Happy 2012 from Tropical North Queensland!!!

So I started off the New Year in style...at a lovely beach house with Baldy, PC and Steph Kamasz in Port Douglas! I have just returned to Sydney from 5 amazing days up north for Ian and Zoe's wedding. But I suppose I should backtrack to Christmas in Mt Baker with my family.

So all of us were together for a few days in December. Rachel flew in from LA and joined us in Bellingham before we all drove up to Glacier near Mt Baker. Before we left, we all had dinner at a restaurant in Bellingham together as well.
Once we got to the cabin, we didn't have phone reception, TV reception, internet or anything so we really were just hanging out together with our games and dvds. It was really fun. We even had a little Christmas tree. Brock, Amber, Dad and I took a hike along the creek there as well. We didn't have much snow, but we had fabulous meals (which I will have to work off over the next few weeks!) and spent some well deserved time together. The last time we were all together for Christmas was in 2002! Photos of the trip....

Dinner at Le Chat Noir - cute French place in Bellingham
Our Christmas Tree at Mt Baker
We made the cranberry and popcorn garlands ourselves!
The brothers with their matching sweaters
Rachel with her DC Comics book
Hiking the creek near Baker
Dad hikes the creek
Me hiking
The entire family

So something that Jonny and I wanted to do for a while was a Young Me, Now Me kind of photo for our parents. Last Christmas we dug through a few options and decided on recreating a Christmas photo from 1986 (as it was the 25th anniversary of the photo this year). I searched high and low for matching sweaters and we headed to Sears portrait studio to do it. They turned out fantastically! I think you will agree, the comparison is hilarious! I love them and so did our parents. The website where I bought the sweaters from was having a competition for the best photo using their sweaters....and of course, The Grubbs won! Have a look for yourselves. Very funny stuff...

So then immediately after Christmas, all of the Grubbs dispersed all over the world again. Rachel went back to LA. Jonny flew back to Minneapolis. Brock drove back to Seattle and Mom and Dad packed up their Bellingham house and headed back to Lakeville.

I flew to LA on the start of the big trip back to Sydney. After one quick night in Sydney, PC, Steph, Baldy and I flew up to Port Douglas for Zoe and Ian's wedding. After one night of very tropical pouring with rain, we were a bit nervous, but the weather was lovely. The wedding itself was on the 30th December, and we were in town for 5 nights. The wedding was at St Mary's by the Sea with a reception at the Salsa Restaurant. We had a blast.

The cute beach-side church
Graham and Ian wait for Zoe
Me, Steph and Baldy at the church
Ian and Zoe
The restaurant all decorated
The bridal party
PC the MC has a wardrobe change
Cutting the cake

After the wedding, we were able to just enjoy our house, cook lovely meals and explore around Port Douglas. We walked into town along the beach, took a drive up to Cape Tribulation and the Daintree, played the colander game quite a bit, ate BBQ, big breakfasts and made delicious cocktails -- nearly all within jumping distance to our own pool.
For New Year's Eve, we headed into town to watch the Port Douglas fireworks at Anzac Park. It was a cute little show, and the weather was nice enough. It was a bit of a low key New Year's which saw us watching Bridesmaids before midnight, but we had partied pretty hard the night before the wedding. A few photos of the fun...

Our pool
Alfred our prawn serving butler
Steph Kamasz's famous breakfast

New Year's Eve Port Douglas Fireworks
Walking along the beach at Cape Tribulation
Stinger Warning on the beach
Me in the Daintree
The spider at Cape Tribulation - PC wouldn't sit by it

That pretty much takes us up until now. Will be hanging out in Sydney for a bit longer. Probably working on Australia Day and Chinese New Year parade again. Am looking forward to Sydney Festival, catching up with a few people and just being in the Aussie summer! Have an overseas production meeting in mid-Jan and mid-Feb. Watch this space for where I will be in 2012.
Hoping 2012 brings you everything you wish for!
All my love,
Sarah xo