Around and about

We haven't had any big adventures lately, but several little ones - went to Parsley bay to a nice little beach (with a shark net - like most Sydney beaches you're advised to swim inside the nets - the bull sharks can be large and unpredictable) where Kate and I dug a deep hole down to water which she was quite happy with. Both John and Tess have continued with surfing lessons and Kate has been liking bodyboarding - both the girls have surf camp next week since it's the end of fall term here (and thus, the girls have two weeks off, then back to school for 1 day and off again 1 day for ANZAC - memorial - day). Today was Easter, and the Easter Bilby made it here to deliver baskets! The eggs are all brown here, so they don't lend themselves to dying very well - the colors look a little strange. We did get an Easter egg hunt in at the home of some new friends that had about 35 people over for a 'little barbeque' - and a LOT of chocolate. One of the eggs was at the bottom of the swimming pool by accident and Kate went and got her suit on and found it by feeling around (motivated by the fact that she had lost by 1 egg to Tess in the hunt - and the pool egg tied the score again). We visited the Harry Potter exhibition again so that Tess could get her monthly (and last) fix of all things Potter-related. It is pretty cool to get a feeling for the difficulty and amount of work that goes into all the costumes, props, etc. The girls also were zookeepers for a day at Taronga zoo, which they enjoyed, getting to feed sugar gliders (like a flying squirrel) with eye droppers, see the kitchens and the 'menus', scooping kangaroo poop, handling snakes, and learning about different bird handling - hopefully Tess will have more to say in a post soon. Mommy and Daddy several nice hours reading and relaxing and having lunch on a beach in Balmoral - as we were somewhat unmotivated to perform any physical exertion after our 6 mile Spit to Manly shore walk that we had done 2 days prior. Tomorrow we are going to go the the Easter Show (like the state fair), then 3 days of surf camp for the girls (three days of work for John) and then off to Hamilton Island at the southern tip of the Great Barrier Reef for a week! It's hard to believe that we are well into April already - time is flying! The girls only have 4 more weeks of school until they are finished. We're thinking of and missing our friends and family at Easter! Take care and happy spring!
John