Friday December 31st

Friday December 31^st

Sleep is a much sought after commodity and none was to be had the previous evening.  Jacob arrived at 4 am announcing that he and Sienna were talking too much and could not sleep in the same room any longer.  It was a brave attempt but foolish nonetheless.  Krista dragged his mattress to the basement and set him up shortly thereafter and proceeded to go back to bed straight away and snore like the dickens until 630 am.  Darren stayed up after 4 and just read a book and worked on the computer. It was going to be a very very long day.

Nicholas was up by 615 and Jacob by 7. We jammed some food into them, packed our bags and loaded Devin’s car and off before 745 – very successful departure. We arrived at the International Airport with plenty of time to buy some duty free gifts and grab a bite to eat.  We found the Apple store with Ipad’s to play with to check email and play a few games.  We ate a nibble at McDonalds just to tide us over until the flight. 

We made our way to gate 61 and boarded 15 minutes later than usual. Our plane belonged to the Emirates Company out of Dubai. It was late in getting there but more than worth the wait.  We sat in luxury seating with huge video screen TV's in the economy section.  We had premium headsets as well as a selection of over 20 movies to choose from.  The boys each received a kids meal within minutes that consisted of 7 courses including spaghetti and meat balls, salad, dessert, water, fancy cutlery, wash clothes, etc.  After the meal, the boys each received their own backpack with all sorts of goodies in it including Jacob’s favourite, a yellow sleeping mask with a  giant happy face on it. He wore it for the rest of the flight.  They also had a ‘dessert box’ with assorted chocolate bars and treats inside it.

Krista ordered the lamb and I ordered the chicken. We both received a 6 course meal with all sorts of extra things like cheese, crackers and a chocolate. We had real metal cutlery as well! Krista got a glass of wine and I had a Budweiser – all included with our flight. This was quite the airline! We all watched a movie and before you know it, three hours had disappeared and we were landing. It clearly was the best flight we had ever been on and were not eager to leave. The kids asked if they could see First Class and were ushered into the palace of seating by one of the stewards. Giant seats that folded down into beds with high sides and a separate ceiling of privacy. A 42” plasma screen with computer keyboard, phone and numerous other amenities. An unending supply of food and alcohol, all for a paltry fee im sure… It  was a great way to start off our trip to NZ for sure…

We proceeded through the ramps and walkways of the international airport to Customs. One fascinating thing was the two walls of video screens depicting scenes of oceans and mountains along our walkway. As you walked past, there were scent inducers that emitted a spray to resemble the smell of the scene being displayed. It was pretty neat, but we were on a mission to find a washroom and get through security. 

Customs was quick and we made our way out into the lobby where we were met by cousin Nicola to give us some guidance out of the airport and off to cousin Chris’ house where we were to be staying. We wandered around looking for our rental car to no avail and had to call. It seems they were just delivering it so we waited for 5 minutes and it arrived. A Nissan Sunny – 4 door compact with barely enough room for our 4 large suitcases but just fine for our first week here on the south island. We followed Nicci out of the airport and fifteen minutes later we arrived at Chris’ lovely 6 bedroom flat in the northern part of Christchurch. We met Chris and his girlfriend Mikaela and Chris’ son Aston. Aunt Kim was also here waiting and it was great to catch up with her as well.  Nicholas and Jacob immediately bonded and they headed outside to try out the trampoline, dart guns and numerous other boy toys on the premises.

Everyone started into the champagne and reminisced about old times and new times and catching up on how everyone’s family was doing. After a couple hours, Kim toodled off home while we sat down to a fantastic supper of pasta and salad. Shortly after supper, Mike, Fiona and Rebecca showed up and we readied ourselves to head out on the town for New Year’s Eve.  Rebecca was going to babysit for us so that worked out brilliantly.  Chris and Mikaela were off to a house party while Mike, Fiona, Nicola, Krista and I were going to hit a local bar and end up in the Town Centre for fireworks at midnight.

We started at Al’s bar – a local watering hole that had a three piece rock band playing. We grabbed a couple drinks and listened to some 70’s rock music for a couple hours before walking to the city centre with 40000 other people. Many of the buildings in Christchurch were suffering from the 7.1 earthquake that had taken place back in September. Many of the older buildings that weren’t supported properly had begun to crumble away and many had to be knocked down completely.  There were many buildings that had metal bracing and supports holding them up while repairs were underway. Many could not be started as they are waiting for the aftershocks to die down before assessing whether they should repair buildings or knock them down.  There was a 4.1 aftershock this morning before we arrived. We are hoping to experience a little tremor while we are here but nothing too scary.

