Well, soccer is over for another season. The girls had a great time playing! They ended the season with a "Jamboree" which was FIVE hours of being outside in the HOT weather!! They each played 3 games throughout the day and then there was a huge potluck lunch tent - these people in Guam KNOW how to eat!! :)
Monday, April 30, 2007
Soccer time!!
Well, soccer is over for another season. The girls had a great time playing! They ended the season with a "Jamboree" which was FIVE hours of being outside in the HOT weather!! They each played 3 games throughout the day and then there was a huge potluck lunch tent - these people in Guam KNOW how to eat!! :)
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Happy Easter!
I know this is late, but I just had to post pics of these cute Easter dresses that my mom made for Adysen and Allie. Kelsey's came from Old Navy! Thank you Mimi!! :)
Friday, April 13, 2007
Day 7 - A Drive in Australia
4/12/07 – Thursday
Well today was another awesome day in Australia!! We had to check out of our hotel at 10:00am, but didn’t fly out until midnight, so we decided to rent a car for the day and do some exploring. Jason took a taxi to the airport and found a car – it wasn’t as easy as we’d hoped as some of the companies were actually out of cars because of spring break business! He practiced driving on the wrong side of the road on the short drive back to the hotel and then we packed ourselves and our stuff in and took off.
We weren’t sure where we were going, but really wanted to see some waterfalls that were in an area about and hour and ½ outside of Cairns. We took a road that we had been told was a little “windy” which turned out to be an understatement!! Jason did a great job maneuvering on the wrong side of the road, but we were both a little tense by the time we got to a straighter road. The girls were all queasy after that windy drive, and we were happy to see that road end!! The drive was absolutely gorgeous with green rolling hills and mountains everywhere. The weather was rainy and foggy which made for some beautiful pictures and a peaceful atmosphere also.
We found the first beautiful waterfall in an area called “Milla Milla”. It was amazing to be that close to such a beautiful waterfall!! We went on to see 2 more that were in the area and then on to a little dairy farm/tea house place where we were greeted with a small plate of fresh cheeses to taste. They were all delicious and the lunch we ate there was as well. We have never tasted such fresh cheese in our lives! For dessert, we had a passion fruit flavored cheesecake that was the freshest and most delicious cheesecake I have ever tasted!!
After lunch, we stopped at another waterfall and spoke to a local woman who told us about an old castle nearby that she said we just had to see. When we arrived, we found that it was actually located in a park area called “Paronella Park”. We were disappointed as there was a pretty expensive admission cost and we were tired of paying such huge prices for everything. They offered to let the kids in for free, and we needed to kill some time, so we decided to go ahead and go on in and it turned out to be one of the most amazing things that we experienced on our entire trip!!! The first thing we got to see was a dance performance done by an aboriginal group which was awesome. The park is centered around the remains of a castle that was built by Luis Paronella and next we took a tour around and heard the interesting story of his life and the park. He died and left the castle and park to his son who died and then it was sold and was left and not maintained for many years. Then, 13 years ago a couple who currently own it, saw it on a trip to Australia, purchased it and refurbished it and are still working on restoring the history of it. The castle was destroyed by a fire, but the structure that is left is still amazing to see. We stayed until 6:30 when the owner did a wonderful nighttime tour of the park and we wandered around with flashlights and they lit the castle up at the end. It was really an amazing experience!
After that, it was back to Cairns where we ate a quick dinner and went on the airport. Our flight left at midnight which I wasn’t looking forward to, but the girls all did great and we slept the majority of the time. We made it back to Guam at 4:15am and got to bed just as the sun was coming up for a few hours of sleep. It was definitely a successful vacation and one that we will never forget!!!
Well today was another awesome day in Australia!! We had to check out of our hotel at 10:00am, but didn’t fly out until midnight, so we decided to rent a car for the day and do some exploring. Jason took a taxi to the airport and found a car – it wasn’t as easy as we’d hoped as some of the companies were actually out of cars because of spring break business! He practiced driving on the wrong side of the road on the short drive back to the hotel and then we packed ourselves and our stuff in and took off.
