Getting out of Brisbane...

Every once in awhile we just need to get out of the city and see some mountains.  The scenery is beautiful and especially green right now with all the rain we've been having. 

Ben does enjoy testing out those four wheel drive (Cooper?) tires and a friend of his just bought some new ones (different brand) and had to see how they went on the dirt track.  So pack up the kids off we went on a 4 x 4 adventure.

There he is gunning it up the hill.  It is a lot steeper than it looks!

There is a ball up in the air somewhere up there.

 Then we stop and kick around a ball before we pack up again and head home.

Lochy gearing up for a spectacular football pass.

I find I need to leave the city behind and just go out and see nature as far as the eye can see without a city building in sight.  Sometimes its camping but when we don't have the time or its too cold then a drive is just the thing.  Lucky for us all this beauty is just an hour outside of Brisbane.  I love where we live but sometimes we just need a break. 

 

 

Birthday Bonanza!



  Luckily we all got over a nasty tummy bug just before the big event.  It was a close call with both boys staying home the whole week before the big day.  I am amazed for the most part it passed me by.

We had a birthday weekend with my oldest turning 9.  Nearly double digits now!  We even lucked out with Baba and Dyeda's present of Lego arriving very shortly after his birthday.  Thank you!



The Creeper balloon family

For past birthday bashes we held them in our backyard but this year has been very cold and wet and entirely undependable!  Much to my sons delight he had a Playcentre birthday party.  Lots of junk food and screaming children but they all had an absolute blast.  

 

Now don't judge me for the lollies and chips for morning tea, its a birthday party and anything less would be sacrilege.  I know, I tried a healthy party for his Kindy year and the children didn't eat a thing, the adults ate all the healthy food.  From then on I vowed to close my eyes and provide all the junk food expected at a party.  But I have to add, there was a fruit platter too :-)



Ben was a great host.

 

The birthday boys hearts desire was a Slime cake, a character from Minecraft.  Love a game made almost entirely from squares!  Makes birthday cakes a bit easier.  I think he was worried anything more complicated would be too tricky for me.

 

 

 

Lochy and his sugar buzz sillies

 

After the party was over at the Playcentre the next birthday wish was to try out his new scooter we bought him for his birthday.  Apparently very solid and good for tricks! He also got a flashy new helmet from his Australian Grandma and Grandpa.  Lochy now wants one for his birthday too of course.

 

Lochy was loving the newly discovered scooter park as well.  What a find!

 



Thrilled with the new scooter.

A prized birthday present from a friend.

 

Then with mini Slimes birthday cake at home after his favourite dinner.  He even got to light his own candles...heaven.

 



In an amazing stroke of luck we all happened to get invited onto the Young Endeavour ship for a half day sail on the Sunday with a few other guests as well.  http://www.youngendeavour.gov.au/site/

The Endeavour ship is the one at the back with the tallest mast.

They fed us, took us on a tour of the ship (inside) and up the Brisbane River.  It was a gorgeous morning to be outside and not nearly as cool as expected.  In fact so light was the breeze that the sails were set only to be taken in again shortly after.  Apologies for the lack of sailing jargon! 

Despite the lack of sails there were still ropes to be pulled for various sailing reasons and they encouraged Gavin's (and everyone elses) participation.  Gavin loved it as you can see and helped whenever the opportunity arose.  They even had a silly show put on by the crew. 

 

 

Lovely views

 

It was a brilliant weekend.

 

25/52 The 52 Project - a portrait once a week * at the scooter park *

Why aren't they on their scooters you ask?  Gav got something called a Fly Wheels for his birthday from one of his friends and the boys loved zipping this wheel thing down the skate board ramp.  They BMX dirt track was even more fun!

24/52 The 52 Project - a portrait once a week

Lochy loves the cutting part of this craft.  Very short attention span though, this was never finished!

We made a car made of crafting plastic coated paper.  I don't expect it to last so grateful for smiles while we have them!

Back on track with the start of winter...June.

Yes thats right, 1st of June is Australian winter. Sometimes its hard to tell the difference between Autumn, Winter and Spring here in Brisbane coming from Canada but it does get a bit colder in the winter months.

