Dynamic Duo of Gus and Rals: Home Again

We made it back safe & sound. Although, probably a little more tired than usual. The boys had an absolute blast in Australia. Mom & Dad did too of course; particularly with a little parents time with three nights away on our own - thanks to Nannie & Poppy!!! The cats & of course Nonnie & Pickles are so happy to have us back home, but it sure is sad to leave all the family in Australia. I know this time around with the boys it is definitely harder than usual. The boys had a really special Christmas this year. They of course were spoiled silly & have enough books to open a mini-library which makes Mommy very happy! We are going to celebrate again with Nonnie & Pickles tomorrow. The boys already got one gift because Nonnie could not wait any longer. They have an awesome stand & push walker with lots of bells & whistles now. The great news about returning from Australia is that the boys are officially over their swing!!! Yeah, we can get rid of it now, along with the snap-n-go stroller. I think Mommy & Daddy are over the need for the breathing monitors under their cribs too. I know the boys are much better at sleeping through noise as well after our trip too. This is partly because of the noise on the airplanes and mainly because Nanny helped us get over our "be quiet, the boys are sleeping" routine;)

Little run down of the long flight with two 8 & 9 month olds (as they were younger going over):

Having bottles ready is really the best advice when flying with little ones, especially since ours boys usually only cry when hungry!
Friendly flight attendants can really improve your trip - that and great seats - or empty seats next to you which we got on all except the LAX/Australia leg.
Bassinets on the flight were great on the trip over, not so useful on the way back - the boys were having no part of that on the way home. That meant we carried the boys on our laps for over 24 hours...and this is where the age matters as they were MUCH more active coming home & bigger too;)
The time difference did not really mean much to the boys - this was the best news of all.

Highlights of the trip:

Seeing Nannie, Poppy & Peta's faces when we landed.
Finding Poppy playing on the ground with Raleigh the first night we arrived at 3 a.m. - even better was Mommy doing the same thing the night we got back at 1 a.m. - after giving them much grief & laughs for doing it:)
Mommy & Daddy time at Elandra in Mission Beach & Palm Cove
Seeing the boys become speed crawlers while away & Gus learning to pull himself up by the end of the trip too.
Australia itself - how beautiful!
Taking the boys to the zoo - even though it was super hot out, they had fun & Nannie & Poppy probably had even more fun!
Spending Christmas with the Hamiltons - the first for me & the boys - the food was truly amazing!

Here are a few pictures of the trip - I took too many pictures that I broke the camera...and I had too many to burn to cds. We'll get them via mail in a few weeks, so look for more in the future. I should probably get to bed since I have had about 9 hours of sleep in the past three days.

Augustus - got to love the look:)

The boys at the boulders, Matt, Gus, Rals & Poppy