DREAMWORLD...

...okay, so it is no Disneyland - but then there is nothing like Disneyland anyway - it was a great amusement park! The only downside we found is that the rides are too short - they need to be longer. You wait to get on and the ride starts and it is over just like that. The kids had a blast and it was fun to see them get so excited when they realized they were tall enough to ride most of the rides in Nickelodeon world.

Our first stop of course was WIGGLE WORLD!!

Cooper met his favorite wiggle friend Wags the dog!

Madi met Dorothy the Dinosaur - her favorite!

We got to ride in the "big red car" and the tea cups (can't remember what they are called)

Then we spent a lot of time in Nickelodeon World.

Madi rode the Runaway Raptor ride three times and wanted so badly to be on the front row. When I went with her the first time we were three rows back (Kev got some great pics), then when she went back with Kev and Cooper the second time they were on the second row and Madi was on the first row - she was so excited and loved it.

The other ride we got pictures of was the "Sponge Bob Flypants" ride. Kev was a bit big - but since I don't do spinny rides he was the one to go with the kids.

We did have some trauma when Madi, Cooper, and I went to ride on the bumper cars. Cooper had to ride with an adult but Madi was tall enough to ride by herself. However, she got stuck the whole time and couldn't get away from the wall. Every time I passed her I would shout encouraging words and one of the girls in charge of the ride kept telling her what to do. They even told everyone to stay away from her car. I could tell she was so frustrated. When the cars stopped I went over to help her out and the tears began to flow. She hated it and it ruined the whole day was basically what she told me as I held her and we walked out. I told her she could ride it again with Kev and she told me that she was never riding bumper cars again - we shall see.

While Kev and the kids were standing in line for some rides and I was trying to get Rylee to take a little nap I walked around the park and checked out the really big kid rides (sad to say Kev didn't get to ride any of them) and I also made it to see the tigers. They were doing a show so I stood there and watched for a bit. They were gorgeous!

Some other random pictures!

GOODBYE DREAM WORLD!

OUR TRIP TO THE GOLD COAST!

We did so much and took so many picture that you are going to get our trip in small doses - a little light reading. Enjoy!! We had a great time!!

Monday late afternoon we headed to the airport and our flight to the Gold Coast. It was nice to fly at night and have the day to do final things and pack - but it made for really restless kids. My friend Lisha offered to drive us to the train station (thanks again Lisha) so around 4:30 we were off!

Not much happened on our travels until we got to our transfer on the train. We had three suitcases plus the stroller. Madi was being a big helper and had one of medium suitcases and was pulling it along behind Kev trying to keep up. The bad part was that due to the time of our flight we got to Central Train Station at peak hour and there were so many people there. As we got to our transfer and went to get on we were the last to go through the doors. Over the intercom came the familiar words, "Stand clear, doors closing!" All I could hear behind me was a little scream from Madi she was still on the platform and upon hearing the words thought she was going to get left behind. We of course hadn't forgotten her and Kev was on his way to help her just as she screamed. After pulling her on the train she was relieved. We finally made it to the airport after a short car ride and two trains.

When we finally got to the Gold Coast airport we were all tired. It was late as we walked down the stairs and onto the tarmac. We caught a shuttle bus to our hotel and after the kids explored the room we all went to bed. The hotel room was nice. It had two bedrooms and two bathrooms with lots of space. It had a kitchen and a washing machine and dryer as well. However, with all the space the beds were terribly hard - like sleeping on concrete - and they did not have enough blankets to keep us warm. The days were fine, but the nights were cold and we had to bundle up just to stay warm as we slept (there was no heater) - of course the kids didn't seem to feel a thing and slept fine. The couches were wicker and not as comfy as we would have liked - but it had a heated pool and a great view. We woke up in the morning with this view out the balcony! I spent a lot of time watching the surfers and the waves roll in - I love the ocean!

I took these pictures a few days later because we also woke up to a downpour. Kev headed out to get our rental a few blocks away and we decided to go to the shopping mall at Broadbeach to get groceries and go to see a movie, "Kung-fu Panda". The shopping center was huge and we walked around a bit until our movie started. We found this fun kids play place with a little track for the kids to drive little cars on. They loved it. Notice in the picture Cooper is even driving the Aussie made Holden ute.

