Service.
One other thought about Hamilton Island… For the first time in a year I was able to completely relax. I truly had “no worries” for 4 days (after our arrival time mix-up, of course). I think I know why. It felt like the US everywhere we went, we had excellent service. From the poor girls that got stuck breaking the news to us that they had us down to arrive the next day, to the restaurant staff, to the kids party assistants, to the boat ride employees that kept a caring smile on their face even while running from person to person catching puke in a bag, to the “taxi” driver that took us to the airport. Everyone went out of their way to make sure we didn’t worry about a thing. The owner of that island has it figured out. Thank you, Mr. Oatley, for giving me a US feeling in Australian paradise. Oh, and the food was amazing. After a year of having food and service not quite meet my expectations, Hamilton was a breath of fresh air.

I also forgot to include pictures of the artwork that we bought on Hamilton Island. Sherry and I both bought the print of the whole island, and I also picked up the One Tree Hill piece by the same artist. Love them.

Visitors!!!
My oldest sister, Sundie, her husband Brad, and their daughter Lucia booked their flights to Australia this week!! They are coming in March. I can’t wait!!!!!

Prep.
Ty had orientation for “big kid school” this week. He was super excited to see his new school and meet his teachers and some new friends. Jay and I were looking forward to hearing more information about what we need to be doing over the next couple of months to be ready on his first day. When we got there, the kids had no problems jumping into the playground together. Some of the parents made small talk, others stood by themselves (Jay and I fell into the latter group). The teachers came around and assigned us to a room. We went inside and explored a bit before the teachers kicked the parents out.

Jay and I went to the iCentre (library) with the other parents. We had some forms to fill out – a 4 page document asking us to rate our son on a scale of 1-5 on a bunch of different skills and personality traits. I hope they agree with what I said. I probably scored him at a “totally awesome” on something that will later become a problem area…

We had morning tea (coffee, cookies, and gummy bears) and sat by ourselves, waiting for the information session to start. And we waited. And we waited. And then some of the parents started leaving. So apparently the parents aren’t going to get any information… Ok. So Jay and I went to the uniform shop and dropped a small fortune on 3 days worth of clothing. Guess who will be doing a lot more laundry in a few months…

We went back to the iCentre and decided to talk to the dean to find out whatever info he could share until it was time to get Ty. He was so excited to show us all of the rooms and all of the fun things he did. Apparently they gave them a series of activities to assess their skill level in letters, numbers, puzzles, and gross motor skills. He had so much fun.

We took him to daycare and went back to work for another busy busy day. That night he tried on his uniform – stinking cute…

8.
Jay and I have been married for 8 years. Crazy. We have lived in 4 different houses, have 2 beautiful children, work for a great company, have travelled to countless places. I cannot imagine going through these adventures with anyone else. He’s lucky that I go after what I want and asked him to hang out, and I’m lucky that he didn’t say no. Love you, Jay!

Dress Up.
Deep breath for this next section. This week was “kids week” at daycare. They had some fun activities throughout the week. We were told that Friday is “dress up” day. I was a little confused because Friday was Oct 24, and Halloween was a week later. I sent an email asking for clarification on “dress up” because I wasn’t sure if that meant like fancy dresses or Halloween costumes. I was told “anything you want, just nothing Halloween”. Hmmmm…still not sure what that means…. So on Thursday when I picked up Ty I asked another teacher if they were dressing up in Halloween costumes next week, or if the kids were supposed to wear their Halloween costumes the next day. The teacher said, “no, we don’t celebrate Halloween here because of the Christian roots.” Um……… I was a bit taken aback – I am a Christian, and although I don’t go to church every weekend I would say that I am probably more religious than half of the Australian population. And I celebrate Halloween. Always have. And I am not a bad person. And my children who also celebrate Halloween are not bad people. And I’m pretty sure that Halloween’s roots came from Christians. So forgive me, but I’m a little shocked at the moment. I kept my mouth shut and left.

And because I am slightly OCD (undiagnosed but come on, I know I am), I thought about it all night, and all morning. And I couldn’t let it go. The daycare that our kids go to is awesome. We love it. We love the teachers. We love the facility. We love the way our kids are smiling when they walk in the door and are smiling when we pick them up. And we love how they embrace other cultures around the world by showing the kids about other traditions, do activities, and encourage the children to understand that even though people in different parts of the world may look/sound/act differently, they are all humans and should be treated with respect. We love that. So…this next bit is not in any way meant to be negative to the centre – but I have to express how I felt about the situation because even though I have been here for a year and thought that I was beyond culture shock, I was shocked this week.

