Week #14: Beach Times are Good Times

FAMILY TOGETHERNESS

To celebrate MLK Day, we went to the beach.  It was perfect because Australians don’t get the day off, so it wasn’t crowded.  It was windy and a bit chilly, but we were determined to have a lovely day at the beach—and we did! 

Cora enjoyed feeling the sand in her toes, but as soon as that first wave got her, she wasn’t so happy.  We played for a little bit, then then Sterling wrapped her up in a towel and she just fell asleep.  It was warm enough to enjoy laying out on the beach, so we just enjoyed watching little kids running into the waves and getting knocked over.  (One teenager swallowed too much seawater, so we were also privy seeing everything in his stomach come out.  Poor guy.) 

Baywatch run by Sterling

Enjoying the wet sand between our toes

Recovering from the cold water

Love the sunglasses 

Cora loves being tossed in the air

Super awkward photo of me.  I think Sterling said something and this was my reaction :)

Hanging out with dad

REFLECTION

Over two years ago, Sterling went on our honeymoon to Costa Rica.  We spent time on the beach being all lovey-dovey (‘cause we could!) and tanning/burning.  It was one of the most relaxing beach trips ever—not having to worry about anything else in the world, just for those few days.

It was kind of surreal to sit on the beach this weekend, but this time with our sweet, little Cora.  Sterling and I were both wearing the same swimsuits and sunglasses we had on our honeymoon, but it was quite a different experience.  We were busy introducing Cora to the sand and water and keeping her warm when the wind came.  I even nursed her on the beach (you do what you gotta do!).  When she cried,we took turns trying to soothe her and keep the sand out of her ears.  But, we were so incredibly happy watching Cora discover new things and watching her smile when the wind blew across her face.  We went crazy taking photos of her and I melted watching her curl up to sleep in Sterling’s arms.  

Cora totally crashed on the beach 

Many people in the world see having children as an inconvenience to the things they want to do.  Granted, Sterling and I couldn’t relax the way we did in Costa Rica, but having Cora there with us this time was a whole different kind of happiness.  One that can’t be replicated with just the two of us.  This weekend was a testimony to me of God’s plan to put us in families.  And I imagine that having more kids, increases that happiness.  Or, as Cher from Clueless puts it, “Like, the more, the merrier.”  Now, don’t get me wrong.  I’m not saying that I don’t ever want to go to the beach with Sterling alone again.  I would love a Honeymoon 2.0.  But, being at the beach with our small family this weekend reinforced to me the joy and fulfillment that children bring.  Having children does not diminish the love I have for Sterling—it only increases it.    And nothing else in the world can replace that.

PIZZA BOY

On the way home from the beach, we stopped in the quaintest town for dinner.  At Eureka Pizza, we ordered a pizza with pumpkin, feta, pine nuts, and red onions.  A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!  When Sterling went up to pay, we witnessed a scene that made us so glad to be done with the whole dating scene:  A teenage guy confidently walked into the restaurant and strutted straight up to the counter.  He leaned on the counter with one arm and said to the cute girl working the register and said, “When do you get off?  I want to catch up.”  She was totally in the middle of helping Sterling, and you could tell she wasn’t interested at all in the guy but wanted to be nice.  I’m sure the guy had rehearsed those lines about a dozen times before he got up the courage drive down here.  And he probably spent more than 10 minutes getting ready.  Just a guess.  I don’t know how the story ended, but she gave Sterling a look like “Yeah, I don’t really know what to do…  That was awkward and I don’t even like him...”  It made me hurt inside to watch the awkwardness.  I wish her (and him) the best of luck in their romantic endeavors  J  

GETTING OLDER AND WISER(?)

Any week that includes my birthday is a good one.  When I got up on the 15th, I saw that Sterling had left 27 little envelopes all over our apartment for me—one for each year of my life.  Each envelope had a little note inside with something he likes about me.  Not a bad way to start the day, right?  It was so sweet.  Later that day I went to the library with Cora, and returned to the hotel receptionist holding out a huge bouquet of flowers for me.  Sterling again.  (It took me about three times to understand that they were for me, though.  The Australian accent still gets me!)

