October Catch Up, Part 1

The start of October had us landing in Brisbane bright and early on the 2nd. We were a little later arriving than planned as there was a problem with the airplane at the airport in Los Angeles so we were almost 90 minutes late taking off, of which they only made up about 20 minutes of during the whole flight.

We spent the first day unpacking and getting settled and watching with great interest as Callum and his younger cousin Alison figured out how to play nicely with each other. My Mum and Nanna had also flown up from Adelaide to stay with my sister, so it was a very full house. To be truthful, my Mum and Nanna booked their trip first and Jen and I just decided that that created a good opportunity to catch up with family, so that's when we booked our tickets.

The next day was Alison's 1st birthday party (the original reason for the trip up from Adelaide for my Mum and Nanna). There was quite a crowd in attendance, many of which were kids, so it was quite a busy day. The Princess theme of the party was heartily embraced by the host family.

My Mum stepped up again and made Alison's cake, which was in line with the Princess theme of the party.

Which Alison enjoyed eating later in the day.

Here is a good example of Callum and Alison playing together the day after the party.

Here is Callum having fun on a kids ride at the mall near Shari and Leon's house

And here is Uncle/Daddy Craig practicing the 2-kid balance, perhaps it is a skill that will come in handy in the future.

A couple of pics of us all playing at a nearby playground.


The next day we hit Australia Zoo, which is the zoo that Steve "The Crocodile Hunter" Irwin setup. So as you would expect there is a preponderance of crocodiles at the zoo, including this trained one that you can have your photo taken with.

And here is my Mum and Callum taking a break from looking at the animals.

Callum riding a turtle.

We had a quiet day the next day after our day with the crocodiles.

But the day after that we were back at it for some more Australian animal fun. This time myself, Jen, Callum and my Nanna visited Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary.

A peacock joined us for lunch while we were there.

And Callum got to pet a Wallaby (that's roughly a small Kanagaroo for those who don't know), and then both Callum and Jen fed a Kangaroo.


And that will do for this post. More to follow.