Trip to Belbrae

It's been a while, I know, but I have been gone and very busy! I CANNOT believe that it is already a week into November!!! Where has the time gone?!?! Anyways...Belbrae was so awesome...We stayed at a place called The Belbrae Country Club. I think I might have given the wrong impression earlier though...this Holiday house wasn't actually at the beach like the last one, it was about 10 minutes from it...but you were back in a woodsy kind of area. It was really cool because where our house was you could look out the living room/kitchen window and see the trees and hills and stuff. It was absolutely beautiful when the sun went down (which isn't till like 8:00). They have some animals there and we were right in front of the fence where they would roam and eat so I was able to go down and feed the horse, 2 mules, and a goat that they had :) it made me very happy. The first couple of days that we were there it was overcast and one day even poured down rain (which was nice because they really need it since Australia is in a huge draught). We didn't do much Saturday, however us kids did go to the indoor pool, spa, and sauna that they had which is ALWAYS heavenly, lol. Sunday, Pastor Tim spoke as a guest speaker at a really small Baptist church. It was pretty nice and he did a very good job speaking on the Sounds of Grace. It was really really interesting. We went to lunch with 2 of their friends from that church at a casual Italian place where I had amazing pizza. Monday, Pastor Tim and Mrs. Loftis had to return for PT to get surgery on his pinkie finger. He broke it (again) playing footy (Aussie rules football) at a Men's Retreat that he spoke at. Chris also went back with them so that he could play in a soccer game. So it was just the 3 girls...me, Saralisa, and Melody. Melody and I went on a hike that took roughly 2 hours which was SO SO SO Amazing!!! We could never get really close to Kangaroos because they would hear us and hop away, lol, but we did see lots of little groups from a distance. Let's see....we went to the pool after that to relax and then came back, ate yummy spaghetti (haha, again Italian) and watched Australian Idol and Tarzan...good old Disney. PT, Mrs. Loftis and Chris returned that night as well. On Tuesday Chad, Erica and Leif (oldest son, wife and baby boy) came out for the day. We watched the Melbourne Cup and had b-b-q hamburgers...it was lots and lots of fun. Leif is absolutely adorable. To explain the Melbourne Cup a bit....it is a horse race that pretty much all of Australia takes part in. It is a huge event, and is even considered a holiday where people are given work and school off for it. It's amazing. They film pretty much all day and have a fashion-at-the-races part and announce a bunch of statistics about the horses and their riders...it was all pretty interesting. Anyways so that is pretty much the basics of what we did....we returned Tuesday night and I went back to work today (Wednesday). It was a crazy kind of a day because the church's 20th year anniversary celebration is this weekend and there is so much that needs to be done and, of course, not enough time to do it all. It will all work out though....these things always do. I'm going shopping with Amy tomorrow (one of the girls going to Sydney with us) so that should be fun....she's really awesome and laid back. One of those girls that is just herself no matter who she is with or what she is doing. I love it. Kk well I'm tired and I still need to get ready for bed so I'll catch ya'll later!

http://s222.photobucket.com/albums/dd19/jmktraveler/?bulkComplete=1194440107918

A few new pics