We came from a land down under...

Back in 2004 my family and I (the hubby) went to Australia for a family vacation. A year later, before going on my mission, I saved all of the pictures from the trip onto cds in case anything happened to the laptop while I was gone. The rest of the family had also saved their pictures onto the laptop and so when the laptop's hard drive was accidentally broken, the entire pictorial record of the vacation was irrevocably erased. When I got back from my mission I expected to find the backup disks and save the day, however, the cd case was nowhere to be found and all was feared to be lost.

This past weekend the wife was in need of a cd and while I was searching for it I came across a cd case on our bookshelf and, lo and behold, there were all of the backup cds from before my mission. I have no idea where they have been in the interim, or how I missed them before, but luckily the wife found it somewhere and placed it in a position for me to find it. So, in honor of this momentous find, I present a compilation of various photographs from the Holbrook Expedition: Down Under.

We went to the animal farm and saw some baby chicks

Of course what you really want to do in Australia is pet the kangaroos

and ride them too...

Afterward everyone needs a nap

Even the kangaroos are tuckered out

Emus, Kookaburras, and Koalas, Oh My!

We also fed the parrots, and saw dingos, an echidna, and a tasmanian devil (he doesn't look too ferocious does he...)

Sailing around in a catamaran and checking out the sweet white sand beaches

The Didgeridoo!

Seals on the beach

Hanging out on Kangaroo Island

Sydney, Australia

Our obligatory visit to the local Hard Rock Cafe

Sydney at night

from across the bay

and that's a wrap!

The Newest Member

Meet the newest member of our home: we're the proud parents of a beautiful 88 key digital piano!

Came in the mail this morning, and the wife was so itching to open the package, but hubby had her promise to wait until he got home. It feels like Christmas!

The stand comes sometime next week, but we don't care! We haven't stopped playing around with all of the gadgets it came with, and most of all we just can't keep our fingers off of those keys (they're weighted so it feels like a real piano).

 It came with sheets and sheets of classical music, which songs are also stored into the memory of the piano to listen to, so we'll have plenty to do and study.