New Year's Fire & Light

We had an amazing view from our apartment of both the New Year's fireworks over the harbor and a sizable lightning storm. Check out the video clip from the 9:15 show. The midnight fireworks were awesome--they launched them from different points all around the city, and from our apartment we could see several different sites going off. It was so fun to share it with some great friends and toast the new year with sparkling shiraz.

Phillip Island Penguin Parade

We drove out to Phillip Island to see the nightly "penguin parade" of foot-tall penguins emerging from their day of fishing at sea to cross the beach and find their way into their burrows. They are very cute, but you'll have to take our word for it since no photography/video is allowed. We bought Agustin a stuffed penguin to commemorate yet another experience he slept through.

Healesville Wildlife Sanctuary

Healesville Sanctuary

Agustin has seen a bunch of cool animals--he just doesn't know it. Mom and Dad were excited to see a Tasmanian devil and koalas for the first time.

Have Car, Will Travel

We've rented a car for the week, and we're planning some adventures. Adam is doing a great job driving on the "wrong" side of the rode, and Agustin is enjoying his carseat (except when he doesn't).

Agustin's First Christmas

After everyone was asleep on Christmas Eve,
I crept out to the living room to set up
the little gifts I'd selected for our guests
and our gift for our Australian boy.
I premade the egg casserole dish
that I hadn't premade.
He won't remember.
And not everything went as planned.
But as I slipped back into bed,
I felt the excitement of Christmas Eve again.
Only this time
I felt like a mommy.

Puffing Billy

Puffing Billy

On Boxing Day, we went for a ride on the Puffing Billy, a century-old steam train, with our American crew: Scott, Karyn, and Michael. It was a beautiful trip through the Dandenong Ranges--and it was the first time Sarah and Agustin had been outside the city of Melbourne and its suburbs.

Christmas in Melbourne

Christmas 09

We had a nice Christmas: Agustin got a platypus from mom and dad for his first Christmas, and we enjoyed lunch at the house of our friends who are from Melbourne but used to live in San Jose.

Where We've Been

We got engaged in December 2005, married in May of 2006, and honeymooned in Greece. Sarah took up contracting work, and together we visited Japan and Mexico.

We kicked off 2007 with a trip to Canada. In the summer, we took trips to Kauai and Vermont, and then rescued a lively Labrador Retriever mix from the Humane Society, right before Adam took a study abroad trip to India. The pup needed lots of training. We celebrated Christmas in Carmel with friends. The pup came along.

In 2008, Adam earned his MBA from Santa Clara University. We celebrated his graduation with a trip to Spain, and spent our third anniversary in Portugal—we also hit up Gibraltar and Morocco while we were in the area. We spent the rest of the summer remodeling our kitchen. We were in Boston for Christmas and New York for New Years.

In 2009, we learned we were expecting! A few months later, Adam was offered a job opportunity in Australia, and we accepted. We packed up our house in six weeks and moved. Three short weeks later, our son was born (seven weeks early). He spent a month in the Special Care Nursery and came home on October 3.