The Aussies were here

It was 16 1/2 years ago in Jordan's home town of Adelaide, Australia, that I was introduced to Jordan's long-time childhood friend, Dale and his wife, Lisa-Jayne and their kids for the very first time. Nine years later Dale and Lisa-Jayne would visit us on our home turf which in turn prompted our family trip back to Australia 3 years ago with the plea that they try-really try- to bring their whole family to back to the states to visit us as soon as possible. Last month, our long time plea became a reality.

It was no easy feat on their part. It was a costly, looong flight and arrangements had to be made for long term care for their 17 year old autistic son. But the time we got to spend with Dale and Lisa-Jayne and Deegan and Amber-Jean and Jordan was invaluable. Hands down-the best part of our summer.

It was fascinating for me to watch my somewhat anti-social husband banter back and forth with his friend as though he had just been with him yesterday in the school-yard. (Although the whole lot of them had such a hypnotic animated, friendly nature that it was hard not to join in).

The other bonus for us was, that in the midst of multiple work crises for Jordan, the presence of long-time friends encouraged/forced us to do things together as a family. It was a much needed respite. Among other things (which seemed to include a lot of eating), we made it up to the Alpine Slide in Park City.

In between thunderstorms, we were able to squeeze in a couple of rides on the Alpine Coaster.
It is a beautiful, calm, scenic ride to the top of the mountain.

Coming down however...is either a "thrill" ride or a "chill" ride depending on who you're with. The first time I went up, I was by myself. The last instruction you receive is "don't pull up on the brake. You wont fall out." Ya, well, I kinda ignored the instruction and pulled up a little on the brake. Heck, I've got nothing to prove. The second ride down was a little different. I went with Jordan. As we were pulling out squished in our little sled, the attendant guy asked us if we had ever ridden together. When we told him "no" he kinda got this evil grin on his face and said something about how it was a whole different ride. "Oh..and whatever you do...DON'T pull up on the brake." Any guesses as to wether Jordan pulled up on the brake during our trip down the mountain? God bless seatbelts.

Lisa-Jayne and Jordan Jr. claimed they didn't pull up on the brake either....

So..if your visiting from Australia, half way across the world, what would want the last meal you ate in the good ol' United States of America to be?

Five Guys Burgers and Fries..of course!

With cajun fries? Dale said "no."

Gabe and JJ

Lisa-Jayne and Hailee

With 30 minutes to kill before their flight, the kids made good use of the tramp and the rope swing prompting their very anxious father to want to gather his chicks as quickly as possible before "someone broke their neck."

Hailee and Gabe are seasoned veterans. My kids have had many more years of practice doing dumb, dangerous things.
Deegan shows his dad how careful he can be.
As I was saying...this prospective missionary looks to be careful in many respects.
No sooner had they pulled out of the driveway, my kids were planning our next trip to Australia. To visit "their" friends. Already we were missing the air-soft wars, the ping-pong tournaments, the multi-cultural accents by Deegan, the incredulous facial expressions from Dale the "fashion shows" from the girls, the double dates arranged for the boys and the intimate chats on the porch. We miss our friends. We had a blast and had our "buckets filled" in the process. Summer guests don't get much better than that.