Country Isles Elementary

Bella is ready for school! All she talks about is going to school, riding a school bus and carrying a backpack. She practiced by visiting Aunt T's school last month. She loved all the kids and they loved her too. Aunt T had told her class so much about Bella that they were so excited to meet her. 

hanging out in the classroom. Her new friend is Jordan (the little girl whose lap she is sitting on)

 walking to the garden

checking out the vegetables. the kids sent Bella home with her own seeds to start her own garden. We had carrots, beans and peas. We started off good but now we are only left with some beans. Our thumbs aren't as green as Aunt T's class

Young at Art

When Bella was down south, Nana and Papa took her to the new Young at Art Museum. From the stories and pics we saw it appears she had a good time. 

playing at the water table

 Papa and Bells putting on a puppet show for Nana

playing with some play dough

checking out the sandbox

Bella's vacation

While we were away Bella stayed with Nana and Papa. She had her own vacation and had so much fun that I don't even think she missed her mom and dad. :(

She played with Laura and Jenna

 Nana kept her busy with craft projects everyday. Mommy got a whole folder with all her art work when we got home. Here she is stamping

she ended up with a cold and Nana made her soup

 she always loves hanging out with her Aunt T

 Aunt T took her to Monkey Joe's and she bounced in all the bounce houses

she went to Aunt T's apartment and got her nails painted

ate dinner with Uncle Frankie

and stayed there until it was time to go home for bed. She even got a bath there and her PJs on

besides AunT T she really loves seeing her boys, Matt and Brandon

She was so spoiled for the 2 weeks. They even took her to some museums which I'll post separately 

Cairns

The last stop of the trip was Cairns, famous for the Great Barrier Reef. While there we took a train ride up to the rain forest, walked the many shops on the strip near our hotel and took a guided snorkel tour of the Great Barrier Reef. All in all it was an awesome vacation.

waiting for our train to arrive

it took over an hour to get to the top. We stopped twice to get out and look around

side view of our 14 car train

  beautiful waterfalls seen from the train

hanging out in the hot and humid rain forest

 instead of riding the train back we took the sky rail and road over and through the trees

the gorgeous view from our boat ride out to the reef

some coral

  getting ready to snorkel

Sydney

The next stop on our trip was Sydney, Australia. It was a beautiful and very clean city. This is the one area I wish we had more time at. I didn't get to see and do everything I would have liked to. I guess I will just have to plan a trip back there one day. 

Here is the Darling Harbor and the Australian flag

 Joe and I eating lunch on the water

 On day 1 we took a guided bus tour around the city where we got to see most of the major site seeing destinations

This is the famous Sydney Opera House of course. We had gorgeous weather if you couldn't tell.

 Sitting in Mrs. MacQuarie's Chair in the Botanical Gardens

 Sydney Tower

 Visiting Bondi Beach

 even though she wasn't with us she was there in spirit

 Day 2 we took a trip up to the Blue Mountains 

  

this one they call the Sleeping Giant

The 3 sisters

Joe got really good at playing the didgeridoo during this trip. This is a really cool instrument made from a eucalyptus branch which was hallowed out by termites

 After the mountains we visited a wildlife center where we got to feed kangaroos, pet koala bears and get acquainted with other Australia animals

I was so excited for this part of the trip. I have always wanted to say that I petted a Koala. 

  

Joe petting a kangaroo

feeding the little kangaroos 

 getting up close and personal

 check out this one's balls! Joe brought back a set as a souvenir believe it or not 

 On the last night we finally found a fire station and the guys got to hang out with some of their brothers