Winter Holiday's Australian Style

Well semester 1 is all done now and its time to kick back for the holidays Australian style. Of course what do you do during winter holidays in Australia you ask, well we go to the beach. I love the weather this time of year. The days are mild and the skies are blue.


We headed off to our local beach because the girls had been itching for a swim. The day was so so lovely. We climbed the rocks, rode scooters around the paths and built sandcastles until sunset. It was such a great day.


I love our Brisbane weather! As usual I had plans of keeping the school work going through the holidays but when we all wake up and see such a beautiful day we just head out and do...

She came Second!!

We were very happy to learn that Jessica came second in the Photography competition. Needless to say she was over the moon. I now have to stand aside while she takes the photos when we are out.




We head to Lomandra park for FHE on Monday night to toast marshmallows. It's been so cold for us here at the moment. I realise that in Brisbane the word cold doesn't even rate on the 'coldness' meter when we just have to wear a jumper, not even a really warm one to beat the cold. No snowing in for days on end, so I do get it that I have no business complaining about the cold. We did have fun toasting marshmallows though.



ps one or two more sleeps and the mailman will be here with a certain mission call. Now that I will keep you posted on!

Jessica Behind The Lens

After I arrived home from my weekend away we headed out for a bush walk. We live right near some beautiful spots to walk & this time we took the new camera for a spin. Jessica has entered an art competition in the Photography section. So this is some of the photos she took.


















































































These are the photo's that she submitted to the competition. One colour one black & white with a quote from Confucius

"There is beauty in everything, just not everyone see's it".

I thought not bad for her first time out with the camera. I took a couple as well but I can't wait to start my photography class next term.




























I will let you know Monday how she went.

Do You Know What Grown-ups Really Do?

After a wonderful weekend away with Ashleigh, oldest daughter aged 22, I discovered that there are such things as Restaurants . Not McDonalds, but real ones that cost lots of money for a small, but very delicious meal.

Ash & I went up to stay the week-end once again at Joan & lee's unit (thanks again) which is a hop skip & a jump from Sunshine Beach. After a nice sleep in we headed to Hastings Street Noosa, to find something to eat. Aroma's is apparently the ultimate place to be seen and to check out everyone walking along Hastings street. Aroma's cafe has, as Ashleigh informed me because she has been there, Parisian style seats and round tables with the chairs facing out onto the street.



The food was amazing. Ash had Eggs Benedict & I had Potato Pancake with poached eggs and tomato relish on a bed of fresh basil. It was sooo good. The little fellow in the photo above was our dining neighbor. Noosa is rather a posh sort of place with everything horribly over priced to lure the tourist dollar out of everyone's pocket. We headed straight to the bookstores of course. Ash & Matt are about to buy a house, so we popped into some home wear and decorating stores along the way. I went into all the stores that I wouldn't go in with the little ones.

Dinner was equally as lovely. King Prawns on sourdough bread and some relishy stuff and seafood pasta for Ash. Once again sooo yummy. It rained all the time we were there but it was so lovely to spend quality time with Ash. We could talk in whole sentences without someone jumping in, and just generally hangout together doing nothing really. Need to do it more often! Ash gave us a weekend at a Resort down the Gold Coast for our anniversary so Mark & I are going to take that one very soon. We won't know what to do with all that grownup time together.

It was nice to come home though to all my little people and Ash headed back to her house with Matt sick, 2 dogs that missed their 'mummy' and a mountain of snakes waiting to go into hibernation for the winter. Thanks for a great weekend!

Play Dough Play Day

This stuff is a always a hit & so easy to make. We needed a change from from the lego overdrive that we've had going on at home lately. So Play Dough it was. Oldy but always a goody!



This is my favorite recipe:

Shortcut Cooked Play Dough

1 cup salt
2 cups plain flour
2 tbsp oil
4 tsp cream of tartar
2 cups of boiling water

Method: Combine ingredients (except water) in a bowl. Pour the boiling water & stir. Knead lightly on table top. This will store in an air-tight container in the fridge for months.




Check out the aprons! These too are tea towel aprons. Cute hey. Now you can see why I'm crazy for them. I never knew there was so many cute aprons out there.