Down at our new local beach

Morning tea - lots of Nanna's homemade cooking - YUM!
A gorgeous morning to be out and about
A very patient Grandad helped Ellen climb tree after tree after tree...
It's not quite the Sunshine Coast, but still a lot of fun at this age. An inspired Saturday morning idea - just when I had started working through the hand-me-downs ready for this summer and thinking about some housework. Of course, that can always wait, and with Daddy at work again, we headed down for a dig in the sand and a splash with Aunty Tricia and the boys, Nanna and Grandad.

The water was cold - as expected - and the only one who got really wet was me, when I had to wade in about 15m next to the jetty to retrieve the hat that had been bumped off Olivia's head during an earlier walk. Thankfully no photos - apparently Mum and Tricia were laughing too hard as they watched me stumbling around in the shallow water on the rocks - lovely aren't they! Only a couple of small cuts to my feet and some wet shorts to show for it thankfully...given my track record with being clumsy, I fully expected to take a tumble and get soaked!

The ensemble

It's true that my girls get their dress sense from me...
We were supposed to be getting dressed for our trip to the 'beach' at Shorncliffe for a play this morning in the sand, and 2 minutes after I had them in their 'beach togs' they were back in this lovely ensemble.
I knew that my wedding shoes were a bargain at $10, I hardly saw the point in paying much more to wear them for a day (that's so me I know!) and was delighted when there they were on a clearance pile - and now look at the wear that they're getting! It's true that you can dress up any outfit - just add wings, lei and shoes and a whole new look! Olivia went for the rabbit ears hair accessories, sparkly dress worn as a half skirt and the obligatory wings - so watch out for these new styles this summer!

End of an era...

Today we sold the shop. We call it "Daddy's Shop", but really it's Daddy's and Uncle Bruce's, and today it sold to a lovely couple from NZ. Greg has owned and worked in the shop since before I remet him, and it's always been a part of our married and family lives, so things will be very different for us in the coming weeks and months - in a good way. Greg has to provide 4 weeks of training to the new people, so will keep on driving up there for the next month, but after that, we no longer have any fixed ties to the coast.

Greg had done a terrific job at the shop - winning the best small store in Qld last year and coming 2nd in Australia, massive changes to the store itself, the ways things are run and the layout etc., so he has much to be proud and thankful for, but when I talked with him last night, he's ready for it to be gone now - I don't think that there's any unfinished business there for him. I don't know yet quite what to feel - can hardly believe that it's finally happening, but looking forward to what's ahead in God's plan for our family.

Thanks for all those who have been praying for this day to come - it's here and while there's still a mountain of work for me to do on the books to close things down, the light at the end of the tunnel is starting to seem more real...

Short break away

Ready to head out - each departure carefully planned...
Nanna and her famous rainbow hat
Sisters in the sand


When I was looking for accommodation for Greg for the weekend so that he didn't have to do the 2 hours of driving each day on top of the 18 hours or so of work he was doing, I found (thanks to wotif.com) a place with space for all of us for the same price (less actually) than what I could get for just him. It sounded great - 3 bedroom penthouse with water views - and for such a cheap price...so with Nanna coming to keep the girls and I in check, we headed up the coast for the weekend.

On arriving we discovered why it was so cheap - sure it was on the top floor, but there was no lift! Lucky for me my Mum has a good sense of humour!! So I hauled up the 4 storeys worth of stairs all the gear that we had packed - starting to question whether indeed it was all necessary...a good lesson for packing a tad lighter next time!! Nanna herded the girls and got the giggles when she hit the 3rd floor and the numbers so far had been 1,2,3,4...and we were number 10 - I think she thought it might be best to turn around at that point - fortunately, for some strange reason the next floor had 10,11 so we kept on going.

Anyway - despite the extra exercise that we gained each time we left the unit to do anything, we had a good time away - a nice change of scenery, and the biggest sandpit (as Olivia keeps telling me) at the beach kept us entertained, even if the water was rather cold. Greg basically just slept there - was gone before we were up in the morning, and back late each night, so it was good that we had organised some accommodation for him.

Needless to say, our 5th wedding anniversary on Saturday was low key! Will have to celebrate some other time...

Mini-Olympics

The medallists on their triumphant return home...
The inscription on the gold medal
Ellen 'the ambitious'
Being at work, I missed the event, but the girls had a mini-Olympics at 'Kindy' this week and came home raving about it. Apparently they weren't overly successful in the egg and spoon race (obviously they have my sadly lacking coordination), but loved carrying the flame and receiving their gold medals and flowers (you probably can't pick them in the photos, but they're made with pipe cleaners and paper).
Ellen is rather interested in the real Olympics and has had opportunity to watch a number of different sports over the past two weeks - after nearly each one (there are a few exceptions - thankfully!), she tells me that she's going to be doing that one day. So far we're up for the equestrian events (typical girl there!), swimming, gymnastics, diving, cycling and sailing - all of those sound expensive and incredibly time intensive, but she already loves her bike, so perhaps I'll encourage her on that front...