We wandered around looking at the giant Anglican Church and other buildings and found a very busy Irish pub to have a drink at while waiting for midnight to arrive.  There was a live band but lots of room to stand outside and drink/visit. A girl from NZ named Mindy recognized my Flames Jersey and came over to visit ‘the Canadians’. She had lived in Calgary for 2 years about 3 years ago as a library consultant before moving back to NZ and working in the Antarctic for a year. It was neat to be recognized as a Canadian and nice to have a chat with her. We left shortly before midnight and walked to the core of the city square where a live band was playing on a huge stage with tons of lighting and big sound.  We counted down from ten and brought in the New Year with fireworks for ten minutes. New Zealand would be one of the first countries in the world to celebrate New Year’s 2011 so we were very excited! It was unfortunate we couldn’t find any wireless internet to post on Facebook and brag that we were the first to bring in the New Year but would do so tomorrow!

There were many young people out and about and we were repeatedly hugged and handshake with inebriated kiwis wishing us a Happy New Year! We stayed about an hour til the band finished and made our way back to the car and home by after 1am.  Nicci stayed up with Krista and waited for Chris/Mikaela to get home but Darren called it a night at 130 – it had been a long day. Great way to start off our trip and the New Year here in Christchurch New Zealand!!

Thursday December 30th

Thursday December 30^th

I was awoken in Sydney to the Olympics above our heads very early in the morning. Lucas was up and wanted to play! Sienna soon joined in and Nicholas up as well. Jacob dragged a little but soon too was very excited to get caught up with his cousins.

We had a little breakfast and contemplated going to an outdoor waterpark, but as the prices were quite exorbitant, we elected to go to the beach and swim in the ocean. We packed quickly and headed to the beach before 9am. The tricky part is getting parking as most people go for 8am and stay til 4pm.  We drove around for a while but eventually found a couple spots and set up on the beach near the ocean. There were thousands of people spread out over 2 km of beach enjoying the +30 weather. Many were body surfing or using boogie boards. A lifeguard patrolled the water just off the beach as there had been at least one shark sighting yesterday. None seen today though – phew!

We lasted til nearly noon and headed back to the house for a bite to eat. We all had a swim in the pool and a nibble and lounged around for most of the day. We had gotten quite a bit of sun in Adelaide for a couple days and had had quite enough at the beach by noon.  Darren put a dent in a book, while the ladies ran off and did even more shopping for food and extras.
We got the kids fed by 630 and bathed/into pyjamas.

After getting the kids to bed, we packed our 4 suitcases and 4 carry on bags for the trek to New Zealand for part II of our adventure.  Toni, Melissa, Krista and Darren played Canasta for an hour and called it a night around 1030.  Both boys couldn’t sleep and made several appearances before finally settling down for the evening. After doing some work on the computer, we hit the sack close to midnight as we had to be up at 630 to leave by 730 when he left for work. Great day at the beach and relaxing at home on our last Aussie Day!

Wednesday December 29th

Darren awoke just after 7 to the sounds of rock music coming from the bedroom next to ours. Though there was a strict No Kids Up til 8am rule, that didn’t mean that they couldn’t stay in their room and start the day as they saw fit…

After some email checking and Facebooking to return Birthday greetings from Canada, we were welcomed to tens of pancakes prepared by George and Melissa. It was quite the feast with foot long sausages included! We all fattened up and started our packing routine to leave around lunchtime. After seeking out clothes, hats and everything else, we left just after 12 and headed to McD’s for a bite before heading into the city.  The kids played in the outdoor play park attached to McDonalds after wolfing down a burger. We piled into the two vehicles and headed into Adelaide.

It was 30 degrees at noon when we left and the temperature continued to rise all day.  We drove straight away into the parks near the botanical gardens in south central Adelaide. There were many trees with giant roots that the kids could climb. We took many photos of them and a few family photos before heading out to the seaside at Glenalg.

We parked on the street next to the giant ship floating restaurant and walked around the commercial peer looking at a few of the shops. Once we rounded the corner to see the ocean, the kids were off! We ran onto the beach and into the waves and made our way down the beach to the jetty – a long pier jutting out into the Southern Ocean. We watched a beach volleyball tournament and tried to find some shade as it had really warmed up. The wind was a welcome gift in keeping us cool as the waves crashed to the shore and entertained the kids for a while.

