Living Treasures

Today we headed down to Acme and went to a country store and Living Treasures animal park. The kids had a great time! Once Liberty got over her fear of feeding the animals she would feed almost anything. The kangaroo had the most slobber, even over the camel that sucked down my whole hand.
I had been to Living Treasures a few times, but it was great to go with the kids!

The weather is not as nice as it should be for this time of year. Scattered showers make going out a bit tricky. Our neighbour was almost hit by lightening today.

Now we are watching Dancing with the stars... I think Australia does it better :)

Too Much?

...and I missed some!!!

This is what happens when Grandpa Is left in charge of Easter supplies. The kids got all of this plus toys, hats and other novelty items.


If someone could please call my gym and renew my membership and also the kids dentist may need a call!

Easter

We have now had a few days in Greensburg. Yesterday we went to my Grandmother's for Good Friday. It was so wonderful to see family... The top image is my Grandmother's 4 Grand Daughters all together for the first time in a very, very long time!

Today we went to Schramm's,a family owned bbakeyand produce store. We saw the Easter Bunny,the real Easter bunny! The kids went on an Easter Egg hunt in a field and they had a great time! Now, the carrots are out in the yard and the baskets are ready.
Happy Easter everyone!

Disneyland

Had a fantastic, busy, fun, exhausting 3 days.
Just thoughtI would share a few pics. We did almost every ride, well we didevvery one we wanted too, some twice. went on some new adventures and saw some new shows. Disney really puts on some great after dark shows, so it was late nights and early starts.
We are in Greensburg now waiting for the Spring weather to kick in!

Jack Hanna

We were lucky to be at Sea World on a day when Jack Hanna did a show.
I love watching his TV shows!
We wven got to meet him after and the kids goan autograph...I was more excited though!

Day 2 - Sea World San Diego

We LOVE Sea World!
Shawn and Liberty were sogoodand had the best day, I think Liberty skipped everywhere!
The photos are 1. the journey to Atlantis ride, unfortunately I had to mind the bags soI didn't get to ride... hehehehe Matt, Shawn and Liberty all went on. No tears from Liberty, but they were wet when they got off and she did say she wasn't going on it again...
Shawn and Liberty touched Sea Stars in the tide pools.
Shamu... that is him with the bent fin, he is huge! Killer Whales are the 2nd widest spread mamals on earth.First are humans!
The Pets Rule show was fantastic!
I could type all day about Sea World but Shawns laptop keys are small and this is too much of a challengee this morning!

La Jolla, San Diego

Flight went reasonably fast, so Matt and I thought, Shawn and Liberty not so much :)
After we waited to get through customs we made our way to Alamo where we were upgraded to a premium car (so we could fit our bags in. 2 bags of gifts,too much?
We have a Ford Crown Victoria for the next few days,lovely interior, the kids can play basketball in the back!
Our first stop was Santa Monica Pier.It was a great place to get out and play. Matt and the kids did some rides, Matt shot a few hoops and we had a short walk on the beach. Then back on the road.
Shawn had a great drive down watching all of the cars and taking photos of them.
Matt did so well driving, especially with the king size bed we are driving!
So we are now at the La Lolla Travelodge. It is a beautiful coastal town. First thing that caught my eye, is the shops are so unique and really well presented. No run down, empty spaces.
Soafter dinner at Denny's we made our way into our beds.The others are still asleep. I slept so well and felt refreshed ready to go... Then ilooked at the clock 12.34AM... It was all down hill from there...
Off to Sea World today!

11 Sleeps!

In 13 sleeps we will be playing at "The Happiest Place On Earth".
We are so very excited!

Yesterday Matt got the suitcases down from in the roof ready to start putting some things in. In one of the suitcases was my wedding dress.

I spent months and months making this dress (over 12 years ago) sewing hundreds and hundreds of pearl beads and Swarovski crystals. But I never had this dress cleaned after the big event. So, I washed it in the washing machine. I thought all of the bead coatings would be off and I would be left with dull white beads, not the case! I made sure I started out with the best quality beads I could sorce and it paid off! (Thanks to 6 months at fashion college!)

