Summertime FUN for the Wandering Wallaces began in May!
The first part of May found us in Saint Louis sharing time with the families of two of our daughters...first, Kimberly's family where we not only joined Logan and Carter in many activities, but also Jan joined Kimberly and Kelly for a night of Dream DInners...prepping dinners for the week for the Phillips fam. What fun! Leaving the prepping and the Phillips behind us, we headed second to Kelly and Matt's home...one of the dinners there was Manicotti's restaurant family style..yummy! It was at Kelly's home that we had a Mothers' Day brunch...and I was honored with the best of them!
Leaving Saint Louis, we headed to Daleville...to enjoy the company of yet another daughter, Barbara, and celebrate the First Birthdays of Reagan and Blaire...big party time outdoors and indoors for "the smiling duo"...with picnic eating and more presents than one could count (though Abby tried!) We then enjoyed "life with a four-year-old" for a week, as we took Abby to our house....and kept her going, going, going! I think she did a month's worth of living in six days...I know we did!
Once we returned to our "duo" status back home...we hopped on an airplane and headed to Denver to not only celebrate a Memorial Day get-together with John and our daughter, Robyn, but also to enjoy their company and see their new "hone/apt" in the city of Denver! Perfect "digs" for them...and right in the heart of things! The patio "room" was to die for, as the weather could not be beat!
June arrived in Sandestin..and so did we...just in time to enjoy DIva Fran and Steve's company at our home....finally, they took us up on the invite! Had a SUPER time with them...doing, talking, going, sleeping, just "being"...and even a night of Dancing with the Stars....seeing the pros dance and getting their autographs. Have to say...I think Fran was in her element and glory!
No sooner did we bid the Pearsons "adieu," but the Phillips family was down for a week of fun in our sun! And what a whirlwind week! Carter managed to "start" swimming, while Logan learned the breast, back and butterfly strokes, as well as some life-guarding steps. A first was enjoyed by all...a morning on a pontoon boat! What fun...and we managed to see jets overhead, dolphins swimming next to us, blow-up rides in the water...and rab Island, up close and personal! The "boys" even managed some deep-sea fishing (and loads of snapper!) while Kimberly and I forced ourselves to enjoy the spa! What a week!
Reality set in quickly...as they left on Sunday and by Monday and Tuesday Jim and Jan were dentist-bound for root canals and crown placements; setting up car servicing and trying to schedule some dancing before we are "on the road again!" This has been a wonderful summer, so far...and as the song goes...WE'VE ONLY JUST BEGUN!
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Sunday, June 5, 2011
SYDNEY...BEAUTIFUL SYDNEY
March 24 (start of Australia's autumn)...18 days at sea over...Rhapsody docks at Sydney...and another Wallace Adventure begins!
No sooner did we dock and get to our hotel, but we were on the move...walking back to City Center and Darling Harbour...breakfasted dockside with the view of the Darling Harbour bridge and the Sydney Opera House...mere steps away! The bridge was an "outing" for some brave souls who actually "paid" $300 to walk up it to the middle and then back down...height, winds and and all. This twosome stayed grounded...we breakfasted dockside...the eggs may not have given us the "hen" but did open our eyes to costs...$50 and counting! Then we ferried over to the "the other side" of Sydney to get to the Taronga zoo and a guided tour that awaited us (Come to find out that "guided tours" are the ONLY way to enjoy the sites..whether about or stateside! )
Even managed to see a kookaburra..and he was not a zoo animal...just flyin' through! After our tour we headed back to the hotel to plan our evening out...dinner at Sydney Tower (at 305 meters high it is the tallest structure in all of Australia!) Would you believe "kangaroo steaks" and a waiter who explained ALL the sights throughout the rotation of the tower. Next morning we hiked to the Sydney Aquarium (for another guided tour) and an op to feed the rays and sharks! A leggo-ed King Neptune and his retinue decorated the aquarium (courtesy of the Chinese!) Jim saw his platypus...and he was stoked! It was real! It does exist (just in case you too wondered!) After seeing the aquatic sights, we "looped" Sydney on its monorail before stopping at The Rocks (Sydney's oldest village on its rocky shoreline)...to board the city's only authentic 220 tons timber tall ship...the Southern Swan...It was back to 1858 from crew dress, jargon, and sailing maneuvers. We did sail around the harbour, under the bridge, and even under the architectural feat of the ANZAC (Australian and New Zealand Corps) where an Australian flag flies on one side and a New Zealand on the other. what a sail we had...and then a most memorable walk back to the hotel to prepare for our final night in the city...a trip to the Sydney Opera House to see the theatre's play "In The Next Room...or the Vibrator Play"....let your imaginations run with this one, and you probably would not be far form the plot! We laughed and laughed! It was great! And seeing it in the "73 architectural magnificence was even greater! Wow!
What a whirlwind time we had in Sydney...3 days and we did so very much...then it was time to pack it in and head stateside..13 hours again on the blessed 777! What a trip! What a ride! WHAT AN ADVENTURE BY THE WANDERING WALLACES!
