A Wonderful Golden Weekend at the Gold Coast!

           So about a week ago, on a weekend when we only had Lucy and Esther, Mick had set up and planned as a belated Valentines present for me and belated birthday gift for him, for us to go to the Gold Coast for the weekend.  I was so thankful to Mick's wonderful parents Jeff and Wendy for watching Lucy and Esther for two nights so that Mick and I could get away!!! 
          Now for those of you who don't know the geography I will explain, the Sunshine Coast where we live is more north and then as you head about an hour south you go through the city of Brisbane, then further south beyond that, about another hour, is the Gold Coast.  The Gold Coast is very much like the Sunshine Coast with gorgeous beaches etc, however it is also a lot more populated and has a much bigger tourist industry...  I could totally see what Mick meant as we got closer and closer to our destination...  And when we finally arrived to Surfer's Paradise I was greeted with a large "city" of skyscrapers, none of which were offices or corporate buildings but one resort after another... Everywhere resorts...  It was awesome... Mick and I stayed at the OutRigger Resort which was a beautiful place and not too cheap, but not the most expensive either.  Our room had an amazing view of the ocean and the city and Mick and I wished we were staying longer!  In the end however, even though we only stayed for one night, it was so much fun!  And such a wonderful break... 

Mick inside our room.

Outside on our balconly.

The view from our room...

            
 That evening we had made plans for Mick to take me to his all time favourite Japanese restruant that he hadn't been to in almost a decade!  So we got all dressed up and found the place on our GPS and I hoped the place was still there, and still as nice as Mick remembered!  A lot can change in ten years... We both certainly know that.. hahah.  But when we arrived we found the resturaunt just as wonderful as ever.  And sure enough on the menu was the dish that Mick had been craving ever since he had it ten years ago.  I cannot remember what it is called, I will have to ask Mick, but simply what it involved was a large plate of chopped raw veggies, and dry rice noodles, and even "fish cakes", and then they brought out a large plate of raw, thinly shaved meat, two bowls of raw egg, and a hot griddle for us to cook on.  Then the Japanese waitress showed us how to cook the veggies first, then pour in the dark savoury sauce and then the meat...  Then we once it was cooked through we pulled it out with chop sticks and dipped it in the raw egg and then ate it over rice... I am getting hungry again just thinking of it!  It was DEVINE!!!  And such a fun dining experience!!!!

About to eat our delicious dinner!!! Yuuummm!!!



Mick is super excited to eat his favourite meal!





There was a GORGEOUS moon out that night and I was determined to capture it!

   

Large ferris wheel in the middle of the city.

    
   Then after dinner we went walking along the coastline and through the very crowed and loud shopping area where we saw about 20 different "hen's night's" - (bachelorette parties) and "expecting-mother-to-be" parties...  It was pretty shocking, some of the things we saw... hmmm.. Including a party with the bride to be dressed in a cheap wedding dress and carring a large, blown up... um part of the male anatomy... As well as another hen's party where all the girls were not only wearing the standard dresscode of the night (short, tight, skimpy, slutty dresses, and hooker heels) but also in this group, every girl was wearing a frizzy, big hair wig...  It was quite a show.  I'm sure we saw many people who were about to have a long, druken night of partying and random sex with random strangers...  And sure enough the next morning as Mick and I rode the elevator down to check out of our hotel we shared it with a very, loud, obnoxious girl, wearing the same dress and heels from the night before all the way down to her frizzy wig, and the guy she went home with... hahaha.  Wow. 
            After we checked out of our room we went to a huge nearby Casino that apparently had the most devine all-you-can-eat morning brunch.  And it certainly did...  In the end as we headed back home to jobs and kids and responsibility Mick and I felt much better. 

The view of the pool while we ate our brunch.

Mick tucking in... ahhh soooo good!

School Disco!!! Wooo Hoo!!!

        So the other week the girls had a school disco.  They were all very excited to go and so we picked up Taylah, Carsen, and Lana, and they all got dressed up in pretty clothes.  In the end they all had a blast hanging out with their school friends and dancing the night away.

