Saying Goodbye...

Saturday we had to take Grandpa and Grandma to the airport to fly back to America.  It was very sad, but we are looking forward to seeing them the end of June!! (which is actually coming up now, since I'm so behind on this blog!!! Ha!)  Thanks for an amazing 2 weeks!  We love you guys!

Final Day in Australia

The following day was rainy, so we just hung out around the house and played.  That evening we met Josh after work at Frango's (one of our favorites, a portuguese chicken restaurant) for dinner.  Yummy!!
Friday was Malin's last full day here, so we enjoyed some pool time!  They had also given Lance a remote controlled balloon shark for Christmas, so we gave that a try!  It was a fun day!

 Josh took the day off to spend with his parents

 playing some pool b-ball!

 Not a great pictures, but wanted to show the front of it.  You can see Josh using the remote control in the background.  The tail goes back and forth and it looks like it's "swimming" through the air!

The kids were fascinated by it!

Sydney Opera House

We walked from the gardens to the Sydney Opera house, since they had only really seen it from a distance and got a few more pictures.  It was quite a warm day, so we all got tired and hot rather quickly.  We took the train back to the hills and had some pizza for dinner.

Royal Botanical Gardens

After lunch, we walked down to the Royal Botanical Gardens.  It's really pretty and huge, so we only saw parts of it!  

 John was tired of carrying this bag, so he decided to put it on his back like a backpack - so John!!!  Of course, I had to take a picture of it!

 There were flying foxes EVERYWHERE in the gardens.  They are actually starting to pose a problem by hurting and eating certain plants and trees, but they can't do much about it, because they can't hurt the flying foxes!  There were literally HUNDREDS of them everywhere!

 Lance was really into taking pictures of them with Grandma's camera - so cute!

 family pic

 sitting on Mrs Macquarie's chair

this is the view she had.....I'm sure the tree wasn't in her way back then! ;) ;)

Sydney Tower lunch

For Christmas "this" year, all of the kids got John and Carlene lunch at the Sydney Tower!  It's a nice restaurant that revolves while you're eating - like the Space Needle.  They were excited, but wanted us to join them, as they didn't want to miss a minute without the kids!  I had to take this first picture, it's of Grace and Lance on the train into Sydney.....he's playing the "drums" to the tune of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star on Grandma's mint box, while she sings it...it was hilarious!!

 Grandpa and Lance waiting for their food!

 Grandma and Grace (Lance took this one - Ha!)

 The waiter got one of all of us!

 Some of our many beautiful views - there's the Opera House

If you look out the windows, you can see how our view was always changing!  The food was great and we had a great time, too!

Straight Hair

That night, we went out to eat at this Afghani place we really like.  Grace wanted me to "straighten" her hair, which I hadn't really ever done before.  She is "growing it out" right now, so it's actually quite a bit longer now than in these pictures.  It's hard to tell with the curls, though!  The plus side, I've been able to try some fun things on her hair, putting it up different ways, etc......we'll see how long it lasts!!! ;)  I thought it would be fun to post some pictures, since she looks so different with it straight!

Any ounce of humidity and it starts getting wavy and curly, so it doesn't last very long!

Days 9 and 10

Monday we ran some errands, swam, and hung out.  Grace had her dive and turn class again and then we had a typical Australian BBQ for dinner that night!  Unfortunately I didn't take a picture, but what that means is lots of different types of meats, salads, fruit, etc.  We had lamb, chorizo, chicken kebabs, chorizo, sweet potatoes, and salads.  It was DELISH!!!  We then had a family movie night and watched Dolphin Tale (a new movie from Grandpa and Grandma).

On Tues, Josh took the day off of work and we drove to Whale Beach!  It was a gorgeous day and much to John's surprise, one of his favorite days here!!!  The beaches here are GORGEOUS!

 The kids being silly on their new Boogie Boards they got from Santa!

Two peas in a pod - John and Lance took a little nap in the tent after lunch - Lance was enjoying some pampering from Grandma (she was actually putting some more sunscreen on his face!)

