Going For A Nice Sunday Stroll

         So yesterday after church, dinner, and hot, languid naps we really were bored and decided to get out of the house.  It was a gorgeous day outside and there was a perfect soft breeze.  Lucy brought her skooter and Esther brought her skateboard.  We ended up going to the Mooloolaba beach which was just beautiful.

On the path with Es.

Lucy and Esther sitting by a dog they thought was "Soooo cuuuute!!"

Relaxing

Our view...

How an Aussie Eats A Pancake....

       So who could have known that pancakes with bacon and eggs was an American thing?  I certainly didn't until I ventured beyond america's shores to discover that the concept of eating bacon with a side of yummy syruppy pancakes is just plain weird to most if not all Aussies.  My husband in particular finds the idea repulsive... to him bacon and eggs should be eaten with bbq sauce (the way he feels most foods should be eaten) and pancakes are a dessert.  And so this last sunday when I made our family blueberry pancakes with hashbrowns and eggs Mick decided to show us all how an "Aussie eats a pancake"... at first we couldn't believe all the stuff he was piling on.... first adding not just blueberries to the batter but bannanas as well, and then topping it off with vanilla icecream, and lots of golden syrup... yeah you eat it that way it is a dessert!  Hahah! 

Mick showing off his creation.

Up close...

              Ok... so I must swallow my pride and admitt that in the end I did have a bite of this over the top pancake... and I must say, holy caloundra... WOWZA! it was insanely good... 



 

Going For a Walkabout

              This is just a little of what we've been up to in the past week... Hiking up the mountain behind Mick's school,and swimming in some waterfalls.

Lucy and Esther at the top of Emu Mountain.



View from the tippy top :) So gorgeous!!



The bridge broke from the flooding, but that didn't stop us!

Mick and the girls swimming at the falls.



I found a little forrest nymph...

A little friend we found along the way...



Kookaburra sittin' in a Kookaburra tree...

Ok so here is a little video I took of our backyard one morning so you all could get an idea of what it sounds like!  These are Kookaburra's, a kind of bird and they make the loudest racket!  But it is hillarious!  They sound like monkeys and it makes me feel even more so that I live in a jungle... haha..

Movie Nights and Pizza

All ready for the movie



"Furry Vengeance"



           This weekend we had another family movie night which with five girls ranging from the ages of 2 to 9 does not always mean watching a movie that Mick and I are totally "dying" to see if you know what I mean...  This weekend we got to watch a total classic titled "Furry Vengeance"... yeah...  Starring Brendan Frasier and Brooke Sheilds, the funny spanish teacher from "Communtiy" and Angela from "The Office"... all of whom I felt really embarassed for.  What desperate place does an actor's career have to reach for them to agree to be in a movie like this... haha... Well the kids loved it anyway.  

Lucy

Lana, and Taylah





Esther



Carsen

This is where most the girls end up... piled on Daddy.

                The next day for Sunday lunch we let the girls make their own pizzas.  They loved it and so did we.  It is a sad thing that honestly here in Australia it is pretty much impossible to find an edible frozen pizza... and to buy one... well it's pretty much an arm and a leg... rediculously expensive...  So this is how we decided to just make our own, and boy, let me tell you, they were so much better than any frozen pizza I have had here. 



Making their pizzas!



I love this picture.  Hahaha!



Esther and Taylah making their pizza.



The girls had a picnic outside.



 



Let's Go Fly a Kite



Mick getting his kite ready.



                  I love my husband Mick, and I love how he loves to kite surf.  Of all the sports a man could enjoy I must say I got pretty lucky with Kite Surfing... Instead of having to sit on some sideline watching something I can hardly understand I get to sit on a sunny beach with a good amount of wind to keep me cool as I watch hundreds of colorful kites soaring through the blue skies above me. 

                 This last weekend when we had all five girls with us Mick was pretty annoyed to discover that after days of not enough wind it was finally on that day that the wind decided to be perfect for a kite surf.  At first on that Saturday his prospects of getting out were not looking too good...  We had a ton of groceries to buy from the store and all the girls were already at each other's throats.  But Mick was determined... as well as blessed with such a helpful mum...  Wendy agreed to let the girls come over for a swim while we went to the beach for a few hours, it was perfect and we were excited for a break.  A short while later there we were at "Bullcock beach" (yes I love the name haha!) in Caloundra with perfect wind, tons of sunshine and lots of kites :)  Mick was able to get out on the water and had a great time.  I walked around and enjoyed the sunshine and the ocean and even visited with an australian woman that was walking by and admiring the kites.  She asked me if I had someone out there, and I was very proud to say that yes I did... :D



Mick with his Kite



Up in the Air



Me on the beach



Australian Skin

                                                               At Noosa Beach yesterday.

             Well it is a fact that Australians wear a significant less amount of clothing than most Americans... Sure, maybe places like Miami and the California coast could put up a fair fight against that claim, but still, I'm from Oregon and no, we don't dress like that, not even at the beach...  I have observed in my short five months living here on the sunshine coast of Australia that I have never seen so much skin in my life.  It is not always an easy thing as a previously divorced and now newly married woman that each day you are bound to see at least ten girls in nothing but bikinis, and that's on a day when you just are going to the store!  If you're going to the beach... well it's hundreds. 

          With all of this flesh-baring Australians take their suncreen seriously, which they should, because as my husband claims, "it only takes 10 minutes in the sun to get fried".  At first let me tell you, I didn't believe him and I learned the hard way after spending half an hour sitting on the beach trying to get a "tan" only to discover later that my legs had been cooked like a couple of snags, the australian word for sausage.. yeah it hurt..

Mick and Esther lathering on the sunscreen.

                                       

Lucy all white-faced and ready...

                                    So yesterday Mick finally took me up to see the famous Noosa beaches.  Known as some of the most beautiful beaches on the Sunshine Coast... which is saying something.  And they really are.  Naturally, Noosa is a major tourist hot spot so you are likely to come across people traveling from all over the world, which we certainly did:  an asian couple from Japan out for a surf, brittish people wearing way more clothing than anyone else there with cameras around their necks, and my all time favorite, two german guys in their mid twenties all decked out in what they obviously considered the authentic Australian garb... Kaki shorts, kaki ranger hats and boots... it was delightful.... Hahah.

Lucy and Esther looking out at Noosa beach...

Me, Mick and Lucy and Es at Noosa

Looking out over the cliffs.  Beautiful!