A friends little slice of heaven

Yesterday a friend of mine (whose son is actually a close friend of Gavin's) took us to see the block of land they just bought.  Plans to build their "forever" house on this block is now looking good.  I've seen photos of it but truly in real life it is magic.

Meeting our friend here so she an take us to her block of land

Dropped in to get a popcicle for the boys.  Yummy lemon and lime.

 To our surprise when we got to the block the neighbours horses were there.  Good to have mobile lawn mowers!  Luckily I packed carrots for lunch and we had extra.

Lochy brave enough to feed the pony.

Gavin ready to feed the bigger horses but a bit nervous.

Ended up dropping it but the horse did not mind ;)

Very friendly neighbours!

Beautiful

Wonderful views.

The horse is determined to get more carrots!

Are there any in the car?

Maybe that little one has more carrots for me.

Lochy decides to do a little dance for his audience.

Gav's friend takes them on a tour of the block.

It takes a little while!  Long way to go.  Quite the drop!

Good thing they have those lawn mowers!

And they work for carrots.

Thanks for the tour, it is a little slice of heaven.

Looking back at last week. Keeping busy around home.

 After we came back from camping the week started off great.  A friend invited me to the night markets.  I'd never been before and she had not gone in ages so it was sensational to get out and about.
The exciting thing was there was so much choice for gluten free, even donuts!  I bought a donut each for the boys to have the next day.  They'd be asleep when I got home ;)





Chai tea vendor at the night markets

Couldn't believe I found gluten free donuts.  They are made with Tapioca flour.  Awesome....



Taking a photo to show the boys what they can eat at the markets!

a bit blurry but they had great music coming out of here!

No, not a barber shop at night but a quirky place to eat.  There is a bar table along the other side.  This is my friend I came to the markets with. 

We had Grandma's birthday dinner and cake at our house.  I made her a red velvet gluten free cake.  My first cream cheese icing and surprisingly the kids ate it!  It was a bit runny but there was NO room in  my fridge to harden it up.  Still, everyone seemed to enjoy it.

Dinner dishes cleared away and time for birthday cake

A birthday song from a budding songwrite.

Grandma needed some help to blow out the candles :)







How do we cut up this cake?  or was it stealing cherries?!

Still the weekend we decided to go to Mooloolaba beach on Ben's last day before going back to work.

Cool play area in front of the beach.

The water was perfect.  Such a beautiful beach.

After the weekend I took the boys to a school holiday water play at an indoor pool centre.  Gav and Lochy both had a go at the very tall water slide.  So brave!  I did too and tried really hard not to scream as they were standing right at the front watching me.  However halfway down as my bottom lifted off the slide I could not hold it in any longer.  I am a bit of a screamer...  They were totally expecting it.


Gavin rocketing down the slide

 

Starting out on the obstical course.

There he goes, great balance!

He is moving fast!
 

 The next few days were filled with preparing for Grandpa's birthday.  The boys painted him a picture each.  And of course chores had to be done for pocket money and to help out mum. 



Lochy vacuuming and Gavin helping out. 

Painting a picture for Grandpa's birthday

A park we explored after my optometrist appointment

Frew Park

Meeting friends at Frew Park for a playdate.  There they are walking down the path while we were looking down at them from the café.

A movie with friends

And a birthday party in the park after!

A bubble, water gun party.

I told Ben and the boys all about the night markets so we decided to go have dinner there after picking up Ben from work.  Ben had 12 hour cooked pulled pork, the boys had the kalamari and I had prawn phad thai.  So cool, the boys first time and it was fun.  The boys loved the food and the homemade lemonaide.   Lochy usually a bit shy, danced in front of the band.  I want to go back and try some other stalls food!  Funny but a family shared our table just before we left and they said it was their first time too.  He said his wife was a bit of a foodie.  Great spot.

They loved the drums

Love the lemonaide

Waiting for dinner at Mr Kalamari behind them!

Eurimbula National Park a closer look

It was our first trip to Eurimbula National Park.  Not a weekend camping trip this place.  Its a 6 1/2 hour drive (not a 5 hour trip like Ben said!) from our house but as Lochy said "totally worth it".

It had an amazing beach with waves not too small but not big enough to make it hard to stand up in.  They were just the right size to play in and surf without having to fight too hard to get back out there.  We also saw all sorts of wildlife, a kangaroo, a goanna, sand crabs, a toad and a possum as in the tree in front of the toilets!  I saw his glowing eyes in the dark at a distance and a closer look when I was under his tree revealed a possum.

When we go camping it gets us so totally away from home, school and work we really feel like we are having a break.  We love it.

I have to warn you I am more about the photos than the writing!

"Dogs have Masters Cats have Staff."  The camper van in front of us on the drive up.

The entrance to Eurimbula National Park

The trail from our camp site to the beach, about 100 metres.  At night on our walk to the beach we discovered toads on the path!

The boys, straight onto the beach while we set up the camp site.

As I said it was a long drive but the boys were great.  Luckily there is no driving on the beach so I allowed the boys to play in the sand while we set up the camper trailer.  This is a picture I snuck while checking up on the kids to make sure they were listening to me about not swimming until we were there.  Good boys.

Our first night after setting up camp was beautiful.  So warm but not too hot and humid.  A quick meal of Spaghetti bolognaise and it was marshmallows and time to look at the stars.  No one else on the beach, so quiet except for the sound of the waves.

Mummy and joey but wasn't quick enough to catch them both!  Just from our camp site.

Getting ready for dinner.  Boys learning some tips of fire making from dad.

Loving the bunk beds given to us from our neighbours.

Roasted Marshmallows, YUM.

Gav the Master chef of Marshmallow roasting (so named by Lochy).

Love the beach at night.  So quiet, peaceful, the perfect place to see the stars at night.
 

Our 2nd day at Eurimbula and it was amazing. We did get a bit of rain at night on and off but we were happy and snug in our tent trailer.  We spent the day at the beach but did come back to the camp site for lunch and card games

Our yummy camping breakie.  Lucky I got to the fruit and veg markets before we came!



Beautiful beach

No need for toys when you've got all this to play with.



Gav loves the waves.

a very bright full moon on this night.

 Our last day at Eurimbula we had an amazing meal of eggs, bacon and home made gluten free toast (by the fire).  We had local wildlife visitors too.  I told the boys to move away from the goanna because if it get startled it may think you are a tree and climb up you with its sharp claws...ouch.  We also thought we check out the look out we passed on our way into the camp site.

The perfect camping breakfast

The boys cant stop playing UNO, they love it.

Our local visitor, the goanna.  Pretty harmless but enormous!

The goanna did get startled but luckily chose to climb up a tree instead of the boys.  Can you see it?

Gavin fascinated with the large yellow grasshopper.

This time a game of Yahtzee.

Ganoonga Noonga Lookout.  How many oo's do you see!  A fairly steep 800m walk.



The view from the top was worth it!

And from the other direction

The boys checking out the huge view point we climbed to.

 

My camping kitchen

some cheesy grins

checking out the beach further along

found some beautiful shells

Sand crab hunting.  Tiny little things.

when the tide goes out a little island appears with interesting pools of water

I love the patterns in the sand.



Last chance for marshmallow.

creative glowstick making!

And the last morning we packed up and headed home.  I love stopping at the small towns on the way as well.  This is Childers.  On our way up we met a young couple from Vancouver having a bite to eat while their Contiki tour bus stopped here on their way to Cairns.  They were on their honeymoon.  So sweet.