 We grabbed some drinks and started making our way down the streets of tourists into the trendy marketplace areas to do a bit of shopping. As everyone was getting hungry, we stopped in at a Mexican restaurant to eat. We were met by Darren’s friend Michelle, who was vacationing in south Adelaide with her mom at a beach house having come from Calgary in early December.  It was nice to see a familiar face and catch up a bit on each other’s adventures since arriving in Australia.

We hit a couple shops and bought a few souvenirs before making our way back to the park for a bit more exercise before George took us to the airport. It was so very sad to leave the Sadiwnyks as it may be as much as 3 years before we see them again and we will all have changed so much by then. 

We arrived at the airport and went straight to our check in place. We had purchased 5 bottles of wine in the valley and had to do some negotiating to get them on the plane. We went through security and dropped our stuff in the middle of the airport seating area to do a bit of shopping and grab a bite to eat. Time disappeared and Nicholas returned to us saying that our flight said ‘Final Boarding Call’ on the Tv behind us. Krista not being so trusting went to check.  Lo and behold, he was right! We bolted for 7 more gates and were one of the last people to arrive. We wandered down some separate ramps out onto the tarmac and headed into the back rows of the plane from the great outdoors.  We found our seats and settled in for a quick 90 minute flight back to Sydney.

We had had some amazing adventures in the last 3 days and were eager to regroup at home and pack before heading out to NZ in two sleeps! Devin met us at the airport and after some creative searching; we located him and headed home.  The boys were extremely tired and Jacob fell asleep quickly. We got everyone to bed a.s.a.p. and lights out. Another busy day with more adventures awaiting us tomorrow.

Tuesday December 28th

The day began at 630 am as I awoke to greet the morning with my multi-visit to the washroom after yet another night of paralyzers and coffees. George and I grabbed a couple muffins and headed out to the golf course at Tanunda. It was a twenty minute amazing drive through the beautiful scenic countryside with grape vines intermixed with fields of ripe wheat within rolling hills that were lush with old mature trees covered in leaves. It was like Saskatchewan meets Italy in the late summer.

We arrived just before 8, paid the bill and set off to the 5^th hole to avoid the slow starters ahead of us. The game was a bit of a nightmare as I was using very different clubs and George hadn’t played golf in forever.  I started with a 12. Nice. Worst score on a hole in 20 years.  Ended up with 55 on the front and back – haven’t shot that poorly in over 20 years as well.  Weather was phenomenal, views were sensational and the company was superb. The golf was brutal. Not having your own clubs makes such a difference, as well as the crazy mossy rough that you cant hit out of provided the biggest challenges Ive ever faced on a golf course.  We completed the round in around 3 hours as we flew around with our power cart. I bought a hat and we took a few pictures before heading back out on the road.

We stopped at Miranda winery and bought a bottle of chocolate port as we weren’t sure if we would make it back to this winery before it closed. We did a bit of sampling while we were there just to make sure we didn’t miss anything.  We arrived home around noon and wolfed down some grub while the girls went off shopping for a couple hours. We had the kids fed and in the pool for a few hours to keep them entertained.

Once the girls arrived home, we had a neighbour couple come over and watch our 6 kids along with their four while we toodled off to do some wine tasting. There are nearly 100 wineries within a 150km drive. We began at the furthest at Wolf Blass and sampled many wines that are unavailable in Canada. We bought two such bottles and are eager to share once we arrive home in Canada.  We drank a fair bit as we weren’t driving, then toodled off to the next one at Penfolds. We sampled and bought another bottle there as well.  We stopped in at a small local winery and bought a couple nice bottles there.  We snuck away hoping to get to Jacob`s creek before they closed at 5pm but were not allowed in after 445, so we headed toward home. Krista spotted a sign for a winery open til 530, so we popped in at Trevor Jones Kellermeister and tried a few more. We bought a bottle of chocolate port as well and headed for home for 530pm.

