Category Archives: Adventures

Paul’s First Christmas and New Year’s Eve

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For Christmas this year, Paul and family took a trip to the High Country in rural Victoria. The whole family enjoyed the time we spent together. I think Paul especially enjoyed playing with Daddy all week.

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We stayed in Mansfield and Bright, which are down in the valley, and we went up the mountains for photography during the early morning and evening hours. Paul was a good sport with all the driving. When we went on the short 1-2 km hikes, he rode along in Mom’s front carrier. He tended to fall asleep!

Christmas Eve morning we went to Mt. Buller for the sunrise. Paul fell asleep, but it was all foggy, so he didn’t miss anything. That evening, we drove to Craigs Hut, which is a representation of the hut that was used in the movie The Man from Snowy River. It was a long and bumpy drive and Paul was tired of being in the car! He was fussy in the carrier. But by the end of the 2 km hike, he was asleep. It was very cold (nearly freezing) and windy on top of the mountain, but he was wearing a (borrowed) snowsuit, so he didn’t feel the breeze!

On Christmas day, the whole family was too tired to get up for sunrise again. We stayed in the apartment and had a low key morning. Then in the afternoon we headed back up to the top of Mt. Buller for the sunset. It was a perfectly clear evening and we got some great pictures! We took a family picture with a sleepy Paul while on the mountain top.

Christmas 2007

The family hiked to the top of Mt. Buller for Christmas Day’s sunset.

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By the time the sun had set on his first Christmas, Paul was sound asleep in the carrier.

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On Boxing Day, we headed to Bright and Falls Creek. There, we got some pictures of the high country. It was a lot warmer that evening and Paul didn’t even need to wear the snowsuit to keep warm.

We began the drive home the next day. It was at least five hours of driving, plus we stopped for brunch. By 1:30, Paul had had enough. He wouldn’t stop whining. I didn’t blame him. It was a lot of time in the car! Thankfully, there was only another hour and a half of driving at that point.

All in all, Mom and Dad had a great Christmas this year. We think Paul had a great first Christmas too, but he slept through most of it so I don’t think he will remember much.

(I am working on processing my pictures and will post them on my page when they’re ready.)

Paul’s New Year’s Eve was not very exciting. He went to bed at 9:15 p.m.! This morning, he welcomed the 2008 with a “bang.”

He’s a very good, happy boy!

Gingerbread

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Inspired by my cousin’s report of making gingerbread with her kids, I decided to have a go at the holiday treat too. Why not make Christmas cookies to get the Christmas spirit? Besides, I’ve been reading food blogs lately and the recipes and pictures looked so enticing.

The first challenge was the lack of molasses in this country. I’ve since been told that I can get molasses at a health food store (why a health food store?), but last week I didn’t know that. At every grocery store and specialty shop I asked, I was either asked what molasses is or directed to the pomegranate “molasses” (which is pretty much just pomegranate juice). Alas! How can you make gingerbread without molasses?!

I would have used corn syrup (known as golden syrup here) but I also couldn’t find it. I guess I didn’t want to go around to all the specialty shops again, so I just settled for maple syrup, which I had at home.

The maple syrup didn’t add particularly much. The final result was more gingersnap-like rather than gingerbread-like. That was a little disappointing, but they were still tasty. I had a fun time decorating some cookies for the ward Christmas party.

I made some missionary gingerbread men (notice the bow ties)….

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and I made some gingerbread ladies. (Notice her ruffles and the high heels.)

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OK, so I was a bit silly in my very amateur decoration. The piping tip was too large for such small cookies.

I enjoyed myself for a while, but then I looked down at all the gingerbread left to be decorated. It was already 9:30 on Thursday night and my husband had already returned home from his long meetings. I still had tons of icing left and more than 30 gingerbread men still unclothed!

I recalled how last year Mom, Dad, Frank, Elizabeth, and Daniel came and decorated graham cracker gingerbread houses. How I miss you all! Daniel, I think you’d have enjoyed decorating these little guys! I invited my husband to join in, but, you know, it really isn’t his thing.

(When I mourned the fact that I still had so many left to decorate, my husband gleefully said, “I have no sympathy!”After he ate some, however, he thanked me most sincerely for bringing the Christmas Spirit into our home. And then he cleaned up the icing-covered kitchen. What a wonderful husband I have!)

