While Christmas day in Australia was a highlight, it was just one day in week-long relaxing holiday in the country. Well, it was relaxing for me. May not have felt the same way to my Mum and Dad who were busy hosting a revolving door of visitors.

I think I’ve mentioned before that this visit was a special one for me, not just because I was able to spend time with my family, but because it was our first Aussie Christmas since Thomas was just 3 months old. Christmas is an expensive time of the year to travel to Australia – it’s a big holiday that it falls in the middle of Summer which means costly airfares. And, while that makes for an expensive vacation, it also means plenty of opportunities to spend time outside during the most wonderful time of the year. On the flip side, it can also mean plenty of HOT days when all you want to do is hibernate inside the nice cool house and avoid the swarm of flies that seem to appear every time you step out the back door. The other option on a hot day? The pool.

I grew up in a suburb of Melbourne where the local pool was the Summer gathering place to keep the neighborhood kids cool on those hot humid days. Fun fact: the pool in our neighborhood was attached to a Tupperware facility. It was free at certain times of the day and rumor has it that the water was heated as part of the process for cooling the Tupperware plastics. I hear it’s now a gathering place for the neighborhood ducks.

My parents now live in a country town on the Victoria/NSW border and, like a lot of small towns, it also has a neighborhood pool. Unfortunately it is just a little too far of a walk on a hot day with small children and shade was surprisingly hard to come by which is a big no-no in a country that aggressively pushes the “slip slop slap” message thanks to our very own giant hole in the ozone layer. But, lucky for us, my parents have neighbors with a pool and they kindly offered it up for our use while they were out of town over the holiday. The bonus was that we had it all to ourselves and that meant hours of fun.

Ahhhh, the Aussie Summer. There’s nothing else quite like it.

And that completes the first part of our Aussie vacation. Next time I’ll start posting highlights from our trip to Tasmania where we encountered everything from penguins to ghosts and devils to criminals. Back soon.

We walked the golf course on Christmas night to do some kangaroo spotting. Unfortunately the kangaroos were scarce but the bright sliver of moon against a Summer sunset helped make up for it.

Today is the beginning of a new journey. After eleven years working for the same company, I am heading out to embark on a new adventure. And, while I didn’t exactly choose the timing of this change, it feels like the right time.

The hardest part is saying goodbye to my co-workers and friends, some of whom have been with me from my first day, shared in the joy of pregnancy and new motherhood (twice), been with me through hard times and stressful times and provided me with the beginning of a life in what was a brand new city where I knew no one except my husband. But, as they say, Portland is the world’s biggest small town and our paths are guaranteed to cross again.

So now the search begins for a new adventure. I’m looking for something challenging, creatively rewarding and fun – something that will nurture my passions and make my heart soar. And you know what? I have a feeling it’s out there waiting for me.

On a related note, I now have more time for family, lifestyle and event photography in the Portland area. If you’re interested, please contact me for rates and availability.

Portfolio

When I asked the boys what they were most looking forward to about their trip to Australia, there was no hesitation – catching up with cousin Charlie was at the top of their list. And, thankfully, they had quite a few days to ensure some cousin bonding time and, of course, teach him how to play soccer. I just adore these photos that show the cousins in their element as they ran around under the Australian sun (covered in sunscreen), teaching Charlie how to kick a soccer ball and just generally getting hot and sweaty while they enjoyed every minute.

As I look outside at our rainy northwest winter day, these photos make me feel warm again. Instead of longing to be back (although there is a little of that), I find myself looking at these memories and feeling the warm sun, hearing the giggles and enjoying the moments of pure relaxation once again.

I know that you can see every single rib in their ribcage but I promise you that my children eat constantly. Being a boys just expends a lot more calories than you can imagine.

It’s only fun until someone gets hurt… Good thing he has his cousin to make sure he’s ok.

This photo cracks me up. It looks like I caught a picture of bigfoot.

And this is a favorite.

Gotta love cousins.

To say the boys became more interested in Soccer over the Summer would be an understatement. I’d say obsessed is a more accurate description. They spent every waking non-camp moment outside kicking the soccer ball to each other, stopping only to argue over a play (“That WASN”T a goal!” “Foul”). On the rare occasion that they came inside, you could find them arranging their World Cup soccer cards in the middle of the living room floor. I’m amazed at how those cards seemed to multiply over the Summer.

The cause of this latest obsession can likely be traced back to the World Cup. While they’ve always enjoyed playing the game, having the opportunity to see it played on a world stage was inspiring and opened their eyes to a whole new group of soccer heroes – Messi! Neymar! Ronaldo! Suarez!

It didn’t hurt that Soccer also took over the city of Portland for All Star week in August providing us with the opportunity to catch some of these world class players in action – in a Bayern-Munich practice session, anyway. I earned my Soccer Mum stripes by using a week off work to take them to some of the World Cup activities downtown. Tickets to the game were sold out months in advance but I think we successfully immersed ourselves in the vibe.

We also managed to catch a Portland Thorns Women’s soccer game at Providence park – our first pro soccer experience. Despite the stifling heat, both Thomas and Samuel watched every minute and we discovered a new family activity that we hope to re-live over and over again with future Thorns and Timbers games.

Here are just a few of the photographic highlights from our Summer of Soccer. I have a feeling that this is an obsession that, unlike Pokemon, will remain with us for many years.