No sooner did we dock and get to our hotel, but we were on the move...walking back to City Center and Darling Harbour...breakfasted dockside with the view of the Darling Harbour bridge and the Sydney Opera House...mere steps away! The bridge was an "outing" for some brave souls who actually "paid" $300 to walk up it to the middle and then back down...height, winds and and all. This twosome stayed grounded...we breakfasted dockside...the eggs may not have given us the "hen" but did open our eyes to costs...$50 and counting! Then we ferried over to the "the other side" of Sydney to get to the Taronga zoo and a guided tour that awaited us (Come to find out that "guided tours" are the ONLY way to enjoy the sites..whether about or stateside! )
Even managed to see a kookaburra..and he was not a zoo animal...just flyin' through! After our tour we headed back to the hotel to plan our evening out...dinner at Sydney Tower (at 305 meters high it is the tallest structure in all of Australia!) Would you believe "kangaroo steaks" and a waiter who explained ALL the sights throughout the rotation of the tower. Next morning we hiked to the Sydney Aquarium (for another guided tour) and an op to feed the rays and sharks! A leggo-ed King Neptune and his retinue decorated the aquarium (courtesy of the Chinese!) Jim saw his platypus...and he was stoked! It was real! It does exist (just in case you too wondered!) After seeing the aquatic sights, we "looped" Sydney on its monorail before stopping at The Rocks (Sydney's oldest village on its rocky shoreline)...to board the city's only authentic 220 tons timber tall ship...the Southern Swan...It was back to 1858 from crew dress, jargon, and sailing maneuvers. We did sail around the harbour, under the bridge, and even under the architectural feat of the ANZAC (Australian and New Zealand Corps) where an Australian flag flies on one side and a New Zealand on the other. what a sail we had...and then a most memorable walk back to the hotel to prepare for our final night in the city...a trip to the Sydney Opera House to see the theatre's play "In The Next Room...or the Vibrator Play"....let your imaginations run with this one, and you probably would not be far form the plot! We laughed and laughed! It was great! And seeing it in the "73 architectural magnificence was even greater! Wow!
What a whirlwind time we had in Sydney...3 days and we did so very much...then it was time to pack it in and head stateside..13 hours again on the blessed 777! What a trip! What a ride! WHAT AN ADVENTURE BY THE WANDERING WALLACES!
MARCH 2011 - CRUISIN' DOWN UNDER
March 3...flyin' 777 First Class to Sydney, Australia...then on to Perth...and onto RHAPSODY OF THE SEAS (RCL Style!) on March 6...The Wandering Wallaces experience Australia and New Zealand...and both countries become new Wallace World Wonders! (At this rate we shall be done with our Bucket List in 1 year!) Learned many things on this trip...one, always fly First Class when you are on a plane for 13 hours! The flight was wonderful...sleep, food, sleep, food, TV, sleep, food...etc! Local flight took us to Perth (another 6 hours....that is ONE BIG COUNTRY!) There we learned a second lesson...even if conservative in life, walk LEFT, drive LEFT, cross LEFT when south of the equator in this neck of the woods! We walked Perth, inside and out, and even enjoyed a "King Jack" Aussie style...a Burger King their way! Then, onto our personal "Rhapsody"...and this one DID happen! Wine Tasted in Bunbury and throughout Australia...as Jim does little to join the "Winos of the World"...I certainly did my part and "tested" all wines...for the TWO of us! We experienced the wonderful people and places of Australia...with Bunbury, Albany, Adelaide, Melbourne on our agenda....as well as Burnie and Hobart in the Australian island state of Tazmania. Then traveling further south we entered the beautiful "sounds" of New Zealand....as well as the land of Dunedin, Akaroa (in lieu of Christchurch which was reeling from its earthquake damage), and Wellington...The "cruise circle" was complete when we landed in Sydney, disembarked, and enjoyed that wonderful city for a few more days (blogged next, to be sure!)
This was truly a life experience as we not only explored different sights...but experienced different wildlife also...from feeding the calf and sheering the sheep...getting up-close-and-personal with the seals on our 8-wheeled Otago off-road travels...petting the koalas, feeding them eucalyptus, watching them sleep, and sleep, and sleep...checking out the "Littlest Devil" of Disney renown (Tasmanian Devil)...eyeing a "joeying" within his kanga pouch...seeking the world's only albatross nesting spot...seeing "for real" the elusive platypus with its concoction of body parts...daring a dingo to "howl"...feasting on the beautiful colored hues of the peacock...calculating the size of the adult, flightless emu...and viewing the sights "of the beyond" where the next stop would be Antarctica (numbered on the Bucket List of the Future to be sure!)
This was truly a life experience as we not only explored different sights...but experienced different wildlife also...from feeding the calf and sheering the sheep...getting up-close-and-personal with the seals on our 8-wheeled Otago off-road travels...petting the koalas, feeding them eucalyptus, watching them sleep, and sleep, and sleep...checking out the "Littlest Devil" of Disney renown (Tasmanian Devil)...eyeing a "joeying" within his kanga pouch...seeking the world's only albatross nesting spot...seeing "for real" the elusive platypus with its concoction of body parts...daring a dingo to "howl"...feasting on the beautiful colored hues of the peacock...calculating the size of the adult, flightless emu...and viewing the sights "of the beyond" where the next stop would be Antarctica (numbered on the Bucket List of the Future to be sure!)
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