We then lined up for our movie and loved it - it was very well done I thought. After the movies we got on the escalator to head back down to the shops and had our first accident of the holiday and not a good one either. Cooper always seems to be fidgeting and can't hold still and on the escalator - or alligator as he always calls it - it is no exception. He was holding my hand and Madi was in front of us with Kev coming up the rear with the stroller on the escalator (I know you aren't supposed to do that). Cooper had proceeded to jump onto his step and I was telling him that this is a bad idea because he can fall all the way down when he began to scream that he had lost his shoe. Sure enough I looked down and there was his croc wedged into the escalator when the steps smoothed out - the escalator was stopped too. I reached down to try and pull it out and it didn't budge. Kev then said make sure his toe is okay. In that split second of me reaching down I hadn't even looked at Cooper yet. To my defense whenever Cooper gets the smallest scratch he screams like he is dying so I never know if he is really hurt or not. So I looked over and there was blood all over his toe. I scooped him up and rushed over by the wall out of the way to examine it closer. He is one lucky fella - a bit of the toenail came off and the skin with it and there was some blood, but his toe was intact. Kev pulled his croc out and it wasn't so lucky (the croc was eaten by the alligator) - Cooper was then in need of new shoes (good thing we were already at the shops) and some band-aids and ointment. These pictures were taken later that night back at the hotel - we should have thought to get the camera out when it was all bloody - now that would have been a sight. It looked much better even that night.

(The old and the new)

We got back to the hotel just as the sun was setting and put the groceries away and headed to the beach for a little play. I of course should have realized that the kids would come back drenched - but I thought they would just put their feet in the waves. It was so lovely to spend some time at the beach. We then went back to the hotel and swam in the indoor heated pool for a bit, Rylee loved it as much as the big kids and even went under the water all the way. After a good swim we headed back to our room for a late dinner. Then off to bed to rest up for a day at Dream World....

INDEPENDENCE DAY!

A few days before the 4th of July I was talking to the kids about what we normally do for this U.S. holiday. We talked about the fireworks and BBQ (which we had already planned on doing) and then I mentioned that we normally go to the parade and it would be fun to do our own parade here. Madi took this idea and expanded upon it. Thursday we went out and bought streamers in red and white (they didn't have blue), some blue balloons (which although were blown up didn't make it into the parade somehow), and some sparklers.

As soon as Madi got home from school on Friday then went into her room and shut the door. They taped and laughed and couldn't wait for Kev to come home. Madi told me she was the brains behind the operation and Cooper helped out where he could - he got to hold the tape and scissors (sounds to me like he was the cheap labor). My job was to keep the baby away from the room until they were ready for her. Here are some pictures from our own 4th of July Parade!

Preparation

The parade down the hallway complete with floats, scooters, and fairies!

The proud spectators!

Kev then took his flashlight outside with him to cook the steaks on the BBQ and we then had corn on the cob and watermelon with our steaks along with some American lemonade! It was a typical 4th of July dinner except the potato salad. I didn't think about it until I sat down to eat or I might have made some. Oh well!

After dinner came the sparklers. After instructions about where we do and do not touch the burning sparklers and other safety issues we headed outside bundled up to do our sparklers. The kids had a good time. I told them that when I was a kid I used to love to dance around on the grass with my sparkler - so Madi and I did just that. I was also thinking that normally we are outside watching fireworks and Madi ends up inside looking out the window because she can't handle the noise. This was the first year she was outside the whole time - true we only did sparklers, but still...

After sparklers we headed in to eat our cake. When explaining to Cooper what Independence Day was I told him that it was sort of like a birthday for the United States - since he has a birthday coming up soon that seemed to click for him. So he told me that we needed a cake. This is what I came up with. I originally was going to do it all with frosting, but when searching the cupboard found that I didn't have any blue food coloring. I was then frantically searching for something that I could use instead. I saw strawberries in the fridge and called Kev to stop and get some blueberries on his way home. After a bit of stress this is the final result. Not bad, not Heather standard by any means, but not bad!! I thought it was funny for us to eat cake on the 4th of July instead of popsicles or banana boats done in Dera's fire - but we may have to start a new tradition because it was really good and with all the fruit on it seemed very summery too!

So our first Independence Day in Australia was a success - not the same, but I think we did a pretty good job. It was also the coldest day of the year so far - CRAZY!! Last year Kev was actually in Australia for the 4th and I was home with the kids, Rylee was a month old, and we had a great family BBQ at Dera's complete with swimming, fireworks, and banana boats. This year we were all together and had a fantastic time. Cooper says that it was a "GREAT FAMILY FUN DAY!" That's all that matters right?!

