VBS

VBS was not what we planned earlier this year.  The army decided our chapel not longer is allowed to support families and will not allow us to work with children.  That means on Sunday mornings we no longer have a nursery or childrens church and we can not hold our ladies bible study at the chapel and to top it off wouldn't allow us to run VBS this year.  However I have always loved VBS and as soon as I found this out I went asking the Air Force chapel if we could be part of the VBS they were running.  I said I was willing to do anything and got to do crafts - in the past 5 years I have got to hold a lot of different jobs. 

The VBS we did was Gangway to Galilee.  It was about the story of Jesus calling is disciples, walking on water and the salvation story.  Molly loved it, Riley got sick and Kelly enjoyed most of the week. 

 

Pre VBS Bible on the Ipad

The preschool class

She stayed in class!

had 204 kids register - so fun to see so many kids hear the Gospel

Concentrating

So excited to sing and jump with the big kids

It was tiring for one

Left early with a fever and had friends cover me in crafts

Came downstairs yelling - I pretty I pretty

Crafting at its finest

They loved their class

Going out to game time

Baby C was tired!

The girls artwork

Showing off their SOS signs

Australia

I have had a goal to see 6 of the 7 continents by the time I was 35.  Well that day is quickly approaching and I was stuck at 4 for a long time and now Jon and I have gone to our 5th!!  My goal has been pushed back to just get to 6 by 40 now.   With the typhoon that came through we were both getting nervous that we would not be making it to this continent at all.  We took a leap of faith and went to the airport after calling and letting them know we were locked in our house but would come to the airport as we were allowed.  On one phone call Jon was told we would be put on standby for the latest flight and up until we had ticket in our hand we weren't sure if we would be leaving.  After getting on our first flight we noticed we only had a one hour layover before our next flight in Taipei.  We with delays and other factors we landed 5o minutes late - cutting our transfer time down to 10 minutes.  Once they opened the doors we sprinted through the airport - a little confusion and backtracking we made it to our flight with minutes to spare.  We made it to Australia and were greeted by a friendly face. 

What did we do while in Australia?? Well the real question is what did we not do in the Sydney area.  After doing some research on the internet, blogs and books we decided to just focus on the Sydney area and try and enjoy all we could there.  We did a tour of the Opera House, did a bridge climb, went to all the touristy things, and then went to the mountains a few hours away.   The Blue Mountains were probably one of our parts.  It was quiet, beautiful and did have a few fun things and the best food ever!! 

The only request Jon had was for us to visit the original Hillsong church.  We made it there and enjoyed worship with a lot of people to love Jesus!! 

 

Sydney Opera House

ANZAC memorial.
One of the best war memorials

Chinese Garden in downtown

Touring - see that bridge behind us?  We climbed it!

A chair someone famous sat on

On a tour to see Bondi Beach

The Beach!

Super cold water

Hillsong!!!!

At the zoo Steve Irwin used to work at

Pretty awesome view while walking around

The Blue Mountains

The famous rock formation is called 3 sisters

Looking at the 3 sisters

Hiking and having fun

Bike rental - next time go to with the hybrid (which means gears)
We walked them up a bunch of hills to see the top of the town

We were the only people with bike cruisers in the mountain area.
I think we should have stayed closer to the boardwalk - oh well. 

Getting our adult onesies on to climb the bridge!!

Australia was a convict nation to start out.
Here is where at least 50,000 of them slept as they came through

Oz Jet boating - did this because it was part of our package.
Riding a speed boat and getting soaking wet in the winter was not to smart!! 
One of us enjoyed it more than the other.

This was at the elevator - we saw it daily and it was so true.

Wax museum - again only did it b/c it was part of our tour package

12 hours in Taipei

went on the free tour that was offered by the airport

Street vendor food

its not winter anymore

Got a haircut at the airport.
Mainly so I could get my hair washed after 48 hours of traveling

Typhoon Neoguri

Between Disney and Australia we weathered a typhoon.  Most typhoons lock us down around 24 hours - this one was 48 hours.  We were not so sure Jon and I would be making our flight to Australia as we anxiously watched the timeline and noticed the Japanese were still flying while the good old US Govt would not allow us to leave our house.  Many hours of debating if we were going to go on the trip of a lifetime the best answer we could get from the travel agency is we could chance it and not go at all or cancel and get 1/2 our money back.  Being the risk takers we are we decided to go for it - between time off at work and arranging a nanny for the girls we knew things would probably never work out again for this trip.  We made it - more posts on that to follow.

What do 2 parents who really want to go on a crazy anniversary trip do while on lock down with a typhoon???  As many crazy things as we can to create memories with our kids.  We built stuff, colored things, played games, watched the storm and had slumber parties!

 

Stepping out one last time before being locked in the house for 2 days

Yes they all share a room but something about new things make life fun!

Drive in Movie

Tea Party 1 of 4

doesn't look too bad - hard to be locked in when looking out at this

Played yhatzee as a family

Here was our clean up efforts

We got tickets to leave the island!!!!!!!
Even after missing our flight and not being sure how nice the ticket people would be