WE ARE HERE!!

WE CAN HARDLY BELIEVE THAT WE ARE HERE!! AFTER ALL OF THESE MONTHS OF PLANNING THIS IT HAS FINALLY HAPPENED!!

We started our trip out on Friday at around 4:30. We had nine suitcases, 1 stroller, 1 car seat, 1 car seat base, 2 boosters, 1 Thomas back-pack, 1 Care Bears carry on, a laptop bag, a diaper bag, and our 2 carry-ons. Needless to say we had Dera give us a ride in her Expedition and Jake, Kyle, and Vicki followed behind in their car to help carry things and to help us carry our stuff to the check out counter at the airport - we were so thankful for their help. We got to the airport in plenty of time and lucky for us they checked our luggage all the way through to Sydney. We then got some dinner and waited, and waited, and waited. Our plane was late and then we had to wait in line to take off. We were late getting into LAX and had to go quickly to the checkout counter at Qantas Airlines for our connecting flight. They hurried us to the counter and then they cut off the checkouts for that flight - we barely made it. We then had to hurry through security and to the gate before the flight left. When we walked onto the airplane we found out that they had split us all up - that wasn't really going to work for us as you can imagine. A flight attendent worked really hard and he got two seats together on the side of the plane and one across the aisle, the girls took those ones. However, Cooper and Kevin were sitting on the edge with Cooper in front of Kevin. He told the lady sitting next to Cooper what had happened and she switched him places - wouldn't you? Who wants to sit next to a four-year-old? The flight was uneventful - Rylee had a hard time settling down, she didn't really cry just fussed and fidgeted most of the time unless she was held. I am sure that it was all of the new noises, smells, etc.

As for Madi and Cooper. They loved fliying. In Madi's words "THAT'S AWESOME MOM!!!" She loved everything about flying and so did Cooper. He especially got a kick out of the bathrooms. I had no idea that they were so cool. I took him in and when he flushed the toilet he jumped a little bit, but then he just thought it was so amazing. It is funny to see the world through a child's eyes. Business Class is a nice way to travel as well. We had reclining seats and our own TV's. It was a bit more relaxing than Coach that is for sure. You would think that with all of that I could have actually slept on the plane - but that is not how my body works I guess.

We arrived in Sydney at 6:00am and proceeded to get off the plane wondering how we were going to get all of the said items to a taxi cab. We asked someone when we got off the plane and he said that they had someone at baggage who could help us. He actually came down himself because she couldn't. We were so grateful for his help, we never could have made it without him, and because he worked for the airline he got us past a few lines as well - Can't complain about that.

We got to our serviced apartment around 8:30 and we took a shower and I took a small nap - I was too tired from not sleeping on the plane. We then decided that we needed lunch. We thought McDonalds would be the place for us and so off we went. We found it fine and had a lovely lunch. We then decided that to kill time - you know you are supposed to try and stay up to get over the jet lag sooner - we would go over to Hyde Park and the Botanical Gardens and look at the Opera House.

To the left is a Ficus tree. They look like that all over the park. I just thought that the trunk was really cool and the kids liked climbing all over it. The other picture is some bats. Madi spotted them in a tree and there were so many of them.

It was a nice walk and we saw some cool things, but by the end we had two ornery parents and three crying children. It is hard to stay up when you are tired.