The Outback

Okay buckle down for the LONGEST post ever! Are you seated?  Have you had a bite to eat?  I would recommend it because I am pretty sure this post is going to take a while to scroll through.  Just be glad that not all 700 pictures from our vacation are on here all right.

Here in Australia, Easter is a public Holiday so Bridger had Friday and Monday off (wahoo!).  
Here is our trip day by day.

 ------------ DAY ONE -----------

Friday we headed on our way through the blue mountains.

Aww I just love the blue mountains.

 (this picture is actually from the drive home but I like it of Bridger)

 

 We saw awesome signs like this!  Unfortunately the only wombat we saw was a dead one...  poor fellow.

We drove for about 5-6 hours on Day 1 and ended in a cute town called Dubbo (say "Dah bow")  We played at a really fun water park, swam in our hotel's pool, and played tennis that evening.  All-and-all a great start to our holiday.

-------------- DAY 2 ------------- 

We woke up and headed to Dubbo's Saturday market.

 and got some delicious fresh fruit

Then we hit the road, again, and headed into the outback.

Look at that straight road!

Welcome to the Outback

the best part of driving in the dessert are the speed limits.  Sa-weet!

hmm.. Bridger seems to be going above the speed limit.

We drove for about 7 hours that day and the kids did amazingly well.

 Westly danced and sung us songs

 Forest quietly played on the ipad or colored in activity books 

Most of the outback looked like this 

but because of abnormal amounts of rain this year we did see a lot of flooding

 this is not a lake

About an hour from our destination we went through a ghost town.  All that was open/ not boarded up was a very unique petrol station.

 Finally we made it to White Cliffs

 Just in time for Sunset 

 To watch the sunset we were on top of the motel.  So we headed back down into the motel.

White Cliffs Motel is Australia's largest underground motel.

The mountain was first dug out for opals and then families moved into the old mining holes and dug out homes.  Being in the mountain/ hill keeps the house about 72 degrees, wonderful for desert living.  The motel was originally a home but when the local motel was over booked the family welcomed visitors to stay.  They since have expanded but have tried to keep it the same "family- feel" and so all guests are welcome to eat dinner together.

Here are more pictures of the motel.  The rock color is really the brownish color you see in this picture.  But they sprayed most of the rock with the white cement to help make it more secure and more clean.  There are some places where they let the natural rock color shine through.  These places are sprayed with a clear sealant sort of a thing.

 

   Our dug- out

  our skylight

----------------DAY 3--------------



Bridger woke up early and enjoyed a peaceful sunrise

  

 We headed out that morning and walked around the old opal mining holes.

 The flies were AWFUL!!!!  There were so many of them buzzing around us.  Whipping the branches around us really helped a lot to keep the flies at bay. 

 The dry earth 

 After walking around the opal mines we headed to "Jock's place"  which is a man's home/ "museum"

 Jock had the THICKEST Australian accent, I hardly understood him and I pretty sure he hardly understood me.  

it was kind of interesting walking through the old mines.

Bridger had a good time playing and trying to scare me

AHHH! So dusty!

We then hit the road - the dirt road- to Peery lake.  We drove pretty slow on the empty road so we let the kids out of their car seats. 

KEEP YOUR EYES ON THE ROAD!!  Yikes!  I think this is foreshadowing of what it will be like when he is 16.

Westly was so serious while driving.  He never once took his eyes off the road.

Searching for wild life 

Aww an Emu!  We saw so so so many Emus during our Holiday, it is ridiculous how many pictures I have of them.

  I love watching their tail feathers bounce as they run away.  They are so funny to watch!

Is it a flock or Emus?  a gaggle?

I can't believe this is the only picture we took of the pink cockatoos!  I love cockatoos! 

(Bridger actually took this while driving)

A wedge tailed eagle.  Unfortunately the camera died on me right after this shot so I wasn't able to take a better photo.  But we saw 3 of these huge guys (the size of Westly with a wing span about the length of my arm span)  only about 10 feet from us!  Pretty awesome!

Can you spot the kangaroo?  This is the first (alive) kangaroo we saw on the trip and Bridger spotted those little ears while driving!  I am pretty sure Bridger has Superman's eye sight.

Seriously Kangaroos are so awesome!

After the lake we headed back to the motel and spent an enjoyable evening watching the sunset, eating, playing cards and enjoying the stars. 

DAY 4  we drove 12 hours home.  The kids were amazing in the car and so we made it home in no time.

What a perfect Holiday!

Kiddos Room

I have been putting off posting this because I was wanting to get the kids new bedding before showing pictures of their cute room but that will have to wait till we make a trip to the states.

I love that I can close the doors to the play room when it is time for bed. It is wonderful! No kids sneaking toys out and playing with them when they should be sleeping.

I found old cabinet door fronts, painted them, then added vinyl chalk board to the front. I love how they turned out. I wish I had more!

I saw the binderclip-frame idea on pinterest. I think it is genius! Almost every day Forest wants to switch out the art work and put in new stuff.

I have a couple more projects for the room (did you notice the large empty frame?) I will post more pictures when I have finished them.

Purim

So Forest goes to a really great Jewish Preschool here in Coogee. The teachers are really loving and patient, and Forest has really been enjoying it. Forest (and Bridger and I) have been learning a lot about the Jewish culture. Two weeks ago we celebrated Purim, which is a Jewish Holiday celebrating the deliverance of the Jews from captivity in the story of Esther. For Purim the kids dressed up and gave treats to each other. Kind of like Halloween and Valentines mixed. It was a really fun festival and it was so cute to see Forest in his adorable cowboy costume!

With Forest going to the Jewish Preschool we have heard some pretty hilarious quotes. Here are some of the best ones:

-While walking home from school Forest tells me, "Mom everyone knew 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star' but no one knew the song 'I am a Child of God'" (Forest sang I am a child of God for the whole class).

-Another time walking home a car made a crazy turn on the road and Forest says to me, "Jewish people like us do not do that."

-The next day after learning that we are not Jewish Forest said, "At school I am Jewish and at home I am not."

Forest also comes home singing Jewish songs (some in Hebrew) it is cute to hear him sing the songs, he has a good memory.

I also love him coming home and telling me stories from the Bible. Right now they are learning about Moses and he was telling me how Moses saw God (HaShem, as Forest says) in the burning bush and then he sang me a song about parting the red sea. Very cute!

I am glad he is having so much fun, making good friends and learning so much.

Good Night Moon

This is the view from our balcony. So beautiful! I feel so blessed to live in such a beautiful part of the world and to live so close to the ocean. It is wonderful!

Full Moon

Friday night we headed down to the beach after dinner,took some silly photos,

enjoyed the beautiful night,

and watched the moon come up

We also showed off some muscles

more muscles

and more muscles!

What a beautiful night!

We of course ended the night with some yummy desserts! mmm!

p.s. notice Forest's awesome farmers tan!

Monster Mash

Today we made these beauties! (thanks Pinterest for the idea)
Forest had a ROARING time stomping around and acting like a monster

Westly on the other hand, did NOT like the monster feet. He took about 5 steps with them then decided it was more fun to clap with them.

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On a completely different topic, last night ants started creeping under our door. AH! I quickly researched some ways to get rid of ants and found out that if you sprinkle baby powder where the ants are coming in it will repel the ants. It worked! wahoo no ants!