Spaghetti Night

Tonight Alexis got to eat spaghetti for the first time.  She seemed to like it, but I don't know how much she actually got in her mouth.  She sure had fun making a mess.

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It's kind of hard to see in the picture, but those are pink flamingos embroidered on her dress.

On a side note, all of our visitors have left.  We miss Nana and Auntie, especially Alexis.  At least once a day she crawls around murmuring "Nana, Nana, Nana".  It's really cute and kind of sad at the same time.  It will be nice though to get on a regular routine again, but it will have to wait a few days because both Alexis and John aren't feeling well.  We're so glad that my mom and sister could come for a visit.  It was a fun month.

Balgal Beach

Today Christina, Alexis and I went to Balgal Beach, part of the Northern Beaches area of Townsville.  Before the beach, we stopped off at Frosty Mango for lunch and the best ice cream around.  When we got to the beach we were the only ones there, we literally had the whole beach to ourselves.  It was fantastic. 

Billabong Sanctuary

Today we went to Billabong Sanctuary so that Christina could see some of the native Australian animals.  Since it's not technically a zoo, a lot of the animals are free to roam around the park.  They also do a lot of special presentations during the day where you get a chance to see the animals up close and hold them if you want to.

The first presentation we saw was about snakes.  Alexis even got to touch one!

Some of the kangaroos that roam the sanctuary.

These particular kangaroos were starting to get a little too friendly.  I think that they're so used to being fed (they sell kangaroo food in the gift store) that they come right up to you.  We didn't have any food and they were not backing off.  There were so many of them (probably 6 or 7) that we ended up just having to turn around because they were completely blocking the pathway.

Alexis loved the crocodile feeding.  She kept pointing at all of the crocodiles with this big smile on her face.

Christina had fun seeing all of the Australian animals.

They also have a pool at the sanctuary.  How cool is that?  Alexis had fun swimming with her auntie.

Alexis chilling out in her stroller before we went swimming.

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You can see on Alexis' forehead that she attacked herself with her nails. Also she bumped her head on something (I can't remember what).

It was a long Sunday.  And we had a very tired baby.

Castle Hill

We climbed up Castle Hill this morning.  Normally John and I walk up the road and push Alexis in the stroller.  This morning Christina and I hiked up the goat track with Alexis on Christina's back.  A lot of the track is stairs.  Christina climbed up all of them without stopping (with Alexis on her back), while I was just carrying water and I had to stop twice.  It was a nice reminder that I need to get into better shape.

 

We rewarded ourselves by going out to a nice, healthy breakfast at Gregory Bites, a cafe by the Strand.

Tooth #4

Upper left central incisor.

Water Park

Today Christina and I took Alexis to the water park at the Strand.  I figured that Alexis was big enough to have some fun there since she can crawl around now and she loves water.

Alexis had a ton of fun playing in the fountains with Auntie.

It was so cute to see Alexis crawl back and forth through the water.

The water park was so much fun we will definitely be coming back regularly during the summer.

Cutest Baby

I know that I'm biased, but I have the cutest baby in the world.

Sydney

Yeah for a girls weekend in Sydney!  Before my mom went home we flew down to Sydney for the weekend and Christina flew in from the States.  We had fun exploring Circular Quay, The Rocks and the Botanic Gardens.  And of course we had a shopping day!

My mom flew home and we still had one more day so we went to Manly Beach.  Since it's winter it was too cold to actually go to the beach, but we had fun exploring the area.  And it's always fun to take a ferry around Sydney Harbour.

Rossiter Park

We had a few hours to spare today so we went to Rossiter Park on the Ross River by our house.  Alexis had fun on the swings of course.  She also went down the slide and had fun exploring some of the other toys.

We walked down to the river and Alexis just could not hold still.  She kept reaching for the water, so we took her shoes off and let her put her feet in.  She did not want to leave.

Tooth #3

Alexis cut her first top tooth!  (Upper right central incisor.)

Magnetic Island

Nana's trip to Townsville would not be complete without visiting Magnetic Island (and don't forget lunch at our favourite island restaurant Noodies), so off we went.  We took our car over for the first time, which was nice and made it a lot easier to bring all of our fun beach stuff and the necessities for Alexis.  It was overcast the whole day, not great, but ok, and then it started to pour as we were taking our last walk on the beach before catching the return ferry.  What luck!

On the ferry to Maggie Island.

Arthur's Bay

Having fun in the water at Alma Beach.

Watching Alexis in the water was so hilarious.  The first time we took her to the beach a couple of weeks ago the waves made her a little nervous.  This time she would just crawl right into the waves, even when they would go over her head.  She definitely takes after John where water is concerned.

FHE at the Strand

Tonight we decided to have Family Home Evening at the Strand.  It was such nice weather out, we couldn't resist, and Nana's in town, so we wanted to go out to dinner.  The nice thing about a casual dinner at the Strand is that there are several restaurants that offer take-away, so everyone can choose exactly what they want and then we can eat on the beach. 

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Alexis already loves shoes.  When she first crawled into the closet, all of the shoes were on the shelves.  She especially loves to chew on the laces and straps.

Mission Beach & Cairns

The last time my mom came to Australia was when Alexis was born.  Because I had had a c-section, we didn't really do any site-seeing, so this time around we wanted to show her all the places we love, which of course includes Mission Beach.

John and I usually go to Mission Beach every January and rent a holiday house on the beach with some friends.  Every year we try out a different house.  I've been wanting to stay in a house called "Sea-s-ta" for awhile now, but it's always booked out.  Lucky me, that is where we got to stay this time; unlucky for John, he had to stay home and work on this thesis.  (But I promised him that this January I would book really, really early, so he could get to stay there too, because it was amazing!)

Here's just a few pictures from Sea-s-ta:

We couldn't have asked for any more perfect weather (warm and sunny with just a touch of wind). 

It was nice to be able to take walks on the beach, lay out and play cards with my mom.

And Alexis got to go in an outdoor swing for the first time!  She loved it.

After two nights in Mission Beach (not long enough), we headed farther up north to Cairns.  That same day we took a half-day cruise to Green Island.  The island was beautiful, but it was extremely windy.  Our trip to Green Island was supposed to be my mom's chance to snorkel on the Great Barrier Reef.  I gave it a go, but the current was super strong and the waves were bringing in a lot of silt, so there was no visibility.  It was still a gorgeous day and a fun day-trip.

Our next day-trip was to Kuranda, a small village in the Daintree Rainforest.  We had a short walk around the shops and a fantastic lunch at a local cafe, but the best part of the trip was taking the skyrail over the forest canopy.

We also spent a day exploring the shops in downtown Cairns, as well as some time by the pool.  Alexis loves swimming, and had fun in the hotel pool, even though the I thought the water was freezing!

Overall, it was a fun week away with Nana.  If we hadn't missed Daddy so much, we would have loved to stay away longer!

Pebbles

We put Alexis' hair in her first ponytail today, a la Pebbles Flintstone. Daddy especially thought she looked cute. So cute, that he insisted I do Alexis' hair like this for church tomorrow.  The only thing I'm missing is a little ribbon to tie around the rubberband.

So big!

Nana taught Alexis a new trick.  When you say "so big" in a fun, high voice, Alexis raises her arms above her head.  It's so cute.

And happy birthday to Aunt Dani!