I woke up the next morning and did some research. I wanted to make sure that I was making things up. While in the US, there isn’t a huge focus on the Christian part of the holiday, I knew that the tradition was started by Christians. I decided to send the daycare an email with my thoughts about the situation and a Wikipedia link about Halloween. Now I know that on the surface this is probably causing a few you to drop your jaws. And I can hear my mother saying, “nicole!” in that voice of hers. But I wasn’t sending it to stir up trouble. I know how much focus and attention that the daycare puts on other cultures, and I wanted to make sure that they had all of the facts. They may have some good reasons for not celebrating Halloween, but using “Christian background” as an explanation simply does not make sense. I hit send before running it by Jay because I knew he would not approve.

I got a response back from the director of the centre (who copied every single teacher at the daycare – still not sure why…) explaining that the centre has not celebrated Halloween since it opened its doors in 2001 because they do not feel it is appropriate for the age of the children at the daycare to be exposed to the ghosts, witches, gory costumes that the Australians tend to wear.

Hmmmm. Ok. The Frozen song was running through my head over and over again. Let it go, Nicole. But you know me. Impossible. So I wrote back. I said that it is a shame that the part of the holiday that Australians have latched on to is the gory part. I explained that I have so many wonderful memories of Halloween from my childhood, and that it would be abnormal for children at schools and daycares in the US to NOT celebrate Halloween. Most kids dress up as their favorite character, and it is a time to be silly, go trick or treating, and hang out with friends and family. I said that I was not trying to cause any drama, I just wanted to make sure they understood how the holiday is viewed in other parts of the world, and that I will accept this as a cultural difference.

She replied and agreed that it is a shame and that she appreciates my understanding. End of story.

Well, not really the end…

I now feel added pressure to make sure my children get to experience Halloween as it should be experienced. I went shopping for Halloween decorations, and our front entrance now consists of a purple lighted tree, a flying witch, and a spider web. We have a giant spider hanging off our stair railing. And I have 2 bags of decorations that will be put on the buggy this week. We will be carving 2 pumpkins (that cost a small fortune, by the way – the first store we went to was charging $25 for 1 pumpkin!!). Oh, and I put a Halloween music station on my Pandora to blast out of speakers while trick or treating. Take that, Australia.

In case you were wondering, Ty went to school on “dress up day” wearing a Captain America costume. Lily went as Minnie Mouse. Yes, these were their Halloween costumes. No, they were not scary or gory or non-Christian. And the world didn’t come to an end.

Sanctuary.
Saturday morning Ty had swim lessons, then we went shopping (for Halloween decorations), then the boys tried to get Brumby started (still no luck), then I went to get my hair cut. Everyone else went to Sanctuary Cove. So we have taken the kids to the pool their several times and have eaten at the little restaurant. I don’t know why, but it never felt like we were doing anything wrong. But after the kids swam for a couple hours, we found out today that we were “not allowed to use the pool or restaurant” because it is for resort guests only. I was pissed at first. But now that I think about it, yeah, we probably shouldn’t have swam there. Not one of our better decisions…

So back to being pissed… I was. I told Sherry that after this week – with stressful long work days, daycare drama, big kid school, and now being kicked out of a restaurant, I am over Australia. At that very moment, I thought that there was no way I was going to be able to make it another year. I must be going through another dipper. I hope it is just a mini dipper.

We ended up going to another restaurant that is open to the public.

Relax.
When we got home, the kids both fell asleep almost right away. Ty slept for almost 3 hours. Lily didn’t wake up until morning. I blogged, we watched Top Gear, and we put up our Halloween decorations. I think we all needed a rest.

Bird.
On Sunday, we got up early to feed the Lorikeets at Currumbin. Unfortunately, due to the abundance of natural food available to the lorikeets, there were only a handful that came to feed at Currumbin. It was a very calm bird feeding – nothing like the experience that I had with my brother. But one landed on Kirk and Jay, so it wasn’t a complete fail.

Shows.
We were told when we entered the park that a lot of the exhibits are currently closed for renovations. So we decided to do things a little differently. Instead of racing back to the kangaroo park (which was closed) and making our way to the front of the park, we started at the beginning and did almost all of the shows & photo opps.

Koala.
First up – koala. Kirk held a koala. Lily smiled for the camera.

Roos.
While the big kangaroo park is closed for renovations, they have a smaller area set aside with a few kangaroos that you can pet. Kirk got to pet a kangaroo. Ty had fun feeding them.

Croc.
Next up – Ty held a saltwater croc. It’s a good thing he was there because I don’t think memaw or papa would have held it.

