Australia!

Finally our trip to Australia....

Warning: This may not be what you expected!

So we have been here for almost three months, and we were finally released from the jungle to go to Australia.... at least the kids and I were. (Chris has to work for the company for six months before he can leave on vacation.) So why did we go to Australia? Orthodontists Appointments! Yep, that's right! Mersades already has metal in her mouth..... because if we didn't get her teeth fixed right away, they would have fallen out. (Dad, that's for you!) :-) The boys on the other hand were recommended in the states to get started, but we decided to wait until we got over here. For some reason Chris' and my genes didn't mix in the teeth department. All four will eventually have something done. So for those of you who feel sorry for us, I have a donation jar set up on my desk.... No checks please... :-)
Ok, sorry, back to Australia...
So from the last post, I explained how we got down the mountain. This is how we get to Australia...
We hop on this shuttle/bus.....
Which takes us to our "playground" in the sky.....

I am not kidding you, there were about 30 people on this plane, and over half of them were kids! 16 kids under the age of 15.....to be exact! Why the "playground"? Because over half of the plane was made into a fort with blankets thrown across the seats! Man, these kids have it tough!! (Rolling my eyes here!)

After a short flight of two hours of fun, we are making our decent into Cairns. (Again, for those of you in Rio Linda, it is pronounced "Cans".) Ha Ha Ha! I will give Gavin credit for these next two pictures.

I had Gavin take this picture for my dad to show him the fields of sugarcane. We are just about in the ground.... oops, I meant ON the ground...if you didn't catch that. :-)

So now we are at the Coconut resort checking in, and the baby turtles are keeping the kids entertained.... They are soooooo cute!

So now when I am talking about kids, I am talking about 8 to 12 of the 16 kids that were on that plane. There were three sets of a mom and four kids, in our group. We all ended up getting cabins by one another.

So after we were all checked in, we had to head back into town to get x-rays for the next days ortho appointments. We got the x-rays, got some food, and headed back to go swimming. It was an early to bed night because we had all been up since four in the morning, to catch the "playground" ummm, I mean plane.

The next day, Tuesday, we hop on a shuttle bus to get to the appointments. Appointments went well. Mersades got part of her herps appliance off, and both the boys got the molds taken for their retainers. Because the Orthodontist works with the families who travel these crazy distances to do this, the boys were set up for an appointment, on Thursday, to get their retainers.

So what do we do for the next five days that we are "stuck" in Australia? We PLAY!!! Here are some pictures of the kids playing....

Teddy and his girls...... only when they weren't Gavin's girls!

The kids jumping on the bouncing pillows.

Gavin with his girls...

The next two pictures are of the kids trying to break open the coconuts that were all around the resort.

Mersades with a friend/classmate taking off the outside layers. Very difficult to do! They were using a butter knife!

Once they drained out the milk and got the outside layers off, they would throw the coconuts on the ground to get the meat. One of the workers came by and said that there were many grown men who couldn't do that. Let me tell you, this was one of the best forms of entertainment for the kids!!!

One day, when my friend Christy (mother of 4 girls) and I watched all 12 kids, we rented these pedal bikes for the kids. By the end of two hours, they were hot and tired and ready for the pool!

The other mother, Sondra, while she was out, found sparklers for the kids.

There is Sondra with the kids.

Here is Christy.

And last, but not least! My favorite picture.... Sometimes I get lucky! :-) ......taking a picture, duh!

So hence the warning at the beginning.... this is what we did for the week in Cairns. Because Chris wasn't with us, we didn't go see anything "cool" like the Great Barrier Reef. We are saving that to do with dad when he is released from the jungle.

So now you have the story on how we get to the Orthodontists. Pretty Crazy, huh?

Straightening Teeth, and Emptying Dad's Pockets!

Robin