Tuesday!

I feel a little redundant saying, "today was awesome", so from here on out, let's just assume that each day was, okay?

On Tuesday we were invited over to our friend, Steve's, parents' house for a pizza and pool party. We've never met Steve's parents before, so we were all sort of nervous and trying to be on our best behavior, but there was no need, because they were super kind and friendly. We had a great time exchanging Christmas gifts, making pizzas in their outdoor wood fire stove, and swimming in their gorgeous pool. I wish that I had taken more photos of their backyard, because it was amazing.

Felix got a present!




And then Stephen gave Steve the guitar that he used for the three Descendents shows. That was pretty fun.






Felix helpfully pointed out the robot that he drew for Steve.




Felix gives the pizza one solid rock fist up.




Sophie and Felix harass Steve's dad in the pool. Or it may have gone the other way 'round. They loved each other.




Saying goodbye. We can't wait to see them again.




Stephen and I ran home for fast showers, then back into Perth to meet up with Steve and his girlfriend, Kerri, and their friends who are in a band called Grim Fandango. Stephen had to have a few minutes to rock.








This pretty guy was hanging out (dead) in their practice room.




And the whole crew.






Then we went to Northbridge to have Chinese food with Steve's best friend, Jimmy, but I didn't take any photos because I was too busy stuffing mah face.
And now we're off to the trots!

Monday evening

After the seriously awesome day spent at the beach, we decided to wrap the day up with a trip to what must be one of the most beautiful parks in the world - Kings Park in downtown Perth. It has incredible views of downtown and the Swan River, though I think that I forgot to upload any of those photos, so you can either take my word for it, or check out the website, http://www.bgpa.wa.gov.au/kings-park.

Almost all of these photos are of the incredibly beautiful yet often strange plants that are indigenous to Australia. I can't identify many of them, so use your imagination!












I believe that this is a form of kangaroo paw. It's most commonly red.








Check out the little bird, having a snack.


















A bee, doin' its thing.




And then it was joined by its friend, the ant.




I had wandered off to take photos, and my mom came across these folks, taking photos of each other. She kindly offered to take a photo of the three of them together, and then they insisted that they take a photo with her. Before I knew it, the whole family was in there, hanging with the folks from Bangladesh.








I believe that this is a form of bottle brush, but I could be entirely wrong.






I love kookaburras.








Sophie felt that this looked like a Whomping Willow, from Harry Potter.








Time go home after one of the best days I've ever had.








* I forgot to say that while we were at Whiteman Park yesterday, Mean Tim helped tourists whose car was stuck in the sand. I agreed that it was probably time to drop the Mean from in front of his name. But then earlier at the beach, he found a massive wad of seaweed, and dumped it on my back while I was blissfully paddling around, so the name sticks.

** My brother sent me an email saying, "haha, nice jorts", so to clear up any confusion I'd like to state that yes, I know that jean shorts are sort of tacky and not very fashionable, but when it's an hour before you leave for a country having 110 degree temps and you realize that you only have ONE pair of shorts that fit but that you could sacrifice one of your pairs of jeans in the name of comfort, you do what needs to be done.
So shut it, Kenny.

Monday

The fun never ends around here. On Monday we headed out to Hillary's Boat House for yet another day at the beach. It was almost 108 degrees, so we maybe didn't pick the absolute best day for it. By the time that we had parked, and walked over to Hillary's, we were all bordering on heat stroke.

Waiting for our fish and chips.








Still a pretty girl.




We did go for a few minutes of a swim at Hillary's, but it was way too hot and just kind of eh. So we walked across the parking lot to Sorrento beach, where it was instantly 10 degrees cooler and absolutely gorgeous. Definitely my favorite beach that we've been to so far.












It's hard to be Stephen.




And then the cousins arrived, and brought their boogie boards with them!




Mean Tim* built a little sand pool for the little beasties.




My foot. I was attempting to take a photo to show how clear the water is there, but kept almost falling over with my nice camera. But trust me, it's very very clear and pretty.




Um, yeah.




These two are pretty adorable together.




My gorgeous cousin, Dana, who tried to keep me from taking her photo. She had just taken one of me in a bathing suit while wearing a Pokemon cape and pretending to be Superman, so she had to shut up and deal.






All of the cousins in a boogie board train.




Felix is a pretty timid and skittish little guy, and he doesn't necessarily like to try new things. When the boogie boards first arrived, we asked him if he'd like to try them, and we got an emphatic "NO". But once we were all paying attention to other things, little guy decided to try it out for himself. I'm starting to figure out that with Felix, he just needs the time and space before he tries things, and he doesn't want people hovering.




He fell off a whole bunch.




But then he was doing it!






Stephen is punk rock even when at the beach.




Paddy, working on the sand castle/pool that everyone else had abandoned. This guy is awesome.




Felix having a nice ice cream after all that work. His favorite is vanilla with a Flake bar crushed into it.




We're off to the zoo now, so I'll post about Monday evening later. Ugh, I hate falling so far behind.