Luna Park

About a kilometer from our apartment is one of the Melbourne's famous landmarks, Luna Park. Luna Park is an "old school" amusement park similar to Coney Island or the Santa Cruz Boardwalk. The kids had been asking to go for months so on a chilly afternoon in April we went and they loved it.

This is how Jared plays games! He was quite proficient in getting the balls, but did get his head stuck on the way out.

Can you tell which ride Jared liked most? He refused to get off and rode for almost an entire hour.

One of the hit rides of the afternoon was Shock Drop. Colin was not keen to go on it at first and reluctantly went with Bella. As you can see from the first two pictures, Colin did not like the ride and left Bella to ride on her own. At the end of the day, Colin had gotten over his initial fears, loved this ride and went on all of the big roller coasters.

Wilsons Promontory

On the Saturday of Easter Weekend we went to Wilsons Promontory. It had reopened the previous weekend for tourists after the devastating bush fires that had swept through a lot of Victoria during February. Wilsons Prom is the southern most point of mainland Australia.

We went down to Tidal River for a bit to play in the river.

We then went to Squeaky Beach. The two beaches are only 5 minutes apart but are very different. Both are really nice but as you can see in the pictures Squeaky Beach has unbelievably fine white sand whereas at Tidal River the sand is darker with much bigger grains.

Brooklyn took at least 100 pictures during the afternoon and caught many poses from the other children.

At the end of the day we saw these beautiful Crimson Rosellas in the trees with the burnt forest in the background.

Phillip Island

We went to Phillip Island for Good Friday and spent the day at AMAZE'N Things. We had so much fun playing mini golf, going through the wooden maze, and exploring the weird and wild illusions.

The sunset that night was brilliant.

April Fools!

Only in Australia

Gotta love the Aussies! There is a sign for everything...thank goodness they have illustrated how to be a pooper scooper!

Finally!

After many weeks of wiggling, Brooklyn lost her first tooth! To make it even more historic...Jenny pulled it! It was quite a long process convincing Brooklyn to let her wiggle it just a little bit more! However, with a bit of a bribe (from Colin and Jenny), she submitted one more time and the tooth came out! The permanent tooth had already come in which made the wiggling that much harder...you could go forward but not back!

Here are the kids showing off their pearly whites!

The Melbourne Grand Prix

The Melbourne Grand Prix was held at the end of March. It is a Formula 1 race that goes around Albert Park lake. From our place we were only able to see a portion of the race, but we definitely heard the whole thing.

The coolest thing about race week were the number of fly overs that we got to see. One of our favourites was the F18, although it was unbelievably loud. The planes would fly straight down our street and turn around right past our building. The kids would race around the apartment watching them turn around and then run out to the balcony to watch them head back up the street.

These aeroplanes practiced their formations for a few weeks before the race.

A huge (literally) highlight was seeing this Qantas 747 fly right past our place. It is a massive aeroplane and it was crazy to see it so close.

Only in Australia

For those of you who have visions of the "hot" Australian lifeguard, stop reading now! Sorry to dash your fantasies, but the real thing isn't like anything you have envisioned. At least they provide a bit of comic relief. Love the "Tweedle Dee/Tweedle Dum" hats! This really is the uniform that they actually wear, even the hats.

Just Because

Can you believe how grown up he is? Just last week he sang the song repeatedly because when he got to QRS, he would skip TUV and start over with ABC. It is so much fun to have a two year old in the home (at least right now it is while he is sleeping)!

Moomba Waterfest

Every year over Labour Day weekend Melbourne hosts the Moomba Waterfest one of the top water ski competitions in the world. The event takes place on the mighty Yarra River which runs through downtown Melbourne. John was absolutely thrilled to see the top slalom skiers compete.

After the water ski competition we spent the afternoon at Fawkner Park, a family favourite, throwing boomerangs. Colin was the first one in the family to catch a returning boomerang, a fact that he reminds his dad of often. It was an ideal weather day with no wind and lots of sun.

Jared intently listening to instructions on how to throw a boomerang.

Jenny's favourite past time at the park is reading a book while John entertains the children.

Only in Australia

Top 5 people least likely to be seen at Torquay's Surf Beach:

5 - Serena Williams
4 - Kim Kardashian
3 - J. Lo
2 - Sir Mix-a-Lot
and
1 - ???

This is where you come in...who do you think would be least likely to go to this beach?