Jude catching a wave at Manly Beach

We had a wonderful second week in Sydney. The weather was great, with barely a drop of rain the entire week. So, we spent a great deal of time at the beach. There was a lot of boogie board riding, Anna even tried her hand with a surfboard, she made it to her knees, but she decided to save getting on her feet until next time. We played some beach volleyball and there was lots of just playing in the water and the sand.

Anna catching a wave on a surfboard for the first time

The big event of the week was, of course, Jude’s 10th birthday. He decided that he wanted to catch the ferry into the city and go to Sydney Tower, the tallest building in Sydney, where they have an open observation deck. It was pretty cool, we were up about 900 feet in the air with a glass bottom floor, but it was very safe – we all had to wear special suits and were chained to a railing. There was about 12 people in our group and everyone sang Jude Happy Birthday while we were out there.

On the outdoor observation deck at Sydney Tower 900 feet up

After that we went to Darling Harbour to visit the Wildlife Experience which is basically a small zoo. We spent a lot of time here when we lived here in 2012 and Jude remembered it fondly. Then we caught the ferry back and met up with Uncle Ian, Aunt Leila and Sarah for dinner where we had a very nice birthday celebration for Jude. Then the next day Jude got birthday phone calls from his family in Iowa because of the time difference it was Nov 23rd there on the 24th in Sydney. Jude loved the fact that he basically had a two day birthday.

Jude getting friendly with a large Australian lizard

After that we had more beach time and then a final visit with my Dad at the nursing home where Anna took a turn at chess with him, and then it was back on the plane to Denver. We were all very sad to leave – both kids said several times that they were really going to miss Sydney. I think it was the best trip we have ever had to Sydney. As the kids get older they can do so many more fun things and they both love the beach. Best may be that they travel better and adjust to the time changes easier than when they were younger. They are already counting down the time until we visit again.

Anna playing chess with her Grandpa on our last day in Sydney