A beautiful Queensland winter's day

Pretty nice isn't it?

 

The last day of the school holidays dawned quite nice and warm.  It was too nice a day to stay at home so the kids and I headed down to Caloundra for awhile.

 

It was a lovely morning out and then I heard from my Uncle who wanted to take us out for a drive too.  I certainly didn't feel like being at home with two fighting kids on this lovely day so we piled into his car and headed for Bribie Island.

 

 

He took us to the fantastic display outside the Bribie RSL which the kids had a wonderful time playing on.  (We did try to explain about a few things but I doubt any of it sunk in).

 

They both absolutely loved the tank.

 

 

Then they had great fun trying to shoot planes, aliens, pirates and anything else they could think of.

 

We tried to explain that this is an older version of the guns Uncle Ivan used to fire during the Vietnam War.  I don't think that conversation sunk in either.  (I think a few aliens or pirates were walking by at the time).

 

 

While my Uncle was explaining to me how the above gun worked, I turned around to find my son here....

 

I'm sure he's part monkey and the big climbing thing at the playground later confirmed this.

 

We ended up out at Woorim beach where the kids had a wonderful time at the playground and then down at the beach jumping waves.

 

 

It was the loveliest day and a wonderful way to finish the winter school holidays. 

 

School's already been back a week but we've decided that it's time we started to get out more and do more family things.  We used to get out and about quite often but during the past year we've somehow let things slide. 

 

Even if hubby's away at work over the weekends, that's no excuse for me not to go somewhere with the kids.  We all really love it and it's creating wonderful memories at the same time.

 

xx Susan

We FINALLY went on a picnic

We LOVE our picnics but haven't been on too many lately. When I told the kids that we were going on a picnic and were going to check out a possible campsite, they were even more excited.

Master M, with an extremely hopeful look, asked if we were going to the beach. I had to burst his bubble and tell him that we weren't going to the beach but somewhere even BETTER. We were going to a creek that had LOTS AND LOTS OF ROCKS.

 

As my son can spend all day throwing rocks into water I can tell you that his excitement was pretty extreme...and loud.

 

Plenty of rocks were to be found.

 

Plenty were thrown into the creek.

 

The creek was explored by happy kidlettes.

 

I explored with them for awhile but the headache that had been building since before we even reached Kilcoy was getting to a nearly unbearable stage.  (I've been having some bad headaches this week so I don't know what possessed me to take a 2 hour drive from home for a picnic.)

 

 

In the end I leaned back against a log and let the kids do their own exploring which they loved.

 

 

Lunch was basic but very tasty and kept our energy levels up.

 

 

We've also found a place to come not that far from home and nice and quiet (until my kids arrive). 

 

It's in the Benarkin Forest near Blackbutt and is on Emu Creek.  Unfortunately the Emu Creek camping and day use area are closed now due to previous flooding (I think), but the Clancy's camping area is still open and is lovely and peaceful.

 

 

A few more shady trees would be nice but I wouldn't complain if I was there now. 

 

There's about 13 kilometres of dirt road to get to the camp ground which can be a bit slippery and bumpy after some rain but it was pretty good.  I wouldn't like meeting one of the logging trucks on one of the tricky corners though.

 

The kids have decided they definitely want to go back to camp although Little Miss R is not so certain now because there's too many corners and hills on the way there (she gets VERY car sick).

 

My headache abated slightly after I took some pain killers so was able to endure the drive home even with two chattering and fighting squirrels in the back seat.

 

 A BIG HUGE THANK YOU is a must for my sister and brother-in-law.  We called into their place on the way home and they looked after the kidlettes while I slept, then fed us all dinner before we continued home.

 

I LOVE FAMILY!

 

xx Susan

School holidays

We are certainly not run off our feet this school holidays.

 

Hubby has been away for a good part of it so I've been trying to keep sane with the kidlettes running rampant around the place.  We really need a big back yard, or preferably a really big paddock so I can send them out to run off some energy.

 

We've had visits from Grandad who sat and watched a movie with Master M.  I'm not sure if he could see much of it but my little man said that he was comfortable.

 

 

There has been endless baskets of washing.  I truly don't know where it's all springing from as I'm honestly doing 2 or 3 loads a day and when I turn around there's ANOTHER pile ready to go.  It's ridiculous!

 



 

We've also been experiencing some cooler, rainy weather so lovely warming, tasty stews made from next to nothing have been on the menu.  Oh and strawberries of course.  It's that time of year and there are plenty of strawberry farms around our area so they're never in short supply.



 

 

I've also got itchy feet and have been wanting to get away camping again.  Hubby's work schedule hasn't worked out great over these holidays and then the rain started so we'll possibly give it a miss.  Then again, if it's nice this weekend I may decide to head off with the kids.

 

One of my camping books is my essential table reading lately as I'm trying to work out some different places to go within an hour or two's drive of our house so we can easily head off for a couple of days.

 

There are a few other stressful things going on with extended family over the last few months too that I really won't go into here so I'm kind of glad it's been a quiet school holidays this time.

 

Hope you are all well and enjoying your time, no matter how busy or slow it is.

xx Susan