Winter is Here

June 21 marked the official first day of winter in the Southern Hemisphere, where we experienced the shortest sunlight-day of the year.  It's admittedly still a bit odd to have our seasons flipped here; given that today is seasonally equivalent to the day before Christmas Eve.  Below area few shots I took with my new camera to capture the season:


We're still deciding on how we want to celebrate the quickly approaching 4th of July, but we're pretty sure it won't be spent grilling hot dogs outside by the pool...

Emily is here!!!!

MY SISTER IS HERE ! :) :)

Emily @ Fish and Chips just off Phillip Island

WED: Emily arrived in the morning, Matt was wonderful and picked her up at airport (I couldn't get off work), and they adventured around the city. Matt and I both applauded Emi for managing to stay away awake the whole day. It was so wonderful to come home to my sister, though it felt so strange to see her in my apartment! For dinner we introduced Emily to Tribecca pizza (and the owner Greg) which is next door to our apartment.

THURS: I have the 3 Fridays off while Emily is here, so immediately after work ended, I was excited for quality time to begin. I came home to find that after some major jet lag, Emily had a relaxing day just resting in our apartment. To get her moving around, I decided to show her the Insanity workouts I've been trying out. Emily picked the ab workout - and I may have neglected to tell her you aren't meant to try that till a few weeks into the program...But being the captain of both varisty field hockey and varisty soccer that she is - she did a great job. Matt made us some tasty chicken enchildas, but then both Emily and Matt went to bed by 8 PM :(

FRI: Well rested (though with sore abs), it was time to enjoy a long weekend with Emily and Matt. First things first, it was time to show Emily the local wildlife, so we went to the Phillip Island wildlife sanctuary. Emily was still getting over jet lag so she went to sleep early while Matt and I gave her some quiet and went across the street to Baden Powell for a beer or two.  



Emily again - Matt being goofy in my sunglasses.



SAT: Highlights include video chatting with Matt's parents & their friends the Howes with Emily, Finishing Season 7 of How I Met Your Mother (It is so nice to be able to just sit and chill on the couch with my little Sis. Living so far away, I'm cherishing the little things), walking into the city for Shanghai Village Dumplings, and hosting a get together in our apartment to introduce Emily to some of our friends.  

SUN: First we had a relaxing morning over an episode of Game of Thrones, and got to catch up with my parents. It was so wierd to have Emily on this side of the computer screen! Walking back from the grocery store, it was certainly nice to have another pair of hands. For dinner, Matt entrusted me to make his Chili recipe, and after his addition of a bit more cayenne pepper and hot sauce, it was time for Emily and I to introduce Matt to The Terminator (one of our Dad's favorite movies).

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While I have to go back to work for the next few days, I'm hoping Emily can meet me in the city for coffe/chai/lunch, looking forward to seeing more of her during the evenings, and excited for the next long weekend! Now we just need to decide on the next main adventure for the weekend. Perhaps Mt Buller?

A Family Affair

We have our second international visitor to our Melbourne homestead, Lydia's sister Emily.  Emily arrived on Wednesday and will be staying with us for the next three weeks, enjoying the Aussie winter and checking out  what Melbourne and greater Victoria has to offer.  We kicked off Emily's visit with a drive to the Phillip Island wildlife sanctuary (Lydia and I went with a few of our good friends a couple of weeks ago) to see and pet the Australian animals:

More to come soon!