Sunday was a great day

We didn't have any plans for Sunday but it ended up being a great day. We had rented a car on Saturday and went "car hunting" so Sunday was our "relax with the kids" day. We met Felicity and her gang at New Farm Park in the morning. The kids had lots of fun playing together. Then we went to the Powerhouse for lunch and then the kids played some more!!! We brought the water guns with us so very entertaining for Shamus and Tycho.

Afterwards, we went for a walk along the water and Shamus and Darryl tested out the exercise stations along the way. Shamus did quite well!!

Feel the burn Son!!

Just a couple of shots of the beautiful trees in Brisbane. Some of them are huge!!

And I love the flowers that bloom on the trees. Smells very nice too!

Ok, back to exercising!!

Where was Breagha during all this?

Asleep! A busy morning/afternoon so she was pretty pooped!!

And one more shot of another tree...

This tree really is huge. I have no idea how old it is!!

After our walk we headed back home and I started getting ready for my evening out! Felicity invited me to join her and her family on an evening of dancing. It was really great. I had a super time and thanks again for the invite!! We went to a "Cloudland" dance!!
Check it out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloudland

Cloudland dances began in 1940 and continued until 1982 when the building was demolished. I love music from the 50's, 60's, and 70's so it was a perfect evening to me!! And the band was amazing. Really impressive. I also enjoyed hearing Felicity's parents tell me stories about the dances they were at in the 1960's. They actually met at one of the dances in 1968. Romantic! It was pretty funny because Felicity's Dad said that back then- you would dance with a girl for about 5minutes and that would give you enough time to decide if you liked her or not. If you did, then you would ask her where she lived. And if it wasn't too far then you would offer her a drive home. If she lived too far - you're out of luck because the boys didn't want to drive that far!!! Felicity's Mom said that only the guys had cars so the girls were always hoping that one of them would offer them a ride home.

Any excuse to get dressed up!! My 60's dress fit into the evening well. :)

Great band. The music was all from the 40's to the 70's (mostly the 50's/60's) ... and ended with a Grease and ABBA medley. Verrrrrry nice!

This singer was the hit of the night - Normie Rowe. Apparently he was a huge pop star back in the day. It was pretty funny to watch the older crowd go crazy over him.

Like Felicity's Mom!!
And Felicity and her brother laughing at their parents!

It was a really great night with wonderful music and it was really amazing to watch some of the people dance. Most of the people there used to go to the Cloudland dances in the 50's and 60's so they were incredible to watch. Great swing and jazz dancing!!!

A great experience for me.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!??!?!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN CANADA!!!

Halloween isn't actually celebrated here. Yeah, it's kind of weird since Australia is pretty much a copy of England. And very much the same as Canada/USA. But, no Halloween.
Apparently some suburbs are getting into it but it's tough to find decorations, costumes, halloween candy (they call candy/treats here - lollies), treat bags....etc.

After going to a few stores I did manage to put something together. I decided that we were still going to have the kids go "trick or treating". I asked the neighbors that if I provided the treat bags, could I bring the kids over for Halloween. This was fine with most of them (2 don't believe in Halloween so no go) so I picked up some treats and did up the bags, brought them to the neighbors and to Steve and Cari's. Then we got ready!!!


A few house decorations...nothing compared to home but it's a start. I'm counting on family mailing me some great decorations so I'll be smokin' next year!!!

...the kids were pretty excited about wearing the costumes...

Heading to our neighbors...

Down the street to Steve and Cari's...

Trick Or Treat Stevvvve!

So, overall, I think the kids enjoyed Halloween. I want to continue the Canadian traditions so that when we go back the kids will be familiar with everything. Yes, we are going back!! :)

And of course every holiday celebration means lots of baking!!! I baked halloween cupcakes for the kids daycare. And the kids wore their costumes on Friday. The daycare said that we inspired them so they did a Halloween day and the kids did pumkin and bat drawings/pictures. I also made shortbread cookies for my office and Darryl's office.
But, Darryl, being the artist in the family - he got very creative....

Oh, eyeballs!!! Yummy! And they were kind of spongey/sticky...he did a great job!! And they tasted pretty good too. Well done Babe! Makes my cupcakes look pretty boring but I don't think the 2 and 3 year olds would like the eyeballs as much as choclate!

And my office really got into Halloween. My manager figured that since I was Canadian that we really had to celebrate Halloween. So, she decorated the office with some great stuff and we had a costume contest. I was really impressed with the staff. They really enjoyed it so I think Halloween is going to take off here!! Well done!!

Lazy Down Unda

Hi all,

Sorry for not posting much this month. We have been a bit slack.

We went camping a week (or so) ago to Noosa North Shore. It is about 2 hours north of Brisbane on the Sunshine Coast. Morgan and Kate have friends that own a little plot of land in the Noosa National Park and they were gracious enough to invite a bunch of us up for the weekend to camp.