Gross.
We made our way to the pelican and eel feeding. Gross. The Pelicans were cool – they swallowed fairly large fish in one giant gulp. The eels ate chicken necks. They were probably 4-5 feet long, and they slithered into the shore, and then kicked it into reverse and wiggled their way back into the water. Back and forth, back and forth. It was kind of cool, kind of nasty. This was the first time we had seen that show – worth the stop, for sure.

Zip.
The playground equipment at Currumbin has a zip line for the kids. We have tried to get Ty to hop on before, and we wouldn’t do it. This time he was up for the challenge. He LOVED it. Papa pushed him on one end, Jay pushed him back. He had a blast. I think this would be a great addition to Leaf Lake – a zip line from the treehouse to the swimming pool…

Doo-Lots.
Our morning tea entertainment was Dr. Doo-Lots, a goofy guy that teaches kids fun facts about different animals. Ty volunteered to go up on the stage and he spun the wheel to learn about a lizard. He won a free drink and 2 wristbands for volunteering. 🙂

Snake.
While we were waiting for the bird show to start, Ty went up and held a python. It licked him. I would have thrown that thing across the park. He just smiled.

Birds.
We watched the bird show, which is always entertaining. Afterwards Ty got his picture next to the Barking Owl.

Australiana.
We went to the Australiana show next. I was hoping it would be as cool as the sheep shearing show that we saw in New Zealand, but this guy only sheers 2 sheep a day, so it wasn’t quite as impressive. :). Lily liked seeing the sheep dog.

Boss.
We had to show Kirk the giant saltwater croc Boss Hog. He must have been hungry because he didn’t waste any time jumping up and grabbing his meal for the day. Pretty impressive.

Dingo.
Lily and I took Memaw and papa up to see the dingos while Ty and jay went back to the playground.

Scenic Route.
The kids (and me) were pretty well wiped out, so we headed on home. Jay and Kirk took the kids in one car and since they fell asleep right away, they took the scenic route home up the coast. They drove past the Gold Coast 600 and through Sovereign Islands. Probably a good thing we didn’t take Kirk through their earlier – I think he is becoming somewhat numb to the crazy amounts of money spent on homes, boats, cars, etc on the Gold Coast.

Buggy.
Sherry and I got home and ran to the grocery store. As soon as we got home, Ty wanted to decorate the buggy for Halloween. It turned out pretty good!

Jack.
And last, but not least, we carved our jack-o-lanterns. Jay’s bat turned out pretty good after lots of practice runs on a cardboard box. I went for the simple, traditional design. The kid who had just spent all day holding all sorts of disgusting critters wouldn’t reach his hand in the pumpkin. I didn’t mind, though. :).

That’s all for now! G’day mates!

Sigh. Vacation is over. Ugh… I am suffering from a bad case of PHD – Post Hamilton Depression. Here’s why…

Beach.
Friday morning we went to Catseye Beach. Holy awesome. The water was a brilliant mixture of blue and green hues, and you could walk forever and not have the water go past your chest. The sun was hot, the water warm. Ty was hesitant, as he usually is at the ocean, so he preferred to stay safely on the sand and play. Lily was content with the sand toys for a while – until she realized that the ocean was like a giant swimming pool. We put on her life jacket and let her go crazy. Run and fall, splash and roll. She LOVES the water!

View of Catseye Beach from on top of the hill.

Pool.
When Ty got tired of the sand and the sun made him hot, he decided he wanted to go jump into one of the resort swimming pools. Of course Lily had to join him. I let them splash around for a while until Lily was ready for a nap.

Shop.
We left sleeping beauty resting on her beach chair under the shade and light breeze of the Palm trees. Ty, Sherry and I set out to explore the resort area of the island. We had coffee and ice cream, then went to the gift shop. Ty found some sweet new sunnies! Lily liked them, also.

Tide.
When we went back to Lily and the boys, the tide had gone way out, leaving heaps of shallow pools behind. Ty ran out and made friends while looking for crabs and snails. He was fascinated with what he saw. That’s him way out there in the red wetsuit.

Pedi.
We wandered through more of the resort, passing by this fantastic pool with a swim up bar. I booked a pedicure, the kids played on the playground a bit, and we went back to the house to rest. Jay took me back down to get my pedicure, and he passed the time by finding a seat at the swim up bar. He met some interesting people – guys who had worked on the island 15 years ago and were having a little reunion. Sounds like they had an awesome time working there back in the day – crazy stories!

Party.
That evening we went to dinner and had a feathered friend wandering around inside the restaurant.

After dinner we came across a kids party. They had a pirate ship jumper, dance music, smoothy machines, face painting, and a yellow hula hoop that Lily didn’t want to put down. I felt sorry for the girl that had to paint Ty’s sweaty face after he had been jumping for a half hour. Ty chose a batman design. The boy in line ahead of him chose a rainbow – his tough tattooed dad tried everything in his power to convince his son to choose a super hero – to no avail. It was quite entertaining. Such a fun, unexpected evening!

