4:00 AM.  Good Friday.

As my Papa used to say….  HIT THE DECK!!  Rush rush rush.  Throw stuff in the suitcase.  Rack brain for what we might forget.  Good lord don’t forget the diapers.  Get in the car.  Ty – get buckled.  GO! GO! GO!!

No traffic.  Parking easy.  No line at Jetstar.  No line at security.  (Figures). 2 hours until flight time.  You know that if we would have not left the house so early we would have been running to catch our flight…  2 hours of listening to Lily shout AIRPLANE!!  BYE AIRPLANE!!!  Big shout out to Katie Coen for giving me the idea to buy Smiggles gel pens and a notebook.  Both kids were thoroughly entertained at the table. Ty has drawn several pictures and written a description of each.  



The flight was too easy.  Lily fell asleep shortly after take-off.  Ty watched a movie and fell asleep just before landing.  Before we knew it, we were in Sydney.  A little rain won’t slow us down.  Em saw her first ever real live cruise ship.  And then…an Aboriginal playing a didgeridoo.  She was utterly fascinated, thrilled, entertained, amazed.  Never mind the engineering marvels (Harbour Bridge and Opera House).  She wanted to open up a bag chair, crack open a cold one, and listen to the didgeridoo all day.





Yummy lunch.  cool bottle wall.



 



We walked around the Opera House, she climbed the steps, and then she was drawn back to the Aboriginals.  They had some canvas artwork for sale for dirt cheap – $100 – so Em had to have one.  The artist wrote the story in the back of it – so neat.  Something about 2 people coming together for their anniversary…





I had my eye on one of the paintings, but Jay had given Em the last of his cash.  He went to the ATM to get more money – crap.  Our US debit card expired March 2015.  Sherry has mailed our new cards but since it takes a million years for mail to arrive, we haven’t gotten them yet.  And neither of us thought about it.  And it is now April.  And we are in Sydney with no cash.  And our Westpac account isn’t dispersing our cash either.  Don’t stress – no worries.  Jay worked his magic and like he always does, he fixed it.  He was able to get cash from the Westpac account.  Phew!

We walked around the Rocks (still raining), bought some rain coats and umbrellas, dried off and got our sugar high at the Guylian Chocolate Cafe (amazing).  Poor Lily slept through the chocolate – she will be pissed when she reads this.  Here are some pictures of Ty on chocolate.





Walked by the Australian Stock Exchange.  I miss Treasury….



On our way back to the hotel, the Aboriginals were starting to tear down for the night.  I had to check to see if they still had the print I was eyeing – and they did!  This one is a story about how the bunda (kangaroo) only moves forward – kangaroos cannot move backwards.  Life’s journey moves ahead.  Galmorriii.  I am sure it sounds lame, but I think that painting was made for me.  



Rod Stewart.

So we are waiting for an elevator at our hotel, and noticed that one of the elevators is blocked off.  The door opened and out walks a man that looked familiar, an 8′ tall woman, and a couple security guards.  They exited through a door straight out to a car that was waiting for them.  When we got upstairs Jay said he thought it looked like Rod Stewart.  Yes!  It did.  A quick google search showed that he had a concert in Sydney a couple days ago and will play in Brisbane in a few days.  Rod Stewart is staying at our hotel.  I am sure he will ask us to join him for breakfast or maybe a swim in the pool.  I’m sure.



We ordered a pizza delivery, and I was struggling as I came down from my sugar high (and early morning).  Em, Jay and Ty went for a swim.  Lily and I snuggled up and watched American Idol.  

We are planning on going to the Easter Show (sounds like a fair) tomorrow, as long as the forecast is calling for rain in the Blue Mountains.  Rain, rain, go away!!

More to come later this weekend (hopefully).  G’day mates!