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Christmas came early for us!  We welcomed Lacote Mousse (Chocolat) last weekend to our family. She just goes by Mousse (like the dessert), Mousse-y, or Puppy.

We've been keeping a secret for the last few weeks.  We met with Lacote Labradors in November and put our names down to add to our family after meeting the breeder and seeing his dogs (18 Labradors!).  Then we have been quietly preparing our house to welcome a puppy into it (Sabi moved in at 3 so we didn't need to puppy proof) while we waited for our pick-up day.

We brought Mousse home at 8 weeks and she's from a very good Labrador line.  Her father is Canadian and NZ CH: Eagertrieve Downtown Brown "Dylan" and mother is Lacote Susie Q, from a champion line herself.

Settling in

She is a typical puppy - eats/ drinks, pees/ poops and sleeps, repeat.  She loves shoes and socks already.  And hasn't met a blanket she doesn't like to nap on!  She has a penchant for toes. 😋

At 9 weeks

We love having a furry friend in the house again... and the kids are helping with toilet-training, feeding and lots of play time.

Straight Outta Pre-school

We had a very special event this month: Eden’s Pre-school (daycare) Graduation!

I made up the "Straight Outta" image and
had it screened onto a plain tee

He’s recently completed his Kindy orientation and is getting excited to start at big school with Eloise.  It will be very strange to no longer be at daycare; he’s been there since he was 16 months!   We’ve had such a lovely experience with the carers and he’s made some wonderful friends.  Eden will miss them dearly come end of January.  (He might not be the only shedding a few tears!)

His class did a dance for us and then were called one by one to receive their certificates.   Each child was asked what they wanted to be when they grow-up; Eden said police officer!

Onto your new adventures at Kindergarten!

While he still has a few weeks’ left there, we decided it was a great time to give the teachers their Christmas presents.  And because they were plants and I definitely do not have a green thumb; it was in my best interest too.  The plants were accompanied with a personalised bucket of M&M’s.

The 'Ember Months

Back Down Under, we made it just in time for Eamon (MrH's younger brother) and Rochelle’s wedding.

Then it was straight back into routine and our adventure quickly became a distant memory.  Here are the highlights from October to December, saving a few things for separate posts coming after Christmas. 

The fun centre piece I made for Halloween

Although we already celebrated Halloween twice, we couldn’t let it just pass.  We donned our Wreck It Ralph costumes one last time (I traded Taffyta for Sargent Calhoun) for the Lithgow Halloween Festival.

Lithgow is approximately 2.5 hours away
and has the strangest weather.  It was gorgeous out
then suddenly we came to a halt because it hailed!

King Kong

The next day, MrH and I were surprised with a lunch date, just the 2 of us!

Bilpin is famous for their mountain apples

My favourite cider

Mount Tomah Botanical Gardens - it's warratah season!

The last Friday of October is also Teachers' Day in Australia.  I like to combine these with Halloween goodies.  This year, the teachers got these adorable pencil cases I picked up in America.

MissE took part in her school production of The Wizard of Oz as a crow over 4 nights (November)

Me: So what are you in the play?

MissE: a crow... thank goodness I'm not a corn.

Me: What?

MissE: A corn.  They just stand there.

MrH ran Tough Mudder again.  Well, based on the photo we aren't sure he actually ran it since he was too clean.  Ha!

And we finished November by celebrating Thanksgiving at TGI Fridays.  I am so grateful that they have this available now.  It never felt the same, cooking and eating on the Saturday!  I did try to get the Thursday off... as an American and all, but it didn't quite get the 'okay' I was hoping for.

Suddenly it was December!  MissE received her Orange belt in taekwondo AND was awarded with another trophy this year: Outstanding Student Junior (Contact) Sparring.  She is doing so well and we look forward to her starting to compete next year.

Not many to go to black!

Outstanding Student Junior Sparring

She also finished Year 2 - fastest year yet!

There's a lot of happy in this photo!

Until next time... there's more to come to finish 2016: my 4 day trip to Singapore and Christmas, of course! 

I Left My Heart in San Francisco

A short note: we spent most of our time at home with family - yay!  I do have photos but I am also aware that they may not like to have their photos posted here so I have respected that and have left this post to mostly the sites we saw in the Bay Area.

Did you know that Halloween is my favourite?  September and October is a great time to visit the US.  The stores are full of fun Halloween decor and costumes, Pumpkin Spice Lattes are available and the pumpkin patches!

Halloween Headquarters
We had some fun in here:

All this little girl wanted was a hug,

Aratas Pumpkin Farm

This was our first time at Aratas.  It was recommended because of the maze.  The maze was a lot harder than it looked!  It took us over an hour to complete!

We got the golden pumpkins too!

Muir Woods and San Francisco Sites
We didn't have much time for our usual San Francisco day trips, especially because there was a large conference in San Francisco so it was difficult to get in there.  So on our last full day, we went straight past the city to Muir Woods.

Shh!  Forest voice only!

Walking among the giants

Tree and Tree

We did stop for the "sites" on the way home

The Painted Ladies

And that's it for our 2016 visit!  See you in 2018...

WDW Day 4: Now it's time to say Goodbye...

Now it’s time to say goodbye… you know what’s awesome about staying at a WDW Resort?  You can check-in for your flight at the resort.  They even check your bag all the way through for you!

On our last day, we took the River Delta boat to Disney Springs for lunch and shopping.  We walked into T-Rex Café with no wait.  It was so cool!  Similar to The Rainforest Café (sister-restaurant), there was a meteor shower every few minutes.  The food was yummy too.

