Blue Mountains #2

Taking the city explorer bus to all the touristy places in Katoomba

Bush walking in the rain forest.

Riding down into the bush looks a bit scary. Can you tell where that cable drops almost straight down? It gives you the impression at first that you are about to be in for a theme park ride but then as you go over the edge...Well I won't ruin it for you I guess :)

All those white spots are yellow-tailed cockatoos. There were hundreds of them all around and it was a beautiful scene to be that high in the air with them. Some of them were flying around underneath you which was really fun.

More cockatoos and if you look carefully you can see them flying through the fog around the ravine.

lovely trees in the bush.

When we first started taking this picture the fog had moved but by the time we got a photo with all the kids in there the fog had taken over again and you can't really see the beautiful view.

This was the sorry excuse for stroller/wheel chair access through the bush trail. Those are still stairs but you have one little skinny ramp too small for a stroller on one side and too far apart from the other side to put one set of wheels on each side. We managed though.

All in all it was a great day. We ended the day by going to Leura and looking at the shops and having a cup of hot chocolate to warm us up. Then we got on the train and headed home. Great day. Love the blue mountains.

Blue Mountains Part One

This romantic looking train station is is Central Station here in Sydney. This place is fun to look at. It's a very unique train station.

We had to get up bright and early to catch the train that would take us all the long way to the Blue Mountains  I believe it was almost a 3 hour train ride there and back that day.

Inside the station. From this view the trains and tracks are behind you. and if you go out of those doors ahead you will end up where we are standing in the picture above.

Handsome man-I sure love this guy. He is such a great husband and father and he still makes my heart skip a beat when I hear his voice in the other room ;) I don't usually see much of him at church since I am hovering around or in the primary room the entire time and he is usually hovering around the clerks office or in a classroom. But on one particular Sunday he was in the chapel giving the announcements for the HPG in a combine meeting. I walked out of the primary room on an errand and when I heard his voice over the speakers I couldn't stop the silly grin spreading over my face. I peaked into the chapel to see him while on my way over to the nursery. Such a cute guy :)

He may have a few wrinkles around the eyes but he sure is handsome when he smiles and he makes me laugh quite a lot. Everything's better with dad around. Can't wait to hang out with him between jobs.

These are the Blue mountains. The day we went it was foggy and rainy. We were all soaked and slightly miserable physically, but happy to be together and to see the beautiful outdoors. This view was from the cable car that carries you over the ravine/canyon-whatever you want to call it.

It did make it harder to get good pictures though so you will have to use your imaginations.

Those three peaks up on the right hand side are the 3 sisters. An icon in the blue mountains. They have a whole story about the three sisters that was believed by the aboriginal people.

Camilla was here for this trip and we had a great time together. She and I had made several homemade pizzas and banana cake etc... for the trip to keep all these boys full for a whole day of hiking.
My dear husband insisted I wear his hat to keep my head dry. He was quite the gentleman and ended up with his own soaked because I didn't bring a hat :( Sorry honey but it was sure nice of you to give up yours for me.

A close up of the 3 Sisters.

This tree has a place where you can sit(when it's dry) on that wooden seat and hold on to those hand rails and lean back to look straight up without falling off the edge. It's a bit precarious when it is wet and you can't actually sit down on the seat.

As you can see from Camilla cracking up we had some great times taking turns doing this :)

Happy hikers :) We were very wet but still happy. Poor Enoch and Ezra though. They didn't have jackets that were water proof. They only had hats and sweaters. They were such troopers most of the time. They did want to go home fairly early on but we were able to hold them off till the end of the day.

Beautiful views.

This was really high up. You can look down and all that green is the tops of the trees down there. It's all rain forest. Not tropical rain forest like in Cains but rain forest none the less.

Train ride-entertaining Ethne on the long way there.

Camilla was the best Aunt ever-she told Ezra stories almost the entire way there and back and Ezra was such an easy kid because of it. He never got board which is when he is at his most dangerous. Thank you Camilla for all the stories you told and for all your help with the kids.

