Well we've been home a month now, and I'm finally getting around to posting the last of the Oz pictures. I'm sorry it took me so long. We've had a rough time adjusting back to US time!

A lot of these pictures are of the girl's baptism; and seeing as Amy was busy getting baptised and all, most of them are not taken with her camera.

This first one is though - this is Amy before the baptism in her be-yoo-tiful new linen dress and hat, on the grounds outside the church.


Amy before we left that morning under the gumtree out in front of our apartment's front porch (on Donald Street.)


The church was lovely, the priest was nice, and we read scripture and said prayers. Amy was VERY into saying all the prayers. Iris was scared.


Amy got dunked first, and she did so good. She loved the whole process!

Iris, not so much. She yelled and turned purple and tried to claw herself up mommy away from the priest.

Afterwards though, we lit candles, and fire makes everyone happy!

This is reading the prayers and blessings at the end. Mommy and daddy were so moved by how much this baptism felt like their wedding 7 years ago to the week. It was very similar and brought back happy memories.

Afterwards we took a picture with the whole family except Michael, who had to be at work that morning. Left to right it's David, Matt, Mom and Iris, Granddad, Amy, Grandma behind Amy, Daddy, Julia, and Great-Grandma.

With our friends Noel and Cass

With our very good friends Sam and Glen

With Sharree (who Amy adored!)

Amy and the priest, who was so kind!

Our family with Great-Grandma and her sister Doris

Afterwards we went and had lunch together. Sam sure is a cutie.

Right before we left, we had a dinner party at Michael and Willow's place to celebrate Iris' first birthday. Iris is here with Matt, who was her favorite person on the planet. She was always happy if Matt was around. That's Dave in the background.

At dinner here's Dave, Mick, Willow, Grandma. Grandma was preparing her hair. Dave called this photo "Margaret's Ocean Breeze."

Guess what Uncle Dave thought was funny to give Amy for the pictures? (No worries, it wasn't open.)

As we left to go home and sleep for a few hours before heading to the airport, here are the two girls with their very loving grandparents.

It was a LOVELY trip and we've been so homesick for everyone already. We're so grateful we had a chance to get out there and spend some time with them, and the girls sure loved everyone. And being in summer in January wasn't so bad either! I wish we had the money to do it every year. Already every other day or so Amy asks when we're going back to Australia to see her family. It breaks my heart that she misses them so much and there's not really anything any of us can do about it. My consolation is that the girls know their family out there, know what great people they are, and know how much they are loved. Iris probably won't remember much of the trip, and Amy very little - so I'm grateful for all the photos we took and for the blog in Amy's own words to help remind her of the amazing time she had there.

That's it for this blog. We'll start another one next time we go!

From Mommy: I know it has been a few days. We're home safely and jetlagged like you wouldn't believe! I have pics of the baptism party that Amy took and probably some other stuff too - have to upload them but they're on Pete's laptop and we haven't managed to hook it up yet. Stay tuned! They're coming!

(Amy is typing this entry all by herself.)

AMY

we went to the natuire sxz reservvvvvve ghiuyedsazxcvvyt7kiju ytrew qasdfgjopiqwerdfghhh


lorikeets in a bottlebrush tree

cockatoos
cockatoo and galah
rosellas
king parrot

cattle egret
kangaroos


koalas
mama and baby

baby

***Note from Mummy: Thanks to Katie I just figured out comments were turned off here; I guess with a software release it flipped all the switches! I think I have it fixed now, if the comments don't work please drop me an email - Amy loves to hear people 'write back' when she posts!***


Yesterday was a very long day and nobody napped, but we still had fun even though we were all very tired. We got dressed in the morning and then we missed a train. We ate some lunch and got the next one, and stayed on it a long time, and then we got to a city called Sydney. I love the train. This is what it looks like out the train window going to Sydney:


After we got off the train, we went to a place called the Rocks and had coffee with a friend of mommy's (That would be Rae / coati, if anyone cares!) I liked the Rocks, it was really old and there were lots of stores selling cool stuff like kangaroos and koalas and shirts, and lots of people. This is a picture I took walking down George Street:


After we had coffee we found a grassy spot with a HUGE tv playing cricket on it (This would be at Circular Quay - Mum.) We stopped to run around a little. Here is me and Iris on the grass.

The best part about Sydney is there are seagulls all over. I guess because it's near the ocean. I love seagulls and Iris loves seagulls and I want them to sit on my arm and talk to me but they never do. Iris likes to chase them and yell "quack quack! quack quack!"

Sydney also has lots of really tall buildings! I think it looks like daddy's work.

This big white thing in the background is called the Opera House. Mommy told me it's called that because they have special singing called opera inside it. We went to see it, and when I walked inside it I remembered what mom told me about the singing, so I decided I should sing while I was in it. I sang "If You're Happy and you Know It Clap Your Hands." Everyone thought that was really funny. I was really proud when I got to tell grandma that I had sung at the Opera House.

They have a really big bridge there too. I don't think it's all that exciting, but you sure can see it from everywhere.
See?


