Canoeing Around the Sunny Coast

          The warmer weather has brought on a new surge of activity in our family.  Our latest craze is rowing!  It is a wonderful way to travel on a hot summer's day and a great way to work out the arms.  We had a blast rowing past all the beautiful homes and large yachts and sailboats!   Ps. sorry for the poor picture quality, I had to bring out my waterproof camera on this trip, which doesn't take as nice quality of photos... sigh...

Mick and the girls on the high seas...

 

 

Having a total blast!

 

Fun

 

Lucy taking a ride in the raft... Ahhh the life...

Camping Yet Again!

         So the last two weeks the kids have been on holiday with no school, and so has Mick :)  So we decided it was time for another family fun camping trip up to our favourite little spot.  This time though we were super cool and clever because we brought along a badminton set to put up right next to our campsite.  It ended up being the hit of the trip as the kids and adults couldn't get enough!  It was the perfect game for all of us to be able to play together, for the adults all the way to the smallest as there are no hard heavy balls involved and it is fairly easy and simple. 

 

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Carsen and Lana just wanted to play in the tent.



 

Their other favourite part of camping is the yummy food. 

 

 

 

Taylah

Es relaxin'

Carsen getting some juice for breakfast.

 

Making some Breakfast Skillet

We also brought a huge ball... that's always fun too.

      Where we were camping was only a short distance away from some of the most gorgeous beaches. So during the day we packed up our beach stuff and headed over to the beach for a swim.    

Mick and Lana with all the beach toys.

The girls swimming in the surf.

 

             All in all it was a good but exhausting trip for Mick and I... The kids whined a LOT... So I think we will take a bit of a break before we take our next trip!

Little Ninjas

        I know that I am sorely behind in my blog posts and for that I am sorry.  First I will start with a little look into the girls' Martial Arts class.  All five girls go once a week to practice their leaps, kicks, and power punches and ofcourse bowing at the door.  It is great fun to watch... Here are some pictures of the girls, all except Lana, who only recently has started to participate! I will have to get some pictures of her later as she is freaking cute in her uniform!!!

Carsen's Karate class getting instruction.

Carsen smiling for the camera...



Chi!!!

Taylah kicking it up

 

Look at those high kicks!

     As you can see they are all doing a great job and we are super proud of them!  It is a great program in so many ways as it not only teaches them self defence but also reinforces wonderful principles of respect and self discipline. 

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...