10 Days in Cairns

At the beginning of this month Matt, Julianne, Elijah and I got to head down to Cairns, Australia for a few days away.  Matt went to attend a Typesetting training workshop.  The two youngest kids and I just went to have a much needed holiday.

We got in lots of mornings of shopping and getting supplies to (hopefully) last us the rest of our term here in PNG.  And we got in lots of swimming and playing and spending time with friends.

It was just really nice to have a little break, and to be in a 1st world country again for a bit.  I loved getting to wear shorts, blending in with everyone around me, and having some of the treats that we don't have here in PNG:  restaurants, parks, swimming pools, coffee shops, malls and movie theaters.  Oh, and Ice Cream!  Can't forget that since we really splurged on it!

Here are a ton of pictures from that week:

Checking out the scenery on the flight to Port Moresby

We spent hours in the water:

Muddy's Playground was another favorite:

This is my only child to not mind getting his head/face wet.  He just would walk over and stick his whole head into the fountains, or walk under the curtain of water pouring off the structure.  He loved all the water play-time!

My handsome explorer

So. Much. Fun!

So was the Lagoon:

All worn out from a morning of playing at the Lagoon!

When we weren't in the water, there were trips to the mall, restaurants and re-connecting with several Cairns friends.  We enjoyed a bbq at the house of some friends, tasty Moroccan food at the home of others, and a special treat of a meal out with a third set of friends.  We feel really blessed by the friends we have made over the years!!!

A special treat was a chance to get out for a movie date for Matt and I to see The Hobbit.  We're so grateful to Sue for volunteering to watch our kids for us that evening!

The kids LOVED all these little 'rides' at the mall.  Cheapo Mom wasn't about to fork over the $2 for the rides, but several times they were treated to rides by other parents who were paying for their kids (on the bigger, more-kids ones of course)!  On one mall trip we had to stop and sit for a few minutes on every. single. one. of these attractions!

 

 

The highlight of our dinner out was the balloons the waitress gave the kids!

10 days flew by way too fast.  I was ready to get back to my other three kiddos in Ukarumpa, but I have to confess that it was really hard to leave the comforts and such of the 1st world.  I don't realize what a stress it is to always be so drastically standing out and always be being watched by others until I can go somewhere where I just 'blend in' and am 'normal'.  I could almost literally feel the tension/awareness melt away when we landed in Cairns!  It was a little hard to give that up! 

But it's good to be home, and have the whole family back together again!  I felt like we 'hit the ground running' with just jumping back into life as a family of 7, and school events and homework and all that life entails.  But life is good!!!!  And I'm very thankful for the holiday.