13.4cm of rain has fallen on the Gold Coast in the last 24 hours. This was evident as we swept down the Wild West Falls ride at MovieWorld and it looked like the log/boat would breach the banks and join the props.

But first… We got to catch up with some old work colleagues of Kims who are living on the Gold Coast. And totally randomly another colleague from the same hospital was at the same cafe. Said cafe at the Tallebudgera creek had fantastic pastries and coffee. If it weren’t for the stubborn bin chicken and aggressive miner birds I would highly recommend it.

Kelsie and Ethan and a friend were going to have a dip in the river, Ethan chose to only go for a small paddle as we found out he’d dressed himself commando style and we weren’t packing a spare pair of shorts.

Home for lunch with steak glazed with Honeycomb syrup bought at the Carob Chocolate factory in Coffs for Mum and Dad, Cheese and ham toasty for Kelsie, and Ethan had Carrots and Cucumber. Kelsie looked wrecked, she was crashed out on the couch but was adamant that she wanted to go on the Scooby Doo ride again.

So braving the rain we drove out to MovieWorld, thinking if we got one ride in that would be a win.

BEST DECISION EVER.

No rides were shut because of the rain, and the park was basically empty. a quick stop to buy ponchos for everyone and it was thrill rides galore. in a little over 3 hours, we got through more rides than we did the entire time on Thursday, a final count.

• Scooby Doo: Family x5
• Wild West Falls: Family x3
• Jnr Car school: Kelsie and Ethan x2, Dad x1
• Tijuana Taxi: Kelsie and Ethan x1
• Road Runner Roller Coaster: Family x2
• Superman: Mum and Dad x1
• DC Heros Hypercoaster: Mum x1

Being already soaked through from the rain, Mum and Dad no longer cared if Kelsie or Ethan jumped in puddles. So they did and they had a ball, but more importantly, they eagerly wanted to go on rides, even Ethan lost all fears he had and even though he always wanted a hand to hold, wanted to go again and again and again. By the end of the afternoon, silliness had taken over, and ride photos were about who could pull the silliest face.

Quick pizza on the way home for dinner, a warm shower, and into bed was the order of the evening. That fell over at the quick pizza, as Domino’s couldn’t seem to get the order right and we had to wait 20min for our order, customer service was not a priority. Ethan was in charge of allocating the garlic bread. He had 4 pieces, Mum had 2, and Kelsie and Dad had to share 3.

Drink of Choice. Bundy and Cola.