T-Rex Cafe was especially for MrE

We had an hour to browse and select our souvenirs for the trip.  We let the kids pick 1 present each and also pick a key ring for their backpacks.  (I already let them Build-Your-Own Droid at Hollywood Studios)  MissE chose Mulan and Princess & the Frog Figurine Set and MrE chose a Star Wars magnetic sand set.  I chose Haunted Mansion fridge magnets and tea towels, and what I had my eye on for some time: Alex & Ani Disney (I want MORE!)

Lego Store Disney Springs

We made it back to the resort to catch the Magical Express to the airport (complimentary).  We flew with United on the way home; it was just as terrible as we expected.  We had to pay to watch the TV! Seriously? Because charging $5 to watch videos during the flight is going to drive your stock up.  We made it an hour before we had to suck it up.

This trip was truly amazing.  We had so much fun and took with us fantastic memories.

Some  Tips:

If we didn’t live so far away, we wouldn’t have packed it all in as much as we did in 10 days.  We’ve been asked if we had to choose one of the things we did, what would we choose?  The Disney Cruise.  Don’t get me wrong, the parks were fun but they were early days, crowds, walking and lines and late nights.

DCL

• DO IT!  It’s worth the higher cost 
• The ratio is 2:1 cast members which means the service is perfect.
• Don’t do a cruise less than 4 days unless you’ve already been to Nassau and Castaway Cay
• The themed cruise, Halloween on the High Seas, added more fun!  One day I hope we get to do Star Wars at Sea
• Seriously, Disney have ruined cruising for us

Universal Orlando

• Plan on 2 full days for each park and maybe an extra 1 just to  enjoy the resort and City Walk
• You need a two-park pass to ride the Hogwarts Express so weigh up how much you really want to ride it.  The park-to-park is $50 more PER PERSON.

Walt Disney World

•   Magic Bands are awesome.  I hope these are rolled out to Disneyland one day.
• We purchased 3 day park hopper tickets, however we could of just done 1 park each day.
• If you are going to one of the special ticketed events, spend the day at the resort pool then head into the park.
• Fastpass are booked in advance. I tried to do my research but what I didn’t do was get onto the wait time apps ahead of time and check what waits are like because that would of changed my pre-selections.  I did a Fastpass for Mission: Space when I should have done it for Test Track.  We didn’t know this until we saw that Fastpass was totally unnecessary for that ride.  We used the My Disney Experience app to book Fastpass while we were at the park but this was mostly because we couldn’t find the Fastpass stations half the time!  The app is limited on the number you can select though.  (This is one of the reasons I almost like Disneyland more!)
• Advanced Dining Reservations are a must do.  We waited nearly 45 minutes for Yak & Yeti because we didn’t have an ADR but again, who knew we were going to exhausted and starved 90 days in advance?
•  If you see something you like while in the park, buy it.  I waited because I wanted the perfect thing but ended up missing out as it wasn’t in the World of Disney gift shop (Hollywood Tower of Terror souvenirs)   

 Guess we’ll keep this all in mind for next time… in another 10 years!  ↞ hopefully not though!

WDW Day 3: Hollywood Studios

Last day of matching outfits!
I'm wearing a Sith dress, MrE and MrH are in shirts I made!

On our last parks day, we saved the best for last: Hollywood Studios which has pretty much been taken over by all things Star Wars since the release of A Force Awakens.  We were all excited for this park after last nights' Star Wars: A Galactic Spectacular.  But first things, first: the queue for Jedi Training.  This was the longest line in the whole park!

After getting our training time, we hit the rides and the shows.

I got MissE on Hollywood Tower of Terror (my fav ride ever)
She was brave but it was a bit too much for her... read: soundless sobbing

So... the photographer told us to look scared.
MrE thought this meant "gangsta"?

March of the First Order

We stopped for a drink

Finally it was time for Jedi Training: Trials of the Temple.  Jedi Knights have assembled Force-Sensitive children from throughout the galaxy to test their abilities.  Under the tutelage of the Jedi, the recruits learn how to use the Force - and their wit- to wield lightsabers.  Now that the Empire has driven the Jedi to distant corners of the galaxy, the training must proceed in secret at ancient Jedi temples.

MrE was chosen to lead the recruits through the park

Practicing the Force

Preparing to face Darth Vader

Eden's Jedi Training

Eloise's Jedi Training

After grabbing some lunch (Dark Side Chicken and Waffles) and meeting Olaf, the skies opened!

We took refuge inside the Star Wars Launch Bay and met the Light and Dark Side.

Trading with the Jawas
(Oops, you are not allowed to give them food/ chocolate but they took it anyway)

With Kylo
(I love how nervous they both are)

CHEWIE!

The day we met our hero

BB-8 rolled away from Chewie... he nearly fell over laughing

Fist bumps for that!

We decided to cut today short and have some pool time at the resort as it was our last full day.

Ol' Man Island Pool, complete with waterslide

We went back into Hollywood Studios for dinner at Sci-Fi Diner, another one of our favourite restaurants in the park.

Tonight, we had an early night and found Zootopia screening on the lawn.  They had a fantastic set-up with large sheet towels and complimentary snacks too.  Funnily enough, a bunny joined in on the screening!

Temperature: 32.2c/ 89.9F ,97% humiditiy
Heat Index: 33.9c/ 93F
Steps: 12,679 (10.54km)