Impromptu sunset picnic

We are heading home from grocery shopping and decided to get some take away and go air by the water. It was a fantastic evening as we watched the sun disappear.

Seeing Uncle Gareth in Manly

TV's friend Gareth came through Sydney and we met up with him at Manly Beach at a lovely little cafe right on the beach. It has been quite a while since we have been to Manly so we took some photographs together since we got there a little bit early. In the restaurant it got a little bit warm and MV was getting a bit cranky so we took her dress off to cool down (and save the dress from stains). As a hotelier Gareth always has great stories and this was no exception. It made time fly to have good company at the beautiful location. The funny thing is we last saw Uncle Gareth exactly 3.5 years ago just after we got back from our first around the world tour and SV was the same age as MV is now. History repeating itself.

Mikulas day

As per the Slovak tradition of Mikulas we all put our shoes out overnight so that Father Christmas could fill our shoes with goodies if we were good. In the morning SV and MV woke up and had a look at their shoes. They had to play and have breaky before they could open their gifts though since KT was sleeping. They were both pretty excited about the little presents left in their shoes.

SV's third school xmas party

SV had her annual school holiday party, which was her third. Hard to believe she has been going there so long now. The whole family went along including MV who got to preview her school. SV had a great time and so did the rest of us. She and the rest of her class sang some carols.

Last day of the trip

We suppose that it had to come, but it was still hard to bear. After 6 weeks of crossing 4 continents, 7 countries and so many wonderful people we headed home. Of course we made the most of our late flight by going for a swim in the morning before leaving the hotel. We had a leisurely day with a lovely lunch and eventually we watched the sun setting into the Pacific Ocean. After watching a magical sunset knowing that we will be on the other side of the Pacific to greet the sun as it rises over Australia, we went to check in. Everything went very smoothly and we had plenty of time to relax and eat in the Priority Pass lounge (thanks again J & A for the tip). SV even had time to befriend some of the musicians playing at one of the bars in the terminal. The flight home was really good as everyone got to sleep for a good portion of it, especially MV.

Meeting Auntie Amelia at Disneyland

Auntie Amelia and her family met us at Disneyland. Unfortunately due to school and traffic they didn't get there until late but that was ok as we stayed until the park closed. It was good fun seeing things that Amelia and her kids liked and we didn't even know about like the Tiki Room. SV really liked the animated characters singing and is still talking about it. Obviously the 'It's a small World' ride was quite popular among all of our kids. It captivated MV's attention much as it did SV's when we took her in Hong Kong three and a half years ago. It was a great catch up with our friends and see their boys growing up, and hopefully we get to see them again soon.

Disneyland continued

We had a surprisingly reasonably priced lunch which was also reasonably good. Afterwards SV met a few characters with whom she took photographs, and others like Captain Hook who she kept a safe distance from. SV did get to meet her favourite character at the moment, Tinkerbell who gave her a lovely hug. We got to ride a couple of rides together as a family including the tea cup ride, jungle cruise and the riverboat. It was great that we could do that together and balanced nicely with the ability to ride some of the adult rides with fastpass and partner skipping (one person waits in the queue while the partner minds the kids and when they swap the second person gets to go to the front of the queue basically). It was wonderful to see the sun setting over the castle and then watch as all of the lights came on.