Solvang

Three horses, a donkey, a dog and two cats were the animals at Lew and Genevieve’s place in Solvang.  Riley and Max had fun playing with all of them.  Genevieve took both boys for a ride on a horse. They walked, trotted and cantered around the ring.  Neither had ever been on a horse before so it was a great experience for them.

Lew and Genevieve were the most gracious hosts.  We spent lots of time catching up, chatting about old times, eating and, of course, drinking wine.  We got to show them the amazing features of our new phones and tried to convince them to get one or two.

They took us into the little town of Solvang, a Danish community with quaint Danish architecture throughout the town.   Kierkegaard came to mind as the style was 19^th Century.

 Riding a horse was the most fun thing I did there but I also liked swimming in the pool! There we had such a good time, we all wanted to stay a bit longer though we knew that Australia would be fun too. Finally time to leave we all said our good-byes and then headed off to LAX to fly our way to Australia!    (Riley)

Sunday afternoon (25 Jul) we drove south again this time to LAX.  Both boys slept in the car for over an hour – exactly what they needed to do to prepare for an 11:20pm departure.  We were excited about flying on the new Airbus 380, the double-decker plane however, we never got a good look at the plane because it was pitch-black when they towed it up to the gate and our view was obscured by the terminal.  Hopefully, on the way home, we’ll get a good view.

The boys are such experienced travelers that the 15 ½ hour flight to Melbourne was a breeze.  The new plane was quieter than a 747 but there still wasn’t enough legroom or bathrooms!