Miss Smarty Pants/Stinka-pants

Ethne was asking Garrett to let her into "brovers room" and he picked her up and kissed her and teased her and said "NO!" I want...Ethne cut him off and said "NOOO! I Don't want to have a con-VA-sation and I DON'T want to listen".  Stinka pants


Yesterday at church a friend said to Ethne "I heard you had a nightgown with a matching pillow case"
Ethne said "Who'd ya hear that from?"
Friend: "Your mom told me"
Ethne: Stares blankly for a min. Then yells "AND I LOVE IT!"

You Might Be Homeschooled If...

You might be homeschooled if: 
1. You accuse you brother of sneaking in and doing part of your math and there is some speculation as to whether or not you are right.
2. Your little sister follows your mum around the house saying things like "why do brothers have to do wrork all de time?" 
3. Your little sister BEGS to have a math book of her own and then tries to hide her smile when she gets one and says "Oh no! That looks so hahrd" (misspelling intended)
4. Your mum is wishing school holidays could last forever when all your friends mum's are counting down the days till school starts.

Shenanigans

I was getting ready for church in my bathroom and all three kids were supposed to be in separate rooms reading for quiet time. Enoch left his room and went to the bathroom in the kids bathroom. Ezra comes to my door and knocks.
Ezra: "Mom, I was sitting on my bed and reading and Ethne came and knocked on my door. I said to go away and she came in anyway. I don't even know how she got in. So I got off my bed and came to tell Enoch and Enoch said for me to come in the bathroom where he was(on the toilet) so I did. Then ETHNE followed me in(*incredulous). THEN, Enoch said for me to come in here and tell you and ETHNE STAYED in there and NOW she's attached to ENOCH."

Ezra goes back to the bathroom where Enoch and Ethne are. I hear a crash and Ethne starts crying.
Ezra: "what happened?"
Enoch: "I didn't do it. I just fell off the toilet and crashed into Ethne".

Ethne comes to my door and says. "Mom, I was jus following your structions and Enoch and Evra are jus in the bathroom....."
Enoch comes to the door next and says...
"EVERYTHING IS GOING REALLY BAD. Ethne is running all around the house and everything is going really bad."

In the words of a famous witch "Oh! What a world, what a world"

Look who is 3 and Has been since July

This here is our precious girl. She brings so much joy to our family and we wouldn't know what to do without her. She is full of life and energy and she puts up with a lot from her big brothers so that she can play with them and have someone to save her from the "bad guys".

These pictures were from July when she turned 3 but they are just now getting posted. Sad.

I love them though because they show her fun and sweet personality.

She loves people more than anything else. Her favorite thing to do is play with friends or rather talk to them. She makes friends everywhere we go and she is constantly whispering in my ear while pointing at a stranger "mom, is that my friend?"

This is a rare day when she actually consented to wearing pants and long sleeves. She will almost NEVER wear anything but dresses and she prefers summer dresses. She hates long sleeves(well really sleeves at all) and she is starting to hate leggings(long or short ones) under her dresses. Getting her dressed can be a real pain. She also loves nightgowns instead of PJ's now and we will probably have to put thermals on her UNDER her nightgown that Grandmommy made her. She never wants to sleep in anything else. The reason Grandmommy's nightgown is her favorite is because she also made her a matching pillow case. Ethne LOVES that her nightgown and her pillow case match :) She is just that kind of girl.

Her favorite person is her mama and she loves to cuddle and read stories with her. She also loves to be mama's "baby" or her "cat". Any game with mum is the best game ever. When mum sits down Ethne finds her way into her lap. It doesn't matter where she is or what she is doing Ethne wants to be in her lap or by her side. Unless of course there is another female who will hold her and let her talk incessantly and follow all her orders, and in that case THAT person becomes her favorite.

She loves to DANCE. Music is a must around our house and Ethne makes sure of that. She is always asking me to put on music for her to dance too. She dances around like she is a pro and really she is surprisingly good for not having any lessons. Last week while she was waiting for Ezra to finish his violin lesson Faith(who takes lessons right after us) taught Ethne all of the ballet she has learned in her classes. Ethne was in heaven and didn't want to leave even when Faith went in to start her lesson. It was really cute to see Ethne barefoot and in her dress dancing around with Faith and trying to copy her every move.

Every day that goes by I thank my Heavenly Father for sending this girl into my life. She makes her mama one happy girl. I hope we will always be as close as we are right now. Love you Ethne Girl!

