We packed a lot into the nine days, but also had lots of sleep ins before heading out for the day. Before Mum came up we went to watch a game of Big Bash Cricket at the Sydney Cricket Ground. Before the match we went to Bondi Beach for a quick swim and look at the art on the walls near the beach.
Jalen wasn't keen on coming to the cricket at all, but if he didn't come he would've just been at Chrish's all day on his own. He's been loving making his own videos again, and for Christmas he asked for a on camera microphone, so he took that to Sydney with him and he decided to make the most of it and did lots of filming at the game.
He was cracking up everyone around us, as he was trying to start a Mexican wave with Harri and Kobe. They would yell '3, 2, 1 Mexican Wave' and would start it off. The people sitting in our section would join in, but it would stop at the next section and everyone would boo. Eventually a Mexican wave started in another section and it went right around the ground heaps of times.
There were two young kids sitting behind us, and they were loving Jay and all the fun he was having. At the end of the game they gave him a high five and kept chatting to him on the way out.
We all love the singer Sam Smith (especially Harri) and knew that he was in Sydney while we were there. There were no tickets available for his concert at the Opera House, but we thought we may be able to see him in person if he was doing an appearance on Sunrise (a morning talk show). I went to the Sunrise Facebook page and it didn't say anything about him, but it did say that Will Smith was going to be on the show in a couple of days, and that he wanted to meet his fans.
We were so excited and I asked the boys if they wanted to get up early to catch the train to the city, to see if we could get close enough to see him. They all said they were keen so we got up at 4:45 am (!!) to catch the train. We arrived at Sunrise about 6:30 am and were just two or three people behind the barriers. He came outside just after 7:15 am so we didn't have to wait too long for a lot of excitement. He was so lovely and friendly and really funny. He was taking time to take selfies and sign autographs and talk to the crowd. We were so close to him and it was very exciting to see him in person.
After meeting the crowd, he went into the studio to be interviewed. They opened the barrier to let the crowd go onto the red carpet, as they were doing a cross to some guys from the audience who had some questions for Will Smith. We were very lucky to get the perfect position behind where they were interviewing. We could look right into the studio and could see the interview happening.
Before we caught the train back we went to Circular Quay.
We all had a 'nanna nap' when we got back to Chrish's and that afternoon we went to the Blue Mountains for a hike to Empress Falls.
I know I'm overweight and unfit, but man it was a tough hike! It was steep steps the whole way down, and then we had to walk all the way back up them (and it was very hot). When we got back to the start I noticed on the sign that it said it was a difficult hike, and I think only having sandals to wear, made it harder. It was a beautiful place though, and the falls were beautiful.
Mum kept seeing what we were up to, and told us to not have too much fun without her. When she arrived we told her the fun could finally start! We hadn't been to Luna Park since before Aaron died and the boys couldn't remember much about it (Kobe was tiny when we went last time) and Mum had never been, so we decided it was time to go back. We had the best day, and it was our favourite thing that we did this trip.
Poor Harri tipped onto his side on one of these slides and got a big 'burn' on his shoulder which made him pretty miserable the rest of the day as it hurt a lot, and he his shoulder had raw skin on it.
Harri avoids the really big rides, so I was shocked when suddenly he decided to go on this one.
Harri's face when they hit the bottom was hilarious. I couldn't stop laughing as he was just in total shock and just sat there staring at Jay and not able to speak.
My favourite thing was Mystery Manor. It was like a haunted house which you walked through, and live zombie like people would come out at you, follow you around (without saying a word) and there was lots of banging and things happening as you walked through. It was terrifying and awesome at the same time. There was lots of screaming and we couldn't wait to do it again. It was only for people 12 and over and Harri wasn't keen on giving it a go, so he stayed out with Kobe.
There's always lots to see at Circular Quay and around the harbour.
We had lots of fun watching some of the street shows.
We got Wet n Wild season passes again and went about four times, just for a few hours each time. Because we have been there quite a bit now, and it's so close to Chrish's house, we don't stress too much about fitting in lots of rides. We would usually go on one big ride each time, go on the racers a few times (as we love it and the line was always short), a couple of smaller rides and would then spend time floating around Dinosaur Lagoon or in the wave pool.
The night before we left Chrish took us to Aqua Golf which we hadn't done before, and was lots of fun. We each got a bucket of golf balls (which float on the water) and got to hit them, trying to hit targets in the water. Let's just say we aren't golfers!
Usually Jay is the only one who will ride on Chrish's bike with him, but this year we all had a go. I was so nervous about the boys going and also going on it myself, but he was very safe.
I made a video of our trip, using the 1 Second Everyday app. I love having such an easy way to have so many memories in a quick video. I'm looking forward to seeing Jay's video he's still editing of our trip and will post that when he's done.