This past Friday saw the annual Caroline Springs Carols By Candlelight in the yard of Ellie's school. The front doors of the performance arts studio is opened out onto the outdoor stage and a canopy is erected where the Victorian Concert Orchestra sat.
It was a beautiful balmy hot evening, actually, when we arrived at 6pm it was still 30 degrees, but when the sun started to drop the temperature cooled to a much more pleasant temperature. There were magicians, jugglers, and a bouncy castle for the kids and also the Caroline Springs Community BBQ was there providing a sausage sizzle and drinks. Although, the night was so warm the ice cream van was doing most of the trade.
The actual event was a lovely and we had a great time listening to the music and joining in in some of the carols. It didn't finish til 9pm by which time it was just dark so for the first time, the girls were able to se the outdoor Xmas lights on the various houses enroute home.
Yesterday, Ellie had her first proper birthday party to go to in a party centre called Junglemania. The party was for one her school friend called Bellicia and Mike and I found it really amusing that her Dad is called Bong!!!! Don't you just love asian names lol. Anyway, we took Becca in too for a play and at the end of the party Bellicia even gave her a party bag so she was very happy. This wasn't just any old party bag though. It contained over 20 items!!!!!!!!! Mike reckons Bong owns the local dollar shop in Caroline Springs so that would certainly explain it. When we got home Mike put up the curtains the landlord had given us for the lounge, only to discover that the cheap so and so had only bought curtains just big wide enough to cover the window, so by the time they went onto the pole, they don't even meet in the middle!!!!!!!!
Then at tea time, Lynn and Campbell and the boys arrived for a fleeting overnight stay enroute to their hols on the Gold Coast.
Today, we were all up sharp and the girls had swimming at 9am. I actually had a day off today and was meeting friends to go to the Xmas Markets which was great. I bought a lovely bit of turkey stuffed with cranberry and apricot which we're going to have on Christmas Eve. Highlight (actually, the complete opposite) of the day was returning to Helen's car to offload sme bags to find a massive (over 3" at least) huntsman jump out of the boot!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.
We're all pretty tired today and the girls are VERY sleepy after 2 late nights. We're going out to Ellie's favorite restaurant tonight (no, not MacDonalds lol) and then hopefully we'll get the girls into bed really early. Maybe Mike and I will catch up on some X Factor after that. We're about 3 weeks behind so nobody tell us who won.
Despite all the fun we're having, the prospect of Christmas without family is really starting to hit home this weekend. Actually, if someone were to offer me a one way flight home right now I'd bite their hand off :-(. I know it will pass and that Christmas will be OK but it won't be the same. We're definately having Xmas dinner at Sandra and Jim's so I know we'll have fun, and if it's hot enough we'll all be in the pool all afternoon, but family and friends back home will be very much in our thoughts. To be honest, if it weren't for the fact Mum and Dad are coming out a few weeks, I'd be ready to come home (for Xmas anyway).
Hope all your Christmas plans are going well and it's not too cold. We miss you all loads. Oh, and Catriona, hurry up and have that baby, I've got my eye on a gorgeous little outfit but don't know what colour to by lol.