The kids had been reasonably well behaved with Michaelita. We headed into the pool for a relaxing cool down as the temperature was over 30 by late afternoon. It is so great to have a swimming pool…

After a couple beverages and a hearty game of soccer with the kids, we had supper. The kids ate in the kitchen and the adults ate in the dining room. We had an amazing meal of ribs and salads with some Verae wine we had purchased at Wolf Blass earlier in the day.  Darren was surprised outdoors with dessert for everyone as a cake was presented with a robust version of Happy Birthday to Darren from everyone. After dessert, we got the kids ready for bed and settled in for the rubber match of Canasta! We had Brandon and Michaelita to join us and the boys polished off the girls in three hands. There was disappointment; but an agreement to play one more hand for some redemption from their crushing defeat. We soundly trounced them in the final hand and got ready for bed. It had been a great day with friends and a birthday to be remembered and treasured forever.

Monday December 27th

Finally we get to sleep in! Children did not make an appearance until after 8am. Yay! We got up and were spoiled with freshly made waffles and grape Shiraz jelly – yum! We got the whole herd fed and sent them outside for some fresh air while we showered up and packed for our highly adventurous day. George and I took the outside tour and examined the hundreds of recently planted plants and trees they have put into the acreage.  When they bought the place 5 years ago, there was nothing here but bald prairie. After thousands of hours of work, they have a beautiful home with amazing landscaping and a phenomenal pool to boot.  In another 5 years, it will look even more amazing once the foliage takes off and provides them with a bit more privacy and blockage from the busy highway. After doing a bit of hard core weeding, we took both vehicles and headed out to the Gorge Wildlife Park in the Adelaide hills about 30 minutes away. We arrived with a bit of overcast sky and a mild 20 degrees to tour around in.

We paid the bill and proceeded to the picnic area where they provided bbq’s for us to make hot dogs. After stuffing the kids full of food, we immediately hustled to the front of the line for the Koala holding. We each got to hold a fairly young koala and have our photos taken with them and chat with the keeper for a bit. The line up behind us was over an hour long as we managed to be right at the start of the line.  We proceded around the park and saw many different animals from the park north of Sydney – and at half the cost. Highlights included feeding and hanging out with the kangaroos. There were well over 30 of them just hanging out and we got to get right up to them and pet them as they were very tame.  We took many photos and saw some very unique creatures.

We grabbed a quick ice cream and off on the road to the giant horse! A huge horse made from steel that you could climb to the top of on ladders inside the structure was the attraction to the Toy Factory that designed and sold hundreds of handmade wooden toys.  The dads and kids climbed while the moms took photos.  We got an amazing view of the valley from up top and was a good challenge for all the young kids to get up and back down again. We toured the gift shop and picked up a couple odds and ends and really enjoyed our tour.

We stopped in at a cherry orchard and bought a 5kg box for only $20! Normally it was double the price, but we were in the right place at the right time! They were so delicious! We travelled back to the house and let the kids swim for a while as we had had quite the long day already. George proceeded to whoop my butt at bocce ball and followed up by doing the same to Krista. Home court advantage definitely helped him out – but he is the luckiest son of a gun ever… We had an amazing supper of BBQ lamb and chicken with pasta noodles and salads with potatoes and homemade garlic bread.  George and I took the kids to the bmx park for a quick spin on the bikes before showers and bed.

We settled in for the rematch of Canasta as the boys had won last night. The girls came back with a vengeance in the second hand and conceding to the loss means it is all setup for the rubber match tomorrow night, our last evening in Adelaide.  We are hoping the kids allow us another sleep in – George and Darren are off to play golf in the morning and then going to do some wine tasting in the afternoon.  Have a great day everyone!!

Sunday December 26th

Another incredibly early start to the day – Up at 530 and typing away all our updates from Christmas. We got Krista and the boys up at 630 to leave by 730 for the airport. Trying to decide what to take as we were limited to one suitcase and four carry-ons was an adventure. We had a couple big things to deliver to the Sadiwnyks in Adelaide. It was totally overcast in Sydney and raining pretty good – a big change from the +35 we had on Christmas Day!

We got everyone fed and watered and out the door just after 730 in a bit of a panic – trying to get everyone and everything into one car was a hassle. I had a rip roaring headache and wasn’t feeling well at all after catching Krista’s strep that she has had off and on for a month. We got to the airport and checked in after Melissa dropped us off outside. There was quite a line-up but it moved quickly. Our suitcase was over the limit – again – so we had to do some creative repacking in the line – a common occurrence for the Moroz’s this Christmas – and our carry-ons got substantially heavy! After checking in and going through security, we grabbed a bite to eat at the food court and Darren discovered a pair of Melissa’s car keys in his pocket! Crap! We tried to contact Melissa but Krista had no phone numbers for her and so we hoped she had a second set and proceeded off to Adelaide.

