Feb. 20th - First Day in Australia

After sitting on a plane for 16 hours that BTW wasn't as bad as I imagined it to be, we arrived to Sydney. Baggage claims and customs took less than 20 minutes, that made me extra happy. We felt the humidity of the air outside as soon as we got off the plane, and boy did it feel right. We were greeeted with uncles Kamran, Javad and Ardeshir, aunty Shahnaz and cousins Anisa & Adib. Cousins took bounch of pictures that I have to remember to ask for before we go back home. We got to Kamran's place, talked to Mom and Dad to make sure the the kids were all right and then Matthew and I, went to visit with Uncle Jalal. On the way back to Kamran's place, Anisa gave us a ride to Coles that really sounds like Kohl's, but really is more of a grocery/general store. That was our first encounter with Auzie malls.
We spent the rest of the day visiting with family friends and taking kitty naps here and there. Matthew played the whole day with his cousins and new friend Deon. We really enjoyed the food and company. Invited lots of new friends to cme to the US and give us a visit.

Beginning of February

We had a pretty bad snow storm, that was complicated by a power outage. Kids and Linnet spent the night at my parents while I was at work. Morning travel was easy since there was not a lot of wind to blow the snow around. It took Linnet and I more than half an hour to clean up the driveway, so we could bring our car into the garage. Kids were crying patiently in the car!
On the 13th Maya had her first haircut given to her by her Mom and grandma Shahla. Between Matthew playing his start wars game and Nathan giving a cream cheese tombs up, I'd say we had a happy start on this month. There is also a picture of Maya helping grandpa Iraj pushing a cart to the elevator.

Trick or Treat

We enjoyed the kids' costumes this year more than ever. We planned for Nathan and Maya to be garden gnomes and Matthew wanted to be the red power ranger. Nathan's costume was small for him (he grew up fast) and besides he didn't like wearing the beard that went with the costume. At the end he wore a green dragon costume. Maya wore her garden gnome costume and changed into her princess dress after her dinner.
We also enjoyed carving pumpkins and putting them to display on our front porch. We also visited our families and friends in Naperville and Lisle and took pictures with them.
For Linnet's birthday this year we went to the Brookfield Zoo and had a ball. Kids cooperated in taking an awesome picture on the bails of hay displayed by a giant pumpkin (in the middle).

First Half of August

The first week of August we went to a baseball game at the Kane County Cougar's stadium. This was a TGIF event from the Systems' Department at Nicor. Kids enjoyed all activities, specially the fireworks. This was Maya's first time at a baseball game. On Saturday we went to Ralph's World concert at the Morton Arboretum. We danced a bit and sang along, and everyone enjoyed jumping up and down.

Our 2nd Trip to the Train Museum

We started the month of August by taking a short trip to the Illinois Railway Museum in Union, Illinois. Even with the hot weather and direct sun light, we had fun. Specially since this time, grand parents and little aunt came with us.
Later on that Sunday we stopped by the near by Donely's Stake House. The restaurant was right next to Donley's Wild West Town that we will visit soon.