Australia 2010 Pics

Here are just a few pictures from our trip to Australia (April-May 2010):

All six Nicholson siblings: (from left to right) Geneal, Rebecca, Lorin, Louise, Dean, and Melissa.Nicholson girls: (from left to right) Rebecca, Louise, Geneal, and Melissa.Me and Miriam on the headland above Fraser Beach.

Here is a happy Miriam with Grandad at Lakes Beach.

Australia 2010

Louise and Miriam's Trip to Australia 2010
Fri, Apr 23, 2010 Yanks Arrive in Oz

Flew into Sydney at dawn. Miriam was an angel on the plane and saved
her meltdown until the evening at Grandma's house. She slept like a
log that night. *smiles*

Sat, Apr 24, 2010 The Complete Set

Woke up at sunrise, pleased to hear all the birds. It sounded like
several dozen rainbow lorikeets, along with some doves, magpies,
miners, perhaps a rosella or two, and the odd flock of cockatoos on
their way through. Miriam might have mistaken her wooden crib bars for
a birdcage.

Ate Fruity Bix for breakfast along with a crumpet and then went for a
big day out shopping with the girls: Mum and all four
daughters--Geneal, Melissa, Rebecca, and me with Miriam in tow. It's
great to be all together for the first time in fourteen years—The
complete set.

We stopped off at Toukley shops before hitting the Morriset Markets.
Beck bought some Indian curry paste in prep for dinner and between
Melissa and Geneal (mostly Geneal) we bought a whole swathe of Pandora
bracelet charms. In further food report, for lunch we all ate beef and
lamb doner kebabs with tabouli and sweet chili
sauce—Australian-Mediteranian deliciousness!

The quote of the day was from Beck, when we finally figured out
Miriam's borrowed stroller she said "Between five mothers we got her
strapped in." It was very slightly comical, but as we strolled off, I
thought how significant it is to be all together and all mothers now.
The last time we were all together I was just thirteen. Now looking at
them all beside me gave me a tingly feeling of belonging that I never
quite expected.

Sun, Apr 25, 2010 ANZAC Day With the Girls

The five of us plus baby filled a row in church. Highlight was when
Bishop Travis Johnson shared a beautiful testimony, and this just a
few weeks after the death of their newborn son. After church I managed
to snag his wife, my old friend Rebecca, which I'm so glad I did.
We're praying for you Bec and Trav.

The afternoon was spent taking photos in the backyard and then at the
beach right after a big rainstorm. It would have been perfect if not
for the blustery wind, but we got some good shots, complete with a
rainbow. Although the wind was cold, the ocean was warm. Geneal and I
were itching to swim, but that was for another time.

At dinner Mum said how grateful she is to have children who genuinely
like each other as much as we do.

Lisa (sister in law) and kids arrived that night with Lorin's new
children's book "The Amazing Bike Ride" hot off the press. Lisa read
me the book and we all had an early night ready for the big
homecoming.

Mon, Apr 26, 2010 The Big Day

Up at 4am we were, and out the door for the 5:30am train to Sydney. We
arrived at the Opera House with not much time to spare before the
brothers on bikes (Lorin and Dean, along with support vehicles, police
escorts, and their tandem cycling mates) came rolling down the road to
victory! Those boys were some lean, mean, cycling machines! Lorin is
sure proud of his "buns of steel", and Dean too, but slightly less
likely to say it out loud. either way, by now they've earned their
bragging rights. After a month on the road, I thought they'd be
exhausted, but instead they were talking about their next ride,
although not quite so far as 4,000 kilometres (2.500 miles) next time.

For a brief few hours (some of which was interrupted by TV cameras)
the whole family was together. We ate breakfast at Maca's (McDonalds)
and took some family photos before the fun was cut short and we had to
clear the camper vans off the Opera House concourse before feathers
got ruffled (namely Tourism Australia was about to do a filmshoot of
the Opera House minus campervans).

We headed back to Mum and Dad's except for Dean and Janelle who had
planned a little harbour getaway for themselves in Sydney. I'm happy
we all had fun, but my only regret is that I hadn't specifically made
the plans that might have kept us all together for more than those few
hurried hours. I won't dwell on that though.

What an achievement! It's hard to believe they rode all that way from
Perth to Sydney, but they did it!

