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Sunday 25 October 2009

stuff & photos..... lots of photos

well, the holidays are over and we are now back into swing of normality
so much happened that i'm not going to bore you as we'll be here forever.....
though i will do a picture run down of the last few days, lol
Wednesday 14th October
Me and the kids went to watch Hunter do his swimming lesson and then headed up to the chicken shop up the central coast.
I must have looked like a mad woman taking photos right outside of Ingham Chickens but it is so gorgeous on the green grass and hills.
Hunter loves it when i pull my camera out - he loves to chase me and grab the lense.
this girl - my little girl - is growing up far too fast
chasing me again - how can you resist that gorgeous smile
Thursday 15th October
After taking Connor to the doctors thinking because he cant hear me and was talking so super loud. But no middle ear infection in sight.
We headed to Belle's house up the mountains for a day of full on scrapping.
I do believe there were at least 2.5 kids per adult!
I had a few minor mishaps thanks to girls being girls but i did stay all day and got some serious layouts complete.
Friday 16th & Saturday 17th October
We headed down the farm at lunch time for the weekend.
Shanice and Anthony were looking forward to going for a hoon on the quad bikes.
And the biggest child of them all - trying so hard to get some pathetic air!
Sunday 18th October
the last day of the school holidays. we knew we'd get stuck in some nasty traffic heading home from the farm, so we decided to get up early and come home via the coast.
Bateman's Bay was our first stop and then headed up to Ulladulla, Nowra and Kiama then onto home.
It was the most stunning day and we had a great time driving and enjoying our company.
having a ice cream at the markets at Batemans Bay
lunch at Ulladulla

Monday 5 October 2009

i scrapped.......

i know, i know, i can hear the thud of you all falling off your chairs with shock!
yesterday i spent a lovely day with Trac scrapping and chatting away.
the kids all played really nicely with only minimal adult interference, lol.
i do love my days spent at Tracy's :)
you can't see it but my tree is sprayed with 2 gimmermist colours and looks great - my scanner made it come up looking brown still, but really it's green!
I attacked Tracy's scrap box and pulled out some random little bits, which goes perfectly of this crazy picture of my sister mandy.
I reckon with all the stupid "bird" poses i have of her i could create a whole album in itself.

Saturday 3 October 2009

Hunter Valley retreat

I had the pleasure of hosting our very first Scrap Girls Hunter Valley retreat last weekend.
It was very small group with limit numbers of 15 ladies.
We had the most fabulous time. We started off with a little wine tour on the Friday afternoon which only saw us seeing one winery, but after we tasted such fabulous PINK champagne we really didn't need to go anywhere else.
Belle came along and cooked for us. I think we all wanted to wrap Belle up and take her home with us to be our own personal cook! Look your work Belle :)
Saturday and Sunday saw us scrapping in the cutest little barnstay. It had such amazing picturesque views.
I would definitely say YES to another Hunter Valley retreat, but maybe somewhere that wasn't so open to nature, lol.

I even got to do a little scrapping myself........ i know........ that certainly doesn't happen at retreats for me!

looking down from one of the lofts onto the 2 areas in which we scrapped away.

mmmmm..... pink champagne and cheese on the verandah

Group photo on an original Cobb & Co coach

a little bit of craziness








and lastly......... an special photo in memory of NIC!
wish you were there huney.







Friday 2 October 2009

family day

This year we were lucky and got invited to Coke's family day.
Joh had raved about how much fun it was and we couldn't wait. Of course it was the day after i flew back in from Cairns.
It was a gorgeous sunny day. We walked in there were so many rides to go one and food to eat. The kids didn't know where to start.
The Sizzler ride (know by me as the Cha Cha) was their favourite and after about the 10th time they went on it i lost count. It got to the point the men just let kids stay on instead of getting in line again.
Connor did drag me on the dodge 'em cars. Which i hate - dont know why, i just do! After that he conned John to take him on.
The kids filled themselves with endless supplies of ice cream, soft drink, fairy floss and popcorn.
By 3pm i was exhausted and was a good thing it was home time.
Cant wait for next years.


Connor and Riley racing on the Giant Slide


Shanice concentrating

Shanice took Caleb on the cups and saucers, which he thought was just TOPS!!!!

Connor & Riley on the Sizzler - AGAIN!!!

Me and Connor on the Sizzler - yep, once was enough for me

Connor on the surfboard ride - he only lasted enough for 5 photos

Ethan, Brittney and Shanice

Thursday 1 October 2009

Warm, Sunny, Gorgeous CAIRNS.........

For mum's 60th birthday she didn't want a birthday party (although she got a surprise one anyways) all she wanted was for her family to go with her to Cairns.
It was a hard decision for me to make, do i go by myself and leave Anthony & the kids behind OR do i miss out and disappoint mum. About 3 weeks before the holiday i decided that i would go, by myself without the kids and without Anthony. It almost killed me!
But we couldn't afford for all 4 of us to go and it was important to spend that time with mum and mandy and bond with my gorgeous baby nephew :)
We fly up early on the Monday morning - 14th sept 09. I got to have Hunter on my knee for the take off, Mandy was busily having a little panic attack cause she hates the first part of the flight.
I'd forgotten just how gorgeous Cairns is. It was in 2000 that i was last there, for our honeymoon.
Mum had rented a house/villa one street back from the beach at Palm cove. About 100metres from the local pub and 200 metres from the beach itself. The house was only 2 bedrooms which is all we needed and it had it's own pool. Now i DONT do swimmers (togs, cossies, bathers - whatever you want to call them), but in the heat up there I might just take the plunge.
We planned a few trips for while i was up there and spent a few days just walking around Palm Cove and lazing around our pool.
So instead of me boring you with my long winded verse of events, how bout i do it in photos?
Hunter trying on his first pair of Havainas.
Tuesday - we went to Hartley's Crocodile Adventures
The place has been completely redone since we went in 2000. But Sollie the Croc, that was named after the dog he ate, was still there and that made me happy
Yes, it was my idea to put hunter in the mouth of the Croc!
we went on a little boat ride and saw a little croc feeding too
We saw another croc feeding in a big enclosure.
This photo was taken right under my feet and was not zoomed in at all. 2 male croco's having a barney.
Needless to say i moved pretty quickly around the boardwalk after i took a few shoots first.
Thursday - saw us going on the Kuranda Scenic Railway
While in Kuranda I spent a small fortune on some cute little finds. A gorgeous jewelery box, a glass dragon for Anthony, a too cute silver flower ring and some souvenirs for the kids.
We also went to the Butterfly house. It was just gorgeous inside. I wish the blue ones would have stayed still long enough for me to take a photo though.
Mum took Hunter back down to Cairns on the train while Mandy and i went on the Skyway.
I actually found out that i really dont like being that high off the ground especially when the wind picked up and started swaying the gondola!
We got out and had a look round at the 2 stops and did some stupid tourist things
Like this!
There is also one of Mandy being a bush turkey too!
Yes ....... i made her stand like that......but she still stupidly did it
Friday we went to CoffeeWorks........
I just had to stick Hunter in the with all the coffee trees to take photos.
Now i know what they look like!
Hunter on a cart with roasted coffee beans
I was in heaven in the museum part if the place........ so many teapots and coffee pots........ now i need to collect these as well as my tea cups.
What can i saw..........
Sometimes i do wonder if we have the same dna!
I had such a great time
It was exactly what i needed