Flying over South Australia was interesting as the landscape was quite dry and very different obviously compared to Canada. Occasionally we would see a huge body of water in a crater but hardly any other rivers or water source. Being their summer, it was quite dry for the most part.

We arrived in Adelaide on time at 11am and met George quickly with two of the kids Arianna and Zachary. They had drawn straws to see who got to make the trip! We got the Bandura out of the giant box and loaded up into the minivan and off and running to a friend’s place to pick up a case of homemade perogies! It was good to feel Ukrainian again!

We headed north to Gawler – about a 30 minute drive. Adelaide is a city of about a million people but isn’t nearly as hectic as Calgary. Being the Christmas season, there were hardly any people on the roads and we were out of the city quite quickly. The scenery is completely fascinating as all the foliage and landscape is so unfamiliar and foreign to us. George gave us the rundown on the climate/people/landscape and we soon at arrived at Club Sadiwnyk. George and Melissa have transformed 3 acres of bald desert into an oasis of amazement. They built a huge 4 bedroom bungalow complete with double separated garage/granny flat as well as an amazing outdoor pool. They have spent thousands of hours landscaping and planting as is required with an acreage. We got the tour and the kids were absolutely ecstatic to have boy things to play with. There is a trampoline and bicycles and footballs and you name it to play with.  They have been so busy, the day just flew by. 

We jumped in the vehicles after a great lunch from Melissa and headed out to see the country side. We drove through a couple towns and got the rundown on the areas and lifestyle. We ended up at the local reservoir that provides water to the whole area. There was 4 inches of rain a couple weeks ago which filled it to near capacity and the highest they have ever seen it. There is a 48 inch pipe running 10 miles into the town of Gawler and the water pipe is the lifeblood of the community. In a desert climate, water is the most important resource of all, and great care is taken to use it wisely. Every acreage has at least one huge water tank outdoors that collects rainwater in case water supply from the reservoir is suspended; you need to have at least 6 months of emergency water to survive. Some are 5000 gallons while others are huge and hold 30000. 

The reservoir wall is designed as many others, but is somewhat unique in that the dry side has a curvature that creates a sound tunnel. You can talk from one side 100 metres away and hear the other person speaking as clear as if you were right beside them.  We sent the boys to the far side and we had a conversation at the ‘whispering wall’. It was totally awesome! We had an ice cream and took off for the next stop.

We drove up into the hillsides to a beautiful viewpoint overlooking the entire valley for 20 miles in every direction. The Bourassa valley is the primary growing area of grapes for more than 10 major wineries including Wolf Blass, Penfolds, Jacob’s creek and many many others. We stopped at the bridge over ‘Jacob’s Creek’ and snapped a photo – can’t wait to come back in two days for the tour and wine tasting!

While on the top of the foothills overlooking the valley, we let the kids play on the 15 giant stone sculptures that were commissioned by a group of artists back in 1988.  They were glad to get out and run around after a 15 minute drive to get there. George and Melissa have 4 children – Arianna 8, Christian 6, Zachary 5 and Gabriella 3. We have a real houseful with our two as well!

We piled back into the two vehicles and headed back to Gawler for a quick tour of George’s office where he works as a chiropractor. Great little place complete with fruit and vegetable trees right out the back door. A naval orange tree with little green oranges just starting – they will be ready in March. A Walnut tree – look like little limes as well until they ripen and the skin falls off revealing the nut underneath that we see in stores in Canada. A pomegranate tree is flowering and growing in the front. A quiet little dreamy town with a small business to run has George getting to know the whole town like a small town doctor would.  I got a chiropractic tune-up as my one leg was out ¾ of an inch. No wonder I hadn’t been sleeping!

We headed back to the house for a swim while the girls did some shopping and picked up some pizza to bring home for us all. We ate like savages and the kids disappeared outside for more bike riding and adventures. We had some great visiting and George started making drinks like there was no tomorrow. I am not a coffee drinker, but George insisted I have an egg nog latte. It was amazing – though it was a huge shot of caffeine kick! Needless to say, I was hyper as ever and a general pain to everyone in the house! After several of those and a never ending supply of paralyzers, it was going to be a long evening!

