A boys day out..

To most of Australia, today was Australia Day, the Aussie equivalent of the US Fourth of July. To this Kiwi/American family, it's better known as The Boy's 12th birthday, an excellent excuse to pack a picnic, and head out to the Botanical Gardens.

For The Boy, it was quite a day. I mean, how often do you get to see the Navy do a demonstration of a Frogman extraction? (If you enlarge the pic, and peer closely, you can see the Froglegs dangling on it's way up. :p )




And then there was watching the pirate/replica tall ship sailing by..




Checking out the old prison out in the water...



Watching the F-18's and C130's put on an airshow..except, that didn't actually happen. After waiting forever, ONE jet roared past in one pass...and it wasn't even an F-18. And then ages later, ONE C130. As an air show, it was one huge disappointment. Luckily for us, we hadn't depended on them to carry the whole day. You can see the one jet below..peer closely at the circle. That was the best I could do since it came in and WENT so fast, and I didn't get no stinkin' second chance! :p



Peering across the water at the Navy destroyers..



Along with all the normal things like stuffing your face with super yummy cake..



Boiling in the sun with a game of cricket..




Getting rowdy in the water..




Messing with fire..




And then finishing it all off by sharing the freeway home with a million classic cars leaving a show. I didn't manage to get a pic of the Bugatti, from sometime around the 20's/30's, with two guys riding along in the rain, no top, goggles on, and CRAMMED in the teeny weeny seat, because a certain someone who shall remain nameless but who's name starts with *DH*, stepped on the gas and passed them before I could get my camera organized. Redeemed himself slightly when he held steady while I tried to snap this super cool one. :p


Happy birthday, baby. I'm glad you had a good one. :)