We weren’t sure where we were going, but really wanted to see some waterfalls that were in an area about and hour and ½ outside of Cairns. We took a road that we had been told was a little “windy” which turned out to be an understatement!! Jason did a great job maneuvering on the wrong side of the road, but we were both a little tense by the time we got to a straighter road. The girls were all queasy after that windy drive, and we were happy to see that road end!! The drive was absolutely gorgeous with green rolling hills and mountains everywhere. The weather was rainy and foggy which made for some beautiful pictures and a peaceful atmosphere also.
We found the first beautiful waterfall in an area called “Milla Milla”. It was amazing to be that close to such a beautiful waterfall!! We went on to see 2 more that were in the area and then on to a little dairy farm/tea house place where we were greeted with a small plate of fresh cheeses to taste. They were all delicious and the lunch we ate there was as well. We have never tasted such fresh cheese in our lives! For dessert, we had a passion fruit flavored cheesecake that was the freshest and most delicious cheesecake I have ever tasted!!
After lunch, we stopped at another waterfall and spoke to a local woman who told us about an old castle nearby that she said we just had to see. When we arrived, we found that it was actually located in a park area called “Paronella Park”. We were disappointed as there was a pretty expensive admission cost and we were tired of paying such huge prices for everything. They offered to let the kids in for free, and we needed to kill some time, so we decided to go ahead and go on in and it turned out to be one of the most amazing things that we experienced on our entire trip!!! The first thing we got to see was a dance performance done by an aboriginal group which was awesome. The park is centered around the remains of a castle that was built by Luis Paronella and next we took a tour around and heard the interesting story of his life and the park. He died and left the castle and park to his son who died and then it was sold and was left and not maintained for many years. Then, 13 years ago a couple who currently own it, saw it on a trip to Australia, purchased it and refurbished it and are still working on restoring the history of it. The castle was destroyed by a fire, but the structure that is left is still amazing to see. We stayed until 6:30 when the owner did a wonderful nighttime tour of the park and we wandered around with flashlights and they lit the castle up at the end. It was really an amazing experience!
After that, it was back to Cairns where we ate a quick dinner and went on the airport. Our flight left at midnight which I wasn’t looking forward to, but the girls all did great and we slept the majority of the time. We made it back to Guam at 4:15am and got to bed just as the sun was coming up for a few hours of sleep. It was definitely a successful vacation and one that we will never forget!!!
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Day 6- The Great Barrier Reef
4/11/07 – Wednesday
Today we visited the Great Barrier Reef. WOW! What a cool experience that was! We walked from our hotel to the dock where the 2 story boat took off. The wind was up today and had been all week and the trip there was VERY wavy. Allie, along with about ½ of the other passengers experienced some major seasickness. The poor people who worked on the boat were walking around with rubber gloves and barf bags just waiting for people to throw up!! Luckily for Kelsey and I, we had taken our Dramamine, so although it was a bumpy trip, we didn’t actually get sick. Adysen said her stomach hurt a little, but she did OK. The ride lasted about an hour and a half.
They took us out to a big dock station thing in the middle of the ocean! It was still a little wavy, but not nearly as bad as the boat was. The winds blew like crazy all day, but the sun was out most of the time, so that made it nice. The girls and I did some snorkeling and in spite of the winds, it was just incredible!! We jumped right off the deck and could see some of the most beautiful fish and corral we had ever seen RIGHT there! Jason got to go on 2 dives and saw a shark on the 2nd dive! We bought a little underwater camera and hope that Jason got some good pictures on his dives.
We ate lunch on the boat and also took a ride on a little semi-submergible boat where we saw some more pretty fish and corral on the bottom. There was a HUGE fish named Wally that would swim right up next to people and let them “pet” him. There was a photographer who was taking pictures of people underwater and she could get Wally to come right over and get In the pictures! It was amazing! They even fed him off the back of the dock and Allie got to go out and pet him when he jumped up on the deck – kind of like a dolphin, but he was a big fish instead! The boat ride back was much calmer and not nearly as nauseating. We all had a little nap on the way, so it went by way faster than the first ride. We will all sleep good tonight!
Today we visited the Great Barrier Reef. WOW! What a cool experience that was! We walked from our hotel to the dock where the 2 story boat took off. The wind was up today and had been all week and the trip there was VERY wavy. Allie, along with about ½ of the other passengers experienced some major seasickness. The poor people who worked on the boat were walking around with rubber gloves and barf bags just waiting for people to throw up!! Luckily for Kelsey and I, we had taken our Dramamine, so although it was a bumpy trip, we didn’t actually get sick. Adysen said her stomach hurt a little, but she did OK. The ride lasted about an hour and a half.
