The week in Queensland between Christmas and New Year's was a time for hanging out, visiting with friends in Brisbane, and visiting Australia Zoo.
(Left Photo): Something bit Munchkin on the leg and he had a massive reaction to it. Thankfully I thought to pack his prescription cortisone cream, and with the miracle of modern technology, I was able to contact my mother and also our family doctor, and together the "team" monitored his leg carefully. Thankfully, it didn't require antibiotic treatment, but it did require constant care, and technology was used widely as a form of distraction so he wouldn't scratch and infect it.
(Right Photo): Uncle instructed all five boys and got them working on yard work one afternoon. They all worked hard, and the gardens were much improved.
Nephew the Younger assisted Nana in cooking a crab curry...
This beautiful spider took up residence in the garage and was fun to watch and photograph.
On Wednesday, Monster got to spend the day is Brisbane city getting the grand tour with his best friend, Miss S. Though she only had one whole day off during the time we were in Queensland, she devoted that day off to proving to my eldest son that Brisbane "does exist". This photo of them was taken at a museum they found as they wandered around the city.
We spent a whole afternoon and evening with my best friend and her family. Her three older children are all best friends with my three boys and they picked up their friendships where they left off when we last saw them in April 2019. The children enjoyed a swim in the pool and then it was a BBQ dinner and chatting in the evening.
Monster hung out with the other boys as his best friend (Miss S) was working until dinner time. Pool noodle sword fights were the name of the game much of the afternoon...
Little Miss L was the lone child without a friend "pair" as she was born after they moved to Queensland. But she quickly had the boys wrapped around her little finger.
Munchkin enjoyed his first chance to swim in a pool this summer...
More cuteness from Little Miss L (3.5 years old)
I still enjoy photographing Mr J's face, even though he no longer has his cute freckles...
Mr M LOVES this new hooded towel and I dubbed him Obi Wan Kenobee for the evening...
"The Thinker" - AKA Mr J
Monkey enjoying his dip in the pool... long hair and all
I caught Monster off guard a bit with this photo...
These beautiful reddish-pink flowers are the same as the yellow variety that grow in my mother-in-law's garden, but I think I prefer the pink colour.
Little Miss L entertaining herself in the sand pit...
Miss S and Monster... 15 years old
Monkey and Mr J... 12 years old
Mr M (who turned 10 two days previous) and Munchkin... 9 years old
Not to be left out of the fun Little Miss L wanted a "pairs" photo too so I took this one of her with her big sister and it turned out GREAT!!
A "surprise" black and white photo of my best friend and I... This happened because I had taken black and white photos of all four children for a special frame I bought for her before she moved and it needed updated photos. Then I forgot to change my settings and when one of the boys took our photo we got this bonus first.
I love this photo of the two of us... hopefully it won't be another 2 years and 8 months before we see each other again. I'm just thankful for our evening out together the night before and our beautiful afternoon and dinner together on this day. True friends are precious... they must be treasured.
Friday, our last full day in Queensland, was spent at Australia Zoo. Hubby and I had last been there in December 2005 when I was 34 weeks pregnant with Monster, and we were keen to take the boys, and see how much the zoo had changed and grown since we were last there.
It was a wet, WET day at the zoo, requiring us to wear plastic ponchos as we wandered around, but we were determined to see as much as we could possibly pack in to the five hours we were there. This tortoise was amazing, and also loving the wet, cool weather. Apparently Bindi's 9-month-old daughter already loves the tortoises and I have to agree with her... they are super cool.
Water dragons were everywhere...
The dingoes were lined up along the glass of their enclosure - the only dry spot - snoozing.
We settled at the Crocoseum for the show... with current COVID rules they aren't allowed to announce ahead of time who is feeding the crocs, so we were just hoping and praying that it would be the Irwin family feeding on this day and not other zoo staff.
The bird show was first and this beautiful bird perched one row down from our seats during the show.
A Black Cockatoo and a Jabiru were two other birds that were featured in this part of the show.
