Christmas and Visitors in Sydney!

I had such a wonderful and magical Christmas back in the States and am so thankful that I got to spend that time with my family and friends. My sister picked me up from the airport when I got in and she was such a welcome sight! We headed over to her house, so that I could see Luke and Grace and hang out for a little while and we had such a great night reuniting. When I got back to my house, it felt good to be home! The next day, I got to go to Union Station and Crown Center to see the trains and Santa with my sister and the kids. That and the colder weather certainly helped me to get more into the holiday spirit! I got to see my Junior League girlfriends for dinner one night and had a great dinner out with my Kappa girlfriends...was so great to get to see them all during the holidays!

After a few days in KC, I headed to Wichita to have Christmas in my parents' amazing and beautiful new home!! It had been so hard that I hadn't been to see it since they have moved in, so I really tried to soak it all up and enjoy every minute of being there. The house truly is just perfect and it is so nice to see them so happy there together. During the week of Christmas, we did all of the normal Christmas things, just in a new setting...some cookie baking and decorating, putting together goodies for family friends, listening to Christmas music and watching Christmas movies and eating yummy food! My sister and her family came down mid-week to celebrate an early Christmas and we had the best time! It was so fun and special to do Christmasy things with Luke and to watch his anticipation build and then he finally got to open some presents! He loved it all and had so much fun playing around with stuff after. Grace is such a sweet and happy baby, she just sat with us enjoying it all also! Was a very special few days!

After celebrating a fun Christmas day with my mom's family, I headed back to KC to spend a little more time with my sister and family...and to pack to head back. It was also a good thing that I headed back because my parents had quite a bit to do, in order to get ready to come back to Sydney with me!!!!!

I think they were a little nervous about the long flight, but were excited to get here to see where I live and what I do here all the time. And they did GREAT on the flight! We got to my apartment and they confirmed that the pictures of my view just don't do the actual view justice! They absolutely love my area and have already spent lots of time out on the balcony gazing out at the harbour. We had a great first day and went to the grocery store and out to explore Kirribilli and McMahon's Point after we had cleaned up from our travels. Here they are after we had explored and as we were heading back around Lavendar Bay to my apartment...they look great for just arriving that day, don't they?!

Me and Mom out by the boats in Lavendar Bay...

Not sure how much Mom was loving being back in Summer weather, but she was a trooper! We came back to my apartment to relax for a little while and then headed out to a fun dinner at Ripples, one of my favorite modern Australian restaurants right down by the water in my area, Milson's Point. We had great food and some wine, which made us all a little silly after our long travel day. Here are a few pics from dinner...

Stay tuned, more posts to come about the fun times with my parents in Sydney!