The first of many

So, I haven't done much with the pictures on my camera since about day 2 of the cruise when Travis took so much video of the Maori dancers I had to make room on the disk... but I do realize it's been like a month since I posted any decent photographic evidence. So here goes, all the way back to early December when it was about 0F instead of 100F.

FFM having a little chat with his great grandpa. I missed most of the chatting part...but they're having a grand time...

We had a lot of snow up at the mountain house, but it was a really nice day so we went to the playground anyway. It's tough to slide into a snowdrift but FFM was determined to do it over and over and over...

Then there was early Christmas (we departed Colorado and the USA on Dec 18) - complete with Santa delivering a flashing reindeer nose to complete the ensemble FFM started with the feathered, glittery, jingly reindeer headband picked up a couple weeks earlier.

During our brief stop back in Denver, prior to our flight back to Australia, we swung in to Denver Zoo lights.
Then back to Australia! First stop, Sydney (east coast) where we finally connected back up with Travis (west coast - 5 hour flight away from Sydney). Travis' mom, Penny, met us in Denver and flew with us to Sydney. Sydney Harbor Bridge and Opera House below. Travis and Penny climbed the bridge one day while FFM and I hung out.

We took a ferry ride around the harbour to a zoo and got off across the way from our hotel, and walked across the bridge to get home. ...and stopped off at the famous Luna Park on the way. Who wouldn't want to play at an amusement park where you enter through a giant face?

We got a good deal on a nice hotel in Sydney, and through various mishaps ended up getting upgraded twice (wrong room type once, then the A/C was broken in our new room so we moved again) to a new room. Our final room had THIS view! Needless to say we were pretty content to sit out on our balcony and sip Aussie wine in the pleasant summer evenings after FFM was asleep.

Then, on the morning of our departure from the hotel, we woke up to THIS view. Our cruise ship had arrived! Off to New Zealand for us, we just had to figure out how to get our stuff from the hotel down to the ship (taxis were unhappy about such a short distance and we really had just too much stuff to carry ourselves...although we could have done it in a pinch. Travis found a taxi willing to wade through cruise boarding traffic that would take us).

Upon boarding our ship we practiced our 'lifeboat muster.' After getting an appropriate jacket for FFM we were all ready for our trip up to lifeboat 9!Note the adjoining staterooms (you can see into our stateroom from Penny's - look at the far right of the photo). A GREAT thing during this cruise. Nothing like being able to put your toddler to bed and then having a room right next door to hang out in.

Coming soon - holiday and cruise photos. You can bet FFM was a huge hit running all over the ship in his jingly antlers ;)

Hot

...and when I said the house was hot last night - I really meant it.

Central A/C was not something we found in any of the places we looked at here in Perth, we have a large wall unit upstairs that does a pretty good job of keeping us in the low 80s / high 70s in the playroom and the master bedroom. We rented a portable A/C for FFM's room when we did the package of rental appliances way back when we moved in. And downstairs, well, we close the shades during the day and open the windows when it drops below 85F.

Back

After spending more time on the road than actually living in our new Perth home, FFM and I have returned to Western Australia. We made it home, with Penny and Travis, late last night with all luggage in tow (amazing). The house was HOT but we all crashed into bed. Today will be filled with laundry and groceries, deleting junk email and the such. More blog updates coming soon.

Cruisin'

We are still onboard...working our way around New Zealand and having a grand time. We learned FFM is not allowed in the ship's pools, however, which has put a slight damper on the days we are at sea and not in a port (something to do with non-toilet trained children and the filtration system). However he's made a million pals onboard and jogs around giving high fives. Yesterday Travis and I did a tour on our own while Grandma Penny babysat and someone we don't remember ever meeting asked us where our kid was...that's how deep FFM's posse is.

We'll be back with more stories soon, but with internet onboard at US$28/hour the only internet we slow down for is at internet cafes. Expect more news and loads of photos from our trip about Jan 6th or 7th upon our return to Australia!

Around the world we go

We're off again, to rejoin Travis down under. FFM, Penny and I head out of Denver and back to Australia tomorrow evening after a lovely two month visit to the good ole USA. I've eaten Mexican food nearly every day, driven an enormous SUV around for most of the time, and done a great deal of American style consumer shopping.

This flight will be a little shorter, 17 hours of planes plus about 6.5 hours of airports for grand total of about 23.5 travel hours. We're only going as far as Sydney where we'll connect with Travis and hang out for a few days. Then we're all off to New Zealand for two weeks on a lovely family cruise. I've never cruised before and am looking forward to the new experience. Especially now that we have the bed solution resolved for the munchkin that outgrew every pack-and-play known to man.

FFM loves his 'Peapod Plus'

So things may be a little quiet for the next couple weeks....there is internet on the ship but it's pricey. Little fingers got to my camera yesterday and it got smashed...and then replaced today (darling darling husband calmly emailed that yes, a decent camera was immediately necessary) but for a brief moment I thought perhaps there would be no photos of New Zealand to share! Fear not, the traveling Moores continue on.

We hope you and yours all have a safe and happy holiday season. Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and we hope the New Year finds you all in fine spirits.