We got the kids to bed and set in for an evening of Canasta. George and Darren cleaned up the first hand but the girls game back with a vengeance the next two hands and took the lead. We had one hand left to catch up – Darren got into his back hand, finished up a bunch of piles and went out before George even got into his back hand and sealed the win! Not the prettiest finish, but we had to get out before the girls racked up another 5000 points like the previous two hands! We were quite pleased with our win. We watched a bit of TV and off to bed after 11 with aspirations to sleep in as the children were informed there was a strict policy of no one getting up until at least 8am. Hooray!

Alas, aspirations were quashed by the number of washroom trips over the course of the evening/morning from all the caffeinated drinks! The children hung in there til 8 and another busy day looms for us on the 27^th!

Saturday December 25th – Merry Christmas!

Saturday December 25^th – Merry Christmas!

Darren awoke at 515 am to a beautiful sunrise in the West, not a cloud in the sky nor the slightest breeze. Santa had made his rounds and there were full stockings at the end of all the beds. Jacob stirred after 6 and immediately emptied his stocking and came to my bedside to report all the amazing things he had discovered! After waking his brother and getting the video camera up and running, we filmed the entire procedure of everything a second time! Jacob was so excited to get a zhu zhu hamster toy and a schwack of candy/gum/chocolate. He was set for about 2 weeks with his haul. Santa was generous as ever with a Mandarin as well as a banana this year! He must have known we had ‘gone tropical’.  Nicholas was very pleased with his haul from Santa as well but was still deep down hoping for a new video game for his Nintendo. He was a bit disappointed it did not make an appearance in his stocking but there was still hope later when we opened presents.

Darren and Krista got a few unique things as well but we all had to get moving quickly as Mass was to begin at 8am sharp and we needed to be gone by 730 to beat the rush. We wolfed down some breakfast and were out the door at 720 arriving at 735 and were the 8^th people in the building… Good thing we hurried.  After some brief family photos outdoors, Mass flew by in under an hour concluding with all the children being invited to play percussion instruments for the concluding song – Joy to the World. Nicholas smartly grabbed a tambourine and Jacob – his lifelong favourite – a drum. Along with the other 10 children aged 2-9, there was indeed a din and a thunderous round of applause for them at the conclusion. The jury is still out on whether it was because the song/mass had ended or whether the children garnered the attention…

We returned home and had some brunch and made a few Skype calls before settling down to the task at hand, putting a dent in almost 60 gifts under the tree.  With cameras in hand, we took almost 2 hours to unwrap and clean up everything. The highlights were certainly of Nicholas opening up his new Nintendo game Pokémon Silver – it was complete joy as he lay on his back wriggling about clutching it to his chest as he had been asking for it for about 6 months’ time. Jacob got two more Zhu Zhu accessories and is now set with everything for his adventures. His cousin Sienna got one as well so now they had all sorts of adventures to have between them.  The boys got a couple of pool toys as well as a big jug of army men to play with.

We ate a quick lunch and headed to the beach for a couple hours. We had done this three years ago in the Cook Islands and wanted to go swim in the ocean.  The wind picked up dramatically and the waves were enormous. The boys brought their boogie boards and we jumped in the ocean and tried our luck at surfing for a while. Darren finally mustered up the courage to go as the ocean had been chilly the last week, but today – was boiling! I had forgotten how alive the sea was and tossed you around throwing salt water in your eyes and getting sand absolutely everywhere – yes everywhere! After a couple hours of swimming and playing with a Waboba ball ( bouncy ball that skips off water and flies like the wind ), Tim Darren Nicholas and Jacob went to Tim’s for a bit of X-Box with the new Connects attachment where 3 little video cameras sense your every move so you no longer need to hold any objects – it just senses where you are and what you are doing. After a couple games of bowling, we headed home and jumped in the pool and then showered to get rid of the sand.  We tackled the bedroom nightmare that had gifts and clothes strewn about haphazardly and began to pack for our next trip tomorrow morning to Adelaide to see George Melissa and family for 3 days.

Many of Devin and Melissa’s friends popped in for a visit and the pool party lasted until well into the late afternoon. After getting some food into the kids, we finally got them to bed around 9 and ourselves around 10. We are anxiously awaiting our next journey and getting on flight number 3/8 in the next 3 weeks. Thankfully this one is only 3 hours and not 15 like the last one.  We are truly blessed for the adventures we have had thus  far and look forward to many more great experiences in the days to come.