Busselton and Margaret River

We just enjoyed a wonderful 4-day weekend. It was Matt's Friday off and Monday was a Western Australia public holiday, so we met up with the Carl family in Margaret River for some good, relaxing fun. On the drive down, we stopped in Busselton at the newly re-opened jetty, the longest in the southern hemisphere at 1.8km. It was pretty cool to be over a mile out at sea at the end.

Thank goodness we didn't have to walk the entire length! This cute little train did all the work for us and the boys loved it.

All aboard!

Kind of interesting riding a train straight out into the ocean.

At the end, we got to see the main event - the underwater observatory that went about 30 feet below the surface.

The kids were pretty thrilled for about 5 minutes, then spent the rest of the hour running around like crazy. Sometimes it's hard to impress these two.

Matt and I were pretty enthralled with the views and the number and variety of fish swimming past the viewing windows.



Even saw a few interesting jellyfish floating around.

What a great experience!

After catching the train back to the coast, we got back on the road towards Margaret River and the big farmhouse called Breakaway that we'd rented for the weekend.

It was a lovely place with 5 bedrooms on 25 acres so it was more than enough for 4 adults and 4 kids.

We loved all the stone work and architecture. We could only guess at the age of the house but it had to be many decades old with lots of character.

Sunrise on Saturday morning was beautiful and peaceful, with lots of birds in the trees and kids in the yard.

The boys couldn't wait to try out the tire swing.

Alex was working hard to hold on...

...so he quickly decided this was an easier option.

Ben and Brynn were inseparable the entire weekend. It had to be some kind of record because he barely said two sentences to me over 3 days since he and Brynn were talking nonstop. They are such a cute pair.

Alex and Ansley were also great buddies, but more because of a common passion for TV and Elmo in particular. That's what made the weekend such a success - the kids all played so well together that they were almost always entertained and didn't fight at all. Even Ben and Alex were too distracted to bother annoying one another.

We adults found the best place in the house to be the back porch, watching all kinds of wildlife and relaxing in the warm sunshine. The weather was fantastic (warm days, chilly nights) and a welcomed change from our still un-airconditioned house in Perth.

We spotted kangaroos, emus, kookaburras, parrots, owls, blue wrens, and lots of these black cockatoos.

Of course we ventured out to enjoy all that Margaret River had to offer, including the Berry Farm, where we tasted lots of jellies and dips. Surprisingly enough, Ben chose to write his name on the chalkboard instead of tasting!

And I love this picture. A little background - Ben obviously runs faster than Alex but suddenly Alex is determined to catch up and throws an absolute fit when he loses. Which is all the time. So that's why he's crying and Ben is enjoying the pretty purple flowers.

The adults took turns enjoying a few hours without kids and Matt and I chose to have lunch at Leeuwin Estate. Hard to beat a tasting flight at a nice winery!


On Sunday morning we all went for a little walk hoping to see some more kangaroos. Instead, I saw two sweet kids holding hands way down the road :)

Alex spotted a brilliant rainbow.

It was a perfect double rainbow all the way to the ground. And since it was so brilliant, obviously the shower was pretty close and we got a little wet but it was totally worth it.

We also took all the kids to an outdoor maze, which was a lot more fun than I would have thought. It was just challenging enough to keep the big kids guessing and short enough that the little ones still enjoyed it.

They had several other types of mazes and puzzles and we all had a great time working them out. This was a step stone maze.

Ben and Brynn finished!

These two are so adorable. Ben absolutely loves Brynn and she's such a doll. It's a sweet and innocent first love.

The funny kids all lined up their chairs and then sat patiently while the paparazzi got pictures.

The boys gave the girls goodbye hugs when we all had to go our separate ways back to Perth. We actually only live a couple of miles apart but it was great spending an entire weekend together with such a wonderful family.

Now that we're back the fun is really beginning - we're on our way to Houston tomorrow! We got most of the trip worked out on Matt's blackberry in the car on the way down south so this has come together extremely fast. It was a sudden opportunity to head home for a few weeks and we jumped on it. Can't wait to spend some time in Texas with our loved ones and catch up with old friends. Now if only we could fast forward the 30 hours of flying and 14 hours of jetlag!