Best Birthday Ever!

My holiday posts are going to be huge and full of photos. For everyone reading this it's probably going to be very boring, but because this is my family blog I'm just going to include lots of detail (including photos) so the boys have lots to look back on in years to come. Anyone else reading this will probably want to skip the posts over the next week or so, and if not then hopefully you will enjoy reading about the fun and adventures that we had away.

The boys were so excited about our holiday as it lead up to it.  Harri even wiped my chalkboard in the kitchen clean and wrote 'GC' on each day of the week for 'Gold Coast' - just in case we forgot what we were doing that week! ;) 

 A lovely friend dropped in a couple of days before we left with a special bag each for the boys for the plane. It was full of treats and fun things to do and read.  It was such a special surprise for them. 

 The day we left to go to Queensland was actually on Kobe's fourth birthday. For months he had been telling everyone that he was going to 'Wiggle World' (at Dreamworld) for his birthday.   It was hard to explain to him that we were actually just flying there on his birthday, and that the next day we would go to Wiggle World.  We were all very excited to jump on the plane. Jalen kept saying how he loves it when you are at the airport going somewhere and you get that excited feeling in your tummy. It was so nice to see the boys so happy.

We had a stop over in Sydney on the way, so we grabbed some lunch before jumping in the massage chairs.  I could stay in those chairs all day if I had enough $2 coins!  The boys loved them just as much as Mum and I did. 

As we were about to board the plane from Sydney to the Gold Coast I saw a man looking at us.  As I caught his eye he approached me and said 'I know you! I read your blog!'.  I couldn't believe it and said something like 'are you serious!? That is crazy!!' and we had a lovely chat with him before boarding the plane (hi Daniel!). He told us that his wife reads my blog and was so lovely and told us that we were his heroes.  It was strange but lovely (and exciting) to have a stranger in Sydney recognise us.

On the plane one of the flight attendants kept smiling at Kobe and said something like 'what a cutie' as she walked past. She then came back to have a chat with him and asked him how old he was. He straight away said 'three' and then stopped and said 'oh no! Four!' as he remembered it was his birthday. I told her it was his birthday, and she straight away pulled out some toblerone from the food cart and gave it to him to share with us all.

 

We arrived on the Gold Coast late in the afternoon and my brother Chrish was there to meet us along with my lovely cousin Konnie and her gorgeous kids, and Aunty Marilyn.  Konnie and my other cousin Lanai had organised some very special things for us, which I will blog about later on.   Chrish was going to be our driver all week so I was glad he was there to meet us, so he could drive as I would be in a panic driving in a strange place.

We settled into our hotel and then decided to go to Sizzlers for tea.  Aaron and I had actually been telling the boys about the good old days in Launceston when we had Sizzlers and Lone Star, so it was fun to take the boys there so they could see what we were talking about.  They thought it was fantastic being able to choose whatever they wanted, and have as much as they wanted - especially from the dessert bar.  Kobe LOVED his birthday tea and all week he kept talking about sizzler, so we ended up going back there another night.

He was one very tired but happy boy by the end of his birthday.


The next morning the sun came streaming through the windows as it rose up over the ocean. That meant that every morning at 6am the boys were up and ready to start the day.   The first morning they all came and jumped into bed with me, as we watched the beautiful sunrise together.





Kobe couldn't wait to get to Dreamworld so he could go to Wiggle World. All he wanted to do was go on the Big Red Car Ride, but when we got there we saw a sign up that said it was shut for renovations! :( I told Kobe that the ride wasn't going as they were fixing it and his bottom lip dropped and started to quiver and it looked like he was about to cry. I asked him if he was sad and he said 'no I'm not sad' but you could see on his face that he was just trying to be so brave.  Once we got to the Wiggle World section though he was happy just to be there.





He was too nervous to go up to the Wiggle characters and kept saying 'I'm not scared though!' as he tried to be brave. Jay and Harri thought it would be fun to go up to them instead.

Kobe had been looking on the Dreamworld website for weeks before our trip, so knew that there was a teacup ride.  He was very excited to go on that, and I think it almost made up for not being able to go on the Big Red Car ride.





 Kobe was in heaven in the Wiggles shop.

One of our favourite rides that we all went on together was the log ride.  The boys loved it and kept wanting to go on it again and again and again. 

We were very drenched by the end of the day, but it was worth it. 

We just had to give the body dryer a go as it seemed so funny. It didn't really dry us, but it did warm us up.

Harri absolutely loved the vintage cars and wanted to ride them all afternoon.

Harri, Kobe and I mucking around on the train pretending that it was really exciting.  It was actually really nice to just sit down and relax for five minutes as we didn't stop moving all day.

I'm not one for the big thrill rides, but we knew Mum would be.  She talked Jay into going on the big drop with her.  He almost chickened out, and was wishing that he did by the end of it as he pretty much hated the whole thing. I don't blame him! 

The boys loved the kids section which has recently been done up as Madagascar Madness.

 At the end of the Madagascar show they held up a sign which a guy had organised to propose to his girlfriend.  Confetti and streamers and all went off and she was so embarrassed (and surprised!), but I think she said yes.

Kobe loved being sprayed with water by the animals as he walked past.

Harri probably spent an hour going on this ride. He wasn't keen on going on anything bigger than this though.

Mum, Chrish and Jay went on the ride called the Shock Wave and talked me into going on it after them. I knew if Chrish could handle it, then I could too as Chrish isn't one for big thrill rides either.

It was actually a lot scarier than it looked, and I was screaming like a girl the whole time, but it was a lot of fun.

Harri thought it was hilarious that I was screaming the whole time and was laughing at me when I got off.

At the end of the day Mum, Chrish and Jay decided to try The Claw out.   It made me feel sick just watching it.

Supposedly it was pretty full on.

Mum was NOT happy when she got off. She said it was really bad and made her feel sick.

We had a very fun day at Dreamworld and were exhausted by the end of the day.

That night we went to place called Pancake Paradise to meet Chrish's best friends Ande and Dave and their girls for tea. Unfortunately Dave couldn't make it as he got held up at work, but it was lovely to finally meet Ande and her girls after hearing about them for years, reading their blog, seeing their heartbreak that they had after losing their baby Riley, and then becoming friends on Facebook.  Mum and Chrish often say to me that they think that Ande and I are alike in personality and I could tell that after meeting her. I think we would be great friends if we lived closer.


The boys loved eating under a hot air balloon!

Harri insisted on getting the four stack of pancakes and only made it through two of them :)

We were very tired but happy after such a huge day, and were looking forward to more adventures the next day.