Sydney and Canberra

It always seems like we go away for weekends which are really close together.  In May we went to Sydney a couple of times  to the National Mother of the Year award and because we had already booked a weekend away to stay with my brother Christian.  Then this month I went up to Sydney for Time Out For Women and also had a weekend booked to stay with Chrish again as we got very cheap tickets, so all of us went back up last weekend.   Mum had stayed at Chrish's after Time Out For Women so we were looking forward to spending the weekend with her as well.

It was fun to see our friend Ande at the airport. We hadn't seen each other since we were in Queensland about 18 months ago.  She lives in Queensland but was coming to Sydney for the Bears of Hope Ball which is an organisation who provides support for pregnancy and infant loss.  Ande and her husband Dave had a beautiful boy Riley who was stillborn, and since then Ande has volunteered with Bears of Hope. It was awesome to see a photo of her at the end of the weekend, with an award for volunteer of the year. Well done Ande!

We were so happy that Sydney had beautiful weather while we were there.  The first day we caught a train into the city.  We never get sick of the sights at Circlar Quay. 

We then caught a ferry to the zoo. It was such a beautiful day!

We all jumped at the chance to touch a snake. 

We couldn't resist a few selfies :)

The giraffes have the best view in Sydney!

The boys absolutely loved the seal show. 

They also loved this playground near the lemurs.

We went on the sky safari three times and Harri believed me that it cost $20 each ride (it was free with admission) so he thought I was feeling very generous (and rich!).

We spotted this poor lady trying to get her backpack out of the water, and then one of the students suggested that they use the life buoy to drag it out.  They did that and got the bag out, and Kobe absolutely cracked us up as he yelled out 'Bondi Rescue!!' really loud.  For the rest of the day we couldn't stop laughing about it.  

Mum was jealous when we went to Canberra last year as she hadn't been for over twenty years or more, so we decided to make a day trip there, while Chrish stayed at home for footy finals. 

We joked about our old mate 'Tony' (the P.M.) and how it would've been nice to catch up with him in Canberra, after spending time with him at Kirribilli House.

 Mum's broken arm was aching a lot from her moving it around a lot to take photos, and she was making us all laugh as she was in all sorts of angles trying to get a good photo.   

Kobe is such a clown and does anything for a laugh, including doing a crazy dance out the front of Parliament House!

We then went to the War Memorial. 

Last time we went to the War Memorial the World War 1 display was under construction. It was absolutely amazing and there were so many things to see.

 

 

We spent a lot of time in the Afghanistan section watching the movie that was playing in there.  I teach 8 children who are from a refugee background and their families are from Afghanistan, so it always hits me how much they've been through, and what they have had to leave to be safe.

Before we left Canberra we had a special treat at Max Brenner.   We had a fun day, but the drive back to Sydney seemed so long.

The next day we spend some time with Chrish, watching the girls from his footy club play in their elimination final, before flying home.   Harri and Kobe absolutely loved it and couldn't believe how well they played.  Kobe kept saying he wanted to watch the girls play more often. 

We made sure we had a slurpee from 7 eleven before coming home, as Aaron used to absolutely love them.  Whenever we go to the mainland we try to have one for him. 

We had a lovely (long) weekend and were so glad to get away from the cold in Tassie for a few days.  We always love seeing Chrish, and even though we wish he would move to Tassie, we love having a place to stay at in Sydney.