Last Few Weeks

We’ve been busy! David’s sister Kristie (a.k.a. Gigs) visited from Colorado for a couple of weeks. We had a nice visit and did some fun things together like whale watching and hiking at the Barrenjoey Lighthouse in Palm Beach, north of Manly.

Whale watching was fun – we saw a number of mother/calf pods as they were migrating. We were even lucky enough to see a mother teach her baby how to breach! We didn’t get any good pictures of the experience because none of us have a fast enough trigger finger, but it was cool to see! A storm rolled in toward the end of the trip, making things pretty wet. How cool to see the thunder heads heading toward us!

The hike in Palm Beach was beautiful! The weather was stellar – a sunny, warm spring day. The hike was relatively challenging (straight up a hill) but it was short and the view from the top was great. It’s a great spot for whale watching during the right time of year with 360 degree views of the water! While the lighthouse was officially finished in 1881, it was originally used starting in 1843 to mark the entrance to Broken Bay and the Pittwater which were considered to be the backdoor of Sydney for smugglers. They used to raise a fire in a basket so the smuggler’s ships could see it from afar. We had lunch at The Boathouse back at the base which was a wonderful little spot. Great food and quaint atmosphere built on a deck over the water. We watched the sea planes and paddle boarders glide along the water while we ate.

The past two weekends have been full of celebrations – last weekend we threw a hens and bucks party for Jacs and Sam. The guys went out for a late night on the town and had an absolute blast! The girls went to the opera at the famous Sydney Opera House! We saw Pirates of Penzance which was quite funny. The production wasn’t exactly what I though it was going to be – the set was quite sparse but the singing was beautiful. When we were leaving, they were doing dress rehearsal for the ARIA awards being held the next night. Guy Sebastian was performing with a full choir behind him! It was a great treat – we told Jacs we had organized the whole thing in honor of her ;)

This weekend was about celebrating Janine and Niels and the impending birth of their first son, who we’ve affectionately named, “Legend.” Janine preferred to not have a “baby shower” but rather a “mommy shower” to celebrate. Jacs and I took her to a wonderful lunch at Burnt Orange on the Mosman Headlands and then to the spa for a well deserved massage. I was lucky enough to enjoy my first quality facial – it’s changed my opinion about the skin products I use!

While the girls were at the spa, the guys hit some golf balls and watched some sports. The 6 of us had a great Mexican dinner (man we miss Mexican food!) and called it a night. What a great weekend!

Summer has arrived in Australia. It was quite hot on my run yesterday morning – it kicked my butt! They’re predicting a wet summer but the weather the past few days has been glorious. What a great time of year to be outside!

~LAA :)