Kirsten and Mark

Christmas Eve pajamas, with train slippers

Playing "train" with aunt Sara

Enjoying the gift of music

Being a human present...or bow catcher

Seeing slides and a castle made all of ice

Seeing this!

And this...a life-sized Nativity of ICE!

Waking up Christmas morning to Britton's presents

Having to play with a toy before it's all unwrapped

Holiday Lights

The DC Temple bathed in fog

These are just some of the great joys we had this Christmas…and we look forward to keeping the Spirit of Christmas with us throughout this year!

Yeah…that’s right. 18 whole hours. And, what did we do almost the whole time? Eat. Well, not exactly eating the whole time, but many activities revolved around food.

The plan: Leave early Monday morning, catch the 7:15 bus to NYC, get there by noon. Have the whole day, and leave at 10 the next morning.

The reality: Metro train had a problem. Took twice as long to get to bus stop as planned. Missed bus. Had to wait till 9:15. Barely made it on that one because of no shows. Later in the day=more traffic getting into city. We arrived at 2:45. We were really hungry, but didn’t want to drag our little suitcase all around, so we headed to the hotel. Should’ve walked the whole way. Would’ve been faster than the metro. Finally arrive, check in and all is well.

Head down to The Hog Pit, a BBQ place recommended by the fabulous Missy and Ari. They were right. It was FANTASTIC! I like pork and bbq, but it’s not like my favorite thing in the world. This was the best I have EVER had. I had the pork sliders and Mark had brisket. So delicious. I was full too, so a lot bummed we’d already made reservations for dinner back at the hotel.

That glowing thing in the background is their “Hog Pit” Sign.

True Texas bar decor as well. Since it was 4 pm, we were the only people in there. That felt a little weird. But, it was nice too. Thanks for the suggestion ladies!

When we looked on a map to figure out where to go next we realized this place was only a few blocks from the bus stop! Ah man, we’d have saved a lot of time and hunger if we’d just headed straight there.

We headed north toward Macy’s and Times Square. Stopped here:

We got Britton M&Ms in all the colors they had, and some mini ones as well. He loved them, as expected. Then we stopped here:

Can you guess? It’s Macy’s. They had the ground floor decorated very nicely. We were in there for a long time…and eventually made it all the way to the 8th floor. Yeah. It’s that big. A little ridiculous. Outside it was so cold, and I had forgotten my scarf and gloves at home, so I really considered actually buying a scarf or hat there. For those that know me, I don’t really do either, so to consider paying $35-40 for one it must have been really bad.

We also made a stop at the Hershey’s store and stocked up on good stuff. Well, I stocked up on their Cinnamon Chips. I can’t find them in LA, and there is the BEST cookie recipe on the back.

We turned east and ended up at Rockefeller Center.

I realize this is blurry. Maybe I really should give in and let Mark order the new Canon Powershot. Oh well…

Just across the square they had angels and trumpets, which looked through to Bloomingdales and their Snowflake Show…seriously, they danced to music.

More food: A stop at Magnolia Bakery for a slice of Pumpkin Cake, and we were off back south to make our dinner reservation.

Asia de Cuba. It’s basically what it sounds like, Asian style food with Cuban influence. It was a lot nicer/fancier than we were expecting. Especially being from LA when you can walk in almost anywhere in jeans and a casual shirt and be fine. The food was actually really good, and there was a lot of it. But, it was a bit pricey for my taste. Especially when I wasn’t really hungry at all after lunch. I was quite pained as we paid the bill, but it was a nice experience.

By that time we were pretty tired. I wanted to badly to see a movie since we hadn’t been to a theatre for months, but our hotel was calling. We stayed at the Grand Hyatt next to Grand Central Station. It was probably the most comfy bed ever. Especially compared to the last hotel we stayed at (Days Inn Barstow, we still hold a grudge.) I loved their pillows and their comforter. The morning came much too quickly. Luckily, we can buy it if we want through their “home collection.” Not sure yet if I want to spend $65 for a pillow though.

