Flat Tatum!

Grace's good friend from America, Tatum, did a "Flat Tatum" project at school where "she" had to visit another place.  Well, of course Flat Tatum came to visit US here in Australia and we REALLY showed her the sights!!!  Our assignment was to take pictures of Flat Tatum in Australia with us and then send her back so Tatum could learn all about Australia and "her" adventures!!  We all had so much fun doing it - the kids really got into it.  We took a TON of pictures, but I wanted to post just some of her highlights!  Here's to hoping that the REAL Tatum AND her family can all come and see Australia with us for themselves!!!

 Grace and Lance with Flat Tatum

She went to church with us.

 We took a trip to Featherdale Park where she was able to meet lots of Australian wildlife.

 The birds were all actually quite interested in her!  The cockatoo

 The Tawny Frogmouth

 She got to pet a koala

 meet a wallaby (and kangaroos, too)

 OH NO!!!  JOSH stuck Flat Tatum a little too close to the cassowary and he actually ATE her ponytail!!!  Needless to say, Grace was VERY distraught and NOT very happy with her father, but we solved that problem, which you will see, a little later.

 having a snack together

 We also took the train into the city one day to do all the "touristy" spots

 here comes the train!

 the Harbor Bridge

 Sydney Opera House

 Up in the Sydney Tower where she was checking out all of the sights

 looking out of the tower with her friends, Grace and Lance

trying out a didgeridoo 

 She also took a trip to Fiji with us!!!  This is where she got her ponytail fixed - we couldn't send her back to Minnesota with missing hair!!!  Soooo.....she got her hair braided like Grace in Fiji!!  Nothing like extensions!!  Problem solved! ;)

 doing a little surfing at the beach

 relaxing in the hammock on the beach.  I think she had a fabulous trip!  Thanks for visiting the Malin's Flat Tatum!!

Blue Mountain Hiking Day

Back in March, we decided on a Saturday, to head up to the Blue Mountains and hike near the Wentworth Falls area.  It was a gorgeous day and a beautiful hike.  The kids LOVED it!  We saw beautiful views of the mountains and rainforest areas with waterfalls.  We were all exhausted by the end of the day!

 ready for our hike!

 I was able to capture the rainbow in the waterfall

 Grace taking a picture of us by a cave

 the trail was fun with lots of stairs, bridges, etc.

 we ran across some people abseiling down a huge waterfall - looked like fun, but not for me! ;)

 Yup - came across this huge snake!!!  Not sure if it was one of the poisonous ones or not....didn't stay around long enough to find out!  He was sunbathing on this rock, yet quite alert - YIKES!!

 This droplets were so pretty falling down on us (I'm looking straight up) behind a waterfall where we walked - they looked like diamonds in the sunlight the way the sun was shining on them - so pretty!

 we walked across this little bridge to a picnic table off the beaten path for some afternoon "tea"! ;)

Hillsong Women's Colour Conference

In March, I had the most wonderful opportunity to attend our church's women's conference in Sydney.  We are so blessed to be able to attend this amazing church and be a part of all the amazing things God has blessed our church to have the capacity to be able to do.  "Colour" (the Aussie spelling) is a GIANT women's conference that Hillsong holds once a year.  Women travel from all over the world to Australia just to be there.  I only have a 20 min. drive!!  This year was my first one and it changed me!  God is so good!!  I went with my friend, Holly, (she's actually American, too, but lives here permanently.  She's married to a Kiwi (New Zealander!) ;)  We met at church right after we moved here.  She has an amazing story.  This year her mom is coming from Alabama and we decided to get a room in Sydney all together so we don't have to get up at the crack of dawn every morning to drive in!  I can't wait!  Beth Moore and Priscilla Shirer were the main speakers and were incredible!!  I have done some Beth Moore studies before, but had never heard her in person - WOW!  She was awesome!  I could go on and on about this conference, but let's just say I'm looking forward to this year!!

 We got some amazing seats!!

 A self portrait of Holly and myself - you can kind of see behind us how huge it was!

 Our amazing Hillsong band

 Beth Moore!

 Priscilla Shirer!

 Our Pastor's wife, Bobbi Houston!

Me, Melanie (another fellow American), and Holly

Soccer Studs!

I figured since I was showing some of their activities, I would go ahead and include some pictures of soccer.  They both are taking KickStar Soccer, which is amazing at teaching the fundamentals of soccer and how to really handle the ball and play the game.  The coaches are awesome (one of them helped with Lance's birthday party!) and the kids love it.  They have been taking soccer for over a year now and have really improved.  These pictures were taken in March.

 Soccer studs!

 being goofy together!

 Diego talking to the kids

 Lance learning drills with the ball

 I didn't get very many pictures when it was Grace's class - they're just too fast!! ;)