That evening, we took Cora to our friends, the Hills, to be babysat while we went out to eat.  I was totally that neurotic parent again.  It just comes out sometimes!  I showed them everything in the diaper bag three times and then explained about 300 things that might help is she starts to itch or cry.  We were only going to be gone 2 hours!  Worst case scenario is that she cries the whole time, right?  Well, I’m pretty sure she did the whole time.  And she is still alive and well today J  Even as we pulled away from the Hill’s house to go to dinner, I just kept talking about Cora this and Cora that.  After 10 minutes, I made myself stop talking about it and just enjoy the time we had together when we didn’t have to worry at all about her.  She was in good hands.  I mean the woman who watched her, has five grown-up kids and clearly knows more about babies than we do.

Sterling and I went to eat at Blu Ginger, an Indian place for my birthday dinner.  We probably didn’t need to dress up, but we dressed up just a little to make it feel more special.  I even got a mango lassi to go with dinner.  Sterling and I enjoyed delicious food and a wonderful conversation—and we were able to just relax and not worry about Cora. 

Before dinner, Sterling surprised me a with a digital kitchen scale!!!  I know you are excited…  But, I honestly can’t remember the last time I was that excited about a gift.  It is so German and fancy and does ounces and grams and milliliters, and has a tare button and everything.  Sterling picked it out, so you can rest assured that it even looks good:  a sleek design with light blue tinted glass top.  I had been wanting a kitchen scale for several months now and my wish came true!  If you want to know how many ounces of strawberries you have, please come on over.  

We kicked off this weekend with nothing but the finest cinema:  the one and only While You Were Sleeping.  We both forgot how simply wonderful that movie is.  The love chemistry, the clothes, Peter’s hilarious family. 

Earlier that day, I met up with Sterling and his co-workers for lunch, so we decided to stay in for date night and scavenge around our apartment for something to eat.  I think we found something.  I can’t remember now…

CANBERRA FINALE 

Saturday was our last day in Canberra.  We’ll be in Tasmania the next Saturday and we leave for the States the next, so this was the last chance we had to explore our lovely city.  Lots of people recommended that we try this new burger place called Brodburger, so we did—even though I’m not really a burger person. 

It’s a little strange that this hip burger joint is connected to  Canberra Glassworks (a glass-blowing studio/gallery), but they were totally packing them in for lunch!  I felt like such an old woman (now I’m 27, you know…) when I wanted to complain about the ridiculously loud techno music.  Fortunately, the chicken sandwich I got completely distracted me.  Delicious.  And I totally ate half of the fries Sterling ordered.  I always tell Sterling I just want 2 or 3 of his fries.  Then I eat half of them.  I also tell Sterling I just want a sip of his Coke.  Same story.  But these fries came with a garlicky aioli sauce.  It was totally the sauce’s fault I ate so many fries…

At Brodburger

After lunch we checked out the glass-making studio.  Has anyone seen this done?  It’s incredible.  Sterling took a glass-blowing glass at BYU so he explained the whole process to me.  I loved learning about it.  I think it’s one of those things that I am totally intrigued by and I couldn’t peel my eyes away from the glass melting in the furnace, but I have zero desire to do it myself.  The idea melted glass burning me is petrifying! 

Guys blowing a glass vase

CHOCOLATE AT ITS FINEST

Every time I walk to the grocery store, I pass Koko Black, this super chic chocolate boutique.  I just have to smell it and wish I had a good excuse to spend the week’s entire grocery budget on chocolate.  (Okay, it’s not that pricey, but it isn’t cheap!)  We would never have a reason to go in, but my brother Isaac and his wife Maegan blessed us with a gift certificate for Christmas.  So, to top off our burgers and fries, we got some chocolate.  (I definitely had to exercise on Monday J)

Here’s what we got:

Sterling got the Chocolate Spoil, which included:  a walnut brownie, 2 florentines, two pralines, chocolate mousse, and chocolate ice cream.  You can see mine in the back, the Summer Spoil with vanilla sorbet, chocolate mousse, two pralines, passionfruit marshmallows and a while chocolate and lime delice.  Needless to say, we go our choclate fix for the day--or month!  Thanks Isaac and Maegan :)

Fancy hazelnut cocoa

At KokoBlack 

Can't believe that we will be back in the States in just 8 days.  We are squeezing in one last trip before we leave.  Tonight we are flying to Tasmania for the long weekend.  It should be a pretty chill trip.  We are taking the lessons we learned from our crazy New Zealand trip.  This little vacation is going to be more about relaxing than trying to drive a million miles and see every little thing :)  Until next week...  We love you!