April happenings

Well, right when we got back to Portland from our sabbatical trip, we immediately moved from Chad & Michelle's home to our rental condo. My Dad, Courtney, and Evan came down to help distract Ella while we got moved in.

We really love being in our condo. We are right in the neighborhood where a lot of friends live, and in the condo immediately next door are some friends of ours! We share a wall with the Closners - and have cleverly named ourselves the "Claceys".

Here are some pictures from the month. Aunt Courtney is only 11 years older than Ella - and Auntie is smitten with Ella and happily does whatever Ella wants to do.... a nice break for mama and dada!


Ella gave Grandpa Mike a LOT of hugs like this....

Uncle Evan with Ella. Evan even shared his ruler toy with Ella, which was a super nice gesture considering how much he loves his ruler.

Ella eating her latest favorite food....pancakes! She looks so un-excited in this shot. Maybe it's because I am trying to teach her that you don't throw your pancakes on the floor, and she thinks that is ridiculous.

When we got back home and moved into the condo, we still had a week of sabbatical left before Jason had to go back to the real world. We went and visited our dear friends Kent and Kay Hotaling for dinner. Kent is actually the man that married us! Anyways, I caught this cute shot of him and Ella bird watching out the window.

Ella helping Daddy put the doors on her play kitchen....She is even holding her own little screwdriver and copying what he is doing - CUTE. And by the way, I painted that little kitchen and happen to love my color choices! :) I very rarely love my paint color choices at first attempt....

Go figure....the family we stayed with in Australia was in Portland a week after we arrived home!! That's right, a while ago they had planned to come to the States to visit some people and go up to Whistler, so Jason and I got to have a nice dinner out with them. All the pictures turned out blurry but this one. I'm afraid I'm several glasses of wine in at this point....there were wine pairings with dinner....look at all those glasses! Here are Karen and I....

Ella got to see her dear Bailey again....Ella is thrilled to be on the stairs with her...this is probably her happiest combo.

Ella walking out in front of our condo with her wagon. She stops to pick up sticks, rocks, and pine cones to put in her wagon. Also in her little collection of wagon treasures is her mini hot pink rhindstone studded purse her great aunt gave her. :)

Ella on Easter Sunday! She actually loved wearing this flower headband. And the dress is special because it was given to her by my Granny Franny before she passed away in 2010. We thought of Granny with love all day long.

We had a pretty mellow Easter this year. We went to church in the morning and happened to get to sit with Michelle & Chad while there. Then, we made some ham and potatoes and had a nice lunch with the Austins, Bohannons, and a few new friends that the Bohannons brought along. It was a lovely afternoon.

Ella and Charlie....

We stopped by to visit the Ramigs on Easter, and got a special piano performance from John's sister, Mary. Ella was fascinated by it....

And then got a turn!

Heavenly Waikiki

Our tickets to Australia were purchased with our air miles, but it only got us back as far as Honolulu. We decided, since we were already there, it was only reasonable to stay in Hawaii for a while before heading back to Portland. Convenience, really. :) And a nice way to ease the difference in time zones.

It was truly heavenly. Restful. We had no agenda. We knew nobody for thousands of miles. We laid around. We ate. It was superb. Here are some pictures....



The family on the beach....

Shopping .....

Ella and I staring at Waikiki beach.....

Ella hanging out by the ice cream shop.....poor girl, they didn't have any dairy-free options. Good thing she seemed pretty satisfied with her ice water....

Mama eating her ice cream.....

The nice part about Ella in Hawaii was that she wasn't walking yet, and didn't want to crawl around in the sand....in fact, she didn't even want to touch the sand. Therefore, she would just literally sit around on her square of towels laid out on the beach and observe....
Our fair skinned family needs serious sun protection....


Hanging around at the hotel happy hour.....


The one major thing we did in Hawaii was celebrate Jason's birthday. He had no idea, but while we were in Australia I had planned a hawaiian suprise for him. I hired a babysitter through a babysitting service on the island. (I was a bit hesitant to do that, but I did a lot of behind the scenes work to get a great sitter, and I'll spare you the details, but Ella's sitter was fabulous, and I had given myself full permission to bail at the last minute if my spirit felt any hint of hesitancy about her when she showed up.)

Ella and her sitter Paige....fast friends.

