What a year!

After some big Aussie kangaroo hugs, Chris left for the airport on Monday to officially end our exchange. Hard to believe it's over. We traveled across as much of Australia as possible and enjoyed every inch of it. The trips were a time for us to bond as a family while absorbing and learning about a beautiful country. More importantly, we made some wonderful friends in Australia and will miss them dearly.

A special goodbye to the Betchers! It's strange how we got to know them so well without really being in their presence. We communicated frequently and openly all year long via computer. We saw them on their blog hanging out with our friends and they saw us on our blog hanging out with their friends. Their friends told us stories about them as I'm sure our friends told stories about us. After a year, we feel like we know them as life-long friends. We couldn't have asked for more compatible exchange partners. Thanks Chris, Donna, Alex and Kate - we've had an incredible year!

Home Sweet Home

We arrived home early Saturday morning (Charlee's Birthday!) and the first thing the kids wanted to do was play in the snow.

Later in the afternoon, Charlee and Dave decided to play some shinny on the pond.

Later that night I joined Chris at the Niblick with some Holy Trinity staff that wanted to say goodbye.

I hope this pic doesn't get Chris in any trouble ;)

Goodbyes are always hard

After two days of packing and cleaning it was time to go home. We said our last goodbyes to some special friends and headed for the airport. The plane took off and travelled along the coast of New South Wales for about 10 minutes giving us time to reflect on the beautiful coast we spent so much time enjoying this year.