Merry Christmas and Beyond!

 

Wow, it has been a while!  Here we are in the week between Christmas and New Year's...The last few months have flown by and now we are looking forward to 2014! 



2013 Rappe Family Pic

Christmas in Australia was a little easier the second time, knowing to expect hot weather and to order most gifts online waaay ahead of time.  Even so, Jax had a couple presents that didn't make it in time, so he'll get an extended Christmas whenever those arrive! 
We did manage to have a cloudy/drizzly Chirstmas morning, which is second best to cold and snow.  It makes it feel a little more like Chirstmas when it isn't blazing hot and sunny!  Trent has had the week off from work, so it has been great fun having him home for so long!  In our house, it really is necessary to have Papa here helping put toys together, explain and play all the new games, participate in nerf wars, sword fights, and other various and sundry activities!

Well, our Christmas season started with a program at Church that the kids participated in at the beginning of December.  The main portion of the play was done by older kids, but Jones, Jax and Beaux all went up for a few songs and danced away.  They did a great job! 

We decorated our tree that same weekend at home.  This year the kids hardly needed any help at all with ornaments and knick knacks just finding their way all around the house to the classic tunes of Christmas.  It was pretty fun to watch them decorating with gusto! 

That same night we had the most beautiful orange sunset and a great big rainbow across the sky!  I don't remember ever seeing a rainbow while decorating the tree!!

We had a couple get-togethers with friends for Christmas as well; the most recent was a very involved day of swimming, appetizers and the Christmas story at their home, then packing everyone up and trekking back to our home for Christmas carols (Trent on guitar and their daughter Rebecca on our keyboard), big ham dinner, and a gift exchange.  Everyone had a wonderful time!

Christmas Eve we made sure everything was ready for the next day, of course which includes finishing up our Advent book telling the story of Jesus' birth and the reading of The Night Before Christmas.  Also, the kids each get to open one gift and it is always a huge surprise to find out it is new jammies and slippers!  A cup of milk and some peanutbutter balls were positioned for Santa and we were off to bed.

  The excitement level was off the charts!  I am not sure how much actual sleep the kids got, but they weren't allowed to come out of their rooms until 7 am...Of course they were chomping at the bit when we opened their doors at 6:55 am! 

Stocking exploring and gift opening lasted a good couple hours, with lots of happy faces and smiles and goodwill abounding!  We had cinnamon rolls, bacon and strawberries for breakfast and I believe we snacked on all that until lunchtime. Trent had helped me decide not to have a big feast on Christmas itself, because that way we all got a nice relaxing day...that was a great idea!  We had kindof an Aussie dinner, with meat pies and oven quiches.  Everyone was pleasantly exhausted by the end of the day, and we felt so blessed and grateful for all our wonderful family and friends who love us.  We sure missed being with all our extended family, but this may be the last year of that!

Thursday we took a little trip out bush to a new destination about an hour west of town.  We had to drive for 15 km or so on a pretty rough track, but not the worst we've been on in central Australia!  Destination:  Birthday Waterhole on the Hugh River. 

Of course, the Hugh River is dry like almost all rivers here in the outback, and Birthday Waterhole was just a small pool of green muck, but it was a really pretty location with lots of big red rock and river gums. 

The kids had gotten real! bow and arrow sets for Christmas, so we definitely needed to give them a try...away from the general public.  It was really fun! 


We were shooting into a target box filled with sand, and the kids did really well.  I think their arms get tired pulling the cord back, but that will just take a little time to build muscle. 

The bows worked really well and all three munchkins got some good shots off! 

 

We also brought a couple other outdoor games to play while we were there,

and our new metal detector (no gold nuggets this time, unfortunately). 

It was to be the coolest day after Christmas, but was still in the 90s, so it was pretty warm and the flies were terrible, so we just stayed an hour or two and then were happy to get back in the car for the drive home. 

 

 

 

 

We did not see any kangaroos or camels this time, but we saw dingoes, a long-nosed dragon, and some horses. There were camel tracks down through the sand at Birthday Waterhole, so they must travel through the area sometimes.

 

Long-Nosed Dragon Catching Some Sun

 

Camel Tracks

Dingo Couple

Horse...

Pretty much every waking moment other than our trip to the waterhole has been spent getting to know our new presents and enjoying each other...we made sure not to make a bunch of plans for this time, except just having fun and being together.

It's been a nice time together and the kids are so happy to play and play and not be trapped doing schoolwork!  They probably will get another couple weeks off and then we'll be back to it.  Trent mowed the lawn this morning and our thermometer was reading 120 degrees F...it was in the sun, but you get the idea!  (He survived.)

Today is our feast day (I thought I'd split the difference between Christmas and New Year's Day), so there is a turkey in the oven and the rolls are rising.  Thanks so all of you who have read with us about our adventures Down Under, and blessings on your 2014!

Love,
Hilary