December 21 - The Nutcracker

I surprised Lilly by taking her to the ballet. We saw a production of The Nutcracker. We have been reading A Very Young Dancer (a book from my childhood about a little girl in New York who gets the lead in The Nutcracker) over and over again. We only read several pages a night but each time we finish it, we start right back over.


Anyway, I couldn't take pictures of the actual performance but I did get pictures of us going into the city and then a picture from our seats.


After the show Seth met us and we walked to the 'fancy' department store to look at the windows. They have five or six windows decorated with the story of Olivia Helps With Chrismas. There was sound and moving things. It was pretty cool. The pictures don't show the entire story but it was neat just the same.

Our goal was to get dessert afterward but Lilly fell asleep on the tram ride. So we just went back home and Seth went and got some ice cream.

December 5 - Oh Snap

I thought I was being careful, but I missed a camera, and so I missed a day of family fun. So let's go back to that cold December day. Ok, it wasn't really cold but it was a bit windy.

We headed out to Phillip Island where six months ago we saw the little penguins. We had purchased a three park pass and it expires after six months so we had this one day left to go. We needed to hit up the other two parks. One was a Koala Conservation Centre and the other was Churchill Island (a heritage farm).



The Koala Conservation Centre had a few little walks that amounted to one giant loop. A couple of the paths were board walks so you could be a little higher in the trees. Very cool (not as cool as seeing the koalas in the wild). We saw two koalas arguing over a tree. An angry koala sounds like a pig. We took a few pictures of the koalas but more pictures of some of the birds we saw.

We then headed off to a part of the island to just find a small walk. This turned out to be more exciting than I had thought because we saw and enchinda. These are sort of porcupine-ish creatures. For some reason I want want to stand still so I can use it to get the mud off the bottom of my shoe. I really don't know why. We also saw huge ants but I wasn't about to stick my hand beside one so you could get the idea of the size.



Finally the Heritage Farm. This was probably pretty neat earlier in the day. By the time we got in there weren't any more talks or demonstrations. That was a bummer. But we went into the petting farm area and Lilly got to pet a rabbit and a guinea pig.

December 17 - More Visitors

The 16th was very hot. And then the 17th it rained. And rained and rained. Lilly spent a couple of hours watching this little guy work his way through the 'garden', up a flower pot and up the side of our house.

December 15 - Thomas the Train

Lilly and I went along with our Australian friends Heather and Alex (Alex is one year younger than Lilly) to the Docklands to see Thomas the Train. We didn't have any expectations as the show was free and based on past experience, the more things are advertised here, the more disappointing they seem to be.

The day was very nice, maybe a little warm but I couldn't complain about that. We took the tram into the city and did a little walking when our second tram turned a different way than expected. We arrived at the stage as the crowd was being warmed up. The guy kept mentioning that pictures could be taken afterward with Thomas for those people who got a special ticket before the show. Apparently you had to be there 30 minutes beforehand to get the special ticket. Poor Lilly kept asking if we had the special ticket. Seeing as how we were only 7 minutes early, we didn't get a ticket.


I was very surprised at the show. It was cheesy but cute. There was singing and a little dancing. Lilly even got involved although she usually sits with her hands in her lap.


After the show was over I was gathering our belongs and trying to avoid Lilly asking if she could get in the line for the pictures. A very nice lady walked up to me and asked if we had a ticket for the pictures and of course I told her no. She handed me their ticket! I didn't ask why but showed it to Lilly and she just got so excited. We found Alex Lilly even told me that she would go up with Alex without me (she is usually petrified of being around dressed up characters). It worked out great and we got a fabulous picture.

When that was done we ran to Costco and then home. I left Lilly with Heather and ran off to do my last day of tutoring at the Primary School. I also discussed more details about me working a few hours a week at the school next year. Nothing major but sticking my foot in the door for more work.

PS - Did I mention that there is a jumbotron screen at the Docklands? It was right beside the stage for the Thomas show. They were showing the Army/Navy football game. I might have watched a few plays. And taken a picture . . .

December 13 - Olivia

One of the book stores was going to have Olivia make a visit. Well, Olivia got held up in the states and couldn't make it but they still read stories and did some activities. There was a coloring contest and a treasure hunt. The winners of the coloring contest were funny. I have never seen a child under the age of two color in the lines with perfect color choices for appropriate objects (pink for a pig with red and white clothing where as Lilly would choose some shade of blue for the pig with a rainbow colored shirt). But the under two who won her division should really be an artist cause she's got skills.

As for the treasure hunt, they laminated a couple of pictures of Olivia and put them around the store. The person in charge counted to three and 50 children ran out of the cafe screaming. Lilly wanted to join them but she's not keen on the crowds so we went a different direction and found one of the laminated Olivia's right away. Lilly won the Olivia Christmas book and a couple of posters. It was a good day!

December 6 - Lilly Ballet Concert

It was adorable. I don't have the dvd yet but hopefully I can show off her little dance. It wasn't perfect, but no one would know. All four of the girls went onstage and really, that was the important part.




The pictures were taken in the dressing room. The last two Lilly was trying to pose like a ballerina (I know, next to the trash can) but really she just looks like she is throwing out gang signs.

November 28 - Jelly

The picture doesn't look like jelly but this is Australian jelly. Because jelly is jam. Anyway, Lilly has been working on the letter 'j' so we made jello. She took the pictures.