We all agreed that playing with Rory is the most fun thing to do. Here’s Rory doing one of his trademark “hands on head – oh no!” games. It truly never gets old! Rory was always willing to drop everything and get us to put our hands on our heads and say “Oh no!” to his delightful smile.

Rory also likes coffee shops, particularly Chalk in Maroubra. Here he got some Cindy time while Colette gathered his belongs to head home for a nap. Chalk deserves to be cross-tagged in the great food in the antipodes category! Great coffee shop and restaurant.

On the morning of New Year’s Eve, I took the bus downtown to the CBD (Central Business District) and met Isobel, my friend and fellow book-club member, for coffee. Isobel is originally from Sydney but currently living in Indianapolis (having lived in Chicago for about 10 years.)

That same morning, C & C and the Kennymen visited the University of New South Wales. Interesting place and they have a materials science engineering program!

We sat down to have a picnic one day to realize these super cool pine cones were all over the ground.

Again, this could be cross-tagged with New Year’s! On New Year’s Day, we played lawn bowls at Clovelly. It is a really fun game and the bowling grounds can’t be beat for location right above the sea on the coast. Here’s John pitching a bowl, trying to get it close to the Jack (target ball).

The Jack is small and white, and the black balls are his teammates and opponents’ bowls, having been rolled.

Close up of a bowl – they were all black with different little pictures on the sides.

C&C in Sydney and Cindy and the Kennymen!

Rory preferred playing in the shade to bowling. Here he’s chewing on a comb I gave him then took away, realizing it wasn’t a great toy.
