great day.

the second weekend of jim's parents trip here, we headed down south to brisbane.  we were fortunate enough to have the same luxuries my parents had while they were here; our friend jess' car and a place to stay with pat and connie!

on our first day, we headed even further south to enjoy a day at...

it was an absolutely BEAUTIFUL day and, gradually, more and more people came out to enjoy the weather.

most unexpectedly, we were waiting in line for the bathroom when i saw a huge splash in the water.  low and behold, there were whales out there just having a field day!  they were so active and we saw tons of whale's tails - clear as day.  it was as if they were doing handstands in the water, seeing who could stay up the longest.

there were a ton of surfers trying to master the skill.  they were quite entertaining, and when we weren't watching the surfers the beach provided plenty of good people watching.

this picture offers a view of both surfers and a whale in the background.  so surreal!

unbeknownst to jim's mom, we had to leave surfer's paradise to get back to the city of brisbane in time for our viewing of the jersey boys at the queensland performing arts center {QPAC}.  jim's dad wanted to surprise anne with the tickets since she has been wanting to see the show for months.

anyway, those of you who know me know that i am terrible at keeping secrets and would really rather not know about them so that i don't spoil anything.  this was TOUGH.  for the first time the whole trip, jim's mom was making suggestions of things she wanted to do that night and i had to keep shutting her down.  i felt awful, but somehow we got her to the show without spoiling the surprise.

it was so sweet.  jim's mom was crying she was so shocked and happy.

we ended up getting takeaway at the frankie valli cafe and took it outside to enjoy the laser light show the city was putting on as part of brisbane's festival week.

the light show was fabulous!  there were lights on the river and on top of buildings that all corresponded with music.  it was surprisingly neat and the perfect way to kill some time before the show.  

speaking of the show - it. was. so. good.  i really didn't know what to expect, but i knew all the songs and the cast were wonderful with amazing voices that sounded just like the real deal.  i'd recommend it to everyone as we all enjoyed it immensely.