Tour of The Government House

We went on a tour of the Government House here in Sydney and it was really quite interesting. We learned a lot of great stuff about Sydney's political history(most of which I have already forgotten) and had a good time. Ethne was difficult by the end of the tour and drove me crazy but I think G recorded it so maybe I can find the time to go back and listen again.

These pictures really can't do it justice but the building is really cool. You can see if from the Royal Botanic Gardens and walk around outside the fenced area. But most days the grounds are open and you can book tours on the weekends to see the inside.

The view from the garden in the back is beautiful. You can see the ships in the harbour, the opera house, and the Botanic gardens. It's a fantastic view. The gardens are really pretty and one of my favorite trees in Sydney is there-HUGE and beautiful.

The birds come to drink out of the fountain and the kids enjoy watching them and playing around it.

Handsome boy waiting for the tour to start.

Beautiful family with beautiful view. Wish you could see it in person.

Not all looking but at least no one is crying.

Not sure how but this fountain picture ended up at the end instead of with the other fountain pictures-hmmm

Kangaroo Island Wildlife Park

It is possible this is our very last post for Kangaroo Island :) We were there under a week and we have so many pictures and shared so many wonderful experiences there as a family. It's not necessarily the dream destination for a vacation but it kind of was for us. We LOVED our time there even though there were some tough days with grouchy children and parents ;) This was one of the many wildlife parks we visited on Kangaroo Island and it was loads of fun but we kind of wondered if there ought to be a few more regulations for the up keep of the animals and their living quarters. Some of them seemed neglected which made us sad.

The picture above is of the kids talking to the "talking" cockatoo  He would say hello and goodbye and some other things which they found quite funny.

There were hundreds of birds here and many of them were brilliantly colored giving us a great appreciation for our God who made them all for us to enjoy. This blue bird was one of my favorites.

There was one bird there(not pictured) that would say "Hello" every time you walked away. Never when you walked up to him. It was really funny.  The kids did it over and over and over.

This was one of our family favorites. It's a blue-winged Kookaburra. There were two of these and they were so large it was hard to believe they could be so big and so fun to listen to.

This was the highlight of this park. Petty and playing with the Koalas. Ethne was the apple of everyone's eye. Every tourist in the place was taking pictures of her following around the Koala and checking it out from every angle. She was best friends with it(according to her) by the time we left and I was very pleased with the great pictures we got of her with him.

Enoch did not want to be left out either and we got some great shots of him too. His favorite Australian animal is the Koala and last year when Camilla and I went to AU without him he was upset because he wanted to go and meet a koala.

Well, he has since then been able to go to a Koala reserve (also on KI) and pet them in several animal parks as well. He is such a cute and smart boy and I am so proud of how he is growing up and learning.

This was another highlight of the trip. An albino Kangaroo with her joey. Click on the picture to see the joey's big feet hanging out of her pouch. That joey was so big it was hard to believe that it could still fit in her pouch comfortably, but she didn't seem to mind him hopping in and out all the time.

chasing the Koala

"Look! Him has a bottom"

I know it looks like Ezra was neglected in all these pictures but unfortunately he decided he didn't want to pet a koala and he didn't want his picture taken so we just let him be and enjoyed the other two kids while Ezra stayed outside the gate and did his own thing.

Such a patient little guy with all these little hands that wouldn't stay off of him. She really just had to be right right next to him and pet him constantly.

This is one of my favorite photos of the year. I would like to blow it up and frame it when we end up in one place long enough to hang it and enjoy it.

Ethne scared most of the Kangaroos away the the first few times we went to animal parks but she finally calmed down enough to feed a few. This one in particular got used to her and she got to feed it a lot before it finally hopped away. 

Here is the albino joey outside of his mother's pouch.

Feeding a Wallaby 

Another favorite bird. I think this one was a Crimson Rosella 

We had such a great time on KI and I think we will all look back on it as one of our favorite vacations ever. There were so many exciting and new experiences for us. So much beauty to enjoy and we spent all our time out in nature and by the ocean. What great fun!! We are greatly looking forward to our upcoming trip to Tasmania and we have high hopes that it will be just as fun-or more.