Way Behind...Here's the ketchup

So, here I am in Brisbane. I've had my moments of stress, but I'll give you a brief synopsis of our time so far.

Sunday - Fly out of Salt Lake Intl Airport full of excitement and trepidation as to the adventure awaiting us. Arrive in Las Angeles with a 6 hour layover, so we decided to visit the beach. Realized we were only about 2 miles away from my good friend, Sally, so tried to call to hook up, but no such luck. I wish I would have thought of it earlier :( We walked on the beach, got some pizza at a pub, looked at a little aquarium and returned to the airport for another 3 hours. While in the lounge, Ashlee began to look a little pekid. She finally threw up on the carpet. I told all the kids after that if they could make it to the bathroom to throw up, I'd pay them $5.00 (Thanks Carrie for that advice. I wish I would have thought of it earlier.) Kyle starts to look a little flushed and complains of a stomach ache. Robert takes him into the bathroom and tries to force him to throw up so he'll get over it. Yeah...that didn't work. Poor kid. Well, we were expecting the worst when we got on our 14 plus hour flight to Sydney. We got the kids in their pajamas, Kyle went almost immediately to sleep and Ashlee perked up. Then, we ended up waiting on the runway for an hour and a half as they had to de-plane a couple parents who had had a little too much in the first-class lounge. They had to find all their luggage as well, so it took a little time. Finally, we took off. The kids were pretty peaceful on the plane, slept quite a bit and watched tv or played games the whole way. We got the whole of row 5. If you've never flown business class before, row 5 is coveted. It's where they generally put celebrities (or the Brouwers!) There were curtains that completely contained the whole area, so we basically had 3 rooms to ourselves. This worked out really well and made the ride a little more comfortable. The flight attendants were so friendly and helpful. I know it will be different traveling coach, but it was fun to be treated this time.

Monday-yeah...pretty much skipped this day.

Tuesday-We made it to Sydney on Tuesday morning and missed our flight because of the delay. So, we had to change our tickets. Sydney airport is not easy to fly through. I hope we can get direct flights from now on, but we made it anyway. Juli picked us up from the airport and everything went pretty smoothly.

Wednesday-We dropped Robert at the Gold Coast for his Leadership Training Conference and went to Surfer's Paradise. This was definitely the hilight of the day. The kids had an amazing time jumping in the waves. Ethan couldn't wipe the smile off his face. I haven't seen him so happy in a long time. It made me happy to see them all so happy.

We spent a couple of hours there before heading back to Brisbane. Juli made us PB&J sandwiches and I walked over to the school to pick up forms for school. It's been so nice to have a stopping place...a real home to relax at. We went back to the apartment after that and the kids became super stir crazy. I finally decided to take them to find some food.

[Side note: Driving in Australia - stay to the left, but make sure you aim for the center of the road. If you want to turn, turn on your windshield wipers and pass on the right. Everything is narrower. You have to really concentrate when you drive. The lanes are narrow, the parking spaces are narrower, there are very few medians or chicken lanes. People are much more courteous and conscientious (sp), but they don't put up with you if you're being stupid. So far, I have gone to the passenger side to drive 2x, driven on the wrong side of the road 1x, put on my windshield wipers numerous times and nearly sideswiped a couple of garbage cans, several curbs and a cyclist 1x.]

So, back to finding food. I finally found parking in the city for $14. We walked about a mile and found a Subway and a park to eat at. It gets dark here around 4pm. We went to find Juli's house in the dark after that so Ethan could go to a YM activity to watch an Aussie Football game. Because of the game, several streets were blocked off and there were so many people in the streets and cars. I missed our turn a couple of times, but finally made it to Juli's house, after a very stressful hour or so. Of course, I had to wait up for Ethan, so after lugging the kids back to the hotel, I sat up trying to figure out how to call Robert since none of the 4 phones I had access to could call out. I resorted to reading the phone book trying to figure out if I was dialing incorrectly. It is a little panicky to feel so disconnected. Needless to say, this was not a very good night. I was so happy in the morning when Robert was able to finally call my hotel room.

Thursday-Don't really remember much about this day. I think I was working on the kids school aplications and the kids swam in the pool for a couple of hours at the hotel.

Friday-We picked up Robert at the Gold Coast and played a little in the ocean. Good news- Ammon's warts disappeared on his feet. The warts on his hand, he apparently scratched off all on his own. Thank goodness I don't need to find a dermatologist here yet. We still need to find a doctor to take his stitches out though.

Today-Robert picked up his new car and we've been doing laundry at the Robinsons. I'm still working out how their washer works. It's taken 3 hours so far just on the wash. I think I'm not doing it right. Juli, if you read this, you can give me some tips maybe. So far, everything is going pretty well. I've had my moments of frustration, but I'm learning a lot and learning that happiness is a choice. I'll choose to be happy.

I'll post pictures later...

We'll go to church tomorrow. So far, all is well. I