Ready for the dance

Fixing Taylah's flower



Taylah, Lana, and friend



Lucy and Esther having fun





Dancing with Lana

Carsen getting down

Ooooohhh... Carsey found a boy :)

Esther doing the Mackarana (I know I butchered that spelling)... thought I would never see the day...

A Weekend of Fun

           Ok so I know I have been so very bad, not posting on here much lately... And I realise that many of my posts are begining like this... hmmm.  So finally I have a day off and I am in to mood to blog to you all!  Yay! The stars have aligned! hehehe... So there are a few fun things I wanted to blog about, they are in no real particular order.  And the first is our fun weekend with all the girls.  A few weeks back, it was hot and sunny and Mick and I were trying to prepare for a whole Saturday of bored little girls, getting ever hotter, with nothing to do.  So Mick had a great idea to take us all to a campground he used to go to as a little boy with a great swimming area.  We were all very excited.  It was a good hour drive away and so we loaded up the car with snacks, beach toys, towels, and crazy little girls.  We packed a yummy picnic lunch to eat once we got there. 
              
            When we finally got there and were driving down that rocky road however, we came to a place where the river runs right across the road... Now normally Mick says it is very shallow and you just drive across... however that day, due to so much heavy rainfall from the days before, the river was raging, and it was not so shallow...  Signs had been placed up at the side of the road saying not to cross and that it was too deep for two wheel drive vehicles...  And so we watched in utter dismay as a couple big, burly four wheel drives passed us by and forged easily through the river... on to fun, swimming, and Mick's boyhood camping ground...  We were tempted for a few breif moments to still try... maybe we could make it... Mick got out and walked down closer to the river to have a better look... We even considered parking the car and crossing it ourselves and walking the rest of the way... however it was still a good distance past the river, and we had ALL five girls with us all the way down to little Lana... and the idea of hoofing it did not seem fun. 
          
              And so it was, we turned our car around the tried to revise our plan as all the kids behind us began to echo in a chorus of dismay.  Down the road I had seen a picturesque park with picnic tables and so we decided to atleast stop there to enjoy some lunch. 

Silly girls...

          After we had some yummy lunch we decided to venture down another road that seemed to point to another campground.  When we got to the end we were delighted to find a great place to swim!  The girls were very excited and Mick and I were relieved ...

Lucy was being so cute carrying Lana down...

Mick and the girls sunscreening up...

Mick and Lana

Swimming hole!  No crocs... atleast I hoped not... heheheh...

Swimming

Op... yep... there's a crocodile!

Nice day...

The Year of Two Christmas's

            So this year we had the wonderful pleasure to go back to America for the Christmas Holidays.  We had been planning it for a year and a half and let me tell you that the excitement had built to a fever pitch.  And yet still, leaving my new, sunny home in Oz was bittersweet.  We were leaving behind our three youngest daughter's, who would be spending Christmas with their mum while we took Lucy and Esther over to spend it with their dad.  Knowing we would be having Christmas this year with no kids what so ever was like a dream come true, and yet... hmm... a bit sad.  We had put up our Christmas tree, artificial of course, and it would sit there all alone for a month in our silent house.  As we left early that morning I took one last look over at our tree and at our silent cleaned home and new I would be happy to come back. 

Lucy and Es were exhausted after our 13 hour flight.
This is Lucy at the LA Airport.

      Our trip was wonderful and full of new memories, but I must admitt to you it also made me not want to set foot near or in an airport for the rest of my life... If you have never made the looooooong journey from Australia to America, I will just tell you that it is exhausting... It is always quite amazing to me though to witness the utter miracle of how the female flight attendants on our thirteen hour flight are able to look as fresh as ever, with perfectly set hair and makeup not only in the beginig of our flight, but at the end too!  While I am getting off with ratty hair, smeared makeup, and rumpled clothes feeling completly gross I just stare over in utter amazement at their bright smiles... it is really miraculous and I don't get it...  But all in all, really, the plane ride itself is actually pretty enjoyable... I mean really I can pick to watch any show or movie I want and by the time I go through about four movies and some drug induced sleep you're arriving at your destination.  What I really just HATE and DESPISE... it all the crap to get on that plane... all the luggage... Eight large suitcases, four carryon's, and four back packs... and all the lines, and security checks, confirming tickets, renting cars, going through customs, and border patrol... it is stressful, and tiring... In the end, by the time we got back home to Australia I had cried twice... almost three times... once openly in front of perfect strangers in the middle of the airport... and been on the verge of it probably a few more.  Whew!!!  (no, I am not pregnant)

The very first place we went with my sister Corinne and her husband Jason was to our
favourite sushi place... BENTOS!!! 