In short it was great. The spot was perfect. It has a small concrete slab poured for setting up your camping chairs with a fire pit at the far end. Half of the slab is covered with a roof and has a small sink and counter for preparing food. They also have a large water drum for catching rain water and outdoor shower. All the frills of outdoor living.

The best thing is that the spot is only about 30 meters to the beach. Oh yeah!!!! And what a beach. This beach runs about 60 km up the eastern coast of Australia. The only drawback is the traffic.... yes I said traffic. It is legal to dive on this beach with a 4x4. So you have to keep an eye out for them as they pass. Aside from that it was perfect.

Here are some pics!

Shamus and Breagha were pretty excited to go camping. On the Wednesday prior to leaving they had to sleep in their sleeping bags on their bedroom floor.

Catching some early morning sun. No hats and sunnies ... yet.

Breagha would entertain herself for the whole day at the beach. She is in her own world ... all she needs is a shovel, a bucket, an ocean and tonnes of sand.

The rest of the gang just "maxin and relaxin"

It wasn't just 4x4s tearing up the sand.

As always you have to share your campsites.

Some Brissie beauty

As I mentioned in a previous post, it's spring here. And that means there are lots of trees/bushes/plants in bloom. Very beautiful. So, I finally took my camera out to snap a few pics.

This is by our place...

Just off our street...


Thought I would also throw in some of the different types of transportation used here.

The City Cat....

It's great. Goes up and down the river. And there is a city ferry that goes across the river and back. So, lots of options. And the Cat runs frequently so you aren't waiting around forever.

This is an ute. A very typical Aussie truck. And they all seem to be white!

Another white city work truck.

More beautiful flowers. This is a bloom from a tree. The trees are amazing here.

This big shrub is in New Farm park and every time I go by it I think of my sister, Cheryl. She is TOTALLY into gardening and obsessed with purple. So, she would love this.

Just by our street. The colours right now are truly amazing. My allergies took a beaten at the beginning because eeeeeverything was blooming. But this past week has been much better so I'm crossing my fingers!!! There are some huge trees...and they are really huge...that bloom bright yellow or purple flowers so I'll try to get a picture of one of the them soon!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING CANADA!!!
WE MISS YOU ALL!

Ahhhh, the spring weather is HOT!

It's only spring here and it's been 30degrees the last few days. I'm going to melt in December!!!

It's really going to be nasty. I'm hoping that as it gets hotter, my body will be slowing adjusting to the heat. We'll see how that theory works out!

This past weekend was super busy for us. Friday night was a girls evening at Clo's. Went over for a "Stitch n'Bitch". There was 6 of us and only 2 did stitching...and the rest of us did the bitching! heheeee....good times! Thanks Clo!

Saturday was off to New Farm Park for a Birthday BBQ for Mike. Remember Mike? He's from Montreal and works with Darryl

On the way to the park....we found a very big spider crawling on the stroller! Darryl tried to get him off and he landed on one of our bags. Damn, this isn't even considered a big spider here!

Yeah, with the heat comes the critters!!

The birthday boy, Mike. And his son, Jason.

Shamus loves babies. He really wanted to hold the baby, Maddox. (Mike and Mireille's newest addition) Maddox wasn't too happy about it though. :)

B. Just hangin' out.


Then.......
Saturday night.
Off to Jen's birthday party! Jen works with Darryl and did a theme party. Dress up like a drink!

Jen - as RedBull. I can't remember the other drink. Hmmmm, too many and I don't drink much besides wine and beer so I didn't know half the drinks. And I think the Aussies made some up!!

Canadian Boys....Krispin also works with Darryl. He's from Vancouver.

Trish and Michael - Take 1.

Trish and Michael - Take 2.

I enjoy Jeff's costume the best - Souther Comfort. Being an American Boy from the southern states, he was quite entertaining...giving everyone some "comfort".
"are ya ok?" "do ya need a hug?"

.....Oh, getting tired but we still have Sunday!!!....
Off to South Bank with the kiddies!!

South Bank is across the river for us. It's the best place. It has everything that you would need to entertain the kiddies. I love going there. And the kids love the beach (man made beach). The beaches in Australia are known for great surfing. So, that means that the waves are quite big and strong and can be rough. This can make it tough to go swimming with the kids. South Bank is perfect because there are no rough waves to drown in!

Today I took a first aid/CPR course for work. It's tomorrow also so I'm enjoying a little work break!! And it's interested as I'll be learning some different things than what you learn in Canada - like snake bites, spider bites, jellyfish stings....

Tomorrow night we are going to Felicity and Nigel's for dinner and play time for the kids. And then I go to Sydney on Friday morning for work. Back on Saturday night.
So, a busy week!!