Sun-shine Aquatics: Morning practice, surfing, and more practice...

Continuing update from last night... everyone had a good first evening with their host families. Michaela really likes her house, especially the river behind the backyard, and is a bit "afraid" to get lost because the house is really big. Albert blended in very well with his host family and Taylor's little sister was all over him. He has a heating blanket in his bed that made him so warm/comfy at first but eventually he felt like he was on a grill (guess he turned the temperature a little too warm). Zack and Jarrell has a huge house and they played a lot of games last night with their host family. They also saw a koala bear on a tree in their backyard (everyone was so jealous when Zack told us). Kenji's family really enjoys having him around. He and Ben haven't got a chance yet to play guitar together but hopefully will later this week.

First morning seemed to be accomplished quite well. Everyone got up between 4 and 4:30 am, when the sky was completely dark and the stars were still out in the sky. Surely the host family members had to wake up every single kid (Sunny got up on her own with no problem). When the kids walked into the gym, most of their eyes were still half-closed. Kenji even forgot to wear his jacket because he was literally still sleeping while walking to the car. However, the kids did a good 30-min session in the weight room and then moved to the swim pool for their 4,800 meter morning swim. Feedback for the first morning practice --- Zack: "pretty good (but in a very slow and quiet tune)"; Michaela: "I don't think I can walk"; Albert: "Feel like I am gonna throw up"; Kenji: "tired"; Jarrell: "hurt". Hahaha, didn't they realize that it was just the first practice and it was only a morning one?

After the practice, everyone came back to Chris' house. Took a short break, then we went out to get some breakfast and surely the boys got more McDonalds' 50-cent ice cream cones. Then we headed off to Currimundi Beach, boys went in the water to ride some waves while the girls sat inside a beach-side cafe for some downtime (no-boy-around quiet time) and tasty milkshake. The boys enjoyed very much out in the ocean this morning with Chris and his buddy John, even though the water was cold. Now we are back in the house and the kids are all in the room playing Halo.

Well, I will stop here for now and more to come later. We will be going back to the pool at 4 pm for their afternoon swim (this time, 2.5 hours) and will see how they feel after. Enjoy your Sunday back home and we will talk to you guys later. Still miss you guys every day while we are having a blast here...

Dance video (Zack & Albert): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XXN6XicKic