AUSTRALIA outings with the kids

While David worked, the kids and I explored Perth. The Aquarium of Western Australia was one of my favorites. 

Sybil giggled every time the stingray swam under her little hands in the touch pool. 

We had fish and chips for lunch, added a couple smashed pennies to our collection and saw jellyfish, pufferfish, starfish, big sharks, little sharks, sea turtles, stingrays and so many more colorful and amazing creatures. I think the exhibit they watched the longest was the coral reef exhibit because there was a big scuba diver in the tank vacuuming the floor. 

The boys said Scitech was their favorite outing - the Perth Science Center. More smashed pennies for our collection, more fish and chips for lunch, and they could have spent all day here racing lego cars, building simple machines, discovering the properties of thermo dynamics, you know - stuff like that.   

Noah throwing a paper airplane.

Another fun outing was the Perth Mint. Most of it was closed for renovation but the guide told us some great stories about the gold rush and settlement of western Australia. And then we got to see a real gold pour! They showed us how real gold is melted down and poured into a gold bar worth $200,000. It was really incredible. Gage kept saying "Wow! No way!" during the demonstration and then stayed afterward to ask the goldsmith a few questions. 

The boys thought taking pictures with the gold nugget replicas was so funny.