So, Jason and I departed and here is the fun suprise....I hired a surf instructor, and we went surfing!!! It was so so SO fun. I only paid for an hour lesson, but our instructor stayed out with us much longer. Jason got up on his FIRST attempt. I'd never known anyone to do that before! I got up on my 2nd or 3rd attempt. It was awesome. Our arms and backs were completely exhausted from all the paddling.

Here we are with our instructor!

From there, we went to get a drink and listen to some live music. There was even some hula dancing to watch....

And lastly, I took Jason to a nice dinner on the waterfront. A steakhouse, with a nice wine list. And we ate a classic Jason Lacey meal....Steak, Potatoes, and Corn. And all of it was phenomenal. Also, for some reason, the restaurant thought it was our anniversary, so we got the nicest table right on the water, and a complimentary chocolate dessert. Nice!

My love....

Heavenly Vacation.

Last of Australia

Our last night in Australia, we decided to do it up right and head out on the town to see a performance at the Opera House. The building that graced the Sydney skyline for us the past month was going to be experienced and viewed internally! We put Ella to bed over at the Cameron's house and headed out. It was a Friday, and the night life was in full swing. We felt alive and free just wandering the streets hand in hand. Here was our destination as we approached....

We saw a performance of Beethoven, Barber's Adagio, and a minimalist composition by John Adams called Harmonium, which included a massive choir. Barber's Adagio was Amy's favorite. The inside of the opera house (there are several auditoriums inside) was beautiful as you can see....

Right as we were walking out of the performance, we got a call from our friends Paul and Alyssa. They happened to be downtown and wanted to meet up for a drink. They ended up taking us to such a neat place! It was a bar downtown at the top of a tall building, and the bar rotated so you got beautiful panoramic views of the city. Here is Jason with Paul....

And Amy with Alyssa....

Here we are with a really pretty skyline in the background that you can't see is there....

And after a super classy evening of Beethoven and swanky night life, we were hungry and needed food for the train ride home....

The next day we flew at 10 PM, so we spent the day packing and hanging out with the Stevens. We got to go see Kit play a soccer game and see his school. Ella had lots of fun playing with her new Aussie pals....

I love this shot of the soccer star himself with Ella and her wind blown hair. :)

Ella found out on her last day at the Stevens that she loves the trampoline in their backyard.

And here is a final shot of the Stevens backyard....this home was such a gift to us, and is a blessing to so many. Thank you, mates!

and continuing on...

Luna Park is an amusement park in North Sydney that most visitors don't actually go to (so we hear), but it is a visual landmark of the waterfront of North Sydney due to this entrance.... Kinda creepy, right? Well, this giant face of an entrance can be seen as part of the Sydney shoreline and we figured we may as well go and get Ella her first ride on a carousel. Turns out, they are closed on Thursdays. Oh well....another good opportunity for yet another shot of the Harbor Bridge!

John and Anne Harding are two people Jason and I will always remember. They are such a neat couple. They picked us up and took us out to a yummy breakfast, and then we all walked to the park with Ella. I'm not sure how to describe the Hardings other than this: Fun, Real, Wise, Insightful. We adore them!

And then dessert with Brooke and Brendan! Back to the delicious chocolate shop that we still drool over as we remember it. And can you believe it....Brooke and Amber Austin are friends! Small world....

Cheers!

ABBA

So, Karen has this ABBA costume... :) Who doesn't?! And Ella happens to love anything she can put on....shoes, hats, gloves, hair bows, clothes. Here she is with the ABBA boots and gold glitter belt.

Harbor Bridge Walk

Well, the Laceys are back in Portland, Oregon! We had a wonderful time on our trip. We just arrived back to Portland and spent the past 2 days moving into the condo we are renting. Loving being back home! But... we still have some experiences to report on from our trip, so these travel posts may still be coming in for a bit. One of our favorite experiences in Sydney was doing the Harbor Bridge Walk with Airley & Steve Lacy. Yes, Amy Lacey and Airley Lacy....we sound like twins! It was a wonderful evening!! Here we go.... Walking across the harbor bridge at sunset, and you can see the beautiful city and opera house behind...

Airley and Steve first took us to a park overlooking the city for some apps and drinks. They treated us like royalty and gave us this sweet Aussie flag to sit on, and these beers in special cozy holders.

We snacked and talked under the stars before heading to dinner at a rooftop pub. Perfection!

The Laceys....

The Lacys....

Truly, the perfect Sydney experience!!