Tues, Apr 27, 2010 Breaking Up is Hard to Do

Beck flew out early to catch her connection to "Barky" (Barcaldine,
the outback town in the middle of nowhere, Queensland, where she calls
home for now). Sad to see the reunion ending so soon. (Sidenote: As if
the boys weren't enough, Beck has become my new inspiration for
hitting the gym. Second sidenote: Geneal and I both said that if we
had to leave Australia today, it would have been well worth the trip).

Melissa braved the Sydney traffic and took Geneal, Miriam and me to
see the boys one last time along with their families at a Vision
Australia reception, then we said our goodbyes and headed to Melissa's
house in Tamworth (The town where we grew up, about 5 hours NW of
Sydney).

Most notable—Melissa might say it was that we made it out of Sydney,
but Geneal and I would say it was the beautiful pink sunset while
driving through Scone. We arrived at Melissa's house to find her
husband, Chris cooking dinner—We took note of that too. Onya Chris!
("Onya" is short for "Good on you" or "well done" in Aussie speak.)

Wed, Apr 28, 2010 One Day in Tamworth

Waking up in Tamworth sure reminded me of childhood. It was a typical
Autumn morning; It was a gorgeous clear blue and green morning
outside, but flippin' cold inside. That's the thing about Australia,
few people have central heating and cooling like in the USA.

Highlights of the day were wandering around town and bumping into
people we knew as kids and seeing what was the same and what had
changed on mainstreet. The real highlights were meeting up with many
of our cousins; We had a lovely visit with Ellen and then had a
wonderful surprise visit with several more of our cousins, Robert,
Lauren, Michael, Stacy, and John (and Marea later) in the halls of the
hospital where we all happened to be visiting Aunty Ruth, who has been
sick for some time (and who has since passed away). Thanks Aunty Ruth
for being the cause of such a good visit, even though it was pretty
rotten circumstances for you. Thanks for sticking around for us to
visit one last time and introduce you to Miriam, but we're sure glad
you're back enjoying being with Uncle Fred again.

Thur, Apr 29-Mon, May 3, 2010 Geneal's Final Fling

Time flew after leaving Tamworth and heading back to Mum and Dad's via
Newcastle (for fish and chips and Tiger pies), and over the bridge
over Swansea Channel to homebase. Geneal headed back to Salt Lake City
the following Monday, but not before she and I had an awesome Saturday
afternoon jogging and swimming at Soldier's Beach.

Tues, May 4-Tues, May 11, 2010 My First Mothers Day

I hate to say it, but I think I moped around a bit for a few days
after Geneal left. Although I did enjoy birdwatching in the backyard
during Miriam's naptime, things were so quiet until the end-of-trip
acceleration began.

The final highlights were:
*Traversing the headlands from Coogee Beach to Bondi Beach on a
crystal clear day—definitely the highest of the highlights.
*Hiking at Wyrrabalong National Park (Dad/Grandad carried Miriam in the pack.)
*Exploring one of my favorite spots—Fraser Beach, a rather remote
beach about 20 minutes north of Mum and Dad's house.
*Taking Miriam swimming at the beach (I thought she wouldn't like the
cold water, but she proved to be a surf-loving adventurer.)
*A potluck Girls Night In with a few of my friends (Fern, Halley,
Loraine, and Belinda)
*My first Mothers Day

In fact, my Mothers Day warrants a mention; I was excited to give my
mum the blanket I made for her. Dad and I also made lemon ricotta
crepes for breakfast, and I made cranberry chicken for dinner. As for
Miriam, she cooked up a little surprise for me too—First thing in the
morning, after feeding her and while burping her, for the first time
ever, she started patting me on the back too. The other thing to note
is that although sadly Joe wasn't there to share it, my first Mother's
Day was also our seventh wedding anniversary.

Wed, May 12, 2010 "Dallas, You Ain't Never Looked So Good"

That brings me to the end of my trip. It was so wonderful to see Joe
waiting for us in the Dallas airport after a marathon twenty-nine-hour
journey. (Yes, count them—twenty-nine hours!) We got up at some
obscene hour like 3am, caught the train to the Sydney airport, then
flew from Sydney to Brisbane, to Los Angeles to Albuquerque to
Dallas—Oh my! Thankfully Miriam was well behaved, but I tell ya, by
the end my own behavior was about to take a backslide. We both managed
to keep our cool pretty well, but the Dallas airport ain't never
looked so good as when we arrived there that very long Wednesday.

