Monday.
As far as I can tell, the Queen’s birthday is not on June 9. Nor were any queen preceding her. There was one king whose birthday was close to June 9, but he wasn’t a queen. So imagine my confusion at this Monday holiday. There didn’t seem to be any Queens Birthday parades or other celebrations. Most of the stores appeared to be open. Nobody shouting from the rooftops “God save the queen!” So aside from not having to go to work today, I wouldn’t have had a clue it was a holiday. But hey, I will take a 3 day weekend anytime.

Work.
Wait. Didn’t I just say it was a three day weekend and we didn’t have to go to work? So then why would we go to work? Because tractors are awesome. And to a 4 year old boy, it doesn’t get much better than climbing all over green tractors. He has been wanting to see where mom and dad work for quite a while, but we rarely head north on the weekends. He had heaps of fun – boy loves tractors. I think the camo gator was the coolest. Ty got a kick out of seeing some of his artwork at our desks and sitting in our big chairs, “typing” on our keyboards.

Costco.
So I thought we would last a lot longer than we did, but the feedback from everyone who had been was great, and we didn’t have real plans for the day, so we decided to brave the crowds and go to Costco. After waiting in line for about a half hour to get our membership cards, we walked through the store, along with about a million other people.

We were able to happily and peacefully walk through the store because the REAR wheels on the shopping cart were FIXED and did not swivel like every other stupid cart in Australia. Hooray for the decision makers at Costco!!! They knew that if they had stupid carts that roll sideways, full of 1000 napkins and 36 rolls of toilet paper, there were sure to be casualties. I am hoping all other stores catch on. I wonder how many Australians thought to themselves “gosh, this shopping experience is wonderful – how come I am not pushing my cart sideways?”

Lily and Ty were super excited for a Sams Club-ish outing. Unfortunately there were not any free samples. Nuts. Thankfully Riley stood in line for 45 minutes to get hot dogs for the boys and Lily.

I felt like I had been transported back to the US. I even felt myself gravitating towards walking on the right side of the aisle instead of the left. My most favorite find was Hershey’s chocolate syrup. Paper towels in more than a 2-pack. Jay was excited about a case of Dr. Pepper. We found giant bottles of Franks Red Hot so I predict more buffalo chicken dip in our future. AND Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups miniatures!! Woohoo!! Jay and I used to say that it was a good trip if we made it out of Sams Club under $100. We are in Australia now…$511 later….one shopping cart. No electronics. No alcohol. No worries…….

Redcliffe.
The Costco is in a neighborhood north of Brisbane that we had never been before. Someone had mentioned to Jay that Redcliffe is a nice area, and it wasn’t far from Costco, so we headed that way. Driving through some of the streets reminded me of West Des Moines – felt like home. When we got to our destination, we ate kebabs quickly in the sidewalk and ran out to the pier and back. Somehow the weather had decided to blow in a cold front, so we didn’t stay long. Still no whale sightings…

Packing.
When we got home we started packing for our trip to the Reef. I am super excited – we fly out Thursday morning!! We did a little reading about Port Douglas, and it sounds amazing. So while today we didn’t exactly show Riley the best that Australia has to offer, we will try to make it up to him this coming weekend. :). Speaking of Riley, it has been great having another set of eyes and hands around to help with the kids and the chores. He is earning his keep. :).

Back at it tomorrow for a quick 2 days! Have a great week!