Glasses!

After a few weeks of dismissing Abbey's insisting that things were "blurry" at school as just a ploy to get the same glasses as her friend, I finally took her for an eye test. Turns out its a miracle she hasn't walked directly into a signpost or off the edge of something yet. She practically kissed the optometrist when he said she REALLY needed glasses. Partly because she can't wait to bring them to show-and-tell but mostly because she was right about being blind. "See Mom, I told you I needed glasses! I wasn't faking!" I am the worst mother in the world.

Of course she picked the purple frames with the trendy pattern on the inside (hard to see in the photo but they are very cool). For her free included prescription sunglasses she went straight for the pink aviators, "just like Mommy's". She is my kind of shopper, it took her about a minute and a half to complete the entire transaction.

Hooray, Leila's here!

Aboriginal Art Whiting Style

Hannah told me the paint brush behind her ear "makes her look smart". How about the paint smeared all over your face? How bright do you look now smartypants?

Sydney City 2 Surf

On a beautiful, sunny Sunday morning, Pete and I squandered our weekly babysitting time to run in the Sydney City 2 Surf. I haven't run more than about 5 miles at any one time since arriving in Sydney so the 14km was a challenge! The scenery was worth the pain though and it's an amazing event with 85,000 runners (largest in the world apparently) winding all through Sydney and ending at iconic Bondi Beach. The usual line of stinky port-a-potties was not my favorite part, nor were the crazy hills, but ending with a boisterous sprint along the beach to the finish line was pretty great. Definitely something I (and my creaky old lady knee) will remember.

Waiting for the bus to ballet class

With our babies, of course

A decent substitute for Sat morning running group

While I miss my regular Saturday morning gossip-fest/recounting of husband bafoonary session (er, I mean running with my girlfriends in Boston) a quiet solitary run around the lower north shore of Sydney is not too shabby either. The upside: great scenery. The downsides: I am green with real estate envy (yes, that is a 2-boat garage), and how many flights of stairs does one person have to run up in this city?!

Flowers for sale

Abbey made $10 in about 15 mins hawking paper flowers that were of pretty questionable coloring quality. Must have been the sales pitch that went something like "Hey!!, do you wanna buy a flower?" Or maybe it was the mismatched socks. I don't have to think too hard to tell you where we'll be next Sunday morning.

Fitness lunatics

5:30am, pitch black, freezing cold (in Sydney terms of course, so something like 10 Celsius) and the beach is alive with walkers, bootcampers, and swimmers. Swimmers!! You can't see your hand in front of your face and people are doing laps in the open ocean around the corner from which a shark was spotted a few months ago. Yesterday I could barely find a free locker at my gym at 5:45am. What is wrong with these people??!!

Some random stuff

Hannah rock-climbing at mosman public school family fun day.
Crazy backpacker sunbathing in front of the entrance to the Cairns airport.
My new favorite cafe in mosman complete with fancy coffee (too bad it was raining that day, but it's still so pretty).
Abbey looking way to grown up.
More grocery store insanity.
Abbey's cake creation for 4th of July BBQ.

New Zealand 3 - Camper Van!

Who woulda thunk it, the Whitings in a Winnebego!  After weeks of planning activities and many hundreds of dollars spent on jet boats, horseback rides, boat cruises, penguin sightings and mountain adventures, the only thing the girls were still talking about by the time we got on the plane to come home was how awesome it was to sleep in the bunk above the driver's seat in the camper van.  It was a great way to see the country and the girls would have been happy never to leave the cheesy holiday parks we stayed in along the way, complete with trampolines, mini golf, and lots of other kids to play with.

Even the communal kitchens were a source of never-ending fun.

You can certainly understand why they call Dunedin the "Edinburgh of the South".  We explored castles, ate every meal in a pub, and toured the local brewery.  Even the scenery looks like Scotland despite being literally on the other side of the world.