Tuesday, December 23rd
On the 23rd, I took the kids and played for a bit in a fig tree fort across the road from our hotel, while Cathy and Chris got the room packed up to go. We had an uneventful flight to Melbourne, and drove out to the eastern suburbs to meet Anu and her husband John. I had not seen Anu in 15 years or so, so it was surreal to say hello and to meet her family.
We spent the first night getting acquainted and had a good sleep.
Wednesday, December 24th
On the 24th, we awoke and spent some nice time with them, catching up with old friends and meeting new ones.
We drove into Melbourne to catch up with Cathy's friends Heather and Kari, that she knew from school and from a camp she worked at when she was younger. They have both moved here and now have families here so it was nice to catch up with them again and meet their kids.
After brunch, we drove out to John's parents place in the hills. They have a tradition where the volunteer firecrew drives by with Santa on the truck and he gives out candy to the kids. It was very cool to meet his family and get to share in their traditions. The kids loved the idea of combining big cool trucks with Santa and candy.
After Santa, we went to a local park where they have a big structure to play on. There are quite a few restaurants in the area, so we all found some take-away and brought it back to have a nice Christmas Eve picnic in the park.
We drove back to Melbourne that night and got the kids ready for the big night. On the way, we stopped at a super-decorated Christmas house with dozens of music playing and dancing knick-knacks. The neighbors have not sued, but the police need to direct traffic since it is so popular.
I was missing my egg nog since it is very hard to find in Australia, and it is a big part of Christmas for me and my arteries. They had never tried it, so Anu suggested / dared me to make some of my own. So with John's help and his cool kitchen appliances, we whipped up a batch of homemade egg nog. It took a while to thicken up, but tasted authentic, especially with all that extra rum.
We got all the presents wrapped, and headed to bed for a good Christmas sleep.
Tree climbing fun.
The fig tree itself was way more fun than the fort they built into it.
It was probably not wise to risk a hospital visit so close to our flight out
Bye, Cairns!
How better to make new friends than an enraging game of Uno?
Waiting on the road for the Santa fire truck.
Why does Santa smell like smoke?
The Christmas House. Note the distinct lack of snow. They used glitter as a substitute.
Oh yeah... this was Santa's sleigh. This blog app is not adept at moving misplaced pictures.
Play that Christmas song again and dance, Frosty!
A very Pooh-y Christmas?
John and his egg nog making app. Nog 2.0.
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