Today, Monday here in Brisbane, we had a playdate with our friends Sara, Phoebe, Jillian, Dylan and Allison. We picked a hot one, over 99 degrees here! We had planned on going to a place called "Little Tigers" that is similar to Pump it Up Jr! but everyone else had the same idea so we could not get in...So as Fancy Nancy says, when you have cracked eggs make egg nog. We headed over to "The Milk Cafe Milkbar" like and old fashoined soda fountain and a modern cafe rolled into one. Everyone enjoyed Strawberry and chocolate milkshakes and then we drove to Sara's house and the kids watched Toy Story while eating lunch - a pretty darn good day!

Loney Pines Koala Sanctuary

What a great day we had yesterday! Woke up early and drive to the northern suburbs to Loeny Pine Koala Sanctuary. This place is amazing...You can walk right up to Kangaroos, hug koalas, see bats, baby crocs swimming and many unusual birds like Australia's oldest bird the Cassowary. Check out these photos of J&J hugging a real koala, I thought they would freak, but LOVED it! The koalas are very soft and actually smell pretty good because they eat so much eucalyptus. There I am petting Shiela the Emu, she was very mellow, but when they run away, they go fast! check out more pics on my slide show!

The past 2 weeks

I never thought 2 weeks would go by so fast! Here is a snapshot of what we've been doing:

• New Year's Eve Fireworks at South Bank with the Smith Family
• Diggin for Dino bones at the Science Museum
• Swimming at Moolalaba Beach on the Sunshine Coast
• Date night at Power House Park watching a movie on the lawn (with bats flying overhead!)
• BBQ at the park with new friends
• Encounters with Possums at the park
• Swimming and digging in the sand at Streets Beach
• Storytime at New Farm Library

It is wonderful here, but I've been thinking alot about our friends Lindsey, Dave and Cora Beidel. They were in a very serious car accident 3 weeks ago, beautiful baby girl came away with only a small scratch, Dave is now out of the hospital and home recovering from surgery and Lindsey(Terri's daughter) is recovering from broken ribs - keep them in your thoughts.

We arrived in Brisbane at 6:30am OZ time. I don't want to brag but the kids were awesome on the flight, John slept a wopping 9 hours! We were a little sad to du,p all our snacks at customs, though apparently beef jerkey residue was on my pants becuase the quarantine dog (a beagle) sniffed my butt wildly!

Yes, that is our "BOB" stroller wrapped up in trash bags, We have already used it a ton on the boardwalks surrounding the river. So glad we brought it, extra bonus that Virgin Airways didn't charge us!

A highlight so far for me has been the nightly swarm of bats that fly in from the East to feed on bugs and fruit. Around 6:30pm, the sky darkens as literally THOUSANDS of Flying Foxes cover the sky! We had a great time last night wathcing them from the pool fly right into trees next to us! My nightly ritual is drinking tea on the deck watching them fly in - Awesome!

The firworks display from Southbank was fun too! we took the City Cat boat into downtown and walked through the botanical gardens to Southbank, a "fake beach and lagoon" with sand and water to swim in, the kids loved digging in the sand after the fireworks...oh for about 2 minutes until they became toast and crashed in the stroller.

On my list to check-out this week: Public Library Story Time, Wilson Park pool for swim lessons, Loney Pines wildlilfe reserve, oh ya and learn to drive on the left side!

Our Brisbane Adventure

We arrived in Brisbane on Tuesday morning at 6:30am Brisbane time. I hate to brag but the kids were awesome throughout the 14hour flight, John slept a wopping 9 hours! We had to dump all our snacks in the trash when we arrived because of Customs