Crappy Day.
Today was anything but crappy, but it was full of it.

We all got up early and got ready for the fun day ahead. We all dropped off the kids at daycare, Jay went to work, and Rick and I drove down to Currumbin. We timed it perfectly so that we arrived right at 8:00 – just in time for the Lorikeet feeding. I have seen this event once before, but it was an afternoon feeding and there were tons of people, and not many birds. Today, we learned that the early bird gets the worm. There was nobody there when we got there, so we literally had a hundred wild lorikeets (at least) clawing their way all over themselves and us to get to the tray of brekky Rick and I were holding in front of us. I was not mentally prepared for what was going to happen. I didn’t realize that they were going to land on my head, dig their claws into my arms and scalp, and screech in my ear. I did not realize they were going to dangle off of Rick’s cowboy hat, and poo all over everything. I did not realize I was going to laugh so hard that I cried for 10 minutes straight. So awesome. Can’t believe we didn’t do that sooner. Next time I will wear long sleeves… At one point, a bird knocked my sunglasses off of my head, onto my eyes.

Right after the birds were full, Rick held a koala, where he became best mates with the koala keepers. And it pooped on him. And then we held a baby croc – it didn’t poop on Rick. Rick is now best friends with the park croc handler and the photographer.

We made our way back to the kangaroos, where he immediately captured the mateship of Bill, the volunteer who thought Rick was pretty awesome. After chatting with him for quite awhile about NRA and Global Warming, Bill talked Rick into snuggling with the big kangaroo. And of course, he stood up with Roo poo on him.

Next up were the crocodiles. Rick hasn’t seen a croc before, so he was first impressed with the little guys, and then was shocked when he saw the giant male croc. I think that was his favorite thing about the sanctuary. That or the dingos – they are quite cute little critters. And the tree kangaroos – so pretty. We watched the free flight bird show – always fun to see.

Rainbow.
It was almost lunchtime, and we had seen most of the park, so we headed down to Rainbow Bay Surf Club for lunch. As we were signing in, one of the waitresses said to rick, “You’re from the country, yeah?” His response was (wearing his 10 gallon cowboy hat and boots) “is it that obvious?” A few minutes of small talk and we find out that she is from the Snowy River area. Both of our ears perked up, and we were like, as in, the Man from Snowy River? More chatter, lines from the movie, and we finally got some lunch. The view from the balcony is amazing, we had a beer and a great chat. Rick decided we needed to buy some swim trunks (he left his at the house – didn’t know we were going to a beach). As we were walking inside, one of the ladies came up and said that I just made her and her daughters’ day by bringing in my brother. She said, “you probably get that all the time.” Gag. Eye roll. Yes, yes, I know. Rick just pours in the charm and gathered up the ladies for a photo shoot. The Girls from Snowy River. They practically begged us to come back before he leaves.

Trunks.
We stopped by the Kirra Surf Shop to get Rick some swim trunks. He moseys into the store, and a surfer dude greets him. “Hey mate, what can I help you with?” Rick says, straight-faced, “I need you to get me into the ocean.” All righty then. Board shorts and flip flops and a towel later, and we were on our merry way to find a beach with a good lifeguard.

Surfers Paradise.
Everywhere we go, you can see Surfers Paradise. Rick keeps asking if it is Brisbane. It blows his mind to think that there are that many high rises that aren’t filled with office space, but instead apartments and hotels. He actually had a dream last night that Surfers Paradise wasn’t as big and cool in reality as it appears from a distance – kind of like the castle at Disney World. So, I thought we better go check it out. I knew there would be plenty of people and lifeguards to make sure he came out of the water alive. He made me run into a surf shop and buy him a t-shirt – because even though we are in the land of no worries, everyone else was wearing clothes. That was because it was kind of chilly and only a few brave souls were jumping in the water.

We found a spot to sit in the sand, and watched the waves roll in, old men in speedos walk by, and people swimming between the flags. After a while, I reminded him that the sun sets at 5:15 so if he’s going to go, he better get to it. Rick doesn’t rush into things, especially the ocean, but he finally worked up the courage to give it a go. In he went. He went far enough in to have saltwater splash up into his nose when a wave rolled in, and then decided that was probably long enough. But hey, Rick swam in the ocean. Cross that off the bucket list.

Night Swim.
Since he was already dressed for it, when we got home Rick jumped in the hot tub. Ty got home a few minutes after us and was super excited to see Uncle Rickey in the pool. It didn’t take him long to join him, and then Jay couldn’t resist the temptation. Lots of fun splashing around before dinner.

Buggy.
After dinner (Lily LOVES lasagna and green beans( we went for a quick night buggy ride. Halfway through Ty climbed in front and nearly fell asleep on Rick and my laps. Lily fell asleep in jay’s arms. We got home and Ty wanted to go straight to bed – laid down at the bottom of the steps. Rick carried him upstairs and he was out. It was 7:00.

We did a little research on catching bull sharks to get Rick an idea on what needs to happen if he decided to fish off the dock, then all decided it was time for bed.