The Black Cockatoo even got the crowd involved... flying to this woman (in the pink shirt standing up) to retrieve a $5 note from her fingers, which was returned to her as well.
The absolute highlight of the whole day (for me) was seeing Teri, Robert, and Chandler run out to do the crocodile feeding part of the show. For those who may not know, Teri grew up about two hours south of where I grew up in the states, and I actually got to meet her and talk to her (briefly) when I last visited the zoo in 2005.
First up was this alligator who came out to get a snack...
It seemed so tiny in comparison to the size of the crocodiles that reside at Australia Zoo.
Teri was up first... feeding Monty a chicken...
Teri and Monty having a good look at each other...
Next it was Robert's turn. First he crossed the pool in order to get Monty to cross over to the other side...
Then it was time to feed Monty some fish...
Teri took another turn at feeding Monty... this time from the platform that stands out over the pool. This time he enjoyed a fish and a rat for his performance.
Finally, Chandler, Bindi's husband, took his turn feeding Monty.
Monty almost seemed to be posing for the crowd.
I cannot adequately put into words just how pleased I am to have seen the Irwin family again and witness the excellent work they continue to do at Australia Zoo.
After the show we went behind the stadium to check out all the crocodiles as they languished in their own personal pools.
The boys enjoyed posing in front of this giant crocodile statue...
Munchkin practiced his balancing abilities and climbed all over the crocodile posing for various photos...
Then it was off to the kangaroo and wallaby enclosure for an up close and personal experience with the animals. We didn't purchase any food to feed them (as many other visitors were already feeding them) but the boys did enjoy petting them and getting super close to them.
Some of the animals facial expressions were hilarious.
Australian Brush Turkeys are another animal (like the water dragon) that you will see anywhere and everywhere.
More posing on dinosaur statues as we made our way towards the African Savannah part of the zoo. Monkey was desperate to see the tigers and I really wanted to see the meerkats.
Native Bees... they don't sting
Some of the beautiful flowering plants we saw as we roamed the zoo...
This is a horrible photo of the Red Panda but he was being tricky and hiding.
Thankfully there was ONE tiger on display when we reached the exhibit. The zoo actually has TWELVE tigers but only one was sleeping in the outdoor exhibit by this late in the afternoon. Most of the animals are taken indoors at 4:30pm so we were cutting it close by this time at seeing any more of them.
It was amazing to see the new baby giraffe and the zebras. Sadly we only saw the back end of one rhino at the far end of the exhibit as it headed to bed for the night.
By this time a zoo keeper was driving out to the far edges of the zoo rounding up visitors and sending them to the shuttle bus stops to head back to the entrance. However, when I explained that I was desperate to see the meerkats she let us quickly race down, snap some photos, and come back. As always, the meerkats were being adorable and I got some great photos.
We even had time to snap quick photos of Munchkin posing on the rhino statue and the triceratops statue...
Australia Zoo closes at 5pm but the wildlife hospital allows you to view their premises until 5:30pm so we headed there next. The first thing we spotted was this giant locust/grasshopper on the window.
Steve Irwin opened the wildlife hospital in 2004 in honour of his mother, Lynn, and since that time they have treated 100,000 animals and are one of the busiest wildlife hospitals in the entire country. It was rather humbling and amazing to stand at the window and watch them work.
The Wildlife Hospital has a garden out the back with native bee hives...
And resident spiders...
One last look at the hospital team working on a kangaroo and a koala before we headed for home.
We headed back to Sydney at dinner time on New Year's Day so in the afternoon the boys enjoyed one last game of Rummy Cub with Nana...
I took photos of Nana and the boys in her backyard... these two photos were simply to test my settings. Her pineapple is growing well... and my boys showed off many emotions in one photograph.
Final family photos in my mother-in-law's sunroom before we headed off to the airport.
A beautiful rainbow over our plane as we waited to board...
The clouds were beautiful on the flight home...
Monkey took these photos for me from his side of the plane as we got close to Sydney. It was a wonderful trip and we really enjoyed our time with family and friends up north.
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