Airport Excursion With Dad

Wednesday the year ones went on the transportation excursion to the airport and Circular Quay just like Emmalee got to do last year. Being the loving wife I am, I volunteered Jim for the job of parent helper this time. I thought it was really interesting when I went along and Andrew I knew would LOVE to have daddy along too!
Since Jim had a meeting in the afternoon, Mrs. Wilscek arranged for Andrew's busload to be the group to hit the airport first. They did the check-in thru security just like any other airport passenger would do. Luckily no one set off the alarms!
Then they got to go in another bus out to the tarmac and watch planes take off and land. Heard lots of interesting facts along the way. Like it is much cheaper to park your private plane at Sydney airport than it is to park your car. $11 a day to park your plane. (You just have to pay to take off and land... and then you have to figure your jet fuel and of course the cost of your plane to begin with...)
After the airport, Jim said farewell to all the kids and Andrew's bus left for a lunch at Circular Quay and watching the ferries and boats move in and out of the harbour. Jim used a different mode of transportation -- taxi to get back to work!

It's a pajama party!

We got packages today in the mail. Lots of them! Gotta love birthday time!
Anyway, Gramma Sandi has been hard at work. She whipped up some amazing jammies for the grandkids (even after the wrist injury and carpal tunnel surgeries!) and here they are. After a bribe of quick, but meaningful back to school showers tonight, the kids were greeted with surprise presents from the States...

Andrew was pumped with his Cars pajamas. Could hardly slow him down. He kept on reading off the names of all the cars characters all over them. And racing around the house. Not exactly a slow down before bed activity, but nice to see him excited over clothes!
Emmalee likes to spend FOREVER in the shower. We are going to be in BIG TROUBLE when she hit the teen years. Only thing that dragged her out was hearing Andrew already had his surprise in his possesion. Out she shot! Boy was she excited to find her nightgown.

Kept saying how LONG it was. Then she put it on and was surprised to find it actually fit her. Hmmmm, guess she is growing. She was even more excited to see that the girls had matching gowns! So, here they are in all their glory!

THANKS GRAMMY SANDI!!! WE LOVE THEM!!!!! We luv you 2!

Brunch @ Nicole & Tony's

Nicole & Tony invited the Barton's, the Ford/Gibbs' and the Rhomberg's all over for a nice Sunday brunch to bid 'farewell' to the Bartons before the begin to pack up for Bris'Vegas' next week. As usual, Nicole outdid herself with her brunchy spread of food. Croissants and pastries and baguettes from the French patisserie in Castlecrag which were just so yummy. Muffins and quiches, cheeses and meats, juice and champagne and even more that I can't remember. I brought my normal chocolate chip scones (from Mom's cousin's recipe) and puff pastry cinnamon sugar twist sticks as our contribution. Was a beautifully full table.
We had a great time.
Kids got to take a dip in the very chilly pool. Even though it was sunny for all of Saturday and they had their solar heater running, it didn't make it past 22C (in my terms FREEZING -- Jim's terms -- ocean temp) Didn't stop the kids. They had a blast.

Nicole and Teesh played a bit of tether tennis while I watched the kids in the pool.

Later on, I watched Andrew and Jim (big Andrew) play an improv game of bump ball (thanks to the bumpy ball they were using) in the yard. Quite a site.

I am so at home here because we have made such good friends. I can't say how much all three of these families have made us feel a part of their families -- both through their friendship and through including us in their family's lives.

Mums Gone Wild

Good friends, good times!

We have reached the Summit

...and lived to tell the tale. But just barely. You see, the day started out normally. We had planned this amazing evening out to celebrate without kids -- a night out on the town in Sydney with Letetia & Andrew and John & Sophie before J&S move to Brisbane. Had it all worked out -- drinks in our boathouse (now that we have keys to it). Arranged a water taxi as a once in a lifetime sort of mode of transportation (due to the exorbitant cost -- its really far from here via water!) Had reservations at the Summit restaurant, which is the amazing revolving restaurant above Sydney where you can see the entire city in 105 minutes of revolution. Babysitters were planned. The weather had quit raining. It was all going perfectly...
Then we started to take the supplies to the boathouse (Emmalee & I) and 3/4 of the way down, we noticed (ok 1/2 way we noticed -- and before 3/4 she got off at the safest exit point) the cable snapped loose and the car started to slide freely down the track with me in it. Quick brake pulling ground it to a stop. But not before panic set in. Not because of the thought of plummeting into the boatshed (yes, that was a concern, too!) but rather the thought of dragging the rest of the chairs, champagne, snacks, etc. down all 50+ stone, foliage covered steps and then asking our friends to bring flashlights(torches in AUS) and attempt to walk down them in the dark. What a mess. We were afraid we were going to have to cancel the water taxi, which was going to be a large part of the early evening excitement!

Checked with the gang and they said no problem. All up for a hike! So 6pm came around and they all put on walking shoes and we trekked down with snacks and 3 bottles of champagne and 6 flashlights and a lantern. Was plenty light out. The night was absolutely gorgeous. Sat on the dock for about 45 minutes before the taxi arrived just on time.

Pre-dinner drinks on the dock by the boathouse

Taxi'd off to the city enjoying the fresh air, smooth ride and wonderful scenery. Would be neat during the summer too. Maybe when we have more people around or something to split the cost more ways.

Boarding the watertaxi -- the only way to travel when you have a private jetty!!!

See how silly we get when you let the moms out at night!

