Sunday, December 13, 2009

National Vacation-part five (Adelaide)

While in Adelaide we were thrown more rain, lots and lots of it. So, once again, all of our outdoor activities had to be postponed or canceled. We stayed with our friends the Watts. We met them the last time we were in Adelaide for our branch temple trip. They had a busy week planned but were gracious enough to allow us to stay anyway. We went to church on Sunday and our friend Lyndy got a flat tire on the way. So they got it changed and we all got back to their house afterwards. We had a nice dinner together that night and that was probably the only night we actually got to see much of each other. During the rainy evenings the kids had to find things to entertain themselves. One of the things they found was Lyndy's basket of laundry pegs. They all had a blast with them as you can see.

We also got to take a trip to Melba's chocolate factory. There they have everything open so that you can see how chocolate is made and, if you go at the right times, you can see the workers making your chocolates for you. There are free samples throughout and then you can buy the candies and chocolates by the bag full as well. We spent way too much money in there but the kids each got something they really wanted and have enjoyed eating it.


Josh and I got to spend an evening at the temple and do a session. I have a special place in my heart for the Adelaide temple as that's actually our home temple and it's the place that I got to do the work for my grandparents and feel the special spirit that was there as we did so. We didn't get any pictures of the temple this time (I don't know why, maybe we forgot the camera?) but that doesn't make it any less special.


We also spent the day as a family at the beach too. We got there at a decent time of the day but it rained the whole drive there. We told the kids to pray for sun so that we could actually enjoy some time at the beach that day (though not swimming-it was winter after all). We parked the car and all of a sudden the sun came out and broke through the clouds. The kids were so excited. We said a prayer of thanks before we got out the stroller and went for a walk up the beach. We walked up to the pier and decided to walk out to the end for some pictures and a good view and as we approached it we saw these clouds-another very large storm moving in. We thought it was a ways off but then it started moving fast. We went quickly to the end of the pier, took some pictures and walked back. As we approached the beach again (and the shops) the storm hit hard and pored down rain.


We quickly ducked into a toy store for a look around and spent about 20 or 30 minutes in there until the rain stopped again. Once it stopped this time it was pretty much done for the say, thank goodness. We got out some Ziploc bags and let each of the kids collect a bag full of shells of their choice, walked along the beach, had dinner at McDonald's and looked through some of the shops for a bit. As our time was expiring for parking we decided to walk back and head home. We arrived back there just as the sun was going down. That night was Lyndy's birthday and we wanted to do something special for her. Nigel and Lyndy had to work most of our trip as well as having their anniversary and her birthday and we wanted to have something special anyway. We grabbed her some flowers, a nice pair of fuzzy, warm socks and I baked her a cake. The decorations aren't the best but I did the best I could with what I had. She loved it!




Finally, our stay in Adelaide was done. We packed up the car, once again, and headed out a little bit later than we had planned to. We decided to try and make it as far as we could that night but to stop someplace and sleep during the night. We ended up driving a little bit longer than we had planned to since the town we wanted to stay in had no room at the inn. We made it into Coober Pede right about 10pm (it's dangerous to drive after dark with all the kangaroos on the road) and found ourselves a room at a decent price. In the morning we went to the Old Timers Mine. Last time we took the inside tour and decided that the kids really only wanted to see and dig in the noodle pits so this time we walked through the outside and then let the kids each fill a small Ziploc with opals from the pit.





We had sandwiches to eat and then headed out on our way home again. We got home at a decent time and, after 30 days of going and going, we let ourselves relax in our own beds once again.




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