A whole two days of recooporation were spent at home before we zipped
off to College Station for Joe's little sister, Michelle's graduation,
and then on to San Antonio for a few days with the Walch/Taylor side
of the family. Then I even had the gall to fly to Utah for an NFB
convention. I knew that was a nutty idea before I even left, but the
tickets were booked and I said I'd be there, so I went and had fun,
but I'm sure glad to be home now, cured of the travel bug for a good
long while—or at least for the month of June.

Epilogue: A Novice Parent's Guide for Longdistance Airtravel

The following list is for parents of infants (Sorry, I know nothing
about toddlers yet):
*Carry both your passports, boarding passes, and a few dollars cash in
a separate pouch that you can attach to yourself that is secure, easy
to access and never comes off until you reach your destination.
*Be sure you have a comfortable baby carry pack for the airport. I
used a Baby Bjorn.
*Pack light on the plane; Use a single carry-on backpack for the both
of you that can fit under the seat. Don't skimp on diapers and wipes,
but leave the toys at home because they'll only get lost and the baby
is more interested in your headphones and the airline safety card.
Leave your own toys at home too because the baby tends to be enough
entertainment and any extra stuff in the carry-on just ends up being
clutter.
*Keep both you and baby hydrated. Long plane rides dry you out more
than usual and a dehydrated baby is a grumpy baby by the end of the
trip.
*Pack an extra pacifier and clip; This could save your life.
*Pack deodorant, toothbrush, toothpaste, comb, and an extra change of
clothing for you and baby, and use the wipes to give yourselves a
little sponge bath to make you human again before you reach your
destination, or before your final connection
*Did I say to pack light? Funny story (that wasn't funny at the time)…
At the beginning of my trip, I arrived at the airport, an hour from
home, and discovered that I had forgotten my carryon bag! Luckily I
had our passports on me and enough time still up my sleave to finish
panicking and zip off to the nearest store and buy diapers and wipes!
Although highly unamusing at the time for all involved, it turned out
to be a blessing in disguise because I never really missed anything
much from my bulging carryon.

ANZAC Biscuits: An Aussie Oatmeal Cookie Recipe

Apart from being a tasty reminder of home for me, you'll all appreciate that this is also a good food storage recipe since it doesn't call for eggs.

Ingredients:

3/4 cup flaked coconut

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 cup all purpose flour

1 cup quick cooking oats

1 stick (1/2 cup) butter

1 tablespoon golden syrup (honey will suffice)

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 tablespoons boiling water

Directions:

1. Mix oats, flour, sugar, and coconut together.

2. Melt the golden syrup and butter together in a small bowl in microwave for 40 seconds, or on a small saucepan on medium heat on stove.

3. Mix boiling water and baking soda together and then add to the melted butter and syrup.

4. Add butter mixture to the dry ingredients and combine.

5. Drop by spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.

6. Bake at 350 degrees F for 12-15 minutes or until cookies are golden around the edges but still soft on top.

7. Allow baked cookies to remain on cookie sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire cooling rack.

Tips:

*Do not overbake.

*Substitute golden syrup for half honey and half molasses.

*Use a 1 tablespoon sized icecream scoop to uniformly size and shape the cookie dough balls (tip courtesy of my mother-in-law, Anne-the-awesome-Taylor)

*Place cookie dough balls side by side on a lined tray and place in freezer for later use.

*Frozen or chilled cookie dough is less prone to flatten while baking and makes for chewier cookies.

A Day in Australia

We took a trip to Sydney today--Mum, Dad, Miriam and me. We walked from Coogee beach to Bondi beach. It was a perfect day (except that Joe wasn't here...) There was just a slight breeze, it was warm and sunny but not hot, blue skies and turquoise water, nice waves, white sand... Lots of runners passed us and it made me think of Joe every time although the company was good as it was. Miriam liked the dogs that passed us along the way too. When we sat down on a bench to have a snack at the top of a headland, she watched a dog pass us and then watched it all the way down the hill and around the bend--perhaps she's my daughter after all.

The only mis-hap was this morning--after a night of screaming, she finally unloaded into her diaper (and all over her clothing) right about when we got on the train this morning. Lucky I brought extra outfits for her, but unfortunately it meant a slightly chilly nakey baby for a minute or two at Gosford station. Her mood improved though after that.

Just a few more days and we'll be heading home to Texas. Trying to make the most of it.