So what do you do with 32 unfrosted gingerbread men? I did what anybody in her right mind would do: I invited my Sunday school class (13-14 years old) over to decorate the rest. I froze the undecorated little guys, and they came today (Wednesday) and frosted the rest of the gingerbread men. Then they ate them and took them home with them! (I neglected to take pictures of their marvelous little creations….)

Next year, Paul will probably still be too little to even eat these guys. But in two years, I look forward to seeing his delight as he decorates his own Christmas cookies.

Spring Ride

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Despite the carols echoing through the mall, we can’t go on a sleigh ride this year. I keep hearing from you about all the snow and the snowmen and snowballs and how much fun all the kids are having and it sounds like so much fun!

Actually, it sounds cold. I don’t really miss it.

Last weekend, we celebrated the season by taking a long drive through the Yarra ranges. We were scouting out photography spots, but nothing grabbed our attention so we didn’t end up taking any pictures. Our drive to Noojee back in August was much nicer. Instead, we drove and talked and listened to Christmas music and stopped for a spring picnic in a park. Paul was a great sport. We’re glad he’s little enough to not complain about a long drive!

One disadvantage of an Australian spring picnic: There are LOTS of flies in this country.

Our Christmas season will be celebrated by another picnic this Saturday. It will be our ward Christmas party. If only there weren’t any flies!

‘Tis the Season?

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At church, they’ve announced the ward Christmas party.

It is a picnic at a park.

As I shop at the store, I see Christmas lights and Christmas decorations and Christmas sales.

But what is wrong with this picture?
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Exactly: They are eating their holiday turkey around a pool.

Is it really Thanksgiving for all of you?

It is spring, and summer is coming. At 9 p.m. the other night, the bank displayed a temperature of 28 degrees. And with the air conditioning set at “high” all day, the house is still 23 degrees!

I can’t bring myself to roast a turkey and bake pumpkin pie. It’s too hot. Maybe we’ll grill some burgers and make a fruit salad and sit out in the back yard.

Last year, my husband and I were listening to Christmas songs on Halloween. This year, neither of us can bring ourselves to listen to them. Christmas songs just seem odd right now. How can we listen to “Let it snow! Let it snow!” when it is more than 30 degrees outside?

(Just to clarify: I don’t have any idea what the temperature is in Fahrenheit. But I do know it is very hot!)

I can’t imagine Christmas at all. How can I get into the season despite the season?

Getting Paul’s Passport

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Monday, we went to the U.S. Consulate in Melbourne. All three of us had to be there. We submitted paperwork for Paul’s Consular Report of Birth Abroad, passport, and Social Security number.

It was a fairly straight forward day. The paperwork was long but understandable (mostly), the drive took 45 minutes (including circling the block looking for parking), and time in the government offices was miraculously less than an hour (it was the day before a public holiday!).

What did take a long time was getting Paul’s passport photo the week before. Here are the required dimensions:

Here are some “helpful” requirements (courtesy the Department of State website).

7 Steps to Successful Photos

  • Photograph subject against a plain white or off-white background.

If you went to a photo shop for a passport photo, you would be put in front of a plain white screen. But for Paul, of course, there could be no arms or hands or anything to prop him up, so that wouldn’t work for us. Instead, we used white blankets over pillows to try to prop up the little guy. I don’t think passport photos are intended for infants who can’t hold up their own heads!

  • Position subject and lighting so that there are no distracting shadows on the face or background.

This is very hard to do without professional lighting. I admit, some of the shadows from the background had to be eliminated in the end.

  • Encourage subject to have a natural expression.

OK, Paul, look natural! (Should this include spit up?)

  • Frame subject with full face, front view, eyes open.

Have you ever tried to get an infant, who is awake and has his eyes open, to stay still? It doesn’t happen. Paul wanted to wriggle around. He certainly didn’t want to face forward and pose.

  • Center head within frame.

Paul kept squirming, so his head kept flopping out of the center of the frame. He really likes to have his hand by his face, too. Thank goodness for cropping!

  • Make sure photo presents full head from top of hair to bottom of chin; height of head should measure 1 inch to 1-3/8 inches (25 mm to 35 mm).

Babies faces are quite round, so I think this requirement makes the head huge in comparison to the rest of the frame.

  • Make sure eye height is between 1-1/8 inches to 1-3/8 inches (28 mm and 35 mm) from bottom of photo.

So exact!

In all, I think I took 100 pictures before we found one that we could fix up to meet the requirements. Here are the attempts and the final product.

Passport Photos

The attempts and the final product.

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