It's been a while...

sorry about that, but life does get away from me sometimes! Another busy couple of weeks - catching up with lots of people and getting things done around the house...the good news is though that we are going camping for a week from next weekend - this will be our first family holiday in nearly two years (the last was to Cairns with Ellen when she was 6 months old). I'm very excited (as you can tell!). So last weekend we set up the tent (which hasn't seen daylight in quite some time) to make sure that it was all in okay condition and that we still had all the necessary pieces after the house move. The girls were very interested - Ellen thought that a tent in the front yard was great...I'm sure she would have been keen to stay out there that night had we been so inclined. So now we're in packing mode - trying to remember all those things that we forgot on the last trip and also guessing how much and of what to take this time now that we have the girls along. I'm sure that it will be something incredibly obvious that we'll leave behind, like baby wipes or teatowels!

On Saturday we caught up with a great group of friends down in Brisbane at a park - it was lovely to see everyone, as we catch up so infrequently, and also to meet the new babies born since we met last. The gathering is growing steadily, with 5 new additions in the past year - although a couple were absent.

Sunday we had Tricia, Jason and Lachlan (and the bump) up to celebrate (again) Greg's birthday - I'm sure that Ellen thinks that birthdays go for a looong time. She loves singing the song though so doesn't mind. The photo is of Ellen and I having a play out on the front grass late in the afternoon - she doesn't mind being tossed around a bit as you can see... Photo courtesy of Aunty Tricia - still working on getting another camera.

Sailing Day

Well, we did it - our boats both finally managed to get wet (and not from the rain!). We took the two boats (16' catamaran and a sabot) our in the passage yesterday for a sail with the two sets of grandparents along for the day as well. The weather was perfect and we had a fantastic time - didn't forget anything, or how to rig them either (thankfully) and we had about 5 hours of sailing. The girls were happy to play on the beach or under the trees in the shade for a lot of the time, but Ellen did come out with me in the sabot for her first ever sailing experience and had a good time. She was rather tentative at first - as you can imagine - but soon warmed up to the idea and was out with me for about 20 minutes. Towards the end she was even holding a rope and interested in the mechanics of it all, so I take that as a good sign.

Olivia is a bit of a climber at present and not great at staying seated in a small area when there's climbing to be done, so she didn't come out on the sabot, but was happy to sit on the mat of the catamaran for a bit instead. Greg's brother David and his friend Tess came up for a couple of hours as well, so they were kept busy by the girls and managed to get a sail in too. The highlight for me was catching and passing a Nacra, which was also sailing in our area - haven't lost all my skills thankfully. All in all, a very successful and fun day, and the cleanup didn't take too long afterwards either, so we all had a swim in the pool afterwards to cool off before dinner.

All worn out

Well - the girls and I had a great day today, and by 6pm (bedtime) they were all worn out and nearly nodding during the stories. We started out with some painting, housework etc. (the boring stuff to get it out of the way) and after Olivia's sleep we headed up to visit Grandma and Grandpa Gittins who are caravaning right on the waterfront at Mooloolaba. Such a perfect location - and at less than a quarter the price of the units across the road! We shared a lovely picnic lunch up there, fed the birds and explored the area before heading back for the afternoon sleep...which was a tad short today, so I decided that a trip to the new Kings Beach seawater pool was in order. It's great - lots of different areas for the girls to play, and so many people to watch and be amused by as well. After our romp in the pool it was over to the covered playground for watermelon and then Ellen ran herself ragged climbing ladders and going down slides, going on swings, and running, running, running! Olivia and I settled for a couple of the activities closer to the ground and had a ball. It's so nice to get out and use all the great recreational areas that we have here on the coast - sometimes we get too busy and forget to make the most of them.

In the middle of all that I logged in to work for a while and found out that I'm now to head up a statistical unit, which I've had a long term interest in - I'm excited, as now I finally have something to get my teeth into at work. I'll be heading down to Canberra to learn more about what's entailed in the next week or so - thankfully it's not winter, as I'm not a huge fan of the cold and Canberra can be notorious at times with it's windchill....as I've had the misfortune to experience on many an occasion!

A moment of panic

Well, a quick trip to the shops for a cheap pair of play sandals almost turned into a manhunt (or at least an Ellen hunt). Ellen is an intrepid explorer with no fear, which I'm sure will stand her in great stead in years to come, but is a tad nervewracking for me at times. Even with Greg along for the trip she still managed to find her way out of sight very easily and was finally located half the KMart store away in the 'creams and lotions' aisle facing up the stock! A retailers daughter obviously!!

She doesn't do it to be naughty, in fact she was a little confused as to why she was in trouble for straightening things up on the shelves, however the message finally made it through. I love her confidence and independence at times - but yesterday was not one of those times!

Apparently she takes after me in this area (as Mum gleefully reminded me on the phone afterwards). When I was about the same age (2 years) I followed someone out of a store who I thought was Mum, walked down the main street of our town in NZ and was missing for an extended period (long enough that the police etc. were called) - they eventually found me asleep in a local bookstore. ( it's true - I've been a bookworm since even before I can remember!)