Bryant Family Vacation 2016!

At the end of October we had the great privilege and blessing to go on our first real family vacation in over 2 years! We realized that we had been going pretty well non-stop for quite some time, and we needed to get a breather. One of our trainings recommended that every family take at least one 2-week vacation every year, so we went ahead and booked 2 1/2 weeks in Australia! Although an Australian vacation would be something we'd only dream about back home, from this side of the world we are only a couple hundred miles away! My uncle has a friend who has another friend that had a really nice place for us to stay for half of the time, and another spot was recommended to us for the other half of the time. We were in South West Rocks and Hawks Nest. Both spots were really cool and unique! 

We turned off pretty much all communication and just spent time together as a family. We went on hikes, hung out at the beach, went on bike rides, and ate lots of good food. Lots of naps were taken, and Sarah and I each read about 7 novels. We got to visit a couple of nice churches and were poured into and refreshed by the people there. Overall it was a very relaxing and refreshing trip! We are so thankful that God keeps providing all of our support so that our family can stay healthy, relaxed, and prepared to take on the rigors of cross-cultural ministry. Enjoy these shots from our vacation!

Little Bay

The town of South West Rocks from the beach

View of Little Bay from up top

Lunch with Kangaroo's 

Beautiful view at the end of our bike ride

Plenty of ice cream was consumed on this trip

Sawyer's favorite place to ride 

Light house near South West Rocks

Sawyer is walking like a champ now

Helmets were an acquired taste

They enjoyed the new experience of riding in the bike trailer

Searching for koalas

Lookout tower

Riding through one of the spots where we saw lots of kangaroos

South West Rocks

Much time was spent reading and relaxing on this trip

Coffee on our balcony at South West Rocks

A kangaroo up close

Serious picture

Sawyer exploring a beach that we hiked to

Finding Dory ice creams were a big hit 

This seemed like a good idea when I gave it to him, but...

Family walk

Sawyer enjoying swings at a park between South West Rocks and Hawks Nest

Enjoying some Domino's Pizza and apple juice at a park in Kempsey 

Sawyer LOVED playing in the sand at Hawks Nest 

Jemimah being her independent self and walking down a sand dune 

Now that Sawyer learned to walk he wants to do it all the time

Kangaroo steaks for dinner

One of several "goannas" that we saw during our time in Australia 

View from the top of one of the little mountains we climbed

Sawyer's favorite attraction at playground in Hawks Nest, a boat with springs

Sibling love

Sawyer and Jemimah really enjoyed spending lots of times at playgrounds like this one