On Friday morning, we left Tim and Chany's place and drove to Ben's parents' home near Ipswich. For lunch, I enjoyed some more Red Rooster, and Ben tucked in to a long-craved Aussie meat pie. We also spent about $70 on Aussie food to take back to Canada with us!
On Friday night, I had a girls' night at Delle's with a bunch of my closest friends. This was definitely one of the highlights of the trip! Here we are enjoying a delicious dinner out, before returning to Delle's and chatting until about 4:30am on Saturday morning...
Roxy, me, Chany, Delle, Amanda, Jo
At the same time, Ben was having a boys' night at Glen and Jo's place. The participants were Ben, Tim, Lachy, Glen and little Dexter. Here's Glen preparing a roast that Ben said was amazing, plus the boys playing PowerGrid...
On Saturday evening, we hosted a BBQ at Jim and Jenny's (Ben's parents') place so that we could catch up with a bunch more friends. Unfortunately we were so busy doing that that we didn't take a single photo!! So just for the record, here's a list of who was there:
Jim and Jenny, Fraser and Merity and baby Leo, Roxy, Delle, Lachy, Graham and Katrina and Alex, Tim and Chany, Donna and Mathias, Cat and Lachy and baby Tommy, Glen and Jo and little Dexter, Russ and Kate, Bill and Steph and little Laura and baby Lachlan, John and Rach and little Jack and baby Blake, Andrew and Anita and baby Oliver, Michael and Jackie and littlies Amelia and Justin, Bevan and Glenda, and Robert and Cheryl.
It was wonderful to see everyone again, and meet all the new babies (did you notice that they are all boys?!). It was a great night!
Here's a photo Glenda took of Ben and I at the BBQ...
Sunday was a nice relaxing day with Ben's family. Delle had stayed over on Saturday night, and Liam and Danni and baby Izac joined us for lunch too.
Family photo shoot after the meeting...
Jenny and Jim (Ben's parents)
Fraser and Merity (Ben's sister) with baby Leo
The whole family
Delle
Sunday lunch...
This trip was the first time we had met our little nephew, Leo, who was then 6.5 months old. Spending time with Leo was another highlight of the trip for us - we are rather smitten with him!!
Look at those pouts!
On Monday, Merity started back at work, so Jenny and I took Leo to his swimming lesson. I got to be in the pool with him, blowing bubbles, pouring water on his head, and singing little rhymes. It was nerve-wracking at first to have to dunk him fully underwater, but he was quite unfazed by it all. He just held his lips in a little pout the whole time to keep the water out!
That night we went to Monday night walking in downtown Brisbane. This is a long-standing Brissie tradition and was a chance to catch up with a few more friends, including cousin Susie! Afterwards, we enjoyed some yummy ice cream - or, in my case, a REAL iced coffee (first one in 2 years!)...
Dexter, Jo and Glen
Clinton, Dotti and Roxy
That night I stayed at Roxy's flat, which she shares with Dotti and Jodi. It was great to catch up with Dotti again (she is in some of our England blog entries), and meet Jodi. As this was my last night of being able to talk to Roxy in person, sleep was not much of a priority, and we didn't get around to getting any until about 4:30am!
The next morning, Tuesday - our last full day in Australia - Ben and Jim picked me up from Roxy's flat and we went to Rochdale preps. It was wonderful to catch up with my Uncle Mal there, and quite a few others too. Ben got to do some pruning way up in the trees, and I helped out in the kitchen.
Us with Uncle Mal
That night, we and Jim and Jenny all had dinner at Fraser and Merity's house - last chance for a while to have cuddles and laughs with Leo!
The next morning, Wednesday 24th, we headed to the airport for our noon flight to LA, and I enjoyed my third and final Red Rooster meal at the gate. Then we were in the air and on our way back to our other home... where snow and Thanksgiving turkey were awaiting us.
All in all, we had a simply superb time in Australia - a big thank you to everyone who helped make it that way!
3 comments:
Another lovely post! Glad to read about your trip home to Aussie!!
Little Leo is too gorgeous!! I bet you'll miss him even more now!
Cluck cluck cluck! ;-P
I was already missing being at the girls night - now after seeing the food photos I wish I was there even more! ;-)
Looks like you had a great time in Aussie!
Cluck cluck cluck indeed! ;)
Love the photos...when are you coming back again?? ;)
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