Frankie has become quite brave. When he knows the dogs are asleep for the night, he will come downstairs and sneak around.
The tree was completed on December 1. Since we leave for Australia on the 21st, I only have three weeks to enjoy it.
Elfvis came back this year, but when he did, he wrote a letter and told the kids it was their turn to take over the elf duties. This was Millie’s first night. The note says ‘Free lemonade and chocolate!’ She’s a character for sure.
This was Jack’s feeble attempt at doing something creative with Elfvis.
At the tournament in Long Beach we ran into Will Farrell. Yes, I spoke with him and told him how much I appreciated his show on Netflix, Will and Harper. If you haven’t seen it, you need to. It traces his trek cross country with a former writer of Saturday Night Live who transitioned into a female. It is a touching documentary of a friendship and the struggles Harper went through becoming a female. It really is remarkable.
The boys won 3rd in the Silver bracket. It wasn’t what they were hoping for, and their coach was less than stellar in his attitude towards them all, but we have tried to explain to Jack that he is not always going to like every coach.
Jack’s second attempt with Elfvis was a lot better.
Millie’s second attempt was clever as well.
The last regional games were the championship. They came in third, but should have placed at least 2nd. They just can’t seem to get into sync with each other at the same time.
Millie had a bonding activity with her team the evening after Jack’s regional tournament. They had pizza and made gingerbread houses.
She and her team did this beach house and called it Son of a Beach house. They won the contest, of course.
We had our 2nd annual friend gathering with Vicki, Ryan, Chris and Tom. Stuart made a meal and we presented our gift to them. We had made several tic tok videos and Millie edited them for us. It ended up being 5 minutes of footage. It was hilarious.
Christmas dinner with these friends is always a treat.
Maytee gave me a good hair chop before we left for Australia. Although I’m lazy, I do need a style that actually doesn’t make me look any older.
The last tournament of 2024 was in Las Vegas. Stuart headed over from Gallup and Jack rode up with Ryan and Gavin. The met each other in Kingman for some In and Out.
Just outside the Luxor, on our way to the first match.
We may have gotten kicked out of New York, New York on the Saturday night after five hours of drinking. Oops!
My school had a holiday open house. The second grade class I teach on Friday afternoons was studying Switzerland. The wind socks were my contribution.
We celebrated Christmas with my parents the Friday before we left for Australia. It was a merry Christmas.
The kids got all the wanted but didn’t necessarily need, as always.
The annual Christmas party at Tom and Chris’ was the night before we left for Australia. It was a good night.
The kids did a candy exchange, which was fun, as always.
Driving to LA was the cheapest way we could get there but would not be fun on January 7 when we would have to drive back after a 14 hour flight.
When we arrived in Australia, James picked us up and we dropped Jack to take the jet ski back to James’ house. This is normal, right?
Lunch our first day was with just the adults in Crunella.
Cruising St. George’s River in the pontoon boat.
A little footie on the sand.
First day in Australia. Poor Millie! She caught some sort of nasty bug. It was coming out both ends. She was like this for the entire day. I got scared and James called the teledoc, which calmed me down. I felt so sorry for her. Every time she would throw up she would say, ‘I can’t do this anymore’. Unfortunately, that isn’t how stomach flu works.
By Christmas morning she was recovered and feeling pretty good.
We spent Christmas Day on the boat and a beach, with sausages and seafood for lunch. It was different, but a lot of fun.
A day in the sun is always fun.
This was the view outside of our window at the Bunker House, where we stayed in Gerringong.
On Boxing Day we headed south to Gerringong, a sweet little town on the coast. This was a wine tasting we went to.
This is Katie. She and her family came to the states two summers ago when Louise brought her dancers to the states. She and I struck up a friendship immediately.
Here is the view out of the window of the winery.
My niece Harper was only able to join us for a few days because she had spent Christmas with her dad and then was off with him to New Zealand for New Years. We were thrilled to be able to see her if only for a bit.
On the 1st, after a very uneventful New Year, we headed to Matt and Nicole’s for the rest of our stay. Louise had gone to Germany to help get her mum on a cruise ship for 83 days and James was leaving with Billy and Zoe on the 5th to meet Louise in Singapore. Although I hated to see Louise leave, it was nice to have concentrated time with Matt and Nicole. We took the Ferry to Taronga Zoo on January 2.
This view never gets old.
Taronga Zoo was a wonderful experience, even though we had some hangry kids when we were finished. The lines at the food court at the zoo were too much for us. We went back into the city and grabbed a bite to eat.
The chimpanzees were so entertaining.
Millie, Zoe and Harper get along quite well. Zoe is the spice of the group, for sure.
On the 3rd we went to Filamina’s house for lunch. This is Nicole’s mom. It was supposed to be the kids and all the adults. Unfortunately, the men, at the last minute, were given tickets to a cricket test match in Sydney. It seems this is a once in a lifetime opportunity, or so I was told. They got tickets in a box and really just couldn’t turn it down.
So Zoe, Nic and myself went and enjoyed Filamina’s cooking. She was disappointed the men didn’t come, but was very gracious on the outside.
January 4th we headed back into the city and took a ferry to Manly, another beach town.
The obligatory selfie with the bridge behind us seems to always be a must.
These three boys are the best of friends. I’m so thankful they have grown and become such amazing young men.