Baby Joey loved Hamilton Island.

Lego.
Ty finally finished the worlds most complicated Lego set. It took him 5 days to finish the Opera House. I suppose if you were to extrapolate that out to the scale of the real one, it was a fair representation of how long it took to build the real one. Note the Eddy Munster eyebrows from his Batman face…

Whitehaven.
Jay and I had gone out to Whitehaven Beach when we came to the Whitsundays with Miranda, and since Ty didn’t fare so well on the GBR boat ride, we decided to send Kirk and Sherry out on Saturday morning to see it. We figured they would appreciate a kid (and stress) free outing to what has been voted Australia’s #1 beach.

While they were out exploring, Ty and Jay rode the go-karts. Ty had enough of getting whipped around the track behind Dad’s back, so he asked to stop about 5 minutes early. It will be more fun for him when he is old enough to drive. In any case, he looked cute.

We took the kids back to Catseye beach for a while until Kirk and Sherry got back. We went back to the house after lunch and tested a bit. Had to take full advantage of that amazing view. *sigh*

Sunset.
One Tree Hill. Home of the world’s most beautiful sunsets. *sigh*. We were staying on the side of the island opposite the resort and Main Street, so we passed over One Tree Hill multiple times a day. Saturday night we stopped to watch the sun set – again, amazing. Ty made a friend. The two of them were digging for pirate treasure with spoons from their picnic. Jay had a brilliant idea and I executed it flawlessly. I distracted them – told them to look at the sunset – and I dropped a gold coin into the hole. When they looked back they were SO excited to find treasure!!! I waited a few minutes and did it again so they could each have one. A gold coin is $2 here. They were ecstatic! Ty will probably be crushed when he reads this blog someday. When we were at the airport the next day, I bought him this little pirate coin bag for storing his treasure. So fun.

Goodbye Paradise.
The next morning we cooked a nice big breakfast – and served it to Ty on a silver platter… We got everything packed up and went for one last buggy ride around the island. This is a place I will never forget. No matter how fast-paced real life is, Hamilton Island forces you to slow down. After all, the speed limit (and buggy governors) restrict you to driving 20 km/hr. That is slow – but just what I needed.

I’m a bit behind with my writing, but this is a good place to stop. More to come later! G’day mates!

Darling.
On Monday we trekked over to the Darling Harbour area. It is a large Harbour with lots of shops, restaurants and attractions. We passed a park on the way, and Ty wanted to stop to take a picture next to the giant tree.

Fake.
When we walked past the wax museum, Ty kept staring at Ian Thorpe. I asked him if it was real or fake. He couldn’t decide. He kept walking around, looking at him. Finally he said “I think he is fake”. I told him to stand next to Ian so I could take a picture and he did it, but he didn’t move real fast, and he didn’t want to take his eyes off of him. 🙂

Ships.
One of the things Jay was most looking forward to was the Maritime Museum. They have ships that you can explore, including a replica of Captain Cook’s ship that was used to discover Australia. Ty was most impressed about how people go to the bathroom on the ship. They stick their bum out a hole and use rope to wipe. Ew!! Jay was amazed by the fact that the US sunk Captain Cook’s actual ship during the Revolutionary War. The British sent most of their ships to the U.S. To fight. I believe it is sitting on the ocean floor off the coast of Rhode Island. Im not a history buff, so kids, don’t put this statement in a school report without cross checking some references…

In this photo you can see the Maritime Museum’s warship and submarine in the background.

Speed.
The museum has the worlds fastest boat. What is fascinating to me is that the world record was set in 1977, with 1977 technology. How has nobody beat that record since then? Maybe nobody is crazy enough to want to do it. Seems like a really bad idea to go 300mph on water…

Beer.
I have added another trip to our Australian exploration calendar. Next July, I feel like we have to go to Darwin to see the beer can boat regatta. How much fun would that be?!? In the meantime, we will be building a beer can boat for our pool…

Convicts.
So by now we all know that the modern Australia was built by convicts. Let’s not get into the Aboriginal debate right now… I haven’t really given much thought before to the logistics of actually transporting the convicts from England to Australia. The convicts were kept in cells on the ships, but once they got to land, then what? It wasn’t like there were prisons already built. So they were basically free to roam? I always thought the west was wild in the US. It’s got nothing on early days in Australia! Here are some interesting facts.