The next day I realized that the outfit I was wearing was twice as warm as the one from the day before! Blast! On our ride home we made another discovery–almost all of the money we spent in NYC was on food of some sort…lunch, M&M store, Hershey’s store, Magnolia, Asia de Cuba…I mean seriously, it was a little ridiculous. But, it was all pretty good. The Magnolia cake? You could pass it up. The cupcakes in there didn’t look super yummy either. I think it’s a cute little bakery that got famous, and is now a MUST SEE.

Anyway, we had a great time and I’m excited I finally got to see NYC at Christmastime…now maybe for Thanksgiving.

We went to my aunt Tracy’s house in Page, Arizona (well, technically Greenehaven about 7 miles from the town. And oddly, Greenehaven is only their small subdivision.)

Anyway, we drove up Tuesday night and stayed with my dad in Vegas. Then had breakfast with Mark’s cousins Adrien and Lauren. It was so fun to see them and the super cute girls. The food was great too! Thanks guys…hope to see you again soon!

In Kanab we stopped for a visit with Angie, Bryan and Lexie. Looks like they still like holding hands.

We had a great little visit…always too short!

Then it was on to our destination. It’s right by Lake Powell, the south end.

Brit enjoying a football game with aunt Shaela

Eating Thanksgiving dinner. He wasn’t super into all the food, but he liked the roll and turkey. Ugh! What happened to my child who ate everything? I know…he’s a toddler now.

Some under-the-chair acrobatics….or something.

Rocks! Brit loved picking up the rocks. And every time…Rocks!

All the cousins…yes, there were this many of us, plus about 9 more. More on that later.

The nothingness that is Southern Utah and Northern Arizona. Though very pretty. Sunsets and storms are amazing.

Brit didn’t do too well with other people. He was really a mommy or daddy’s boy all weekend. Even Grandma holding him wasn’t ok. He did buddy up with my cousin Casey though. She’s 8 and he went to her a lot.

Finally getting a decent hair cut! It was dire. He liked it until the bottom…he hates that part.

The family girls…and boy. I was taking the picture. Shaela, Tracy, Brit, Chezney and Mom

What there aren’t pictures of:

20 people and 7 dogs crammed in a 3 bedroom house.

Us sleeping on an airmattress in the dining room and Britton waking up throughout the night, needing a drink or something and me trying to make sure he didn’t wake up everyone else.

The 3 pies I made…2 apple and 1 cherry for my birthday. I have to admit–it was dang good!

Britton throwing up 3 times on our way home. Our fault really…we let him watch a movie and play with the iPod. I just feel bad making him sit there with nothing to do (even though he doesn’t complain) but he just can’t do anything else or he suddenly gets sick. Super fun!

Our HARD AS A ROCK mattress at the Days Inn in Barstow–never stay there. We were so tired we knew we had to either stop or crash…so, much to my chagrin we stopped. We may as well have slept in the car.

The great time we had together with family that we see very rarely. We’re glad we went and for the blessings we have.

Thanks Trac!

Where can you see dinosaurs, a forest and Aboriginal artifacts all n one place?

The Melbourne Museum of course. We seriously spent most of the day there. And, we don’t usually go on tours, but this time we did and it was pretty interesting. We learned things that we definitely wouldn’t have otherwise.

Dinosaur Walk

The Forest

Mark and his Mommy. Same smile no?

Human interaction with the forest

Please don’t ask why we’re posed like this. I know we look a little silly. The notches represent human impacts on the forests.

Where's the animal?

Blue Bird who likes blue things

Seriously, the guide said he would collect blue things and sometimes people would give them to him. The branches on the left are his house.

Walking Stick

There were so many different exhibit areas. There was a whole bug wing that had thousands of insects. Some are sooooo creepy!

