Beating jetlag

Yet another flight for Olivia. I counted, and estimate that San Francisco to Sydney was her 44th flight! She did pretty well on the flight even though Daddy was in business class and she and I got downgraded from Premium Economy to regular Economy since the flight was full and no-one in premium economy would switch seats so that Olivia and I could sit next to each other.
Never mind, Carl did let me go and sit in Business for 3 hours with their super lie-flat beds but that was almost worse since he then came and woke me up to say that it was his turn again. Annoying but I guess only fair since he has to work in Sydney while I'll just be enjoying myself.
Anyway, once arriving in Sydney at 9am, we had to stay awake for as long as possible to avoid the jetlag. We started with a hot-tub in our hotel pool and followed by a walk round the city. We're perfectly situated about a 1 minute walk from Carl's office and less than 5 minutes to the harbour. Things are looking good. Olivia took a ride (she insisted that it was by herself) in the tea-cups at a nearby amusement park. I can tell that we'll be regulars on the rides there!

Olivia is 3

Olivia has been inundated with presents due to the proximity of Christmas, all grandparents, birthday etc. Never mind, she seems to be handling it pretty well by asking all new guests "what you have for me?"
On her birthday, I went to school for the morning. I purchased lunch (pizza, apple juice, grapes and brownies) for all her class followed by very popular goodie bags (bouncy balls, bubble mixture, slinkies etc). It's amazing how cheaply you can entertain 3-5 year olds, although when you multiply it by 24, it does add up!
School marks each birthday by a ceremony where the child holds a globe, and walks around a small circle which has the months of the year written and a candle in the middle. Schoolfriends sit in a larger circle and sing. The birthday child circles the candle as many times as they are years old and, at each circuit, talk about what they could do at each stage. I was watching and videoing this and was a little taken aback. It's somewhat cult-like but the kids seem to like it and Olivia kept asking me if her birthday was going to have a candle at school (not having seen the ceremony before, i of course, told her that there would be no candles - after all, candles and 24 3-5 year olds don't really mix). Anyway, Olivia got to wear a princess dress and a crown, and as far as she is concerned, that is all that matters. The only altercation was Olivia telling a school friend during the middle of her ceremony "You're not 3, only I am 3!" so there.

Christmas wings

What is Christmas without a few pairs of wings, a couple of wands and some fairy outfits? Olivia got to experience Christmas in Tahoe with all 4 grandparents. 95% of the presents under the tree were for her. She was definitely on Santa's nice list! This particular Autumn fairy outfit from Uncle Neil and Auntie Barbara was a big hit.

SF Zoo

As a member of the San Francisco zoo, we got to attend a members morning when some of the animals got their very own Christmas presents. Olivia was particularly happy to see the lions got sparkly wrapping paper and both mummy and daddy lion found steaks. Mmmmm. She got to make antlers which helped when making cookies with granny later in the day.

Ano Nuevo

When you live here, it's easy to forget just how gorgeous this part of the US is. With grandparents in town, I got to do some more 'touristy' things including going to see the elephant seals at Ano Nuevo. It was a little too early in the season and the first males were starting to arrive. We saw one juicy fight up close but not much else was going on. The weather was gorgeous and it was a perfect California December day.