wanted more meat or not. As you can imagine with it being all you could eat a good time was had by all the pilots and engineers who went. Not one for the vegetarians that's for sure!

On Wednesday Adam, Paul (the other pilot) and Bill (the engineer), flew to Curacao in the Caribbean for a day and then to Tuscon, Arizona. Here are some photos of his adventures.

Pizza by the metre in Brazil.

Amazon River from 38,000ft.

The Hilton Beach Lagoon in Curacao.

Adam and Paul hard at work in the Caribbean.

This is why it is the Dutch Antilles.

Before the meal at Famous Dave's in Tuscon.

After.

Titan Missile silo in Tuscon.



Now this is catering - Sushi from San Jose (eaten somewhere over the Pacific Ocean)

Hard at work again in Lihue on the island of Kauai.