Lily was fascinated by the museum…

We ate lunch at Margaritaville. I was super excited. I thought that a place with margarita in the name would know how to make one. Unfortunately that wasn’t the case. After sending back the first round, take 2 was somewhat better – at least there was salt on the rim – but I couldn’t finish mine. And my food wasn’t good. Kind of disappointing. What I wouldn’t do for a cheeseburger in paradise…

Moving on…the boys had more exploring to do in the museum, so the girls did some shopping. And then it started to rain a bit, so we headed back to the hotel. Ty wanted to go swimming. Both kids had a blast with Memaw and papa and dad in the pool. So fun!!

Chops.
I was nearly crashing due to not eating my disgustingly lunch, so come dinner time I needed food ASAP. Sherry and the kids were tired, so they stayed in the room. The skies were just about to open up to a torrential downpour, so we wanted to find a place to eat that was close to the hotel. There was a little Japanese restaurant right next door so we popped in there. I had a yummy Mosi soup. I was so hungry that I ate the tofu and seaweed in it and though it was a hundred times more tasty than my lunch. While we were waiting for our main course, we had to give Kirk a lesson in eating with chopsticks. He did pretty good for his first time, but didn’t think he could eat the whole meal with 2 sticks. The waitress was really sweet and brought him a fork. :). Dinner was yummy. As soon as we were finished, I went straight to bed. I still didn’t feel well, I think I was just exhausted.

Garden.
The next day we bought tickets to a hop on, hop off bus. Our first stop was the Botanical Gardens. It was so beautiful and HUGE! We enjoyed walking around there. Interesting fact…one of the ponds in the garden has eels. The eels come from the Harbour. One might wonder how they get to the pond. They slither along the grass… Ewwww! Thank god I didn’t see any.

Hurricanes.
After hopping off near what we think was Chinatown, we couldn’t find any place to eat that looked like it wouldn’t give us food poisoning, so we got back on the bus and went back to Darling Harbour. We knew that Hurrucanes had yummy food, so we ate there. It did not disappoint.

GONG!
Ty loved riding on the top level of the bus. It was pretty cold, but we didn’t let it ruin our fun. I didn’t listen to the headphones and tour guide commentary for the last stretch of the tour, but Memaw kept us in the loop. She must have had her volume cranked because she shouted “GONG! THERE ARE THE CHINESE GARDENS”. It made my day.

Opera.
“Ding! Ding! Ding! Please take your seats as the show will be starting soon.” Sherry and I had great seats for The King and I – front row of the balcony, about 50 meters from the stage. We could see the orchestra pit. The inside of the opera house wasn’t nearly as big as I expected – was really a rather small, intimate theater. It was maybe a third of the size of the Des Moines Civic Center. Small, but so much character and history. The show itself was incredible. The costumes, the set, the talent, the music. All of it was perfection. It is always amazing to me how I can get so caught up in watching a live show. Might sound cheesy, but it really does take me out of my own head and into another place for a couple hours. So much fun. This was something I will always remember. Thank you Sherry!!!!

Storm.
Apparently cabs can’t go right up to the front door of the opera house, so we had to follow the crowd to what we thought was the taxi stand. It was raining, but not too bad, and most of the way was covered. When we finally got to the taxi stand, there was quite a long line. We were almost halfway to the hotel, so we decided to walk. Our umbrellas kept us mostly dry.

Delays.
Apparently the storm that night (either during the show or after we went to sleep) was the worst Sydney had in a while. Heaps of rain caused flooding, power outages, traffic jams, airport shutdown, an all around mess. We were pleasantly surprised to find out that while many flights were cancelled, ours was on time. But our cab driver was not on time. I was trying not to stress and just roll with it. We finally got to the airport, and holy cow. I haven’t seen that many people in a line at the airport. We used the little machines to check in, printed our boarding passes and bag tags. Because we had to check the stroller, we realized I had to get in line to get a bag tag printed for the oversize luggage drop off. I sent everyone else off to drop off our checked bags and go to the gate. I hopped in the relatively short Service line and made my way to the front fairly quickly. Jay called when I was next in line and said that there wasn’t a place to drop bags off….that even though we already had our bag tags, we had to stand in the enormous queue to check them. What the heck?!?! That doesn’t make any sense… When I got to the counter I asked if my family could come check in at this line. It was technically reserved for people whose flights were boarding soon, and ours was getting close. So we got in line again and were nearly to the front when our Jetstar agent (and over half of the others) decided to leave their desk and apparently go for tea. WTF?!?!? There are literally hundreds of people that need to get through that line, and they aren’t going to be able to do so unless there are agents to take their tickets and bags (still can’t believe they didn’t have a separate baggage drop area), so why the heck could they just leave without a backup?!?! I was floored. At that point it turned into chaos. People were getting stressed out. The Jetstar employees that remained were just shouting out the names of flights that were about to take off and people had to shove their way to the front of the lines of they were on those flights. It was a disaster. A colossal failure in Jetstars part, in my opinion, to deal with the situation. However, by some miracle, we were able to get on the plane. And we made it to Hamilton Island for the “stress free” part of our vacation.

