Happy Birthday Katelyn! Love the Beehive Class!!!

The Beehives welcomed Katelyn into the ranks of Young Women!  This was a fun little surprise after our trip to Australia!  I still can't believe that she's 12 and in Young Women!  I'm in denial!  

The Famed Bondi Beach...Last Day in Australia!

Everyone slept in this morning.  We took the bus to Bondi Beach and it was the perfect day for it-- sunny and a lot warmer!  It took a while to get there, but it was worth it!  When we got there, we rented an umbrella and a boogie board.  The girls enjoyed doing that for a couple of hours and swam at one of the most famous beaches in the world!  I stayed UNDER the umbrella and watched and also took a snooze!  We came across a movie that they were filming about Zombies called "Wormwood" or something... I guess on TV and YouTube?  We watched them film that for a bit.  We had lunch and then went shopping for T-shirts.  We found some really cute Bondi Beach shirts-- and one for McKenzie too!  Later we got ice cream and enjoyed a leisure afternoon.  We came back to our little house tired!  But not before stopping and getting some snacks.  We packed and I did a load of laundry... we watched some TV and then went to bed. Goodnight Australia!

Brookes turn on the boogie board...

Here comes one!

Ooh... got it!

Go Brooke go!

Katelyn's turn!

Cute girls!

Here comes one!

What a fun day!

The Zombie movie, "Wormwood"... they were asking random people to be extras... 

NO THANK YOU!!!!!

Almost regular Aussies...ok minus the absolutely charming accent!  I'm going to miss that!

Ice cream by the beach while we shopped!

Day 12 was a great ending to such a fabulous trip!  

It was the trip of a lifetime that we won't soon forget!  

Touring Sydney and a Ferry Ride to Manly Beach

We finally decided to figure out the bus system this morning because the taxis have been so expensive.  The locals really helped us out finding our way around.  They are very friendly and don't seem to mind at all when we ask for help.  We found our way into the city where we poked around "The Rocks" street market of Sydney.  (An outdoor shopping area.)   There were lots of arts and crafts.  Then we walked up onto the Harbor Bridge to the first pylon and took pictures-- another icon of Sydney.  We thought about climbing the bridge, but found out that it was $200 per person to do that so we decided not to.  Then we took the ferry to Manly Beach... another popular spot in Sydney!  We got some lunch at a sidewalk cafe and then headed to the beach.  It was overcast and a little windy and cold so we didn't really get in the water... other than our toes!  Plus there were blue jelly fish in the water, so there were warnings about swimming. but everyone was swimming anyway!  We walked around another outdoor market and Megan got a cute silver ring.  We bought a few groceries and headed back to the ferry.  When we got back to Sydney, we headed to the Custom's House just behind the Ferry Station where we were told there was a surprise on the floor!  It ended up being a mockup-- to scale-- of the city of Sydney!  It was super cool!!  The girls enjoyed walking on it!  Then we took a bus to the Queen Victoria Bldg. and went inside.  Then we had to catch to buses in order to get back home!  We watched a movie and then all went to bed!

Ok this is a funny story!  Megan was convinced the house was haunted because, before Megan went into the bathroom last night, Katelyn had written on the mirror, "So how was the opera?" They all slept in the same bed last night... the next 2 nights Katelyn got her own bed and room refusing to sleep 3 to a queen size bed and Megan refused to sleep in her own room-- pretty genius of Katelyn!! Megan was seriously spooked... even after we explained what Katelyn did!  

This was the scene this morning! :)

Harbor Bridge

View of the Sydney Opera House from the bridge...

The first pylon...

Manly Beach...the sun decided to peek out of the clouds for a bit!

Such a relaxing and enjoyable day!

A very nice Aussie offered to take a picture of all of us so I could be in the picture! :)

Day 11~ Seeing Sydney the Reader's Digest way... short and sweet!  3 days is not enough... 

guess we'll have to come back!  

 

Madame Butterfly at the Sydney Opera House! Such a Beautiful Icon!!