FAMILY BRAG BOOK

So the family brag book is coming along nicely. I just got Wendy's pictures (Julie I still don't have anything from you) and have to do ours and then I will upload them into my 4-shared account and you can download them if you want to do your own 6x6 brag book. The files will be too big to e-mail. If you aren't sure you want to download them let me know and I can send a disc home with them all on it.

So here are the grandparents pages - what do you think?

SO MUCH TO DO...SO LITTLE TIME...AND ADD IN SOME SICKIE BUGS!

This has been our life for the past couple of weeks. I realized that I haven't updated the blog in so long - this is probably the longest I have ever gone. So yes, we are still alive - just barely!! LOL!!

We have done so much in the past few weeks, so I will share with you the highlights. Last week was spend mostly with sick kids. Fevers that only lasted about 8 hours and colds and coughs. Yuck!! Rylee is still hanging on to her cold, not sleeping, and playing with her ears, -so she gets a trip to the doctor this afternoon. Hopefully they can give me something to give her because we are getting on an airplane next week for a little family vacation to the Gold Coast.

So last weekend in between sick kids Kevin and I actually got to go on a date! We went to see Chronicles of Narnia Prince Capsian - I really liked it. However, I am going to need to read that book one more time to see what I missed. It has been a while. We had the babysitter come at 7:00 and right before she arrived we looked at the movie times - the movie didn't start until 8:45. We had some time to kill. Which normally wouldn't be a big deal - but is here when nothing is opened past 6:00 UGH!!! We did find a Baskin Robbins and had a little ice cream - yummo!!

Then Saturday was our really busy day - one thing after another. Kev played in a basketball tournament with the Stake. They rented out an entire center and played 3 on 3 basketball. We did not go because Cooper had a soccer game. I bundled up the kids and we headed to the soccer fields at 8:00 am. It was so cold. We came back chilled to the bone. I made us all hot chocolate and the kids had nice warm baths - this helped. However, didn't help the colds and coughs.

When Kev got back we headed over to the preschool for Family Fun Day. It was little carnival fundraiser. I had volunteered to help out at the biscuit decorating/apple slinky stall. I wasn't sure what an apple slinky was - but I soon learned the process. You use this contraption and out comes a coreless, slinky apple. Really, what a fun toy!!

The kids had fun jumping in the blow up castle. Madi got her hair sprayed another color and opted for her arm to be painted instead of her face - then much to our amazement she AND COOPER got a tattoo (we were only amazed that Coop wanted one - this never happens). We had fun looking at all the art work Cooper has been doing and enjoyed some yummy cake that Kev purchased. I was doing biscuit decorating and kept calling the biscuits cookies and the lollies candies - hopefully the kids weren't to confused. It was a fun afternoon.

We then headed home to get ready for some of Kev's work friends to come over for dinner. They have all just arrived here in Australia so Kev invited them over. We had everyone bring something and had a very eclectic meal - 7 layer dip, Japanese sushi and chicken, and Indian curry. It was all delicious!

However, we then had a miserable night with a sick baby. Not much sleep and the girls all stayed home from Church to rest. Originally we had Madi stay home because she had a cough - however, about half way through Church time she had a fever too.

By Tuesday Madi was better and it was a good thing for her too because it was her first Athletic Carnival at school. After dropping Cooper off at school Rylee and I went to see what it was all about. It was pretty windy and Rylee still had her cold so we only stayed until after morning tea. I wasn't sure what it was all about - this is our first after all - apparently it was to last all day. All the kids are divided up into four houses - Madi was in Sturt and had to wear something yellow. They had the little kids run races and then do novelty things like sack races and crab crawl. They also had a race for the brothers and sisters - so I had Rylee run in it. As you can imagine she was lucky last - also by far the youngest competitor. They also had the moms race. So I took a stab at it. Madi's teacher held Rylee for me - Madi said I did okay even though I finished in the middle. Rylee and I stayed and watched Madi run in her heat and then we stayed until her sack race was over. I spent most of my time walking behind Rylee and she wandered around. What a fun day!

A few of the highlights from the last couple of weeks. We have big plans for Independence Day tomorrow - so watch for that post! Also we can't wait for our trip to the Gold Coast. We are counting down the days to Dream World and Sea World!!