Home Sweet Home

BB and I have greatly enjoyed our trip back to the states. Travelling alone with a toddler is exhausting, but we survived! We are so greatful to have been able to see family, meet grandma Lewis & family for the first time and catch up with friends. I wish I could take a vacation and relax, but it's time to get back into the swing of things. BB has decided that 6AM is a good time to wake up, grab your purse and pram and take bear for a walk! Mummy is starting to really like coffee...

Spring is in the air! A couple of beautiful birds have decided to hang out in our tree out front. 

Getting in the swing of things means laundry has to get done. Luckily for me I have BB to help cart around my clothes.

It's not nearly as hot here as it was in AZ (or even Wyoming!), but it's starting to warm up and in a week BB will be going for Infant Self Rescue swim lessons. A trip to the pool was in order. She absolutely hated the actual pool but loved the splash pad area. We'll have to work on loving the pool a bit. 

It's exhausting playing in water all afternoon. Sometimes you just have to find a grassy knoll to rest on. 

We got to celebrate the rest of Father's Day with a late Brazilian BBQ dinner. 

And discovered the Chinatown of Brisbane.

And BB found some water to play in...of course. 

I just can't get over BB's hair! It's getting so long and curls at the end. It makes for really cute curly ponytails and piggy tails.

Rocking her new glasses from great grandma.

While daddy studies BB plays!

Love the free splash pad at Riverheart Parklands. She's a fan. 

And then Daddy took us to the big park he discovered while we were gone. It was an awesome park to spend a public holiday at.

And we ended the long weekend with some toenail painting!

The Good Ol' US of A

We made it! 30 hours, 3 planes and some 10 thousand odd km is all it took to get back home. Just a short trip.

We started our trip in good spirits. 

Lounged around and enjoyed a mimosa and some apple juice with our light breakfast. I love these member lounges (and that dad can get me in!).

For the first flight BB was asleep by takeoff. She slept a bit, woke up, got bored and ate then got grumpy. I can't blame her, plane trips are no fun when you can't run around.

Air New Zealand's safety briefing video is kind of funny...it's Bear Grylls acting everything out in the wild.

Bye bye beautiful brisbane!

The second flight wasn't too bad. She fought me when she needed to go to sleep, and wouldn't let me move her to the bassinet. But she slept most of the long flight and I of course couldn't sleep.

Our seat had an extra little ledge that was perfect for her to sit on. Though most of the time she preferred me more.

Bb had some fun wearing the eye mask and even wore the headphones for awhile too.

Arizona reminded me that although it's a concrete desert jungle, it has some of the prettiest sunsets.

We found HB's mini-Oreo gift had arrived. It was a very delicious mini-Oreo, though the packaging was a bit excessive.

So far I've marked a few things off my "do in the US" list. I had some yellow cheese, ate lots of Mexican food, and I drove on the right side of the road. I'll probably eat a lot more Ritos while I'm here! It's been great so far and we're only a day in. Can't wait to meet up with friends and family!

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.