Nelson Bay

Thankfully the visit to the hospital was soon forgotten as Chechi, Brian, Alicia and Catalina took center stage for us.  The big focus for this trip was to see them and to have some quality family time together. So what better a plan than to spend four days together, sharing a lovely house overlooking the sea, and only about 50 meters from the beach!  A friend of theirs has just such a house in a small town called Nelson Bay, so off we went.

Once there the girls were delighted to find not only a beach, but also a small playground, all within a short walking distance from the house!  Yeay!  Given that Catalina is only three months old, it was difficult for us to work out logstics that worked with everyone's schedule, so flexiblity was in order. This meant, primarily, that adults had to take turns in taking the older girls to play. Brian, for example, took the girls to see if they could build fairy nests. They did a wonderful job collecting flowers and leaves to put together, but the fairies didn't come at that time. Brian explained that that's because they normaly come out after dark, when we're sleeping. It seemed logical to the rest of the gang, including Laurence, and so they left the newly-made nest for the fairies to enjoy later on. 

Time at the beach was a bit different than their summer experiences. Australia in summer is generally warmer than Greece and its water is colder and waivier, meaning that Irini and Amalia were luke-warm to the idea of going in. Ali, on the other hand, never missed a chance to jump in the water!  Outside the water, however, was a different matter. Castles were built. Holes were dug. Ali (at first) and Amalia (later) were excited to be covered in sand. 

Our lives there were slow, filled with concerns about children being injured (steps!) and meals being made. In there somewhere there were also opportunities to go Christmas shopping for those last few gifts and a visit or two to the local fish and chips place, no? :-)