A hard goodbye

2 years of being in the same country as my family was something I guess I didn't ever think would happen, and now it's finished. A hard 2 years to be here for many reasons, but so so hard to see it end. We said goodbye a week ago. Miss them already...

What have we been doing?

The answer: too much for one post, and too much for my overloaded brain to think about posting anyway. So... we've been travelling, packing up, saying goodbyes, arranging stuff back in Australia, cancelling car insurance here... you get the idea. I just don't have the space to post. But the past few weeks have also been a lot of fun...

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Whistler ski lift

At the top of Whistler Mountain 4th of July with cousins and fireworks!!

Wildlife park with my sister and her family - complete with moose, wolves and a herd of 30+ elk!

Oregon beach with beautiful weather right before we head to Winter down under!

I think maybe it was actually warmer under the sand - at least out of the wind...

Little sister's gotta join in, but "don't cover my jacket!"

Sticky notes revisited

Remember the sticky grabber? Well, now it's more like the sticky-note-nametag-maker. See the joy on his face? He loved them Auntie Jill!! We all wore sticky name tags for days - Oma even wore one all the way home to Australia (or so she said...:)

Wedding Kids

I don't have much to add to all these pictures, but I just loved my kids the day they were in their babysitter's wedding (which was the day before we left). I know it's the bride that is supposed to be the center of attention (and truly, she was), but as these kids' mother I was just very very proud and took too many photos before we even left the house!

Saying goodbye...

A solid week of goodbyes at Stanford. Emotional. Tiring. Without question, worth it. Lots of "why haven't we done this more?" I don't have pictures of everyone and everything, but we've said it all already, and we are thankful for the friendships - in the courtyard, on playdates, out to dinner or coffee, at water parks, movies... wherever! But goodbyes are always yuck (just couldn't think of a more fitting word), no matter what good things are yet to come. Daniel keeps asking when we are going back to our old house. Hmmm...

Laura the Explorer turns 2

Although I haven't posted about it until now, Laura's birthday actually didn't get overrun by the graduation events of the weekend! We had grandparents here, an impromptu birthday lunch with friends in the courtyard, and we even managed to make a cake the night before (which admittedly, I haven't often done for the kids' birthdays...)

So here's some snaps from Friday when Laura turned 2!!

"Deez my stawberry jammies!"

Purses, dolls, fairy wings, a ballet tutu, what else could a girl need?

Daniel was a very proud big brother, helping carry the cake and starting the singing too! He even claimed that he made the cake - such an imagination...

Off to see the world!

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And a couple video clips from the day:

#1

#2

#1 - trying to get Laura to say she's 2 on video is harder than it sounds...

#2 - if you can't hear what she is saying over and over, it's "i'm going to get some scissors", and then when I ask her what she got (the tutu), she says "dancing". She loved it all - the fairy wings even went on and stayed on!

Graduation

What a weekend. I have had enough of sitting in the sun to last me a month or more, but it was so worth it. The atmosphere at each ceremony was exciting, and the kids did so well at each one, picking up on our excitement by yelling out, at fairly interesting times, "Daaaady!!"

The processional - okay, it's hard to see him, but he's in the middle with his hand raised!

Having him take the kids across made me feel like I was represented up there... we did it! Yes, I know, he did it, but I kind of felt like we completed something too!!

This was fun, but can we go home now? Everyone else has left...

Big Stanford-wide graduation on Sunday where Oprah gave the commencement speech...

Final 2 weeks

I'll post about graduation next, but here's a stack of pics from our final 2 weeks here! Lots of busyness, but also lots of fun...

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End of year preschool party:

I think the cowboy boots from the class dress-up box go quite well with the snake painted on his face! :)

Laura got to stay for one of the last days of preschool - she was pretty proud to hang out with the big kids!

The teachers made an awesome memory book for each child - it's favorite reading material at the moment...

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Camping out together, well sort of. We took the sides off Laura's crib, then soon after we sold her crib, and she camped out on the floor with Daniel!

It all looks very serious, but they are engrossed in the telling of a "made-up story"! Ahhhh, the joys of being done with study!

...and more joys of being finished - channelling the excess energy which is no longer needed for studying!

Oma relaxing in the hot weather...

... we all had to cool off from the week-long 95 degree weather! (32 C)

A quick day trip to a beach with an amusement park...

...and a bit of ball and bat action on the beach afterwards (except Laura actually ran away with the ball).

Oh, and yeah, I'm 5 months pregnant now...

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And then a few walks around campus to snap some pics before we head off...

Having a bit of fun mimicking statues around campus!

The gorgeous view from the Tower!

Thank you Mom, Dad and Beth for taking the time to be here...