Cluster.
Oh wait? Did I say stress free? Ha!!! Isn’t that funny. Let me tell you a funny story…
So we land on Hamilton Island, which is incredibly beautiful and WARM!! We are smiling! Hooray! We get our bags from the little tram (with only 1 or 2 flights per day, it isn’t necessary to have a full on baggage claim). All of our bags arrived. Hooray! Now to find out ride to our holiday home… There is supposed to be someone there to meet us with our name on a sign. Seeing nobody, Jay starts wandering around. He finds out that a place called Immaculate is supposed to pick us up. He finds a girl from Immaculate (who has a full buggy) and she says, “I don’t have you on my list for today.” Um………. Ok. Well we have about 50 confirmations saying that we are arriving today, so you best get this sorted ASAP. She went to drop off her group of people, Jay tried calling the booking agent who of course didn’t answer her phone, and we waited. There are no cabs on the island – basically only buggy traffic. And because there are limited flights, the airport basically shuts down. So we were basically stuck…

And then our ride arrived…

No, that is not an optical illusion. Yes, they thought that 6 people and 8 bags would fit in this poor excuse for a van. Um. No. Try again. Then she tells us that the house we rented doesn’t come with a buggy – but we were certain it did. But the buggy hire place at the airport was already closed, so Jay and Ty rode in the clown car to another buggy hire (rental) place while the rest of us waited at the airport for a proper van. One finally showed up, but couldn’t take us to the house because they were all doing a mad scramble clean – turns out they weren’t expecting us until the next day. She dumped Sherry, Lily and I off at the marina and took Kirk over to help Jay with the buggy.

But hey. At least we weren’t stuck in Fargo in December.
And Lily didn’t seem to mind.

We tried to make the most of it by going to the pharmacy, and we got a giant plate of fresh prawns and coleslaw – which were delicious. We walked through a few of the little shops. I bought some wooden fish to hang from the buggy so we know which one is ours – there are about 5,000 white buggies rolling around this island.

Sunset.
We finally got the green light to go to the house around 5:30. It really is a beautiful home. The view from our deck, and the birds that like to try to steal our food.

After a quick walk through, we all went back down to the Main Street to pick up a few groceries. On our way, we stopped at a place on top of the hill to watch the sun set. There was a little bar set up, which sold amazing margaritas, and the view was unbelievable.

Reef.
As much as Wednesday sucked, Thursday was awesome. We got up and headed down to the marina to catch our boat to the Great Barrier Reef. Ty and I popped our motion sickness meds (thank goodness). The ride to the reef was about 2 hours, 40 minutes of which were pretty rough. But we powered through it and arrived at the reef puke-free. Woohoo!! The pontoon that we parked at had all of the things that the place we went to in Port Douglas had, only if seemed nicer. Possibly because it was a smaller boat and less crowded. Jay and his parents got their wetsuits and snorkel gear on right away and went out to explore the reef. I took the kids back in the boat to eat lunch (which was delicious). Then we went down to the underwater observatory. So cool.

Next up was the partially submersible boat ride. We climbed in and got to see the reef and lots of fish without getting wet. Ty and Lily really liked that. When we got back to the pontoon, Jay and his parents had come ashore, so I put on a wetsuit and jumped in. I saw a giant Maori Wrasse – Google the images. So cool.

It was almost time to head back to shore, so we got back on the boat. This is when I should had popped another pill… That 40 minute stretch of ocean that I thought was rough on the way out was miserable on the way back. Ty was the first person on the boat to puke. And it wasn’t long before half the people on the boat were either puking or going to the back of the boat for fresh air. By some miracle I didn’t puke. But we all were relieved when we got back to the smooth waters protected by the islands. Lesson learned…always take a pill!!!

Sherry was worn out when we got home, so she stayed at the house with Lily while the boys and I went out for dinner. Ty had made a joke while we were on the boat that he was going to eat some squid. He didn’t realize that you can actually order it at restaurants, so we teased him all day about getting squid for dinner. He was laughing, but I think he started to get really nervous.
Unfortunately all of the restaurants were fully booked, so we went to the tavern. They aren’t licensed for takeaway, so we had to stalk a table, and there was about a 40 minute wait for food. Jay asked Ty what he wanted – he said grilled cheese or chicken nuggets. Jay said, “ok, so squid?” When the food arrived….oh. My. Goodness. It was SOooooooo yummy! I got a pesto pasta that was so creamy and good. I got a side salad and it had the option of some extras…including calamari!! I have to say that I was proud of Ty, my incredibly picky eater, because he tried a bite of squid. He may have spit it out right away, but he tried. Everyone had a delicious dinner. Yay!!

