Winter Down Under

So we just about made it through our first Australian winter…can’t say it’s been too bad. In fact, just last weekend over 60,000 people decided to brave the winter weather for one of the country’s largest races…the City2Surf annual fun run. The idea behind the race is that all the runners start out in the middle of Sydney’s central business district and run about 14 km to Sydney’s most famous beach, Bondi. Carey and Greg both participated in the event…just not quite exactly in the same way. Carey got up early in the morning to meet up with some friends to run the race, while Greg slept in and met up with some other friends for a nice leisurely breakfast. The plan was for Greg to be down at the finish line to take some pics of Carey as she triumphantly finished the race, however breakfast went a little longer then expected and by the time Greg got down to Bondi everyone was already in the pub for the post race festivities. All was not lost however, we managed to enjoy the rest of the Sunday afternoon in the pub celebrating.

The weekend of the City2Surf was also the weekend of the opening ceremonies of the Olympics, which are quite the big deal in Australia. Nothing seems to get the Aussies more excited than sporting competitions. And for such a small country (20 million people) they manage to hold their own pretty well. As we write this entry, they currently stand fifth in the overall medal count thanks mainly to their skills competing in all things water related. Whether it’s swimming, sailing, kayaking, rowing, or playing water polo, the Aussies seem to thrive in the water. And they seem to get the biggest thrills out of beating the Americans, which thanks to Michael Phelps didn’t happen too often this year.

While the City2Surf and the Olympics have been two of the bigger events of the final month of the Australian winter, we also managed to squeeze in a birthday party for two of our good friends who both turned 30 this year. The night involved lots of drinking and dancing, which seems to always lead to two things…Carey breaking out some sort of accent and Greg breaking out his infamous cup dance. On this particular night Carey decided to try to impress a Scottish couple with her ability to speak with a Scottish accent. And while they thought it was quite amusing, I don’t think anyone will be confusing her for Sean Connery anytime soon. As for the cup dance, its Australian debut (which is actually pronounced de-boo down here) was successful as can be evidenced in the pictures below.

Winter down under isn't so bad...although I think we're both ready to start hitting the beaches again!

Bloggin USA

So after seven months of life down under, the time for our first trip back to the States had arrived. And while we weren’t exactly jumping out of our seats at the thought of two 30 hour travel days within the same week, we were super excited at the thought of seeing our family and friends, celebrating Kelly’s wedding, and most of all spending time with Maddie.

The trip began with a four night stay in our adopted home of Washington DC. We packed our schedule pretty tight as we wanted to take advantage of the time we had in the nation’s capital. Kelly picked us up at the airport late Saturday night. Immediately upon arrival at her house, she and Carey were trying on wedding dresses, rehearsal dinner dresses, bridal lunch dresses etc, and discussing the upcoming nuptials. After a much needed sleep, Sunday brought the big reunion with Maddie…and it lived up to all our expectations. Though, we are afraid we may have traumatized her as she would not leave us out of sight for the next few days and cried anytime we left her. The rest of the day Sunday was spent hanging out in Old Town Alexandria with Maddie (and oh yeah, Greg’s parents as well). Sunday night Greg’s parents took us to our favorite Italian restaurant in old town, which was an extra special treat since good Italian food in Sydney is definitely lacking.Carey had set aside the entire day Monday for an all day shopping spree with her friend Grace (yes, Maddie attended as well) while Greg actually went into his office to visit with some of the KPMG DC crew. Monday night was a night Carey and Greg had particularly been looking forward to…dinner at Rio Grande with the entire DC gang. While the Aussies have perfected the art of cooking seafood, steaks, and all varieties of Asian food, the simplicity of the taco, burrito and quesadilla seems to have eluded them. And the queso was just as we had remembered, high caloric melted cheese in all its glory.

Tuesday we headed out to suburban Maryland to spend the evening with our good friends the McCoy’s. Maddie was reunited with her pal Pete, the yellow lab, while Greg and Carey worked up an appetite playing with the cutest little boys ever, Jackson and Garret. Everyone enjoyed some Chicago style pizza compliments of Stacey and Gordon and a swim following. We also enjoyed an excellent night sleep in our old bed which is now residing in S&G’s guest room.

The official wedding weekend then began on Wednesday, as Carey and Greg made the journey up to good old Indiana, PA. Wednesday night was mostly spent catching up with Carey’s family and telling stories of our escapades down under. Most of the wedding guests arrived at the farm Thursday evening for a pre-wedding barbeque. Luckily Greg and Carey’s Dad were able to sneak in a quick round of 18 before the guests arrived, starting Greg’s tri-fecta golf weekend – three rounds of 18 in three days.

Friday was the rehearsal day. Carey spent the day hanging out with Kelly and the rest of the bridesmaids while Greg participated in the pre-wedding golf tournament, which he and his Dad actually won, well tied for the win to be exact…with Carey’s dad and his partner. Friday night was quite the evening, full out buffet style – a Caribbean themed dinner at Benjamin’s in down town Indiana compliments of the Polsinelli’s. Steel drum band, mojito bars, congo lines, Hawaiin shirts galore, and perfect weather, the all out bash was topped with belly dancing, lots of laughs, photos, and Aussie story sharing.

All of this fun was just a prelude to the big event, the reason we flew around the world in the first place, the marriage of Kelly and Jim Scott. What a day it was! Beautiful weather, lots of dancing (yes, Greg’s cup dance included), and an open bar obviously made it a perfect wedding. Serious props to Kelly & JS for the best quirky first dance we’ve ever seen! Loved it!

Then after a quick breakfast Sunday, we jumped in the car, drove down to DC, hopped on a plane and flew to LA, then onto another plane and flew back to Sydney…just as we had finally adjusted to US time. Aside from the jetlag that was never really conquered, it was an amazing week Stateside! Congratulations Kelly and Jim Scott! Hope you’re enjoying your honeymoon!