Sydney Excursion

On Monday afternoon Mike, Alice and I flew to Sydney for a quick overnight trip.  We had to visit the American Consulate to apply for Alice's passport.  Alice's first airplane ride (she's ecstatic)!

We were so happy to have a good friend from church stay with the other 4 kids.  And thrilled that Mike's work paid for the plane tickets and booked the hotel, which was none too shabby!

When the taxi driver dropped us off at the hotel that evening at 8:30 he asked if we'd be going out or staying in.  Well, naturally, with 7:30 being the kids' bedtime, we were staying in.  But then I was like "gasp!  We CAN go out!"  Thank goodness for a nicely portable baby!  Mike strapped Alice on and away we went.  We walked around the city for a bit, which was still very much alive.  We found a Lindt store where we enjoyed some amazing hot chocolate and got goodies to take back to the kids.  Look at all the pretty colors! 

The next morning we were off to the American Consulate which was on the 50 something floor.  When that was done we let out a sigh of relief (wouldn't be the first time we'd tried to do something American governmenty and needed paperwork that was NOT specified on the website) and we went off to play!  Having gone to Sydney for Christmas in 2013 it was fun to see places that we'd seen before with the kids.  We ate breakfast outside the gorgeous city library.

And then walked through the government gardens, where we saw this whole flock of wild cockatoos. 

And ventured towards, of course, the Sydney Opera House!!  (Insert operatic singing here). Check out the cool lighting.

We got to take a guided tour of the Opera House. Ooh, it was so fun!  We even got to see the orchestra rehearsing!  It was beautiful!

We did some quick shopping in the city and got ready to head home.  But first a few pictures from the hotel.  I LOVED this couch in the foyer by the elevators.  

And they had beautiful plant arrangements.  Like I said, nice hotel!

Catching the train to the airport.

We were home in time to swap adventure stories with the kids and put them to bed.  What a great trip!