They took us out to a big dock station thing in the middle of the ocean! It was still a little wavy, but not nearly as bad as the boat was. The winds blew like crazy all day, but the sun was out most of the time, so that made it nice. The girls and I did some snorkeling and in spite of the winds, it was just incredible!! We jumped right off the deck and could see some of the most beautiful fish and corral we had ever seen RIGHT there! Jason got to go on 2 dives and saw a shark on the 2nd dive! We bought a little underwater camera and hope that Jason got some good pictures on his dives.
We ate lunch on the boat and also took a ride on a little semi-submergible boat where we saw some more pretty fish and corral on the bottom. There was a HUGE fish named Wally that would swim right up next to people and let them “pet” him. There was a photographer who was taking pictures of people underwater and she could get Wally to come right over and get In the pictures! It was amazing! They even fed him off the back of the dock and Allie got to go out and pet him when he jumped up on the deck – kind of like a dolphin, but he was a big fish instead! The boat ride back was much calmer and not nearly as nauseating. We all had a little nap on the way, so it went by way faster than the first ride. We will all sleep good tonight!
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Day 5
4/10/07 Tuesday
Today is the first day that I took absolutely NO pictures! I can’t believe it! I think my camera was happy for the break! It was a relaxing vacation day, but we re-visited several places that we had already been to, so I guess that’s why I didn’t take any pictures. We enjoyed sleeping late this morning and then went to the mall in the mid-morning. Kelsey and I went shopping while Jason tried to take Adysen and Allie to see a movie. The movie was sold out, so they had to hang around the mall for 2 hours waiting for Kelsey and I to meet back up with them. Man, we miss cell phone when it comes to keeping in touch with each other!!
We were hoping to go back to the lagoon, but it was raining and wet all day, so it wasn’t the greatest day for it. We did end up there after dinner and the girls and Jason swam even though it was dark and very chilly outside. Kelsey hadn’t planned to swim, so she didn’t wear her swimsuit, but ended up swimming in her clothes! We ate dinner at Barnacle Bill’s which is a seafood place that we had heard was really good. Kelsey and I had some fried seafood and Jason had barrumundi fish, alligator, and kangaroo. It was definitely interesting to taste the alligator and kangaroo, but we weren’t overly impressed with the rest of the meal especially for the price!
Tomorrow we are hoping to go on a boat trip to the Great Barrier Reef. We hope that the weather clears up and that the ocean isn’t too rough!!
Today is the first day that I took absolutely NO pictures! I can’t believe it! I think my camera was happy for the break! It was a relaxing vacation day, but we re-visited several places that we had already been to, so I guess that’s why I didn’t take any pictures. We enjoyed sleeping late this morning and then went to the mall in the mid-morning. Kelsey and I went shopping while Jason tried to take Adysen and Allie to see a movie. The movie was sold out, so they had to hang around the mall for 2 hours waiting for Kelsey and I to meet back up with them. Man, we miss cell phone when it comes to keeping in touch with each other!!
We were hoping to go back to the lagoon, but it was raining and wet all day, so it wasn’t the greatest day for it. We did end up there after dinner and the girls and Jason swam even though it was dark and very chilly outside. Kelsey hadn’t planned to swim, so she didn’t wear her swimsuit, but ended up swimming in her clothes! We ate dinner at Barnacle Bill’s which is a seafood place that we had heard was really good. Kelsey and I had some fried seafood and Jason had barrumundi fish, alligator, and kangaroo. It was definitely interesting to taste the alligator and kangaroo, but we weren’t overly impressed with the rest of the meal especially for the price!
Tomorrow we are hoping to go on a boat trip to the Great Barrier Reef. We hope that the weather clears up and that the ocean isn’t too rough!!
