Sunday, May 21, 2017

Sunday, 21 May 2017

Monday, 8 May -  Mike went to the Strand hat shop to drop off his Akubra hat and have the head band expanded 1/2 size.  Then off to Costellos to pay for the modifications to his ring.  Later in the evening we attended the ward FHE.

Tuesday, 9 May - We started the day off with a Video call with Brea & Don - it was good to catch up with them and find out how the pregnancy was going.  Not too many days now before the baby is due.
Today we had a fire inspection and water use inspection at the flat.  That took all of about 15 minutes.  Then it was back to the office for our normal day of teaching and working with the YSA.

Wednesday, 10 May -  We had our weekly call with Grandma Haley - it is good to be able to talk with her each week. We had some morning appointments. In the afternoon, we went visiting some of the YSA members in some of the suburbs of Sydney.  It is always good to get out of the office, but even better to visit the YSA members at their flats.  They are really some nice kids.  We are thankful that we can get out and spend 4 to 5 hours visiting.  It also lets us see parts of Sydney that we would not normally have a chance to see.  Each suburb/neighborhood has it own flavor and ethnic identity - it is really quite interesting.

Thursday, 11 May - We held our normal appointments and classes.  Then at 8 pm, we hoped on a train and went to Seven Hills Station where Rhonda Crosbie met us and took us back to her home for the night.  It is always good to be with Rhonda and she is such a blessing in our lives.

Friday, 12 May -  We headed for Leura in the Blue Mountains about 10 am.  Keith & Anita Thompson had invited all 3 of us (Rhonda, Margaret & Mike) to spend the weekend (Mother's Day weekend) with them at their house in Leura.  We arrived at about 12:30pm and had some lunch.  Then off to do some sightseeing.

Saturday, 13 May - more sightseeing and eating with the Thompsons.  We also were able to get over to Katoomba and walk down into the valley below the Three Sisters, but we took the train back up the valley wall so the ladies had enough time to shop.  Mike wanted to walk back up, but that would have slowed down the shopping. We went back to Leura and the ladies did their shopping. Mike looked in to 2 shops that he wanted to check out and then walked the 4 km back to the Thompson's house.  In the evening, after all of the shopping was done, we went out to a Thai restaurant for dinner.

Sunday, 14 May -  MOTHER'S DAY.  I am so thankful for all the women who put up with all of us men.  It is a blessing to have such wonderful people in our lives and to make us men stop and smell the roses in our life.  We attended the Leura ward for Church services.  After Church, we had lunch with some of Keith & Anita's kids to celebrate Mother's Day.  Then Margaret & I caught the 5 pm train back to Sydney.

Monday, 15 May -  We had lunch at Phillip's Foote with Cristina.  Margaret & Cristina had the steak kebab (which Mike normally has) and Mike had marinated Chicken breasts.  This was in celebration of Cristina passing her IELTS exam.  Cristina gave Margaret the book "Lion" and Mike received a tie and matching cuff links - now he will look extra "smart" when he dresses up.

Tuesday, 16 May - We helped with the Mission Zone Conference at the Greenwich building.  And we got our annual flu shot - oh boy, such excitement.

Wednesday, 17 May -  It was Sister Wang's birthday today.  Margaret & I went out on our weekly visits to the YSA members.  We went to the Dulwich & Marrickville area. We were able to visit some of the YSA and leave messages for those we could not visit with.

Thursday, 18 May -  We had a full day of working on English with several different people and some of the missionaries.  Boy, English is a tough language to learn.  There are so many rules and even more exceptions to the rules.  We really feel sorry for the people who have to learn English and pass the IELTS tests to get special visas or residency here in Australia.
We got the news that Brea was headed to hospital and that they would induce labor.  The regular check showed that the baby was not gaining any weight, so the doctor thought it best to induce labor a few weeks early.  They are going to do this slowly and it could take up to 3 days.

Friday, 19 May - Normal day with cleanup on Level 2.  Thinking we would get home at an early hour,but ended up going back to the flat at the normal, late hour. Nothing new on the baby front, other than everyone is ok and they will step the inducing of labor on the next day.

Saturday, 20 May - We helped the Lems with providing lunch to the Multi-Stake YSA Sport day. The Eagle has landed - we have a new baby grandson.  We had a short video chat with Brea, Don & baby before they all "crashed".  Brea did so well in the birthing process according to Don - Way to go Brea.


The Three Sisters from the Thompson's front porch

Rhonda Crosbie & Anita Thompson

Mike Haley & Keith Thompson

Margaret, Mike & Keith Thompson

Margaret, Rhonda & Anita at Sublime Point

Mike walking down to Sublime Point

View from Sublime Point

More view from Sublime Point. Lots of high rock formations and drop offs

Anita & Rhonda At Sublime Point

Yellow Crested Cockatoo, downtown Leura

Yellow Crested Cockatoo

Three Sisters from the Thompson's

Rhonda & Keith walking the path to Sublime Point

Cloud covering the valley at Three Sisters

One of the typical Aussie homes

Another Typical Aussie home

Cloud cover over the valley below Three Sisters

Keith & Mike at Sublime Point - with cloud cover

The Three Sisters at Sublime Point

Guess where this is

Sign post at Sublime Point

Mike near Sublime Point.  The cloud cover is still there, but will disappear when the sun gets up. The cloud cover only seems to occur during the Autumn/winter season and not every day

Margaret near Sublime Point

Margaret

Autumn colors in Leura

looking out from the front porch at the Thompsons

Autumn colors, Leura

The Three Sisters from the Katoomba side of the valley

Starting to walk down into the valley

Mike & Margaret at the Gingerbread House restaurant

Margaret with scones & herbal tea

Coming up from the valley on the "train"

Rhonda is not so sure about this, but Anita is ok with it

Mike, Margaret & Anita on the way down into the valley

Rhonda & Margaret on the trail

The Katoomba falls near the Three Sisters

The Three Sisters

Part of the trail on the way down into the valley at the Three Sisters

Katoomba falls, Three Sisters valley

Three Sisters with cloud cover

Typical Aussie house

Autumn colors, Leura

King Parrot 

Anita & Rhonda kissing the toy soldier, Gingerbread House restaurant

Along the path from the Thompson's to Leura via the Three Sisters valley

The cloud cover was magnificent and quite the thing to see in real life.

Mike

Margaret near the edge of the overlook into the valley

Margaret feeding a kookaburra.  Apparently they do not mind people trying to feed them; although, they are wild.

Mike feeding a kookaburra on the Thompson's front porch

On the trail to the lookout over the Three Sisters valley in front of the Thompsons

Mike at the look out

The cloud covering the Three Sisters

The walk from Wollstonecraft train station to the Greenwich LDS meeting house

Margaret, Cristina & Mike at Phillip's Foote

Lunch getting ready to be put on the bbq at Phillip's Foote

Leura train station sign

Margaret going the other way on the trail from Wollstonecraft train station to the Greenwich meetinghouse

The Sydney Harbour bridge from Milson's Point

Another typical Aussie house

We do not have speed bumps in Australia

The Opera house at night from the ferry to Manly.  We went over to Manly on Saturday night for a walk along the beach.

Mike with the tie & cuff links from Cristina

Gelato at the Manly Wharf

The Manly Wharf at night

Baby Thompson on his birthday

Toby Clarke going through birth pains with Aunty Brea.