We arrived safe and sound in Sydney today!  We took a taxi (interesting) and found the cute little old house that Bill had prearranged and dropped our stuff and hurried to take ANOTHER taxi ride into town (because the ferry was closed for repairs) to the Opera House for an actual play!  We were all surprised... Bill had arranged for this in advance for us to enjoy.  First we enjoyed somer very expensive pizza, salad and breadsticks at a quaint sidewalk cafe near the Opera House.  The play was in Italian, so we had to read the "surtitles"-- that's what they called them!  It was actually really good! I enjoyed it a lot, but was extremely tired.  The girls enjoyed it too!

Here we are before the show!  It's more beautiful in person...pictures don't do it justice!

Inside heading to our seats.

Fun day, but we were tired when we got back to our cute little house!

Day 10-- a cultural experience Aussie style!!!

A Relaxing Hotel Kind of Day and the Edward Jones Farewell Dinner!

Today we decided to just stay at the hotel and enjoy the property!  We started by relaxing in the room and I did all our laundry and we started packing.  We ate lunch in the room and then went down to the pool.

Havin' fun in the beautiful pool...super humid today because of the storm and all the rain!

Selfies by the pool!!

The beloved "Martha Washington" hair!!!!

Before the Edward Jones Farewell Dinner...beautiful area on the resort golf course!

But still very humid and sticky...you can see my beautiful untamed hair... 

it doesn't do humidity very well!! It was a beautiful buffet dinner with so much food, I couldn't 

try everything...but it was so yummy!

Day 9-- so sad to leave Port Douglas and this beautiful tropical paradise!  We've made

some great family memories here, and on this entire trip...on to Sydney tomorrow!

The Kuranda Rainforest Tour

It rained heavily today, so we missed a part of our tour of an aboriginal village...although the weather held long enough for the girls to be taught how to throw a boomerang!!  Then the rain started to POUR!!  So got on the gondola and went up the hill and stopped at various spots of the rainforest along the way.

This was the first stop... with a ranger doing a tour of the rainforest.

Hard to see, but this is a spider web with a spider in it...

Closer view 'cuz the last pic didn't do it justice...

A weird tree...

Up the gondola to Baron Falls...I enjoyed walking around, but the girls didn't and wanted to go...

Goofing around...always...

Next stop...Kuranda...

We walked around the village and poked in the shops...the girls got some bracelets and I got a ring. Brooke and Katelyn got those beaded extension things in their hair...we stopped for some ice cream and then later, a snack of nachos and "chips" (French Fries) and Bill squirted ketchup on everybody but me, on accident, of course!  Everyone had ketchup all over their shirts except me!  I'm usually the unsuspecting victim, but this time I dodged that bullet!  Hahahaha!  We caught the train back and it was a very loooooong ride...a very SLOW train!  Then, from Cairns we still had our bus ride back to the hotel.  It was still raining hard when we got back to the hotel!  (Cyclone Nathan wreaking havoc and making landfall later that night.)  

Day 8 a very WET and ketchupy day!  Hahahaha!  But we had FUN together and that's all that matters~memories were created!

We Took A Day To Relax!! And Celebrated Katelyn's 12th Birthday!!!

Today we decided to just relax and walk around the hotel property, which is beautiful.  Then we decided to walk the 45 minutes up the coast into Port Douglas.  We went along the beach and it was BEAUTIFUL!!  It was a fun day spent together as a family relaxing.  Once we got into Port Douglas, we got ice cream (of course!) and browsed around the cute little shops.  It's such a fun beach town! Reminds me a lot of Newport Beach.  Another great day!!  We rode the hotel shuttle back...

At the hotel property.  This hotel was gorgeous and wasn't lacking in tropical foliage!

This is the pathway to the beach...

My girls...

The water felt good on our feet!

Brookster!

Megs sporting her cool RAD RUN shades!

Nothing more laid back than the beach... this is how the whole coast looks!

Locals...

We found this on our walk on the beach and found it worthy of taking a picture!

So true!

#12 for this cutie! She's officially a Beehive... can hardly believe it!

We had a BBQ steak dinner and finished up with cake-- all on our deck above our room!

Edward Jones found out it was her birthday and sent these gifts!

We finished with a dip in the Jacuzzi!  I don't think this day could've gotten any better!!

So on Day 7 we lived the life we love and loved the life we live!