So for now it is back to the packing. At this stage, it looks like I am packing for sun and snow... hummmm I do love a good packing challenge! :)

MIA

Well hello there!
I am currently (for 2 looong weeks now) experiencing technical difficulties.
My laptop is struggling to keep charged. The battery will not hold charge and even when plugged into power I am doing very, very well if I can get 30 minutes out of it. I had to be super sneaky to get these images off it and onto USB. I have hijacked Shawn's little Eee PC to do this post!
I have a wedding that I need to have all edited and finalized before we go away. It will get done, just a few photos at a time, but it will get done!!
Only 19 sleeps before we go.... and counting!

Hopefully you will see more posts, more regularlywhen this new battery arrives!

New Toys!!!

I am now the owner (almost) operator of an iPhone 4.

It is a pretty handy little thing... The kids (all 3 of them!!!) love it!

Country Energy are about to cut our power for the day. Should be an interesting day in our house. Normally not a problem on a beautiful sunny day, but today is a great day to curl up and watch a movie!

Happy Birthday Dennis!

Today (American time) is my Dad's birthday! Happy Birthday!!!

Well things have not really been as productive as I had hoped now that I am unemployed. I had hoped to have the cupboards all pulled out and sorted, bedrooms cleaned out, bathrooms.. you get the idea!
Liberty is having a bit of a hard time adjusting to school... She misses me... I thought she only "Missed" me before and after school, but she was miserable yesterday and I almost brought her home. It does pull at the heart strings. I thought she would have had no worries at all with school, she has suprised us all.

Last weekend I shot a wedding and a family portrait. So I have over 1000 images to sort through and edit. The image above belongs in the Family Portrait group. Pepi (Pepsi, as I call her) is one of the most well behaved and trained dogs I have ever known.

I went to bed last night knowing I would wake up with a charming cold... and I have! YAY!

Aussie paper wasp

We had a great weekend away at Green Oak.

Swimming in the perfect water. fishing. relaxing. chatting. eating. laughing. just perfect!

Until the last hour...

I had an encounter with what we think is an Australian paper wasp.



He came from behind and hit me with what felt like the force of a golf ball. I could even feel the poison going through me. Nasty thing! As I ran screaming, like the girl that I am, I found myself ripping off my shirt screaming for someone to get the stinger out. Turns out there was nothing in me, it just felt like I had 100 thistles in my back.

I would like to apologize to my friends for seeing me rip my clothing off, I hope I have not scared you or your children for life. I would like to thank Matt and Jase for defending my honor and distroying this nest of pain! This nest was on the outside of the shower room. I must say we were pretty lucky that they didn't venture into the shower... that could have been a very bad sight!!! :)

I didn't take many photos over the weekend, but I did get one of Shawn surfing behind the boat.

Camera play time.

Yesterday was a pretty sad day... Our beloved Pittsburgh Steelers lost the Super Bowl. Matt had the day off and we had our own party. We decided while the game is on that we will go and do a tour of Heinz Field, the home of the Steelers when we go over next.

On other news. I have now had a full week of unemployment. I am still yet to catch up with the Forrester's, actually today is my first day at home. I have baked, washed and folded. I think I like paid work slightly better... :)

I made some time to play with my camera a few days ago. This is a really neat trick I came across. Tape baking paper against a window and position your object in front of it. It apparently works best with leaves that you can see light through, so an Autumn leaf would be ideal. This is a garlic flower. I had to tape it so that it was not flat against the paper or it would have looked false.
I am looking forward to finding some interesting leaves!

All dressed up.

Today my baby went to big school. It was so lovely, we all walked over to school together. As we walked along the fence to get to the office, lots of Libertys friends came over to say 'hello'. It is so wonderful, I know it is a great school and I am so confident that if she is ever lost, lonely or just having a bad she has a great support network in her friends!

Shawn went back to school on Monday, he is now in year 5.... YEAR 5!!?! he is a very proud brother having his sister at school.






This is how things looked this time last year...




Today I am a very proud Mummy.

The Butterfly Effect

This was one big and beautiful butterfly! I snapped him out at Kentucky Roses a week ago. Kate has the most devine roses and the best Brownie (apart from Pam's!)