The Aboriginal wing is interesting too because it had some of their artwork, and told about the history of “tribes?” in the Melbourne area. There was also a curator who had objects traditionally used by them. One was a possum skin ball. They sew pieces of possum skin together and stuff it with grass or something like it and play games with it. Brit loved it. He kept chasing after the ball and kicking it.

Royal Exhibition Building

Built for a fair or convention in the 1800s, the building isn’t used much anymore, but looks really cool.

View from the hotel

It was Karen’s last day. so we took her to the mall/casino/hotel too and we had dinner there at a place called Automatic. There was a mixture of foods, but we all really liked what we had. There was only one meal we had there that I wasn’t really thrilled with.

So, it rained again.

We wanted to take a river cruise, but they have to have a certain number of people to go and at the time, we were the only ones. So, an hour later we came back and took a ride with 2 different school groups. Teenagers and like 6 year olds. The cruise wasn’t too terribly exciting, but we did get the see more of the architecture of the city and learn about their bridges and buildings and history. Brit didn’t love it though. He wanted to climb all over the dirty stairs and things.

And, because we’re super awesome we didn’t take any pictures of it.

After lunch, we made our way to the that awesome looking Flinders Street Station to take the train to Spotswood, where the Scienceworks and Planetarium is. We enjoyed being out of the city a little bit and seeing what the suburbs are like.

We immediately went into the planetarium for a film about climate and how it’s been throughout the world’s history, and today. Very interesting. Then we got to see the Southern sky with the stars over Melbourne. We sat the Southern Cross and some of the constellations.

Then it was on to the science part. We had fun with the “body” section with various strength, endurance, reaction time and other physical tests.

Brit had fun in the Nitty Gritty Kiddy City

Playing with food

Signing Orange

Aye Aye Captain!

Steering the ship

Sadly, we weren’t there very long before it closed! It was one of the better science/interactive museums we’ve been to. There was a lot to do.

That night Brit and Grandma had a nice time together while Mark and I hit the town. Yeah…we went to dinner and a movie! But, it was in a really cool mall/casino/hotel complex, so that makes it better, right?

We ended up eating at a buffet place, but it was the nicest buffet I’ve ever seen and the food was fancy and fantastic! Then we saw GI Joe. It was nice having our seats chosen beforehand so we didn’t have to get there early. It was really interesting to see what movies are playing there now, and what is coming out. Like, “UP” is still not out there, but then some movies (I can’t remember which) come out the same time as the US.

Anyway, it was nice to get out without the babe hand spend time together. Thanks Karen!

If I were an animal that was being shipped to a zoo, I’d ask for Melbourne. It’s pretty big, and the enclosures look great. It was very clean and nice everywhere.

Unfortunately, the animals there like to sleep in, so a lot of them were hiding or asleep when we first got there. They had some interesting “large cats” of different types from Asia that I’ve never seen before. Even the lions in their huge enclosure were sleepy and non engaging.

Then…leave it to the reptiles to be up and naturally creepy. Due to my intense dislike for snakes, this is the only one I will post because it looks cool.

Mmmm tasty leaf

What am I? 100 points to anyone who guesses

boring kangaroos just eating breakfast

Would they walk around? Would they even look at us? No! They just paid attention to the food. Ugh.

I'm so cool I can lay around all day.

No, don't make me!

Brit was terrified of this wombat. It was a sculpture in a cave for kids to play with, but he wouldn’t get any closer.

The birds were awake too. Mark got a bird in flight!

Splash splash splash!

Brit loved the blue-billed duck splashing around.

Breakfast time!

I was there too

Meercat Pile! Everyone on!

Hello people

I love meercats! They’re so cute and funny looking–like they’re a four-legged animal trying out two.

I'd want to live there

So many thoughts, so little time

Chillin' in the tree

We met a Gorilla named Britton

Beautiful bird!

After the monkeys it was into the Butterfly House. There were hundreds, maybe a couple of thousand butterflies floating around us.

My friend

I even had a little visitor throughout the duration of our time in the house.

We felt like we were walking through India or something as we got near the elephant enclosure. It was huge and looked great for them.