I liked the idea of a place named Rocks. I kept looking around for some rocks. I found these on the ground outside the Opera House so I took a picture of my foot with some rocks.


Here's mommy and Iris outside the Opera House with that same bridge again.

After we did all that we ate some dinner and got back on the train. All those trains are really cool! On the train I met a nice lady sitting behind me named Tara. She talked to me and I started telling her knock knock jokes and made everyone in the whole train laugh! Everybody here smiles at me and likes my jokes and tells me I'm beautiful. It's friendly. I really like when people are friendly. Iris and I were SO friendly that we didn't sleep the whole way home until it was midnight. Mom and dad were so tired of my jokes by then.

Tomorrow if Mom can post pictures I want to tell you about more Australian animals! Grandma took us back to the nature reserve and this time the animal area was open. I took great pictures of all kinds of cool stuff. I'll tell you about it later!

Well this week the camera ran out of batteries. Mum and dad put new batteries in it, but a lot of this week we don't have pictures.

One thing I did take pictures of is the day when mum and dad's friends Mal and Kath came over. They had a girl my age named Steph, and a baby Iris' age named Ronan. It was really fun!
This is mommy and Iris while they were talking to friends. Mummy was really happy.


This is Steph. We played cricket outside! She held the bat and we each had a ball. Then we threw them in the air and ran around chasing the balls and laughing. Then we did it again. It was so fun! We blew bubbles and had snacks and I liked her.


This is Kath with Ronan next to her. She was really sweet to me and nice.


This is Mal. While they were here he went out with daddy and bought a toy plane for himself. It was pretty cool, but we coudn't touch it.









We also got to meet a friend named Sharree. She was also really nice to me and we got to play tickle games! She made me laugh.

This week we had a holiday called New Years. Daddy said it's kind of like a birthday, only nobody gets presents and everyone celebrates. We took the train into town and walked past some really loud music and lots of people! Then we got to go on a boat called a ferry. Mommy and I stood at the back and looked in the water for jellyfish. I love the ocean and ferries. We met my grandma on the other side and we all went to the beach. I built sandcastles and found LOTS of pretty shells, and mommy held me in the waves so I wasn't scared and could feel them splashing and moving us around. Grandma got us showered and dry and took us to the playground while mom and dad went swimming. After that we got cold so we walked to Grandma's house and she went in to get us some blankets. Then we walked to a fish and chip shop and ate some late dinner. While we were eating we heard fireworks! Daddy took me outside and we could see lots of them in the sky. They were all colors and different shapes and went Boom BOOM BOOM!!!! Really loud. After that we went back on the ferry and train back home. It was really late and we fell right asleep.

Tomorrow I am going on the train again with mum and dad to the same big city the plane went to, called Sydney. I love the train. Daddy is going to work in Sydney and we are going with mommy to meet a friend of hers and have lunch in the city. After that a really good friend of mommy's is coming to stay near us for a few days and I am so excited. Mommy says I'll really like her! And in a couple days we get to go to church and be baptised. I am not sure what that means but we get a party.

I'll take more pictures!

It was Christmas in Australia!

Christmas Eve night we went to church. It was so crowded but so pretty. Iris and I loved the music and I sang "GlooooOOOoooOOoooOOoo - ria" for the next few days. Here we are driving up to the church.


Afterwards we went into another room and saw a pretty set of statues of the baby Jesus and his family. They had animals. I liked what I saw so much that every time someone else came into the room, I gave them a tour and explained the whole scene to them so they would understand. I sure was proud.


After church we all went back to my house and had dinner together. Iris really liked her uncle Matt. Here he is having dinner with her.


We set out santa packs and cookies, and while we were asleep Santa came! Even in Australia! He filled my pack and Iris' pack with all kinds of stuff, look at all the toys he gave me!


Later on we packed up and went to the park for a Christmas picnic. It was so much fun! There were all kinds of birds we saw and heard kookaburras and carrawongs and magpies and ducks. There was even a big friendly peacock and some peahens and htey made the coolest noises. Here is the peacock by the duck pond.


Here's his big tail up. It was huge! He let me touch his tail feathers. They were shiny. That's me and grandma next to him on the picnic table.


In the duck pond there were black swans! We have geese at home, these are like geese but they are all black with red beaks. They made funny noises and nipped when you got too close. I'm trying to talk to them here.


This park also had emus, but emus are a nuisance so they are kept in a big cage. Here is what an emu looks like very close up.


And a little farther away.


Daddy taught me how to play cricket and I LOVE cricket. I like most sports but cricket is really good. I played with daddy and grandad and my uncles. Later on I played bocce and thought that was great fun too.


There was a kookaburra that liked the look of our picnic and it sat in a tree branch only a few feet away the whole time. Eventually he got brave and started stealing pieces of cheese from us! We heard his funny call. He says "Kooooo-koo-koo-koo-kaa-kaa-kaa!" I pretended to be a kookaburra and flapped my wings and made lots of noise with him.


We had more presents and Christmas crackers that made a loud noise when you pulled them and they had stuff inside! I had so much fun with my family playing with toys and relaxing.


We were so tired by the end of the day but Christmas sure was fun. I can't wait to do it again!