It has been a big Saturday. I worked for a few hours this morning and then Matt, the kids and I went into work and started pulling the shop fittings down. The studio lights, backdrops, TV monitors etc. The place is looking a little sad. 2 weeks to go.

Such sad times...

Hi Everyone...

Well if you have seen just a minute of news you would know that it is a pretty devastating time for many Aussies.

Mostly I don't like comparisons of any kind really... I am bigger/fitter/richer than you. My car is faster/newer/rustier than yours... My life is busier/better/worse than yours... You get the idea....

Anyway, so not being a fan of comparing one situation to another, as I believe each situation/person/circumstance is so individual and unique on it's own, I came across this on Jill's blog. It answered a few things I had been wondering about the recent floods and I thought I would share.

75% of Queensland has been declared a Disaster Zone.

The State of Queensland is approximately 1.72million square kilometres.

Our capital city, Brisbane, is the third largest city in Australia.

Queensland is approx 6 times the size of the UK.

It is approx twice the size of the US State of Texas.

The aftermath of Hurricane Katrina was 223,000 km2: The aftermath of the Queensland flood area is approx 1,000,000km2.


For me, that puts the enormity of the situation into perspective.

Happy 2011!

Yikes! Almost a month since I have blogged! Oh well... not long until I get my life back and work finishes. Then i can hopefully be better at everything. Home, Family, Friends, Blogging :)

Saturday was possibly the best party for possibly the best person. Tam celebrated her 40th birthday the only way that Tam could. It was an afternoon of Survivor meets Amazing race.


The kids enjoyed bobbing for apples and throwing water bombs.


Everyone enjoyed the Treasure Hunt. Followed by a relay pie eating comp. I knew Matt had this one covered!


Then there was Jelly eating or more like sucking with a straw.


Followed by an amazing obstacle course. Through cattle yards, over hay, through ropes, through goop and tyres.


Tammy did a super fantastic job! If you didn't have fun at her party, then I don't think you would have a good time anywhere!
Thanks for the great afternoon Tam, you rock!!

Anyone notice William Wallace and the blue team skipping some of the tyres in the obstacle course? Would that be cheating? ;)

December 2010

Like everyone, we have been busy, busy! Retail is really not a walk in the park at Christmas time. the Christmas shoppers, on top of the people wanting the gossip on why we are closing, makes for many long days.
So a very quick update.

My Mum had a birthday and we went out to Kentucky Roses for morning tea. It is a lovely spot with yummy brownies :) It was a beautiful day (about time!) The colour in this photo is not edited, perfect!



We had our work Christmas party at our home. It didn't rain, but was forcast to, so we were prepared! It was a fun night, I hope they thought so too. Not many work parties around hear get a 3 course meal, a theatrical performance and a few games of poker to end the night. :)



My baby graduated from Preschool... she is so grown up! She has wonderful confidence and we are so very proud of her!!! She will love big school!!!

Neglect!

November has been a big month.
I finished editing a wedding, and have strated another.
I found out that I will be unemployed starting January 29th, as the company is closing all 6 of it's shop fronts.
I had a birthday.
The beautiful girls that I work with got me these lillies for my birthday. That was almost 10 days ago and they still smell devine!



A local photographer gave me these flowers yesterday, just for being 'lovely'. I think that is lovely on it's own!



Flowers seem to make things not so bad, and the timing was perfect! It is quite difficult to work in retail with a smile all the time when you know (and are continually reminded) that the place is closing. It is going to be a hard few months...

We have a busy weekend ahead. Hope you have a good one, wherever you are. x

Another weekend over...

Well there goes another weekend!
We did a lot for the school P&C this weekend. I am looking forward to next weekend as I don't think we have anything or or anywhere to be... but I do have a plan! :)

Last weekend I had a few mates around, this is them parked out the front of our place...






Actually, it was the 500 bikes getting ready for the end of the street parade that Matt and I set up. They are the Harleys for Helicopters bikers. They ride from Newcastle to Uralla raising money for the Westpac Rescue Helicopter.

This is Matt in one of his Billycart races.