Jude enjoying his birthday donut
On Thursday Jude turned 11 years old. For the second year in a row he celebrated his birthday in Sydney. It was Thanksgiving Day but obviously they don’t celebrate Thanksgiving in Australia. Jude called the shots on Thursday. We went out to his favorite breakfast place in Manly, Three Beans, and after that he wanted a donut. Then we spent the rest of the day on the beach. That night we met up with his Australian family for dinner and another birthday celebration.
Everyone singing Happy Birthday to Jude at dinner
We visited Luna Park, Sydney’s amusement park, this week where the kids got to go on some rides and eat some fairy floss (the Australian term for cotton candy). We incorporate a visit to Luna Park on every trip and it is a small place so the kids know every ride well. Unfortunately, the roller coaster called the Wild Mouse, was under repair which is one of their favorites.
Riding the big slide in Coney Island at Luna Park
We took a trip out to my good friend Richard’s farm one day this week. We have missed him on our last couple of visits so it had been almost three years since our last visit there. The big draw for the kids, apart from their backyard pool is the alpacas. Richard breeds alpacas for their wool and has about 30 animals on his farm near Sydney. He has 100 more on another farm further west. The kids got to feed the alpacas and pet them a little although they are not super friendly.
Herding the alpacas on Richard’s farm
We spent some time pretty much every day on the beach. The swim from Manly to Shelley Beach is about a half mile, and Marcy and I did that several times. Jude loved playing catch with a tennis ball and kicking a beach soccer ball as well as going in the ocean. Jude even did an open water swim over about 300 yards to Shelley Beach one day. Anna loved catching waves on her boogie board and playing in the sand. In fact, she spent probably more time just playing in the sand than in the water. We had lunch on the beach many times and made the most of the good weather we had.
Anna catching a wave on her boogie board
It was all over too quickly and we arrived back in Denver on Saturday afternoon. It was a quiet day today as we were all pretty jet-lagged. Although to the kids credit, they slept great last night and we hope they will be well rested for back to school tomorrow.
Anna completely buried in a huge hole on Manly Beach