Ty twisted our arms and talked us into getting ice cream after dinner, and then we called it a night.

Sunset day 2

Today is Friday and we don’t really have any plans. We are going to explore the island and go to the beach. Should be a pleasant day. Hope all is well!! G’day mates!

DUI.
I forgot to mention this in my last post, but it was too fun to not write a catch-up blog. Australia really cracks down on drunk driving. The government has done an excellent job of scaring the crap out of anyone that may attempt to drive after having a few drinks. So much so that people park their buggies inside the gates of our community and walk across the parking lot to the tavern, so if they really tie one on, the cops can’t bust them for DUI in their buggy. I don’t know how much the fines are, but they must be pretty hefty. So how do the cops catch these rebels of society? They choose random places along the roads – morning, day, or night – and make the driver do a breathalyzer test. Jay has had the pleasure of doing one of these tests before. I got to do one on Sunday! While I was waiting in the traffic line for my turn, I was pretty excited because it will (probably) be the only time in my life that I will ever get to take a breathalyzer test. I passed. Phew.

Hot rock.
When I was in college, I had a part time job at a small accounting firm. It consisted of 2 partners, 1 administrative assistant, 3 CPAs, and 3 college students. One of the other students, Angie, ended up getting a job at Deere. Over the years our paths have crossed several times. This week they cross down under. Angie and several other US employees came to Australia for meetings for a couple weeks. Jay, Brian, and I met up with Angie and the others in Sanctuary Cove for a hot rock steak dinner. It was so much fun catching up with her – and watching her attempt to cook the “surf” part of her meal on the stone. I was impressed when she tried the Moreton Bay Bug, which is like a flathead lobster. I’ve been here a year and haven’t tried it yet…

Package.
We got a package!!!!! Kirk and Sherry walked to Sanctuary Cove on Thursday to pick up the package from the Australia Post. 5.5 miles later, they made it back home. I knew it was a bit of a hike, but I didn’t realize it was that far! They are doing so good with their walking. So back to the package… My sister, Sundie, her husband Brad, and their kids Tucker and Lucia, sent us a care package. We got our GFACE tshirts. They say “where marshmallows, tikis, and cousins get roasted”. Love it. They sent an adorable little dress for Lily. And, best part…my niece’s new book – The Adventures of Lucy and Lulu”. How many high school girls do you know that write a children’s book, illustrate the book, get it sponsored by the Red Cross, publish it, set up a website for ordering, manage the website, and donate all proceeds to charity? Yeah, Lucia did all of that. The book has a great message for kids and adults – reminds us that there are always people out there that need a hand, and every little bit that you can do to help makes a big difference. If interested to hear more, go to the Facebook page (same as the name of the book). I am so proud of her. And impressed.

Water.
What do you do at daycare on a hot day in Australia? Cool the kids off in a bucket of water. Lily loved it!

Joey.
When we picked Lily up from daycare on Friday, Miss Steph asked us if we would like to take Baby Joey on our holiday. Baby Joey is kind of like the class mascot. It is a stuffed baby kangaroo that hangs out in a little backpack. The kids in her class have taken turns throughout the year taking baby Joey on their adventures. The parents take pictures and put them in a little travel scrapbook. Such a cute idea! There will be lots of pictures of Baby Joey this week.

Holiday.
Saturday morning we went to swim lessons. It was Ty’s 3rd lesson in the long swim lane, and the improvement over the first week was pretty impressive. When we got home, we finished our packing. The boys went to the marina for hair cuts. It was an absolutely beautiful day, so when we got home, Ty stripped down to his undies for a quick dip in the hot tub. 20 minutes before it was time to go, Ty climbed into his car seat and got buckled. He couldn’t wait to go on holiday. He fell asleep before it was time to go. :). Finally it was time to go to the airport. Hooray!!!!

Sydney.
First stop: Sydney. We had a smooth flight, our bags arrived in record time, and the car was right outside waiting for us. We are staying at Quay West in The Rocks neighborhood. We can see the Harbour Bridge from our room. What an incredible structure. We got in late, but had to take our first baby Joey picture. Didn’t turn out great, but wanted to share anyway.

