We had our first family trip away from Sydney last weekend. We took a cruise from Sydney to Brisbane -about 36 hours cruising time with two nights on the boat and one full day. We had a tiny cabin on the bottom floor of the ship but it still had a small window and was perfect for us.

Jude and Anna were very excited to have bunk beds – the top beds folded down from the ceiling – with a ladder up to their beds it was kind of like having a playground in our room. We made the most of the one day on board. The kids swam in the pool, which wasn’t heated so it was decidedly brisk. Anna preferred the hot tub, smart girl. They had a great kids area and on Saturday night we took advantage of it by dropping the kids off there and Marcy and I had a night out for dinner and drinks.

We berthed in at Brisbane bright and early on Sunday morning and we took the journey down to Sea World which involved a bus, train and taxi. We had been talking about what they would see at Sea World and so even though everyone was tired after a very early wake up we checked in to our room at the resort and went right next door to Sea World.

Jude’s favorite thing to do there was to feed the sting rays. We would buy a small cup of food (slimy fish and prawns) for them and Jude would bravely feed the stingrays by hand. As you can see in the photo above these sting rays can be quite aggressive getting up out of the water to snatch the food. A couple of times they took Jude completely by surprise.

The Sea World Resort really catered well to kids. They had a pool area that was certainly built with the little ones in mind. It was heated so Jude and Anna spent quite a bit of time in there every day. Here is Jude showing off his jumping skills.

On Wednesday we flew back to Sydney. That day also happened to be Jude’s 5 1/2 year birthday. Jude wanted to have a cherry pie but I called a dozen bakeries on the Gold Coast and not one of them had a cherry pie. Not to worry, we saw a Krispy Kreme donut shop at the airport back in Sydney and Jude decided he wanted to have a donut. So, Marcy got out five and a half candles and stuck them in the donut and we all sang Jude Happy Birthday. He was thrilled.

We have been reading these series of books about Uncle Wiggily for some time now. They are great children’s stories and the main character, who happens to be a “bunny rabbit gentleman” is always having an adventure. So, both Jude and Anna have latched on to this idea and are often wanting to go for an adventure (particularly Jude).

The adventures that Jude most wants is walking in the forest, I think because this is where Uncle Wiggly has his adventures. Luckily we have some great walking trails near our place and on Saturday we went for an adventure through the forests of Sydney Harbour National Park. When it was time to turn back Jude was disappointed, he really wanted to keep going to the zoo – which is where the trail through the national park ends. I said we would do it on the next Jude and Daddy date.

Another book that is popular with the kids right now is Stanley the Manly Ferry – Marcy just recently bought the kids book series. So on Friday we all caught the local ferry in to Circular Quay and then hopped on board the Manly ferry. It ended up being a gorgeous day and we caught the ferry back to Circular Quay as the sun was setting. Here is a picture of Jude staring out at the sunset – I wonder what he is thinking?

This past weekend was Mother’s Day and on Saturday my whole family got together (with the exception of Mark who had to work) to have lunch with my mum. We took this photo because this is almost certainly the last Mother’s Day we will all have together. These outings are challenging for my mum, she is exhausted by the end of them although she seemed to enjoy the meal. The days of taking my mum out to a restaurant are certainly numbered, some time in the next few months she will likely be unable to take outings like this.

On a brighter note, we celebrated Mother’s Day for Marcy on Sunday and she decided she wanted to hang out on the beach. The day was a bit chilly although the water was relatively warm but most people avoided swimming. Not Jude, though. We took the surfboard along and he wanted to take it out and catch some waves. It was a nice one-foot swell, perfect for little kids and Jude caught two waves on his board (lying down) before deciding it was too cold.