Hi elephants

He was good, we didn't let him fall in...

My blankie!

This chimp was playing with his blanket, even putting it all over himself like a ghost.

Again, awesome zoo. We had a great time and would definitely go back.

But, the day was still young and we weren’t done yet!

But, unfortunately we were arrested and put in the Old Melbourne Gaol. Yeah. Gaol. How did you pronounce that? “Goal” or “Gay-oh-l” Even after our visit we weren’t sure, but then found it is JAIL! Oh Aussies. Mark stole something from a shop owner, but claimed it was his. Karen got caught with drugs and Britton was even caught counterfeiting! You think you teach them right and then…

Holding cell

Hallway

They decided Mark needed a padded cell

Exercise yard for women

Mug shot

No really….the Gaol really was the jail in Melbourne until the 1990s. Where we were was the holding area, or for just a few hours. Mostly until people made bail or saw a judge.

Then, this other part is the old jail built in the 1800s. This is where the infamous Ned Kelly Australia’s most famous bush ranger was hanged, and a lot of people were held. It was strange being in this old place where there was a lot of suffering with school children running around laughing and looking around.

Ground and 2nd floor cooridors

Inside each cell had an “exhibit” or sorts with a death mask and a story or a replica of what a cell would’ve contained or something like that. There was so much information and so many interesting stories.

The Gallows

In one cell there was a chart listing who was admitted into the jail, their age, and what they were accused of. One child age 3–yes, 3 was brought in for being disorderly and a 9 year old for vagrancy. Seriously?!?! a baby and a young child who were probably orphans held on such stupid charges.

Arched ceiling along the corridor

It was really interesting learning about their history. Outside in the grass courtyard was a football game among friends. Brit totally thought he was old enough to play too and was seriously upset he couldn’t have the ball.

While looking for the “Greek Precinct” since Melbourne has the most Greeks outside of Greece (yeah, who’d have thought) we stumbled upon the mall. It was fun walking around their stores and seeing their popular stores, and a few American ones. Brit was being a little difficult and couldn’t decide on a shirt he wanted from Grandma. But, finally he found one! I’ll post when we have a pic.

Little Greece was pretty disappointing. It was just one street with a few restaurants. But, did find one that ended up being pretty good. Brit loved the hummus and pita.

He’s so funny too. He could be practically asleep in the stroller as we go back, but as soon as we’re in the hotel room he comes alive and wants to play. Sometimes it took a while to get him to sleep!

From the beginning of our planning, Mark could hardly wait for this:

We’d have gone on Saturday, but it was closed.

Oh Dali

The "Lips" phone is fun!

Hmmm, maybe he likes the shoe better

We couldn’t take pictures in the exhibit, but it was really good. His most famous paintings weren’t there, but it had a great collection of Salvador Dali’s art throughout his life. You could really see his changes and progression as an artist. He had a love of Hollywood and wanted to be a part of several movies, but his taste was a little too strange for mainstream America. He finally got his break in Alfred Hitchcock’s “Spellbound” He and Walt Disney worked on several projects together as well, but only one project actually came about. This is the closest thing I can find of the movie: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1462300

In my opinion, it’s still too strange for mainstream America.

After the museum, we went to the State Library of Victoria. It’s in this big old building with some steps and benches and there were a ton of people sitting around having lunch, or just hanging out.

Oh-and I don’t think I’ve mentioned, but every day on the trip there were at least 5-6 different school groups everywhere we went. Some were high school, some “grammar” and they were all in uniforms. I began to wonder if they were ever in class.

The library is really cool inside too, and has a big dome. We went up and saw some of the exhibits they had there–history or melbourne, rare books and literature, art etc. But, Brit found this:

I LOVE Buttons!!!!

It was an interactive map of Melbourne throughout its history. You could change maps, zoom in, pan etc. I think it was his favorite thing all day.

Pretty library

There are only so many things to see in a library, so we headed to the park.