By the time we got settled in our hotel room, it was around 9:00 pm. I was wanting to go out and explore a bit to get my bearings, but the kids (and Memaw) were looking a little sleepy. Sherry and Kirk offered to stay at the hotel with the kids, so Jay and I got to go out on the town. We went to a little German pub just a few blocks down the road. I had a meal that was not good (dumplings with mushroom sauce – sounded way better than it tasted), so I ate most of Jay’s potatoes and of course sauerkraut. Funny, a bowl of cold cabbage came out first, and I was like, um…have I been wrong about what I think sauerkraut is my whole life? I asked another waitress and she said “that’s not sauerkraut.” When she brought out the real deal, it was delicious. Yum. We had a couple beers and got a kick out of watching all of the people at the pub. There were so many different types of people around us – I love that about cities.

Markets.
Sunday morning the kids woke us up way too darn early. I am waiting for the day the kids realize that vacations = sleeping in. So up and at ’em!! We got ready and headed down to The Rocks markets. There were some really interesting booths. I picked up a little throw pillow that says “Sydney” (figure that the only way I can convince jay to let me buy more “damn” pillows is to have them be souvenirs). I also bought this adorable little shirt/smock/dress. Fun stuff! The architecture around the area is really neat – very historic. Lots of cool old buildings.

Opera House.
After we wandered our way through the markets and ate a little breakfast sandwich, we headed over toward the opera house. Our first sighting of it was from across the harbour- breathtaking. Even though the sun wasn’t in a great spot for a photo, we had to take a pic.

Jellies.
As we walked along the harbour, we looked down into the water and saw thousands of jellyfish! I am not even exaggerating. I LOVE the jellyfish exhibit at the Omaha Zoo, so I could have sat there and watched them all day. I couldn’t believe how many there were. Thank goodness I wasn’t in the water. Yowzers!!

Bridge.
And more great views of the Bridge.

Opera House.
We made our way over to the Opera House. Wow. Ok, so I have seen pictures of it, and have thought, “that’s a neat building.” But seeing it in person…wow. That’s all I have to say about that. Wow.

So we went inside, only to find that you can’t actually go into the hall unless you pay to go on a tour. Eh. The boys didn’t want to see inside it that bad. So we went to the gift shop and Ty batted his beautiful long lashes and somehow convinced me that he “really super bad” wanted the $80 Lego set of the Opera House. We will be getting some kraggle.

We went outside and let Ty burn off some energy by climbing the 10,000 steps. Took an opportunity to take some pictures. Wow.

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We headed out to find a place to eat lunch and passed by a booth that was selling tickets to the shows at the Opera House. Memaw saw a sign that said The King and I was showing. She got all excited and made a comment about how amazing that would be to see. I said, "let's just go see how much the tickets are." Off she and I went. I was thinking that if we were to see a show, we would all go. Then Sherry said, "oh no! We will leave the kids with the boys!" Sold. Sherry and I are going to the Tuesday 7:30 PM showing of The King and I at the SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE!!!!!!!!!!!! Experience of a lifetime – we can't wait!!

Italian.
We ate lunch at a little Italian sidewalk restaurant. Views of the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge. Family. Sunshine. Light breeze. Perfection. Happy.

Fountains.
Lily and I explored a little area that had beautiful fountains while Jay and Ty went to get ice cream. Seriously. Can Lily get any cuter?!?!

Evening.
We went back to the hotel to try to get Ty to lay down for a nap since we had walked 5 miles before lunch. I had a little headache so I took a nap as well. When he woke up we went up to the top floor of the hotel to check out the pool and amazing views overlooking the opera house, bridge, and harbour. Ty wants to go swimming but we are saving that for a little later as the next couple days are supposed to be cold and rainy. We were going to walk across the bridge to the Luna Park amusement park to see the “ferry go round”, but it closes at 6:00 on Sunday’s. We went back to the sidewalk cafes by the opera house to find a place to eat dinner. We are at a seafood restaurant, so I had scallops and Alaskan King crab. Yum. Ty saw some people taking a picture on the steps so he had to do it as well. Also snapped a picture of the opera house lit up at night. So beautiful.

Chocolate.
There are these yummy little chocolate shops all over, so of course we had to grab some dessert to take back to the hotel. Um……yum…… I asked Kirk if he ever thought he would be walking down the street in Sydney, Australia carrying $85 worth of chocolate (wasn’t quite that much…). Nope. Never. But we are all so glad we have the opportunity. 🙂

Lily fell asleep on the walk back to the hotel, Ty snuggled up in his pjs, and although papa offered to watch the kids again, Jay and I were tuckered. Such a fun day, amazing adventures. I normally plan out nearly every minute of a holiday, but I didn’t have time to do that this trip. I think that has been a pleasant surprise. We had nowhere to be at any specific time, so we could just explore and wander and rest whenever we wanted. It was quite nice!

More to come as the week goes on. G’day mates!