Monday, April 09, 2007
Day 4 - Kuranda
4/9/07 – Monday
Today we went on a tour of an area about 20 minutes from our hotel called Kuranda. We went up a skyrail “gondola” taking 2 stops along the way for tours of the beautiful rainforest. We were just in awe of the beauty there!! We saw some waterfalls that were just gorgeous!! After we reached the top we visited the Butterfly Sanctuary where there were butterflies EVERYwhere! They like bright colors and lucky for Allie, she was wearing a hot pink shirt, so several of them landed on her and she loved it! Adysen had the complete opposite reaction and got freaked out every time a butterfly came near her! She liked the dead ones in the glass cases the best. Kelsey was somewhere in between. One was brave enough to land on her and she wasn’t sure if she liked it or not! It was an incredible experience!
Next, we experienced the Koala Gardens and Kelsey and Allie actually got to hold a Koala! Adysen had to use the restroom right before it was our turn, so she missed out on the photo op. Probably better anyway as she wasn’t much more thrilled about getting close to the Koala than she was about the butterflies touching her!! We got to feed some kangaroos and see some more crocodiles. We also saw a Wombat which was an interesting looking creature!
After that, we walked around the village of Kuranda looking at shops and eating lunch.Jason ordered a Kangaroo burger for lunch and we all had a taste. It didn't taste much different than regular hamburger meat to me, but it was tasty! Kelsey’s favorite part was the shopping of course! She always finds pleasure in that no matter where we go! Adysen spent her money on a kangaroo skin coin purse and Allie found a Kangaroo skin notebook that she is going to use to write down “special things”.
The weather was just like you’d expect for a rainforest… rainy! It would rain for a few minutes and then stop and start again later. The tours had umbrellas to provide and we also had some in our backpack that came in very handy! The temperatures have been just perfect since we have been here! Warm enough to swim, but cool enough that we are not miserable. We even have gotten chilly at times especially with the breeze blowing in the cool rainforest!
We came back to our hotel this evening and ate some snacks/dinner stuff that we had purchased at the grocery store yesterday. We found some yummy fancy cheeses, pesto, crackers and those kinds of things that we can’t get in our commissary in Guam, so they were a treat for us! Since our hotel room has a kitchen in it, we thought we’d try to save some money by eating here at times, but we’ve been too busy to do it much.
Today we went on a tour of an area about 20 minutes from our hotel called Kuranda. We went up a skyrail “gondola” taking 2 stops along the way for tours of the beautiful rainforest. We were just in awe of the beauty there!! We saw some waterfalls that were just gorgeous!! After we reached the top we visited the Butterfly Sanctuary where there were butterflies EVERYwhere! They like bright colors and lucky for Allie, she was wearing a hot pink shirt, so several of them landed on her and she loved it! Adysen had the complete opposite reaction and got freaked out every time a butterfly came near her! She liked the dead ones in the glass cases the best. Kelsey was somewhere in between. One was brave enough to land on her and she wasn’t sure if she liked it or not! It was an incredible experience!
Next, we experienced the Koala Gardens and Kelsey and Allie actually got to hold a Koala! Adysen had to use the restroom right before it was our turn, so she missed out on the photo op. Probably better anyway as she wasn’t much more thrilled about getting close to the Koala than she was about the butterflies touching her!! We got to feed some kangaroos and see some more crocodiles. We also saw a Wombat which was an interesting looking creature!
After that, we walked around the village of Kuranda looking at shops and eating lunch.Jason ordered a Kangaroo burger for lunch and we all had a taste. It didn't taste much different than regular hamburger meat to me, but it was tasty! Kelsey’s favorite part was the shopping of course! She always finds pleasure in that no matter where we go! Adysen spent her money on a kangaroo skin coin purse and Allie found a Kangaroo skin notebook that she is going to use to write down “special things”.
The weather was just like you’d expect for a rainforest… rainy! It would rain for a few minutes and then stop and start again later. The tours had umbrellas to provide and we also had some in our backpack that came in very handy! The temperatures have been just perfect since we have been here! Warm enough to swim, but cool enough that we are not miserable. We even have gotten chilly at times especially with the breeze blowing in the cool rainforest!
We came back to our hotel this evening and ate some snacks/dinner stuff that we had purchased at the grocery store yesterday. We found some yummy fancy cheeses, pesto, crackers and those kinds of things that we can’t get in our commissary in Guam, so they were a treat for us! Since our hotel room has a kitchen in it, we thought we’d try to save some money by eating here at times, but we’ve been too busy to do it much.
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