Ella and Lily in Canberra

We spent this past weekend in Canberra, the nation's Capital City. Its just a three and a half hour drive from Wollongong but is the longest road trip we've taken since arriving in Australia. Ella Rhys spent much of the first six months of her on the road. We were a little concerned about this trip since we were taking Ella out of her baby capsule and into a forward facing car seat. You'll see from the pictures below what she thought of that! But she ended up doing just great and even took long naps while on the road.

Loving the old . . .


Not so thrilled with the new yet . . .


On the way we stopped at a rest area and Ella was able to see the "BA" (birds). I wish you could see the beautiful parrots that were eating off the ground

Ella checking out the birds . . .


We went to Canberra to see Mark, Kate and Lily Jennings. Jason knew Kate from his time as a HIM worker back in 1998-2000. Kate and I had connected through facebook since having our girls just five days apart. Lily is the older of the two. Kate and I plan on getting together as regularly as we can so the girls can know each other growing up. And we sure enjoyed each others company, too.

Our weekend was relaxing, full of fun fellowship and good food. On Saturday Kate and I hit a baby and kids consignment market and I got some great deals. Was able to find a Leap Frog Activity Center for Ella for just $8AUD. I also picked up a couple of clothing items for her and few larger sized baby boy clothes. Yep...we're having a BOY!

We took the girls to Quest a con in the afternoon where they have "miniQ" - a babies play area. Ella and Lily had a great time in the aquatics area playing with the balls and water. Ella looks serious but she was having a ball.





Isn't it amazing how a little hair makes a baby look so grown up? I PROMISE you that Ella has some hair. Granted not much on top - mostly a baby mullet. But its getting thick at the back.

Saturday night we also visited with Sarah, Kent and Bailey (almost 2) Vidler. Bailey was delighted to hang out with two cute girls and we didn't hear many complaints from them either. It was fun to watch them interact in their own little ways. We enjoyed worshipping with the Canberra church of Christ on Sunday. Jason was able to share briefly at the end of worship our vision for the work in Wollongong.

This is the best we could do for a picture with the three kids . . .





We headed back to Wollongong on Monday via the Robertson Pie Shop. I'd had to say that I'm not one to get all that excited about a meat pie but these are good. They have a large variety of pies and claim the chicken and veggie pie as my favorite. Its really just like a chicken pot pie which is great because thats not something I make at home. And to top it off, the lady gave us a free pie because she thought they looked small.

It was a good weekend!