Amazing Love

Australia is REALLY far away.  Seems even further when traveling with 3 kids!  I have to say though, they all did very well.  We only had a few of those moments where we were 'those people'.  The ones with the screaming kids, grabbing them out of their seats and whisking them to the nearest vacant toilet.  Yeah, that was me many times.  In one of these moments, a very nice lady looked at me and said 'It takes amazing love to do what you're doing'.  The whole rest of the flight I had the song 'Amazing Love' in my head it honestly helped me get through the harder times.  So thanks, friendly lady on the plane!

I was mostly on Andrew duty, and Devon had Ian and Isla.  Drew was pretty tough at times, he isn't the best sleeper anyway so he wasn't happy being stuck sitting in his car seat.  We did A LOT of laps up and down the isles and met many nice people.  Ian loved the in flight entertainment, he watched Fox and the Hound, Finding Nemo, and Baby Einstein.  More tv than he's ever watched his whole life.  I think we have him hooked now!  Isla was such a trooper!  She snuggled with Devon and they slept together for a good 7-8 hours.  I gave her the special back pack with her new purse and her polly pockets.  She got to eat all the junk food she wanted (incidentally the only time they served us meals was when we were all sleeping) so thanks to Michelle for all the goodies!!  I was in mommy mode the entire time so didn't get much sleep.  I also cannot for the life of me get comfortable on airplanes.  But the excitement of traveling and the adrenaline of arriving in Sydney kept me going!

We arrived at the airport in SYD and got through customs fairly easily.  All our bags arrived and our car was waiting for us.  The drive to Kirribilli took a while with traffic, but Isla enjoyed watching the trains, and trucks (lories) and going through the tunnels.  Our apartment is small, but I think it's perfect.  It's pretty kid friendly and the view is amazing.  Really, as soon as I walked into my new home for 5 months, I was overjoyed.  I gave Devon a huge hug and breathed a sigh of relief.  We're here!  Do the kids even know what just happened?

Isla's favorite spot is to stand on the couch with her face pressed to the window.  She counts the boats, tells us about every train she sees and there must have been about 10 helicopters because she yells about it every time she sees one.  I've never seen her so excited.  It makes me happy to see her so excited.

So now I'm sitting here on the couch while the rest of my family sleeps.  I just watched the sunrise and Sydney is now waking up, getting ready for a new day.  I think it's going to be a good one too. I am hoping to get the kids loaded up in our SUV (aka giant stroller) to go exploring.  Need to get me some of this delicious coffee I keep hearing about!

That's it for now folks!  Love you all and miss you bunches!!