Deepavali and Writing

One of the coolest things about living over here is seeing the different holidays that are celebrated around the world! Every year the kid's school puts on a big parade and dance for Deepavali, or "festival of lights." All the ECE kids (kinder age and down) dress up in Indian clothing and parade around the school, ending in the courtyard. There they do an Indian dance...so awesome!!
The kids were all SO cute in their clothes and did a fantastic job with the dance! Ella absolutely loved getting all dressed up! Luckily, Brent's office is right in the middle of Brickfields Little India, so I had no trouble finding outfits! All the clothes are so bright and colorful! Ella felt like a princess!! We bought lots of bangles and even henna stickers for her hands:)
Jake wasn't so sure at first:) Lily and Ella told him he looked like Aladdin! I didn't think he was going to enjoy any of it, but I was so wrong! Both kids did great and really got into the dance!

Luckily, Brent had been traveling so much, he was able to take the day off because Lily had a writing celebration at the same time. Brent loved going to the class where the kids served them treats and coffee and read them 3 stories that they had written and "published." Brent had a fantastic time and Lily loved having Daddy there:)

Halloween 2014

So this year we had a witch, a butterfly and Batman again (his costume still fit...whoohoo!!). I wasn't too sure about what to expect with Halloween here. If there would be any candy, costumes, decorations, trick-or-treating? Well, KL had it all!! It was definitely different than our Halloweens in the states with going door to door to trick-or-treat, but the kids all had a great time and got plenty of candy!
Ella and Jake got to wear their Halloween costumes to school on Halloween morning and had a little party in the ECE hallway. ECE includes Kinder and younger. Each teacher had an activity in their classroom and the kids had an hour to go from classroom to classroom making crafts, feeling sensory boxes, dancing and enjoying Halloween snacks. Lily was very jealous:) I got to walk Jake and 2 of his little friends around. All the kids really had a great time!

All of Jake's little class in their costumes:)

Halloween night the school PA puts on a huge Halloween Carnival for all the elementary families. I actually was on the committee which was a lot of fun! The whole time that we were planning though, I really never understood how big it actually was until the night of. There were SO many kids!!! And the majority of the adults dressed up too!! There was a DJ with dancing, lots of games and of course a trick-or-treating path. The lady in charge of decorations did an awesome job! I was truly amazed! It almost felt like Halloween back in New Orleans:) Brent was in charge of the kids for most of the night since I was helping out, but I got to catch up and play with them too!

A super sweet and talented mom organized a flash mob dance that Lily participated in and absolutely loved!! It was very cute and amazing how much they learned so quickly!

The next night, the condo did a little Halloween candy hunt. There were quite a few kids there too! The grown-ups kinda just thru candy all around ground floor by the pools and park and the kids ran for it! The kids had a blast! And I got an Almond Joy...it was a good night:)

Australia, mate!!

Ever since we moved to KL, Australia has been on the top of our list of places to visit! Let me tell you, it did not disappoint!!! It is absolutely gorgeous and full of fun things to do with the kids! And the weather was awesome! I never knew it got cold in Australia! We actually woke up one morning to 39 degrees and had a fire in the fireplace while we ate breakfast...not a bad way to spend a holiday!

Best part of the trip??...Just being together:) This was totally different than all of our other vacations in that we spent a lot of time driving. We rented a car and after spending just a day and a half in Perth, we drove 3 hrs to Busselton and Margaret River.
Since we were only in Perth for about 1 1/2 days, we packed them full and tried to see everything we could! There was lots of yummy eating and walking around.

We even found a chocolate cafe for dessert!! Look at all those truffles! We have discovered that most of our favorite times include food...it's just so good!!

The next morning, after church, it was raining so we decided to head to the aquarium for something fun and indoors. It was a beautiful aquarium!! They had a massive turtle and the hugest sting rays! There were also lots of cool fish that we had never seen before. My favorite were these seahorses that looked like branches and leaves...so cool! Jake's favorite thing was the boats at the marina:)

Excited to see the fish!!!

