Grape Picking

In March we were invited to grape picking at a small organic winery in the King Lake area of Victoria. About an hour outside of Melbourne. This was probably one of the best days I have had here... We picked for an hour, had morning tea. Picked for another couple and then had a big meal with lots of wine and music. Jeff, the owner and winemaker is also a musician. So, he and a few of the others just did a lot of improve playing and it was amazing. Ben had stayed home but Rachel played with the other girls and even got to go horseback riding. The weather was warm and spectacular and the company diverse and interesting. There was even a French guy!

The french guy in the middle.

Jeff is the one with the guitar.

Jenny is Jeff's partner and was more than happy to serve wine. She also took us to the building where the wine was made and explained the process. Because it is such a small winery it was very interesting.

Horseback Riding

Emma, in the pink, plays BBall with Rachel. The night before, her parents had invited us to the winery. The girls spent the afternoon horseback riding. To left of Rachel is Lauren, Emma's sister.

Catching Up

Well once again I am behind on blogging and need to do a major update! I know that I had put a few pix out her from when my parents were here but I had forgotten to post the Halloween pix. As you may know, halloween isn't really celebrated here like we do in the states. One of the problems is that it is spring so all the fall symbols associated with Halloween are not around. So, the kids and I decided we needed to have a real Halloween Party!

Since we had been to the states in September, we did a Target run and bought decorations, candy, etc. We also stopped by our storage unit and picked some the old decorations. My mom had shopped with the kids in the states and picked up party invitations, plates, napkins, etc...

When we got back, we decorated the house for the season. It was pretty obvious that we were an American family!!!!

Anyways, the party was awesome. Complete with halloween games, dunking for apples, graveyard cake, and goodie bags with american candy. The kids invited about 15 friends over and they were beside themselves. They had never been to a real american halloween party!!! Dunking for apples became just dunking your head. After eating a bunch of candy, Ben and his 4 friends went upstairs, hooked up their laptops and had a major gaming session, eventually deciding it would be cool to let off stink bombs. (Scary, huh??) Luckily my friend Tori came over to help out as it was complete chaos but incredibly fun!!!!! We will probably do it again this year!!!!

Halloween Games

So the concept of dunking for apples was completely foreign to the Aussie kids. They had heard of it but never done it. They caught on quick and had a ton of fun!

We also played a mummy game where they had to design the best looking mummy with TP. These kids were so creative, it was hilarious. It also kept them quiet for quite a while!

Halloween Costumes

Rachel and her best friend Maddie. Maddie was so excited for the party. She came over early and helped decorate and get everything ready!











This is me and my friend Tori. Tori is from New Hampshire and is in Australia with her husband and two sons.















This is Ben's friend Liam. Ben got tired of his American Football costume and let Liam wear it.