No, We Did Not See Men At Work...

We did not have any Vegemite, see any members of INXS, throw a boomerang or play a didgeridoo. We did, however, hold a koala, feed a wallaby, have about 30 meals with no kids, get sunburned, get bitten by many mosquitoes and spiders, sail the Whitsundays, dive the Great Barrier Reef (well, at least I did), go in the Sydney Opera House (just me again, Ted was sleeping), take a crazy jet boat tour of the Sydney Harbor (more about that to follow), patronize the oldest pub in Sydney, take my first helicopter ride, touch a Nemo in his anemone, go to McDonald's in the middle of the Queensland farmland, sleep in as late as we wanted, did a pub crawl in the Rocks district in Sydney, did I mention the fabulous food complete with no kids that belonged to me? Needless to say we had a fabulous time in Australia, not only visiting the country, but also being a part of the wedding. I have picked the best pictures that had people in it to share with you all. I say this, because of the 500 pictures we took, about 450 of them are of some sort of nature scenery or wildlife. I tried to spare our blog audience as much as I could. Here's a taste of our trip:


Here I am being a tourist on the steps of the Opera House with the peanut gallery making fun of me behind me. Ted decided that sleep and then hanging out with Lee (the groom) was more important than being a tourist. I begged to differ.






The view of the Opera House at night from the Opera Bar.


In front of the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

All the Americans and a couple of Australians during the pub crawl.


Later in the evening I paid homage to the garbage can where I lost my breakfast and most of what I ate and drank the day of the wedding. This was on the boat dock for the jet boat tour that we took. Not the smartest decision I've ever made.


April (the bride), me and Lee (the groom) at the wedding.


Note to readers/viewers: Ted was not responsible for his tie. He was in the wedding. I just wanted to clear that up on his behalf.




Ted and I in front of the Paradise Bay Eco Lodge. It was a great place to stay and very relaxing, however, during their summer with the 90% humidity and no air conditioning I thought I was going to suffocate.


A sea turtle by our boat.


The lodge is so remote all guest arrive by helicopter. Not too shabby for the Spriggs.


At the famous Whitehaven Beach. It wasn't quite as spectacular as our internet research led us to believe, but it was mostly because there were so many storms the water level was really high and had covered most of the beach. It was still very nice as you can see.



We went sailing every day while were were at the lodge on Long Island. It all made me very sleepy. I was very reminded of Heather sleeping through our trip to Puerto Vallarta years ago.

Captain Ted, not to be confused with Officer Ted in those sunglasses.


So this is the Eco Lodge on Long Island in the Whitsundays. It has 10 huts on the beach, 8 of which are used for guests. Therefore there can only be 16 guests max. When we were there there were 2 guests: Kelli and Ted. It was fabulous. We had the whole place to ourselves. We had a our own chef and boat. The Spriggs know how to vacation.




A view of the reef. Usually the water is clearer, but the freshwater from the storms make it more murky.

Getting out of the water after the dive.


Petting a wallaby. They are way more cute than the kangaroos. The Aussie's tend to favor them as well.


This is my friend Glen. He was very soft and cute. We spend a few quality minutes together for a small fee and souvenir photo.

Be-headed Penguins and Birthday Cake

Connor's birthday party turned out great. The weather was sunny and in the mid-70's unlike last year's threatening rain. Connor was in a great mood and had a ton of fun. What wasn't as fun was Grandma Patti frosting his birthday cake at 11:30 the night before. Note to self: next time we make a character cake, start earlier in the evening.

Here's the birthday boy and said cake









Camryn taking a whack at the Pablo pinata


Norah's turn


Connor's turn


Nolan showed his little brother the in's and out's of pinata hitting

Aidan had a hard time hitting his friend Pablo. It was more of a gentle tap.


Joshua finally broke Pablo, the beginning of the be-heading

Connor got a whistle from the goodies in the pinata. He couldn't quite figure out how to blow on it so he would put it somewhere on his face and make a horn noise. He was doing it all night and it was hilarious.


He also got a new hat thanks to the pinata


Every party at the Spriggs house always has princesses, guaranteed

The Spriggs Men

Mason and Connor stirring some drinks up in the ice bucket


Uncle Greg helping Connor attempt to ride Camryn's tricycle


Goofing around in the bouncy house


Maria contemplating if she likes the bouncy house


Family pics. Next time we'll try and get them taken on level ground instead of the bouncy house since these are a bit blurry

Practice Makes Perfect

The night of Connor's birthday happened to be the BCS final football game. Much to Ted's dismay, his fatherhood got in the way of his football watching so he was forced to have some friends over our house instead of watching it at a bar somewhere. We celebrated half time with some birthday cake.



Connor didn't quite know what to do with the candle.


Luckily, his sister was able to show him and he got some good practice in and was good to go for his big party.

What A Difference 4 Years Makes

The Green Girls met us at Polliwog Park in Manhattan Beach the day of Connor's birthday so he could have some fun with friends. Other than both of the kids coming home with shoes caked full of bird poop (there's a nice pond with lots of ducks and birds to feed, but it's the worst smelling place in an otherwise lovely city), it was a great day. Oh yeah, and there was the part when some mom yelled out "The boy in the red shirt just pushed that child". Since the park wasn't that crowded I had to fess up and acknowledge that I knew him. That wasn't my favorite part of the outing.




Camryn and Norah now:



Camryn and Norah four years ago.



CRAZINESS!!! It kinda makes me feel a little old.