Strawberry Lemonade Cake

Delicious recipe from Hillery Ray (a.k.a. the cake goddess). Recipe used for the FW 5th Ward Relief Society birthday party, and then for Miriam's belated half-birthday. I don't think mine was as good as Hillery's (Surprise!), but I expect that this is because I am known for not sticking to the recipe. The smell of the lemon juice was so intoxicating that I couldn't stop at the recommended amount... I know you'll have more restraint than me though, and your cake will turn out perfectly!

Cake:
2 1/4 C flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
2 tsp lemonn zest
12 Tbsp unsalted butter, room temp
1 1/2 C sugar
2 eggs
3/4 C milk
2 C fresh strawberries, chopped

Lemonade Syrup:
1 C lemonade concentrate, thawed
3/4 C confectioners sugar

Frosting:
3/4 C strawberries, chopped
3 C confectioners sugar
12oz creamcheese, room temp
3 tsp lemon juice
18 Tbsp unsalted butter, room temp
1 tsp vanilla

Directions:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
In a bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt, and lemon zest. Stir together with a fork and set aside.
In another bowl, beat butter on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add the sugar and beat until well combined. Beat in the eggs one at a time, scraping sides of bowl as you make each addition.
Add in half of the flour mixture and mix on low speed until just blended.
Add the milk and mix until smooth.
Add the remaining flour mixture and mix until just blended.
Fold in the strawberries with a spatula.
Pour mixture into a greased, floured cake pan.
Bake at 325 degrees F. until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean--about 30-40 minutes.
Allow to cool in the pan for about 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Once cake is completely cool, whisk together the melted lemonade concentrate and the confectioners sugar to make the syrup.
Using a skewer, poke holes about a half inch apart all over the top of the cake and then pour the syrup all over the top, allowing it to soak in.
For the frosting, puree the strawberries in a food processor or blender. Whip together the creamcheese and unsalted butter until very fluffy. Add in the confectioners sugar and blend until smooth. Add the lemon juice and vanilla and mix until incorporated. Mix in the pureed strawberries a tablespoon at a time until you reach your desired fexture and flavor--about 5 tablespoons of puree.

Tip:
1 stick salted butter=1 stick unsalted butter + 1/4 tsp salt

G'day Y'all!

three sleeps until Miriam and I head off to Australia. It's a first time for her of course, but it's been a whole four years for me. I'm a little nervous for all the travel phase, but mostly excited.

The things I'm most looking forward to are:
* Getting all six siblings together for the first time in fourteen years.
* Celebrating after Lorin and Dean complete their 2,500 mile bike ride across Australia.
* Having a "cuppa" (aka a cup of hot chocolate or some such drink) and late evening chats.
* Aussie burgers, meat pies, sausage rolls, fish and chips (on the beach!), crumpets, salad sandwiches, ginger beer (don't worry, it's not alcoholic), vanilla and passionfruit slices, Dad's custard, and Mum's curried sausages. You can count this long list as an admission that I'm a bit food centric...
* Even more than the food though, I'm looking forward to hiking with Dad, seeing all the bright colors of the ocean, the trees, and the birds (in particular, the cookaburras, magpies, and rainbow lorikeets that frequent Mum and Dad's backyard), and which have become somewhat friendly.

It's going to be great!

In other news...
1. Anne and Ben/Moppy and Poppy came to vissit us last weekend. We hope they'll come again soon.
2. Joe and I had a very nice lunch date yesterday at Red Lobster. The food and company were both great. I'll miss you Joe while I'm away.
3. Miriam can sit up by herself and will be crawling any day now.
4. I'm finally going to make that strawberry lemonade cake today! It was meant to be for Miriam's half birthday, but as it is, it's a few weeks late.
5. I played flute in church today.
6. I'm reading Catching Fire, the second book in the Hunger Games series--Good so far.
7. I'm going to Natalie (Lunt) Haughawout's house tomorrow morning for a visit.
8. I'm super duper uber excited for Kristen and Aaron's four-year adventure living in Okinawa.

I've probably forgotten a few items from each list, but it wasn't as if you wanted to read a novel about me anyway. This is me signing off.

FYI... or rather FMI

Three news items which will be interesting only to the select few:
1. Miriam's bald head is growing some fuzz. It's still pretty much invisible, but I like to feel the fluffiness.
2. Miriam now knows how to use her legs one at a time, so perhaps crawling is next (though she's already getting around alright by rolling)
3. For the last three nights, with the exception of a few squeaks, Miriam has slept from 11pm to 6am. Now if I can just stop waking up then we'll be doing just fine.
(She'll be six months old next week.)