Well we made it, after 5 days with Lucy, Adi and the boys, recovering from the amazing Orlando holiday we boarded the A380 at 8.00 pm on 5th November and took off fairly promptly at around 8.50pm. Dinner was served about an hour later but Adi had cooked us a lovely buffet lunch before we left them so I wasn’t really hungry. I had decided not to sleep on this leg of the journey to Dubai, 7 hrs to watch films, read or just keep awake.
That’s the easy bit as when we landed at Dubai we had 2.5 hrs til our flight to Brisbane and by now I was having trouble staying awake. However, the flight was delayed by 1.5 hours, so by the time I settled onto the plane I was passed sleep and no matter how hard I tried, I could only doze for an hour at a time. Those hrs seemed so long … we did have some rough weather and we climbed to over 40,000 ft to get away from it, we also had a 225 mph tailwind so the journey was only 13 hrs instead of the planned 14 hrs and we landed in Brisbane only 15 minutes later than expected .
It was 6.45 am on 7th November, the sun was shining and we sped through customs and security with the aid of machines and we were through into the arrivals hall in about 25 mins. Adam and Tj and the girls were just a couple of minutes later arriving and when Mia saw us, she collapsed shyly on the floor behind Adam. Only a minute later she realised who we were and was happy to give us the much awaited hugs and kisses.
Zoe too, was soon happy to hold our hands back to the car.
The first week was a bit of a blur, we were soooo tired after all our travels and adventures so eased into the change of time zone and young family life. Tjs Aunt was also staying for our first few days so we slept in the playroom on the sofa bed and lived out of our suitcases. When Debbie left on Friday evening we moved into our room and unpacked. During our first week, we did manage to fit in a round of golf, 
some shopping to get those essentials that the luggage didn’t allow us to bring, we watched the girls having their swimming lessons and TJ and I joined the park run (walk actually) on Saturday morning at 7am !
Week 2 we were introduced to the girl’s daycare and registered for picking them up or signing them in. Adam was away in Sydney for the week but on the Friday morning we took TJ and the girls to the airport to fly to Sydney to spend the weekend there with Adam. They had a great time, visiting the Harbour bridge, the Seaworld Aquarium and the Opera House. For us it was a bit more relaxing time, we had a cinema trip to see Murder on the Orient Express (very good) and dinner out with friends on Saturday evening. It was good to catch up.
Week 3 and they are all back from their adventures, somewhat tired but with new fluffy toys! I’m sewing ….. I have treated myself to an Overlocker – I love SpotLight shop- I’ve repaired pyjamas, sewn bit back on teddies, repaired Bob’s golf glove, sewn various buttons back on and now I am finishing an advent calendar for Zoe as I made one for Mia for her first Christmas. Bob has met up with his pals at a local golf course that he played at last visit when I wasn’t up to playing so he goes out with them on Thursdays and I get to spend some time with TJ and the girls.
This week was the last Superstars dancing class for this year for Mia and she was given a certificate and a star, it was so nice to be part of that.
Friday the girls missed daycare as TJ had arranged a treat of a Pony Riding morning – Mia loved it, Zoe was ok at a distance but we eventually persuaded her to have a go with Mia.
They had quad bike trailer rides and played with the toys, petted a chicken and then Santa visited and brought presents. Great morning of fun.
Saturday was swimming lessons, as they missed last weeks while in Sydney they had a catch-up lesson at 8.30am and then the normal one at 10 am. 
In between we sat by the outside pool, had some fruit and a drink but the pool temperature was too cold. The indoor pool for lessons is much warmer! This weekend Adam agreed to start putting up the Christmas decorations so we visited the shops and bought some new ones for the new tree and the girls helped put baubles on and were delighted when we switched on the lights.
Sunday was party day, one of Mia’s friends turned 4 and had a Unicorn theme party in the park and before Adam and Bob went off to the Gabba to watch the 4th day of the Ashes, they put up the outside christmas lights.
Week 3
The girls were so excited to put the tree up and helped decorate although Zoe was just pushing silver baubles into the branches quicker than I could attach them properly. Every evening before bed they ask to go outside and look at the lights, it’s such a special time to see the innocents of little children at Christmas.
Tj has been promising me a trip to the strawberry picking farm as she is always sending me photos of the girls with hands full of them. So we set off for a morning out with a picnic, alas when we arrived the fields were bare …. they had finished on the Saturday before so we just had a picnic 🙁 .
Tuesday was golf day and we went to Carbrook, a half hour drive away to the golf course with sharks in the lake and snakes everywhere, luckily we didn’t see any sharks or snakes but Bob beat me again!
When Mia was born Adam and TJ bought a Mango tree and planted it in celebration of her arrival, this week we have our first Mango that hasn’t fallen off before it was larger than a walnut,
The girls needed haircuts this week, so I went with them, Zoe has only had 1 haircut before but she was very good and sat quite still. Mia of course always causes a wow from the hairdressers as she has such a beautiful mane of hair.
Friday we set off for the Gold Coast to spend the day watching the professionals play, Sergio Garcia and Adam Scott were playing among other lesser known players, (lots of Aussies ) and the day was eventful and hot hot hot. Firstly we got stuck in traffic on the motorway, caused by an accident further down the coast, then when we got to the course, directed by google maps, we were told that public parking was at the stadium with a free shuttle bus, – GREAT ! the traffic was awful and after some chatting up of the “officials” car park attendant, he directed us to a place to park free where there were no restrictions put up ! yeh. However, we were now following some Officials into the course so when they turned up a little path, we followed and suddenly we were in the middle of the media area with all the wires, lorries, cameras and crews – only thing to do was just push back the shoulders and walk smartly through, looking “official”, through an open gate and we were on the course !!! no ticket check, no security !!! The course was in lovely condition and it was great watching the players, driving, chipping and putting – I’m sure it looked much easier than it is.
So that is just a snippet of our first 3 or so weeks here up to the end of November, hope you like it, you can comment to keep in touch if you want. I will do a monthly one as it’s nice for us to look back on what we did too, so visit my site a few days into each month to see what we did. In the meantime, Merry Christmas everyone and our very best wishes for a wonderful and Happy New Year. Love The Gallards x