          We had a blast in Oregon with my sister and her husband and her woderful, crazy, and always hillarious kids.  We ate out a TON and made our selves sick... It was hard to say no though when we knew this would be our only chance to eat at these places for another year and a half... And at such incredibly cheap prices too!  One very memorable day we drove up Mount Hood to go sledding with all of the kids and had a very fun, freezing cold time.

Mick was super cute sledding with all of the kids... He was probably the most excited out of anyone.

Lucy smiling, all bundled up from the cold.

            During our trip to America, more than anything, Mick wanted to give snowboarding a try.  Having lived his whole life in a tropical climate snowboarding was never really a readily available activity, and so Mick wanted to take advantage of this rare opportunity! And so we planned a day trip up to Timberline Lodge, a place that I had heard about for years while living in Oregon, but had never actually seen!  I was very excited. 

The veiw on the way up was UNBELIEVABLE!

On the way up to Mount Hood

           Mick went for a day of snowboarding and I went to read a book by the fire... It was actually a very pleasant time and a great memory... After he was all done we went exploring through the Lodge, which I soon discovered was where they had filmed certain shots for the movie "The Shining"... And I must say, I could definitly see it...  It was very cool and creepy all at once!

Oooooh... A hallway in the Lodge... look out for little girl ghosts.

Me sitting inside the main area of the lodge...



Mick, all ready to hit the slopes...

           

Having a blast...

Posing

          Oh, and by the way, I have to say here how impressed and super proud I was of my amazingly talented husband... That hot aussie took to the snow like he was born for it.  I will never forget how happy he looked after he came in... with his cheeks all red and hair all wet with ice... That made me happy.  I love you baby.
Then it was off to Colorado where we got to see my parents at their new place as well as all the rest of my family, minus one sister.  It was so wonderful to see everyone.  A few days before Christmas we got hit with a ton of snow and Mick was thrilled. 

Mick and I after landing in the Denver, Colorado Airport

Outside my parent's, playing in the snow!  Yay!!!

It snowed soooo much!  Mick loved the novelty of having to scrape piles of snow
off of the car, however, he told me that he knew if we lived there all the time
 it would get old really fast!

           In Colorado we got to have a lot of wonderful time without the kids, just as a couple... however we found that we still missed them so much.  One night we were able to go into downtown Denver to see "The Nutcracker Ballet".  It was gorgeous with snow on the ground everywhere and white lights in all of the trees... It seemed worlds away from hot, sunny Australia.  We were litterally "walking in a winter wonderland"...

An outdoor eating area.  I just had to capture this image... It was beautiful!

Mick in downtown Denver

Beautiful

                    We had a very merry Christmas with my parents and siblings... but as they say, alas, Christmas just isn't the same without the little kids!!!  However, we did the best we could... ;)

Opening new pj's on Christmas Eve



Mick opening his Ralphy pj's... I love that movie.



I saw this Aussie flag towel and just had to get it for him...

Mick couldn't believe how huuuuge American pizza's are!

               However soon it was time to face the music and head back to the airport... and one long journey to get back home.  I was so ready to go back to Australia... I longed for summer and sun, and crazy birds chirping in the trees, and funny lizzards chasing each other across the road.  Most of all we missed all of our kids and we could not wait to go home and have Christmas with them! 
               And so a few days after we were home, showered, rested and unpacked we finally got down to the business of Christmas with our kids...

Sure enough...  Santa came to Australia too!

Presents!

Taylah is super excited about her skateboard!!

            

Lana and Taylah in their new church dress... They looked SO beautiful!

All the girls ready for church in their new dresses

In the end, we had two wonderful Christmas's.  We have wonderful memories of our time in America, but we are so happy to be home again with all our girls. 

Lucy, Carsen, Esther, and Taylah together again.  (Lana was swimming with Daddy)