Visitors!

BB got to see her Grandpa Lewis this week! She did ok, considering she's got quite a bit of seperation anxiety. We have been preparing her for awhile now, lots of pictures and talking about grandpa and playing with people we're not familiar with.

We did lots of playing! 

It's been awhile since we've played at the local splash pad, but it's starting to warm up so we took a little walk. She loved it even more than the last time. Now that she can walk and step down into the water she is much more interested.

You can tell she got worn out because she climbed into bed, pulled up the covers and asked me to join her for nap time. This coming from a child who has to be wrestled to sleep most days. 

Of course we had to visit the zoo, and this time we rode on the shuttle around first. BB enjoyed that, especially since she didn't have to be in a car seat. 

All three of the baby giraffes were out with their mommas today. The youngest is only 4 weeks old and absolutely adorable!

And of course the rhinos for the father-in-law.

BB gets braver each time we go to the zoo and sometimes likes to be adventerous and run up to the kangaroos. She gets a tad too close sometimes, yet won't pat them when I sit next to them with her.

She found herself a little couch in Costco. She has good taste. 

We took a little boat tour of Brisbane on the free City Hopper ferry. It was very beautiful and we got to see the Story bridge from a bit of a different angle.

For our last day before we head back to the states we decided to head out to Gold Coast. But of course we had to stop at a nice little playground and go on the slide with daddy!

We took a little detour and walked down to the Natural Bridge. It's a neat little rock structure in the national forest by Gold Coast. The water flows down and created a hole in the top of the rock leaving a small waterfall into the cave. 

It's a very pretty walk around the "bridge".

Gold Coast was beautiful as usual, and even stayed nice and sunny for us!

She loves her daddy! And steps...

She wore herself out running around the market.

I just can't get enough of these two! We are going to miss our daddy terribly, but USA here we come!!

A Little Taste of Tassie...Day 3

We started off our last day with a trip to the top of Mt Wellington. The views from up there are just stunning.

I couldn't stop taking pictures, it was just so amazing to be up in the clouds and be able to see the entire city of Hobart, and then some. 

We watched the clouds roll in. By the time we left they had surrounded the mountain and you couldn't see anything.

And another beautiful view. 

Then we drove to a much smaller mountain and wandered through Myrtle Forest to the falls. It was a very peaceful walk, though lots of up hill. 

Mrytle Falls.

HB got very excited when he saw this sign on our way up the mountain. He thought it said "pony rides". Poor thing was very sad to discover there were no pony rides. 

The drive to the airport proved to be beautiful as well. 

But a short detour to the Cadbury factory was in order! We enjoyed some free candy and lots of cheap candy too! 

And Tasmania bid us farewell with a painted sunset. 

It was a lovely trip, and it's always nice to be home. But it's hard getting back into the swing of things. But four loads of laundry, a counter full of dishes and too many hours cleaning (with the help of BB of course!) we are ready to welcome my dad to our temporary home. Then BB and I will head back to the states for a visit. And the packing/cleaning/laundry duties begin again. 

But it's hard to complain when this is our home.

A little taste of Tassie...Day 2

 

We started off the next day with some yummy brekkie and BB enjoyed her first babycino...perhaps a little too much!

We had a busy day planned with lots to see. Even the drive was full of beauty.

Our first stop was the Signal Station on Mt Nelson just outside of Hobart. 

They used the signal station to send telegraphs about the port and conditions. It was very interesting to learn about the history...and of course it was pretty!

Next up was Richmond. 

For most of the trip we just used an old fashion (non-moving) map to get around. It was fun going the old fashion route...and I only tried to zoom in on the map once!

The Richmond Goal was an interesting site to visit. 

BB avoided any floggings.

And sat and waited patiently for mummy to get released from solitary.

Off we ventured towards Port Arthur. 

There is history in Port Arthur. 

Eaglehawk Neck lookout offered some pretty good views. Normally I would consider that an amazing view...but here in Tassie it gets even better.

We shot past Port Arthur to visit Tasman national park.

There's a beautiful little lookout at the top of the car park.

A couple min walk down the path puts you right near the water. 

And a 15min walk leads you to Remarkable Cave, which my IPhone camera doesn't do justice.

A quick jaunt back up the highway leads to the Tasmanian Devil Conservation Park. It's sort of like a zoo...except it's really more like a forest with pathways and a couple barriers between the Tasmanian devils (they do exist!) and the kangaroos/wallabies. There were only maybe two cages which housed Eatern Quolls. 

HB got up close with a frog mouthed toad or a toad mouthed bird of some kind. It was a little hard to hear what the presenter was saying when all BB wanted to do was hold it...

...until she got up close and saw it move. She did pat it's back very hesitantly though. 

The park has a much different feel than we are used to. 

It's a little hard to see, but that little blob of pink under the Eastern Quoll's belly is a tiny little baby quoll, latched onto her nipple and being carried around. There are three other babies attached under there also. And the mumma quoll waddles around going about her business just dragging them along with her. I thought having one baby hanging off me all the time was fun enough...that poor mumma needs a Multi-baby carrier! 

The Tassie devils were sort of cute...but a little viscous when it came to meal time. 

How could you fear that face?! 

Most parks/zoos here in Australia have great areas where the kangaroos and wallabies hop around freely. BB has gotten so used to it she just ran up to them. She wanted to feed them like we do at our zoo, but alas there was no food. 

One of the Roos had a Joey in her pouch! He poked his head out just for us. 

Again, surrounded by beauty. 

Stunning sunset views on the drive back to the hotel. Really everywhere we went I just kept thinking "it looks exactly as beautiful as the pictures".