Made it to the Summit a bit early (by 8pm), but they had our table ready by the window. Perfect night. No clouds. No fog. No rain. Just views.Had great food. Awesome conversations. Laughs galore. Decided that even though as Americans, we don't exactly find the British or Australian sense of humour funny, John and Andrew certainly are funny!! They agreed -- and appreciated it. Never a dull moment at that table. I think we all held our own throughout the evening. The desserts were a bit slow coming out, so the manager apologized, so John said, "Nothing a complimentary bottle of wine won't fix!" and next thing you know, we

had a bottle of dessert wine delivered to the table! Good guy to have out for dinner with you!
Bid Andrew & Letetia farewell at 11.30 so they could take the sitter home and we could leave our children there for a sleepover. Went to the Establishment with John and Sophie for a quick nightcap (Cosmo for me, bourbon and coke for the boys and water for Sophie). Boy have the styles changed. I guess its one of THE PLACES to go out at night. We just don't get out much these days... These dresses we saw out were not much more than longish? shirts with maybe a belt?!?! I guess we are getting old. But it was fun nonetheless. We wandered out to the cab-line around 12.15 and made it home before 1am. Latest night we have had in ages. But we survived!

Everyone at dinner at the Summit in Sydney Saturday night!

Nelson Bay "Dells"

This afternoon, we figured out that we pretty much exhausted every wet weather activity in the Nelson Bay area except for Cosmic Bowling (which Andrew was dying to do) and Toboggan Hill Park. We decided to go bowling. Got there and found out you need a reservation to be able to do an afternoon bowl. No such luck for us. We got 2 lanes for tonight for us at 7.30 so we can bowl with the D'Souzas who are coming up tonight, too!

Headed over to Toboggan Hill Park, which claimed to be this 3 hour indoor place of fun that had climbing walls, jumping castles, arcade games and more. So over we went to waste some money.

Walked in and Jim and I were transported back to summer camp circa 1980-something. Or Wisconsin Dells. Oh My Goodness. And the kids proclaimed it was the best vacation place ever. It was dark. It was damp. The tin roof was leaking and there were plastic bowls on the concrete floor to catch the leaking roof.

We headed over to play foos ball. Girls vs. boys. Boys won -- unfortunately girls had the handicap of having a player in the center with no legs and the boys had 2 with no heads.

Andrew enjoyed playing hoops, kids drove crappy electric cars and played in the jumpy castle. Oh what fun the kids can have in a crummy looking place!!!

Banditos at Coronas

Tonight we felt like Mexican. We think we have pretty much exhausted most decent restuarants here in town (sorry to the locals) that have main courses for $25 or less. The kids don't appreciate anything there and our wallets really don't appreciate them after the fact. I can cook most things as well or better, so it just really steams me to pay that much for food when all I am paying for is to not cook or clean up after myself and the family. Plus, Jim and I both are kinda getting a bit sick of eating out. The variety isn't that great here.
The hotel's restaurant, Coronas, (like the beers) served decent breakfast the other day and we found out it had mexican, so we thought we would give it a shot tonight. Walked the 3o feet across the drive to it. Kids headed over to the giant chalkboard and got to work on their masterpieces. A combination of lettering and drawing as you can see. The sombreros just added to the ambiance. And a little throwback to Grandma Rhomberg's birthday fiesta a few years back. At the end you can see how Andrew felt that Nelson Bay needed another golf course, so he is in the process of designing an Andrew Rhomberg original course complete with water hazards and his signature 5 iron and golf ball (center of photo)

Andrew Rhomberg original golf course complete with water hazards and his signature 5 iron and golf ball (center of photo)

Car Shennanigans

Dad's driving can get pretty bad. Hence the double eye patches. They double as eye protectors from dangerous sisters who poke you when you aren't paying attention or dad's who drive to places you don't want to go to and you just don't want to see.

Bowling Addict

This is what Andrew did instead of feeding the sharks and rays. Second time to bowl today. The boy is an addict.

Shark & Ray World

Emmalee & Jim had an amazing experience this afternoon. They got to swim and feed rays and sharks while swimming with them. Andrew sat this one out because he just didn't want to be in the salt water. Not sure if that was the whole truth, but we couldn't convince him to go in, so I stayed out.Jim & Emmalee suited up in the latest wetsuits over their swimmers and hopped into a chilly tank filled with barb-less rays and mostly harmless sharks. They ranged in size from maybe 9 inches long to some that had to be over 6-8 feet long. There were blue spotted rays, Manta Rays, Port Stephen sharks and many more types of sharks. Emmalee didn't last too long in the water. It wasn't the fear that got to her, it was the cold. Teeth chattering, she fled the water before the feeding started. She made it back in time to participate from the deck in her regular street clothes while Jim did it from the water.

The shark wrangler (yes, that is what they are called according to their shirts) got in and fed the rays by hand. He got them to flip over and do tricks so we could see their mouths on the bottom side. He would bring them past so that all the kids could feel their skin. He also caught a couple of sharks so the kids could feel their skin and a baby shark's barb (cartilage). Jim was quite impressed with the way the rays felt, I think.
When we were told about the place, we were quite excited. The info center said it was very good and not to bad of a price. Once we got there, it was a different story. They even charge if you don't go in the water. So they charge $40 for Andrew and I not to go in!! Kinda crappy if you ask me. Getcha if you go, getcha if you don't. But, we thought Emmalee would enjoy it. Didn't know she would check out from the cold water so fast. Oh well. Maybe in a couple of years we'll head down to the Caymans and feed the rays in warm water down there!