The MV Doulos

Captain Reuben - such a happy little chap!




The girls and I went in for a tour of the OM ship the 'Doulos' today with our friends Kerri, Phil and baby Reuben. We had a ball - it's so interesting going over a ship at the best of times, and I'm particularly interested with my Navy background. It's so much more than just a ship, and yes - I did snaffle some bargains at the huge on-board bookshop afterwards (although I thought I was rather restrained!).

The girls were a little stretched to keep entertained through the talking parts of the tour, but on the whole were remarkably good as we climbed up and down narrow stairs, inspected the engines, the bridge, cabins, galley, fire station etc. - lucky that I had the forethought to pack lots of snacks though - for those standing and waiting moments...

Thanks Aunty Bear and Uncle Phil for going with us - I really appreciated the help with the girls, and we all enjoyed catching up with you as well!

MOPS in the park

Due to the holiday for school kids this week on Thursday, MOPS was moved to the park to let the older siblings come along (and the faithful helpers have a day off), and we had a great time. MOPS is heaps of fun for us all normally, but it was good just to chat without the program leading the discussion - and the kids just love a good park! I loooove daytime sleeps - I know that they can't go on forever, but while they are I'm really enjoying them, and a good run at the park is a great way to ensure some peace and quiet for 2-3 hours in an afternoon (which is rather a bonus when the Olympics are on, although not too much housework getting done...hmm!)

Cookies

The girls love to cook - what child doesn't! And so on Monday, while I was cooking some dinners for the Church freezer we decided to make choc-chip cookies together using Nanna's yummy recipe. We had a ball, and afterwards it was relatively easy to see who had made which ones - Olivia has the squish and press flat technique, Ellen has rounding them into little balls sorted out perfectly, while Mummy tried to be adventurous and make them into letters of our names (with varying success) - they all tasted great though!

Girls

Why do girls squeal? I don't recall ever being a sqealer (correct me if I'm wrong Mum), but my girls seems to delight in the noise and egg each other on. Tonight I'm sure the neighbours thought that I was doing something painful to them while they were having their bath - although the slightly off key and hysterical version of 'Row, Row, Row your Boat' in between may be the only sign to the contrary. The previous people who lived here didn't have young children, so I'm sure that the neighbours don't know what's hit them!

And, on another note - Greg is working shifts all over the place again, so our family routine is right out the window, and often the girls and I have the dinner and bedtime routine together. The last thing before prayers and bed is reading the Bible, and tonight it was the crucifixion and resurrection - we had to keep reading through 3 of the stories to get to where Jesus is alive again, else they get a bit concerned, and it's always interesting what sticks in their heads. Tonight Olivia was fascinated that they wrapped Jesus in the cloths and put him in 'his room' and it was very dark - I had that small portion of the story retold to me a few dozen times between then and bed. Despite my attempts to highlight the important parts of the story and to bring it to their level... It's a lot to take in for a little person I know - but they are so earnest in trying to understand it all - some of the questions really stretch me at times...and they're only 2 and 3, I really need to get to a KYB!

Sickies

No, I'm not taking one - far too busy at my new role in town to even think about that, but we have been under the weather around here again lately. Olivia (in her usual style) contracted some unusual thing that even had the doctors scratching their heads, but which basically involved some strange spots covering her and lots of vomiting - in between which she was for the most part pretty happy. So apart from stacks of washing and keeping ourselves away from people for a bit, it was all fairly minor - and thankfully the rest of the family didn't get that. Although we've all had something different this week affecting each of us - how that happens I have no idea!
Getting back to normal now, so will hopefully be back on top of things and catching up with people again soon.

Climbing the walls

ok - not the walls, but the local playground equipment. We went this morning to show Daddy another playground in the area (affectionately known by the Smiths as 'Bob the Builder playground'), and had a ball checking out the new things to play on. Last time I went there I think Ellen was about 8 months old, so it's been a while!

For those who don't know - prior to remeeting and marrying Greg I used to do a lot of climbing - sometimes a couple of nights a week in at the cliffs and then at the Glasshouse mountains some weekends, but it's been a long few years since I've had the opportunity. I can't wait to show the girls how great it is, but in the meantime, the park gave us all a chance to have a pretty basic turn - I don't recommend adult size sandshoes in kids playground equipment though - I just thought it too cold to take them off... will have to find and dust off my real climbing shoes one day - they're in a box around here somewhere....