Back in Oz

Genna showing off her Cute shirt from Uncle Marcus

Cuddles from Great Grandma before our flight back to Oz

The cookie cake my Mom picked out for Murray (it was SO yummy!!!)

We took over my parent's living room to pack!

5 suitcases totaling almost 250 pounds in weight and we were ready to go!

We again had a good flight. Miss Genna was very good, we actually got the seats we wanted for the long haul flight by swapping with people (and didn't even ask for the bassinet to be put up this time). She slept a lot, and we were very happy she kept her new high pitched 'talking' squealing until the last hour of the flight :)

Never mind the mess - but Murray took this picture because he thought it was funny how she was resting her arm on mine at the laptop :)

The little ballet dancer showing off an outfit that only just started to fit and sock shoes from Grandma!

The shirt says 'A little bit of sparkle and a little bit of magic and I become Daddy's Fairy Princess!'

Skyping with Nanna

Trying on her other sunnies - cool dude :)

Oh I LOVE all my new clothes Mommy - does this mean lots & lots of photos now though?

It sure does! We'll just try to keep the flash to a minimum :)

Murray's amazing weekend burger - yummmmm

At the nail salon - I was in desperate need of a pedicure and Miss Genna decided she was only happy sitting on my lap! I must say feeding her on a chair at the nail salon was a first! Oh well - what can you do?

She does LOVE her Sophie teether toy - nevermind the super wet bib....

Some chai for me too PLEASE!!

Just in the last week or so she has started grabbing at my drinks. They say this is one of the signs they are 'ready' for food, but we'll wait until Christmas time to start solids. I think she's just becoming more aware of what's going on around her.

She does LOVE relaxing on my lap where she can see everything that's going on!

Showing off her puppy blanket/toy

Genevieve's first trip to America

Waiting at the gate in Sydney to get on the plane

I'm glad we brought a pillow so she could sleep on my lap if she wanted to

She has never take a pacifier - but as soon as the flight started to take off, she finished eating so we tried the pacifier to keep her sucking to pop her ears and she fell asleep with it! wow (of course this was the only time for the whole trip that she took it - but whatever works)

Murray walking Genna - she was a chick magnet - they'd surround him when he was up walking around with her

Our second flight from LA to Minneapolis was a lot more crowded - but we made do with our pillow!

All in all, a great trip. She didn't cry (other than diaper changes in the restroom) and she slept a LOT of our big flight (the first 6 hours! amazing). Fingers crossed the trip back goes this smoothly!

Melbourne

Last Friday we flew to Melbourne.
That evening we made our way to Federation Square to find some dinner.

Later we ended up in Flinders Lane at a cute cafe with great live music and a nice warm heat lamp!

Next morning I took a rest on this wombat after a lovely chai tea for breakfast at Starbucks!

Old & new

I love the trams - it makes the city look so European!

Back in the Flinders Lane area - gorgeous signs & street lamps (notice the people in the scarfs - the AFL final was on in Melbourne on Saturday (that's Australia Football League) thus the fans were EVERYWHERE!)

SO Cute! I love this area

The SBS building in Federation Square is quite unusual looking!

I think it's lovely that the horses & carriages share the streets with the trams

Me waiting for the tram that would take us to Chapel Street

Cute old golden retriever we saw while shopping on Chapel Street

It was a bit of a miserable day - but the shopping was still good!

Towards the end of the street there was some QUITE unusual shops - check out this window display?? huh?

Freaky!

We stopped for lunch at JUST the right time

HAIL!!!!!!!!!!!!

Back at the hotel, after dinner in Lygon Street (the Italian area) we had to laugh that the person who cleaned our hotel room didn't dispose of Murray's half eaten cookie from the night before - ha! How bizarre!

Sunday morning when we moved to another hotel (for our work conference Monday & Tuesday) Murray was THRILLED to see this menu!

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh :) The pillows were so hard at the last place, Murray actually bought one at on Chapel Street so he could get some sleep - ha ha. Not necessary at this place!!

We also had quite a nice view from our new hotel.

We spent Sunday inside a shopping mall and it was Lovely! Nice to just take the time to browse:)
On the tram we got a good view of Melbourne's ferris wheel (similar size to the London Eye) - the story we heard is that they built the circle nearly to completion then it didn't match up!!! So they had to start all over again! A US firm....

This cupckae is bigger than my head!

Would be a cool b-day cake!!

Ohhhhh red velvet YUMM

We also made our way over the the casino one evening and Murray doubled his money on the slots!!!! - Granted the winnings all came out in one dollar coins............

That's 20 coins! Not bad since we put in $10 for the two of us to play with!

The 2 day 'welcome' conference for the company we both work for was very interesting. Also great that we both just passed our 6 month 'probation period' - now we are officially both employees - that's a nice feeling:)

I want one of those!

A friend told me about this travel pillow she saw on amazon.com

That looks PERFECT for plane travel (especially for side sleepers like me)!!! Allows your head to angle to the side just enough to be comfortable to sleep - I NEED ONE! What a great idea!

I always try to sleep like this on planes by propping up pillows on my shoulder, but it never quite works and I always end up with a very sore neck. I think this may be the key! They say you can connect it around you body like a messenger bag as well, rather than attaching it to the seat, so it stays put while you sleep. Cooooooooooooooooool

Not long to go now!

We are going on an Australian cruise with my family in December - can't wait! We got another update letter today which got me excited for the upcoming trip! (38 people in total are coming!!! some family & some friends of the family)

I love the logo they use on the letters - however an Aussie would never use the word shrimp - it's prawn!!!

:)





















The countdown is ON!