Esperance

So Cory didn't have to work over the Christmas and New Year holidays, in fact, he didn't have to go back to work until January 7th.  Lucky for us the Prall's, a super nice family here in Kalgoorlie (and Cory's boss) invited us to join them at their yearly holiday destination, Esperance. 

I cannot even begin to tell you how fabulous Esperance is!  It is this tiny little beach town that is so charming with the most beautiful white sand beaches I have ever seen!  The best part is it is like a secret!  It was not over run by people at all!  In fact there were a few days that we were the only ones on the beach!  And lucky for me, it is only 4 hours away from where we live!  (Apparently, that isn't very far!  At least, that is what everyone kept telling me.)  I am hoping that my many pictures will help to show just what a wonderful place Esperance is!

We also got to meet a new family, the Barr family.  I cannot even begin to tell you how fabulous and generous this family is!  They are also members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and they used to live in Kalgoorlie.  That is how they met the Prall's and since we were friends with the Prall's, the Barr's opened up their home and family to us, no problem.  I don't know how anyone survives a move without the church!  I love being a member for so many reasons, but this right now is an especially great perk!  You automatically get to associate with great people wherever you go!  You know just where to find them, at your nearest chapel!  The Barr's and the Prall's were both so generous and kind and welcoming to me and my family and I will be forever grateful! 

Anyways, enough of those tangents, lets see the good stuff! 

When we first arrived at Esperance, Karen Prall, who we followed down decided to show us around a bit.  We drove along the coast line and it was spectacular!

Here we are at the Rotary look out. 

 Here is another look out point.  Isn't that amazing?

 Then we went to the Barr's residence where we would be staying.  They have a beautiful home on a huge property.  The whole front half of the property is covered with these Blue gum trees.  Lily and Ava enjoyed the swing hanging from them.  

 Alex Prall, the six year old boy in the helmet, was nice enough to let everyone have a turn on his motorbike.  Cory was a popular driver.  All the little girls wanted to ride with him! ;)  All except Ava, that is, she didn't want to ride that thing with anyone! 

 Will was a huge fan!  He doesn't look too thrilled in any of these pictures, but believe me, he was!  He never wanted to get off!

 The kids loved playing with all the toys that the Barr children had outgrown.  These pictures are just some of the silly fun they were having.

 Isn't that hilarious?

 The Pralls brought this awesome bouncy water slide.  We couldn't keep Lily off of it, even though the water was freezing! This thing went up multiple times a day while we were there!

 All the kids enjoyed it!

 Ava was wussy, of course, and wouldn't go down the big slide, but she still enjoyed the little slide. 

 There were seriously so many great beaches close by to choose from.  The first beach we went to was Twilight Beach.  It was like 5 minutes away from the Barr's home. 

Is that not incredible?  One morning, Cory and I got to come to this beach super early without our kids and we swam out to that rock and jumped off!  It was awesome! 

 The girls swam out to that closest island and found starfish. 

 

 Here are Lily and Ava with their new friend, Katie. 

 Here is Will inside the swimming pool we made!  He had a great time. 

Here we are at the 11 mile beach, we tried the 10 mile beach before this, and well it ended up being a nude beach!  Haha, who knew that "Free Beach" meant free of clothing! 
Here are Ava and Will playing in the sand.

 Here is Lily and Cory soaking up the sun. 

So the only draw back to Esperance, if you're a mormon, is the church is super small there.  The Barr's host sacrament meeting at their home every week.  It was really spiritual to participate in such a small little gathering of saints. 

On Monday, December 31st, we went to some beaches that were about a half hour away, so a little further.  They were amazing, but I am lame and my phone died!  And so did Cory's so we have no pictures. :(  But these beaches were amazing!  We got to drive right on them and park where we wanted to swim.  And there were even kangaroo on the beach!  The first kangaroo we ever saw in Australia and I don't have a camera!  They were the cute little kind!  It was incredible!  Then we just drove down the beach for about 20 kilometers and took in the scenery and had a little bit of fun off roadin'-on the beach!!! 


Every night we got fed a delicious meal thanks to Judy and Karen.  Here is Will chillin' in the backyard eating watermelon.

 We couldn't get enough of the beach, we kept going back every day!  Here we are on the other side of Twilight beach, with the place all to ourselves!!  Amazing!

 Is that not the cutest little snorkeler you ever saw??  Love it!

 We celebrated our new friend, Abby's, birthday while we were there. 

 One night we went down to the jetty.  It was such a pleasant walk, until Lily insisted she was too cold to make it to the end!  So Ava and dad continued on, and they made it.  Here they are at the end. 

 The fisherman who fish on the dock clean their fish right here.  There is a very clever seal who knows that he will get thrown fish, so he hangs out around here every night.  They call him Sammy the seal.  Can you see him behind the girls?

 Running to see Sammy.

We went to an animal farm while we were there and Lily was able to see the emu she'd been wanting to see and a kangaroo. 

 Feeding the kangaroo.

 Will loved every animal. 

Lily was a goat feeding maniac! 

We spent more days at twilight beach with it practically to ourselves every time.  We got in some great sand building, boogie boarding, wave jumping and snorkeling.  Lily was a snorkeling master!  When she saw fish for the first time she was so excited she was screaming through her snorkel!  It was so cute! 

 

Ava could sit forever in the surf. 

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 Boogie boarding, totally can't see but Lily is actually out there boogie boarding! :)

 It was a nice long holiday, but it had to come to an end.  I think we were all ready to come back and get a routine again.  It's been a long time for us!  Here are Ava and Will enjoying one last ice cream cone under the trampoline before climbing in the car for the drive home.