Hamilton Island (Great Barrier Reef)

We finally got one thing marked off of our bucket list for Australia...The Great Barrier Reef!  We took the girls up to Hamilton Island last week for a a little mini-vacay for the school holiday break. It was BEAUTIFUL!!  When flying over the islands I couldn't believe the different shades of blues and greens you could see as well as the greenery!  Absolutely breathtaking!  We spent the first day on the beach where B and A snorkeled a bit till A saw a ray and decided she wanted to get back to land!  E and I just hung out in the beach chairs and walked around in the water watching the crabs!  The 2nd full day was when we went out to the reef.  It was smooth sailing until we reached the shipping channel. To make a long story short, let's just say E got sick on Daddy while she was napping and then Mommy got a bit nauseated helping clean up E and Daddy! :( Once we got out to the reef it was AMAZING!  The ferry docked on a manmade dock that had a viewing room, picnic tables, sun shades, and showers.  Once we got there, we took a glass bottom semi-sub boat out to view a part of the reef.  We saw quite a few fish and there was even a reef shark, but I missed it!  After that, B and A donned their wet suits and snorkel gear and headed out while E and I ate lunch.  When they got back in and ate, I went out to snorkel and B took E out for a swim.  Both of the girls loved it as well as ourselves!  So amazing and blessed to be able to have the opportunity to see one of the wonders of the world!  Lots of parrot fish, clams, and other species of fish that I have no clue what they are called!  Brandon took a half day fishing charter out on Friday morning and said it was "okay fishing, but there were lots of shark taking the fish that anybody did manage to catch".  Our hotel was built with all of the rooms facing the Coral Sea and there were lots of Cockatoos, seagulls, and crows!  One evening I saw two wallabies hopping around on the side of one of the golf paths!  The cockatoos liked to sit on the balconies and the one below seemed to enjoy having his photo taken!  Hope everyone is well!  Enjoy the pics!

Part of the Great Barrier Reef

"I'm Ready Mom"

"Cheese!"

Family Shot in front of the Reef

View from Our Balcony

Another View from the Room

Miss E Ready for a Swim

Daddy Prepping A for the Tour

It Was Awesome!

View of the Reef from the glass bottom boat

#2 Out for the Ride Back

#1 Out for the Ride Back

SWIM

Since we moved here last April, both of the girls have been attending swim lessons on Saturday mornings year round with breaks according to the school calendars.  Emi is now in the water on her own (no more Mommy and me swim classes…sniff, sniff :( ) and Adalyn is working on backstroke, butterfly, freestyle, swimming with flippers and whatever else they try to teach them!  Watching all of the kids at these lessons is amazing and now I know why Australia has such awesome swim teams! (they start them young!)

BACK IN THE SADDLE

After almost a year of searching and finding the time, Adalyn is back where she loves to be…in the saddle!  We contacted the Australian Barrel Horse association and the majority (which isn't very many since barrel racing isn't a big sport here) of the people who do barrel race were an hour or more away from Brisbane. So, we just decided as long as she was riding somewhere and learning about the hows of horsemanship, she is now at an English riding center.  The people are wonderful and the guy who runs it has Texas roots!  (His father is from San Antonio AND graduated from A&M)  Small, small world!  Emi loves to go and watch her big sister ride and wants to know when she can start! 

Australian Sand Sculpting Championships

This past weekend we drove up to Surfer's Paradise (about a 45 minute to an hour drive) to check out the Australian Sand Sculpting Championship sculptures that were on display at the beach.  The sculptures were amazing!  It's hard to believe how intricate some of the designs were and there's no telling how many man hours went in to building them.  The theme this year was based on Fairytales and Mythology.  We checked out the sculptures and the girls got to make their own sand art hearts to take home.  It was a great outing…HOT but fun! :)

A and E in front of The Goose that Laid the Golden Egg sculpture

The Kirin….1st Place and won the People's Choice Award

Hard at work on her sand heart!

Scooping her sand for her heart

My favorite…The Trojan Horse.  You had to find 9 soldiers hidden within this one! 

The Billy Goat's Gruff

CHILD OF THE WEEK

The school year has been on for almost 5 weeks now and we get to brag a bit early on Adalyn this year!  She was named "Child of the Week" for her class for week 4 this year!  Her teachers (she has two this year) honored her with this award because of "her happy and enthusiastic attitude in all class activities and sharing her great ideas with classmates".  She was awarded a certificate at their weekly school assembly and a badge that she got to wear for the week.  We are all so proud of her!  She is doing fabulous in school and working so hard.  

Where is the time going?

I know I've said it a hundred times and I'll say it hundreds, if not thousands, of times more…."WHERE is the time going?"  It has been a whirlwind since the beginning of the year!  We decided at the last minute to spend the holidays back home,  and then the girls and I made a stop over in California for some quality cousin time as well as some sister time!  It was great to be back in the States for a bit, but it was also good to get back and into the swing of things here.  The weather has been amazing!!!  Low 80's and breezy during the days!  Adalyn started Year 2 the end of January and Emi is growing like crazy!  Brandon has been busy at work with the spinoff of DNOW and has been traveling to their locations here in Australia a bit.  Somedays it seems like we have just enough time to say hello and goodnight! :)  The workshops rail museum has a Thomas the Tank exhibition every year that runs through the end of January and with our little fanatic in the house we couldn't pass up the opportunity to go.  We also took a trip to the beach at Coolum (no pics as most of the time was spent ON the beach) with some friends on Australia Day weekend.  It was so nice…we basically had the beach to ourselves! Other than that, we have been getting back into a new school year routine complete with extracurricular activities for both girls in addition to living life!  LOL!  God bless and hope all is well with everyone!  xoxo

Enjoying the carousel at Pier 39 in San Francisco

Having a sit on Thomas

Ready to check it all out!

1st Day of Year 2

Isn't this what everybody does when the basket is empty!?!?

BASEBALL

Adalyn started t-ball three weeks ago and seems to really enjoy it!  She is one of two girls out of about 50 kids!  They won't start playing any games until after the first of the year so right now they have been working on the fundamentals of the game-when the coaches can contain all the boys running around!  Here are a couple of snap shots of her at their first "practice" and of course one of Emi entertaining us while we watched the kids practice. ;)