What I Did On My Summer Vacation

It's 10 pm January 1, 2013.  It's official, summer vacation is over and tomorrow morning we have to go back to work.

Because of how the days lined up I was only off for a week, but I think we were able to make the most of it.  On Christmas Eve we carried on with the tradition we started last year of having a picnic on the beach followed by a visit to the Phillip Island penguin parade.  They are extra cute this time of year because the babies are almost full grown and stand outside their nests yelling for their parents to come home.  One of these times we are going to steal one and keep it as a pet :)

We started Christmas Day off with a run around the park with our friends from the running group.  Then the cats and dog got to open their pressies, and soon it was time to head down for Christmas lunch with our Aussie family.  Cracking poppers and wearing crowns seem to be a requirement for Christmas lunch in these parts, as does a nice roast and some Christmas Pudding.

After Christmas we drove North to Lake Hume, just on the Victoria/New South Whales border for a few days of camping with the Aussies.  This is their annual family vacation and they were nice to invite us along.  We enjoyed a few days of reading, swimming, and trying to knee board and tube behind their boat.  Phil had much more success than I did and was able to get up on the knee board.  I was just happy to lay on the knee board, so the falling off while trying to sit up on the board wasn't my favourite.  Maybe enjoyed playing with her lab friends Banjo and Coco and swimming in the warm water.

We came back in time for a quiet New Years Eve, and true to form couldn't make it to midnight.  We could never live in New Zealand, we wouldn't be able to celebrate another country's new year so that we can go to sleep before 10.  It was nice to have a couple days before having to go back to work to catch up on some things around the house.  We even finally got rid of last year's Christmas Tree!  (from 2011)  The weather has been gorgeous lately and we are really starting to enjoy having Christmas in the summer.

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