Here birdie birdie

AHHH, this is soooo fun!

I'm so cute.

We tried going to the Queen Victoria Market, but unfortunately it had just closed. It’s a huge market with thousands of stalls that sell everything from food to crappy watches to clothes.

For dinner we ate at a delicious Chinese restaurant that was recommended by Mark’s friend. We loved everything. Brit really like the melt-in-your-mouth beef brisket with dumplings and the wontons. Their honey chicken was so good too. So, we’re thankful for that recommendation!

Every night was kind of early. By 8 or 9 we were so tired we all went to bed.

The Melbourne Aquarium is pretty cool because it has fish that are native to Australia and the south that you don’t see very often anywhere else. Plus it had these:

Gentoo Penguin--Fastest swimmer

King Penguins

Britton was so excited to see them!

I’ve never seen penguins with a home of snow before. It’s always been water and rock of some sort. But these actually had snow/ice. They were fun to watch swimming around too.

MoMo and Dory

We even saw Brit’s new favorite movie characters–Nemo and Dory. He was really excited to point them out.

He loved looking at all of them…I think he’s going to be just like his dad and make everyone go to every aquarium possible.

Shark and his entourage

There are so many other cool pictures that Mark took that he’ll be posting on his site soon. If I put them all, these posts would be miles long.

After the aquarium we went toward their area called The Docklands and Harbour Town. On the tram we met a family from the states (the dad was from Australia). They got off at a place that looked like a park–and we knew we had to go too. As you can see, it was a good idea.

Weeeeeeeee!

Slides are fun

"O" baby

We were a little bummed we weren’t staying closer to it because Brit would’ve loved to play all day. There were even some brightly colored stairs–kind of like bleachers–that he had to climb as well.

Karen under the "sculpture?"

Holy Cow!

Melbourners are into some interesting sculpture and art. Cow in a tree?

We continued walking for what seemed like forever and finally made it to Harbour Town where they have restaurants and shopping and just our luck–it happened to be the Grand Opening day of the first Costco in Australia!

We had to go of course, and were happy to find our card worked here as well. It was just as crowded as a Saturday at any Costco in the US. We got a few items for breakfast and snacks for the week and were happy to have such a native Australian experience.

We had great plans and hopes for Sunday. We planned to rent a car, pick up our “smart visitor cards” (where you pay 1 price that gets you into a lot of places and saves you money) then go to church, drive down to Phillip Island and see the cute Australian Animals.

Yeah. We got off to a rocky start. We stepped out of the hotel and it was FREEZING! Wind was whipping all around us and since I’m a super smart person, I packed a wrap dress. Trying to walk, while pushing the stroller and hold my dress closed was super fun. It was a bit of a wait at the car rental place, then we almost started panicking when said they were out of booster seats. With the weird English there (like calling a pack n play a cot) we thought Brit wouldn’t have a car seat–not ok. But, it was worked out and we made it out. Mark was a little unsure of driving on the wrong side of the road, but he did well. There wasn’t time to stop for the discount cards, so we headed straight to church.

When we got there the gate was closed and 1 car was in the lot. We checked the time the night before. For the THIRD time while on vacation we’ve tried to go to church and it’s been stake conference. (We’re assuming that was it, since we can’t see any other reason no one was there). Like, seriously? So, after trekking back to the hotel so some of us could change, we picked up the cards and headed out for the island.

We’re pretty sure that Brit gets car sick. He’s puked enough times now that we don’t think it’s an accident. Unfortunately, he was wearing his super cute new Rocker Roos outfit. This is the best pic I have, but there will be more coming soon.

After cleaning up the poor baby, driving through a torrential downpour of rain and possibly breaking our contract with the car company for driving on a non-paved road, we made it to Churchill Island. It’s the site of the first European agricultural pursuits and has been farmed since the 1850s. Today it is a historic working farm.