And what a sensational way to start winter but with a completely unexpected bunch of flowers from my ever surprising husband.  Big big browny points for him, yup thats right, he got them for me "just because".  Gotta love 'em.

 

This may look like taking the boys to a cafe but what it actually is, is some strategic planning to get some new school shoes with as little drama much fun as possible. I tackled this task head on doing the divide and conquer technique. The first weekend I took Lochy out to a cafe in the shopping centre then dropped in to the shoe shop for some new school shoes. This was an additional bonus as he used this outing in his school project of his personal recount he had to do for class.

Then Gavin jealous Lochy got to go out for a HUGE hot chocolate of course had to do the same and also got some new shoes for school. Big smiles all round. :-)



We also got to be a part of a 1st birthday celebration.  Who needs a pinyata when you can just take turns throwing the lollies into the air!  So much more fun! 

 

I also got in another walk and snapped a photo of this lovely big red hibiscus and this beautiful church.  We've got this flowering plant in our backyard too.

 

A friend of ours got married here a few years ago. It is a beautiful spot isnt it.

This weekend unfortunately didnt have such beautiful sunny weather.  Before the rain settled in Lochy went to a Super Hero party.  Another fan of Fin from Adventure Time complements of an older brother.

 

 

 

The back deck is under cover so the boys got up to games of house...

 

 

I also got some gluten free baking in with some help from the boys.  Lochy enjoyed making his mummy and baby bunny cut out gf sugar bickies while Gavin stuck to dinasours.

 

Gavin also had a dress up for scouts and chose a minecraft costume of Slime.  Pretty good if I do say so myself.

 

 

Well that was us this weekend.  Unfortunately Lochy has been brought down by a sore throat so he will be home tomorrow poor kid.  Lets hope he gets over it quickly, he's got a sports day this week, Gavin's school disco (siblings are invited) and big brothers birthday party coming up too!

Looking back at the month of May

 Yes I missed telling you all about the month of May.  You only got the barest beginning in my weekly portraits of the boys.  I could have given up and just contintued on with June but with these gorgeous photos I felt I had to share them with you.

We don't visit this park as much as we should.  Mowbray Park with its new playground is so bright and cheerfull now that the flood had one of the biggest trees uproot.  Sounds terrible that I am glad but it gave it a dark and dangerous feel, the enormous tree shadowing the playground, but now its anything but.  It even has some room to do a bit of scootering on the paths around the playground.

 

 

I also enjoyed the last of Autumn with more walking around the Kangaroo Point cliffs.  I never get tired of the view and try to look at it from a different perspective to show you something new.  This time I got a photo of an enormous yellow flower growing in front of someones house on my way back home.

 

The beginning of May was also Ben's family day event his work put on.  Its different every year and this time it was at a golf course in the city.  There was all sorts of activities like baby animals, cupcake decorating, games, mini golf and the driving range.  So much to do we didn't actually get to the driving range with the boys!

 

The animals are always the biggest hit with Gavin, while Lochy was into the cupcake decorating (and eating).  Gav soon caught onto that!  Then it was on to the games...  Yes everyone was a bit concerned for the crystal light...

 

After the games it was straight onto the favourite part of the day...Mini Golf!  It was all very good fun.

 

 

Then just to keep us on our toes Gav had his sports day at school the Friday after.  It was a very busy day with Gavin in every event and luckily Grandma and Grandpa were able to cheer him on as well!

Gavin ran in the 100m and 400m running race...

 

Then the Long jump and another running race, this time 200m.

 After the running race Gavin did the shot put and then ran in the relay...

A bit of morning tea then some ball games, lunch and giving out ribbons time!

We all agreed Gavin earned everyone of those many ribbons on his shirt.  WELL DONE GAVIN!!

This was also my favourite weekend because it was also all about ME!  Yes Mothers Day was also on this fine weekend in May.  I enjoyed breakfast out, just Ben and I, as well as a lovely family dinner at West Ends Spaghetti House.

 

 

Not to be forgotten it was also the month Lachlan got to color his hair purple!  I know I put it in the portraits but just in case you missed it, here it is again

Isn't that just the cheekiest grin you've ever seen!