Day 7 and 8

Unfortunately we had a rainy weekend, so our plans didn't go, well, as planned!  But we had fun anyway.  On Saturday, it was a nice day in Sydney and the forecast for the Blue Mountains appeared to be ok.  Sooo....we drove all the way up there, only for it to get rainier and rainier, and more and more foggy.  We had never been to the Blue Mountains, so we went to the visitors center to check it out anyway for the future.  We obviously decided not to pay and go (since you couldn't see anything anyway), but we found some fun things at their great gift shop they have!  It's quite big and very reasonably priced!  We drove to Katoomba (near the Blue Mountains) and had lunch at a cafe.  We were all hoping it would clear up, but it never did.  We decided to drive on back to Sydney and go to Max Brenner's  - the Chocolate Cafe!  They have pretty much anything chocolate and everyone loved it - especially Grandma and the kids!!  It definitely was the highlight of the day!  I think it made the day that much brighter!  The good thing, is that they will be back, so we will take them to see the Blue Mountains next time.

Chocolate fondue, and waffles with chocolate, ice cream, strawberries, and bananas! YUMMO!
Sunday we went to church, and since it was a rainy day again, we decided just to hang out at home.  We played games in the afternoon (a little Ticket to Ride) and had some Old El Paso Fajitas for dinner - thanks General Mills!!  ;)

Day 6

On Friday, Josh took a half day and we all took the train into Sydney.  We showed Grandpa and Grandma the aquarium, walked over to Darling Harbor and showed them the new park, and then walked on to Chinatown for dinner.  They were having a festival there, so it was more crowded than usual, but we ate at our favorite place - BBQ King!!!  Yummy!  We then took the train back home.

 I thought this was a cute picture of Grandma and the kids waiting for the train

 petting a blue tongue lizard outside of the aquarium and wildlife park

 Getting piggyback rides to Chinatown

 grilled octopus......hmmm.....

Grace and Lance found some cake Angry Birds at a bakery in Chinatown!

Day 5

The next day, everyone kind of needed a "down" day.  We headed to the mall to go grocery shopping (in the mall) - it's a bit hysterical with people pushing their shopping carts through the mall.  John also likes grocery shopping and seeing all the different foods, so he enjoyed going.  We came back home and swam  in the afternoon.  After dinner, we had Wii game night, where the kids tested out their new "Sing It" game they got from Grandpa and Grandma!  Unfortunately, this is the only picture I took of that day!

Day 4

On their 4th day, Lance had swimming lessons that they were able to watch.  We then went over to the kid's school and we gave them a little "tour".  The kids were on summer break at the time, so they didn't get to see their classrooms - only the outside of them, but it was fun to show them around.  Unfortunately, Carlene wasn't feeling well that day (I think the jet lag finally got to her) so John and I took the kids to Josh's plant for a tour while she stayed home and took a nap.  They stayed entertained with their Leapsters in Josh's office while John and I took turns taking a tour with Josh.  Carlene was feeling a little better when we got back, which was good, because later that evening we all went to our first Cricket game here in Sydney!  Our friends, Ben and Suzy, took us and got us front row seats!!!  THANKS, BEN AND SUZY!!

 The Cricket match was a professional Sydney team versus a Perth team.  The ones in green were the home team!

 The field (or pitch)

 Josh, John, Carlene, Lance, and Grace enjoying the game

 getting ready to bat

The one in the orange was the "bowler"

Hit the Rocks, then Hit the Hay!

We then walked over to The Rocks area.  This is where Sydney was first "settled", and where a lot of the convicts lived.  They've kept a lot of the old buildings, so it has a very quaint feel to it.  It's fun to walk the stone streets, along the little alleyways, and see the cute shops and restaurants that are now there.  We ended up eating at a restaurant called "Pancakes on the Rocks" for dinner and then took the train home.

 A view from "inside" The Rocks area

 A mix of the old and the new!

They have built some art around some of the streets, so our kids were being silly....