We were SO happy when the weather cleared up so we could go see the kangaroos and kaulas at Caversham's Park!! Man, this place is so awesome! I think the kids could have spent all day with the kangaroos! There is just a bucket of food and you can take as much as you want and the kangaroos come up and eat right out of you hand! Seriously...we fed kangaroos!! How awesome is that?!? We had to go back and feed them a few times:) The kaulas were too cute too! We didn't get to feed them, but we did get to get up close and pet one. They are so sweet! Did you know they sleep 20 hours a day?? Crazy!

The man took this picture at a really weird angle...oh well!

LOVE this face!!

So we got to pet these lizards at a show that day. A couple of days later, we were at a restaurant out in the country and there was one lying perfectly still on the porch right by the front door. It was SO still that I assured Lily it wasn't real and just a door stop. Oops! Poor girl nearly fell off the porch when she reached down and touched it and it moved!




Our last morning in Perth, we headed to King's Park. Wow. SO beautiful!! The weather was amazing that morning and the views and landscaping were gorgeous! We had such a fun morning running around, rolling down hills, petting dogs and just walking thru this awesome park! This is the morning that I fell in love with Australia:)

Ella was SO embarrassed in this "golfing" picture!! Poor girl is gonna have to get used to it:)

We stopped in Freemantle on the way to Busselton for lunch at a restaurant at a marina. Super yummy seafood!! The seagulls were everywhere though trying to get our food. The nice man at the table next to us taught Jake that they were afraid of knifes. He showed Jake how to scare them off by holding up a knife and yelling. Nice man, but not very smart apparently;) Not the best thing to teach a 3 year old boy. Jake loved it though!

We then hopped in the car and drove 3hrs to Busselton! It has been a while since I have packed for a car trip:) I really forgot to leave out anything to entertain. Silly mommy thought they might actually sleep!! They had no problem finding ways to entertain themselves though! There was lots of dancing, laughing and of course "Hey Cow!!" We even got to play "Hey Kangaroo!!"



We rented a place on the beach and it was perfect!! The kids loved having space to run around and play and build forts! We had an awesome yard to run around in and of course the beach to enjoy! Awesome views too!!

There were so many big dogs here!! We stopped to pet everyone we saw! It really made us miss Jack;)










They loved cuddling up in the morning and watching cartoons while I made breakfast. The sun was full out at 5 am, so there was no sleeping in!! Who needs sleep when you're on vacation?:)

We headed to Margaret River our first day to visit A'Mazen. Driving around Busselton and Margaret River felt like a road trip in Texas! Lots of open fields and cows...kinda made us homesick:)

A'Mazen was so much fun!! I had never done a tall hedge or corn maze before and we all really enjoyed it! At one point I wasn't so sure we were going to make it, but after about 30 minutes we found the middle!! Then there were a few other little rock and only turn left mazes and of course a great playground equipped with jump ropes and other little outside games. All in all, a fantastic way to spend a morning outside in gorgeous weather!

We then headed to the Berry Farm for lunch, more outside play and a little jelly tasting. We ended the day at Margaret River Chocolate Company and then headed home to enjoy some steaks! The kids ran around in the yard while Brent prepared a feast!

Brent pointing to who finally figured it out:)

We were all really excited the next morning because we had signed up for a whale watching excursion! We ended up being 5 of 9 passengers on a boat for 90 passengers! There were 2 crew...the captian and a really sweet lady who served coffee, cake and played the audience for our kids:) We got so lucky and at one point ended up with 8 whales around the boat!! It was beautiful! The kids liked it,  but I think it was a little long for them:) Well worth it though!

Ella lost interest in the whales pretty quickly and headed downstairs where she found a very attentive audience!

We ended the day playing and eating at Miller's Ice Cream:)

We headed to a cave to do some exploring the next morning! Very cool!! It was an audio guided tour and Lily and Ella loved listening on the headset:) There was a little hike thru the woods when we finished as well.

Spooky!!

We headed to the coast next to play in the sand!! So gorgeous!!! The kids had a blast collecting seashells and running from the waves!

We headed to the neatest little farm afterwards where we got to feed all the animals...even llamas!!  Man, those are ugly animals!! LOVED it!!! And of course, they had a little play area that the kids loved:) There were playgrounds all over Margaret River!

The kids and I headed back the next day, leaving Brent in Perth for work. Like always, the week went way too
 fast!! We had a fantastic time and would all love to go back someday! Next stop though is America!!! Bring on Christmas!!