Australia - Part 10

Day Twenty-two

Quote from the journal I kept on our trip for this day: "Just when I think maybe I'm ready to start thinking about going home, we have such a fun day with great people and great experiences that I don't want the trip to ever end!"

The day started early with Dave, Marcia, Anne Marie and I heading for the Brisbane Market. It starts every Saturday morning at 6am. It's kind of like a Farmer's Market except the prices are incredibly cheap. I have never seen so many amazing looking fruits and vegetables, flowers and fresh herbs in my life. And many more things I'd never heard of! Dave and Marcia were on a serious mission and loaded up on all sorts of produce, meats and breads for their houseful of guests. We ate breakfast there, had a cup of coffee and then had to sadly take Anne Marie to the airport for her flight back to the states. What fun we have had together and what an incredible help she was to us as we traveled across a foreign country with 5 children! Thank you, Anne Marie!

Back to the house where Rich was expertly holding down the fort and even managed to make a delicious pancake breakfast for all 9 children! After packing a picnic lunch, we all caught the City Cat - a catamaran ferry down the Brisbane River into the city.

We stopped at the shops on Queen Street to climb on some of their artwork and...

managed to do some souvenir shopping. We then re-boarded the ferry to South Bank where we ate a picnic lunch and watched the kids swim in the pools they have there. (That look like a beach.)

It was a fun and happening park. Lots of fun with good company. We sure were enjoying catching up with the G family. They were incredibly hosts - feeding us like kings and queens, showing us around Brisbane and just having fun chatting with a like-minded Godly family. Our kids probably don't remember their kids, but it didn't take long for all of them to have a blast together.

Lucas and Caleb found a common passion - Stratego!

Once the little ones were in bed, the big kids and adults played many hilarious rounds of a silly card game called Killer staying up way too late. Oh, so much fun! There will be plenty of time to sleep once we get home. Right?

Day Twenty-Three

Sunday morning found us worshipping with the G family at their church in downtown Brissy. They have a small, vibrant, young, very missions-minded church. Very unique - they worship in song for about 20-30 minutes, then break for morning tea and fellowship coming back together for the sermon. The kids loved the snack in the middle of church!

After church, our family headed straight to the home of Geoff and Alicia B. in north Brisbane - about a 45 minute drive from the G's. We enjoyed a barbie in their backyard followed by a few hours of fellowship. We had met Geoff when he traveled to the U.S. on business and had stayed with the Ezzo's and then were able to meet the rest of the family at the conference that started this entire adventure. The B. family heads up the GFA (Growing Families Australia) ministry in Queensland. The kids had a blast playing with their kids - ages 11, 9, 7 and 5.

Wake up kids!

They're a serious bunch...

And crazy, too!

Back at the G's that evening we ate pizza, drank Bundaberg Ginger Beer together followed by another great game of Killer. It was nice to have had a bit of a slow, relaxing day. Although, we were nowhere near ready to end this grand adventure.