Sadly, after the koalas we couldn’t take any more pictures. We went to the Penguin Parade and there were no pictures allowed. They’re the smallest of the penguins and after swimming all day, they return to their burrows at night that are just up the beach.

We made our way down to the beach and got what we thought were great seats. It was soooooo cold! We even bought blankets. And, we were especially bummed we couldn’t have the camera because the sunset was beautiful, and the waves were huge and a really cool color of blue-green.

When they started coming ashore they came in little bunches and would ride the water in and out for 5-10 minutes before they were sure it was safe enough to cross the beach to their homes.

It looked kind of like this. They’re soooo cute! After a bit we went to watch them on the paths and as they walked home. Some lived far up off the beach–like 100 yards or so. They were very noisy calling to each other, and they all sounded different.

It was a long day, but totally worth it. We got to see lots of things unique to Australia and despite the day’s unplanned beginning, it turned out to be a lot of fun!

We went to the land down under and no, we didn’t have any vegemite. (I think the only place I saw any was on  a kids meal sandwich (with cheese–ick!) at the Melbourne Museum.

But, we did try to have many “native” experiences and blend in as much as possible. Though, since we didn’t eat at McDonalds or Subway or frequent the 7-Eleven every day, we may have failed.

I guess I’ll start at the beginning…it’s a very good place to start. We left at 11:30 pm on Thursday and arrived in Sydney at 6 am on Saturday.

Brit eagerly awaiting the flight

Brit did fairly well on the flight. It wasn’t that he was bored or restless, he was tired and had a hard time sleeping. So much for the medicine. And, he hated the “bassinet” we got for him. He was way too big for it and even if he was asleep, he’d wake up and cry. So, as long as we had a movie for him to watch or things to color, he was fine. And, unfortunately, Mark’s mom Karen wasn’t able to sit by us. For some reason they put her almost as far from us as possible on a non-full flight! But, she did get some sleep, so maybe it wasn’t so bad for her. It was nice having her there to help with Brit though.

I must say also–we’re in love. With VAustralia. Oh, it was nice. Even in regular economy. There was room, and the food was totally edible and the flight attendants were so great too. With in-seat entertainment there was always something to do too. Added note–in Australia, it’s required for “lap children” to have their own seat belt. They have what looks like a portable seat belt with a loop on it. It goes around the child, then the parent’s seatbelt goes through the loop, so the child can’t fly away if there’s a crash. Why the heck is that not required in the US? Activist friends–this is a great cause, go to work!

Going through customs in Sydney was fine, except we had to throw away all the yummy fruit and nuts we’d gotten for the plane that we didn’t eat. Boo! After arriving in Melbourne, we learn my suitcase didn’t make the flight and it would be coming on the next one. Seriously? We had lunch, waited and then took the awesome public transportation system to the city. It was Brit’s first bus ride, and when I told him we were waiting for the bus, he signed it. I had no idea he knew it (though it’s on the movie). I guess he never needed it till now.

The Grand Mercure Melbourne. Our home for a week. Nice enough. Kitchen, living room, bedroom–and a bathroom attached. We’re not ones to vacation on a vacation (sorry Karen) so after settling in a bit, we went out to experience the city.

Oh, what a city it is. The Paris of the Southern Hemisphere it’s called.

We were right across the street from this:

Flinders St. Station

A huge train station that went all over. Their transportation system made me totally hate LA.  Above ground trams up all the major streets take you all over the city and beyond. Sigh. With a stroller, I wouldn’t be able to do it easily by myself, but it was so great. Everything is very walkable too. It reminded me of a European city, like London, but a lot less crowded and stuffy…and cleaner! It’s not very old, so it has a lot of modern architecture as well.

Melbourne CBD Map

The purple outline/rectangle is the CBD (we think Central Business District) and it’s pretty much where we were all week, with a few outliers. Our hotel was on Flinders and Elizabeth (approximately) Look at all those parks and gardens! Sigh.

After getting a couple of maps and grabbing dinner at an Indian place by the hotel we were exhausted and made it an early night!

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