Too young to depart

How many more are going to leave us this way? ... RIP Heath.

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Australia Day 2008

Well today is Australia Day. We didn't originally plan on doing anything today other than taking Spencer to his usual swimming lesson and then visiting Grandma who has been in Sydney for a week.

We had arranged to buy some wooden desks off a friend so after swimming we headed to their place to pick them up. We ended up having a great chat and Spencer got to play with the girls who he loves to visit ... oh and by the way it wasn't the woman that were doing all the talking either... let's just say get two men together who both love gadgets and you can't shut them up!

After dropping off the desks at home we were planning on heading to Grandma's but poor little Spencer was exhausted - I think his swimming lesson combined with spending a few hours running around with two very active little girls really tuckered him out so our plans to head to Grandma's were squashed by Spencer sleeping for nearly 4 hours! Mummy managed to squeeze in a "nanna nap" too!!

We then got a call from another friend asking if we'd like to join them at the Australia Day festivities down by the lake, at Springfield Lakes, where we live. So we walked on down and caught the tail end of former Australian Idol, Ricki Lee, performing live and then the spectacular fireworks... I tell you nothing beats a balmy summer evening down by the lake watching fireworks with the smell of freshly mowed grass, greasy pluto pups and hot chips in the air.

After soaking up the ambience we headed to the local hotel for a few drinks and then had a leisurely stroll home.

For a day of which had no plans we ended up having quite a busy but really enjoyable day.

Whilst the fireworks were being let off they played an arrangement of Aussie music - including John Williamson's "True Blue" - what a great song. I couldn't help but think of when he sung that song at Steve Irwin's memorial service at Australia Zoo. So in memory of Steve I've included a picture of him... a true Aussie, who will be greatly missed forever.

CROCS RULE!!

Spencer and the Rhino Beetle

Last night I had my work Christmas party (yes ... Christmas in January!!). It was held at Toowong Bowls Club. It was a great night - barefoot bowls under the big lights ... followed by a BBQ and then more bowls.

Spencer had a wonderful time running around on the green, picking up the white balls and moving them about the green and trying to throw the bowls which fortunately were too heavy for him to throw... you don't want a 2yo hurling one of those things at you!

At the end of the evening once everyone had finished bowling lots of different bugs and beetles appeared on the green. Spencer was most intrigued in one particular beetle - a rhino beetle. He was so amazed by this beetle that he spent ages looking at it and even dragging other people over to see what he had found.... until.... daddy actually picked up the beetle so he could have a better look at it... poor Spencer ran away from daddy, and the beetle, squealing with a horrified look on his face.

I guess some things, especially rhino beetles, are just for looking!

My fetish for Sunflowers

I have been known for my fetish for sunflowers for some years now. I started growing them about 10 years ago and this year is the first time I have grown them for about 5 years. About 8 years ago I grew a really great crop of sunflowers. They were planted in our front yard and were enormous... some as big as basketballs. Unfortunately a lot of them were either destroyed or stolen by passers by who, like me, took a liking to them and had to have them for themselves. It was quite frustrating really - because of the size of them they were actually quite hard to break off so people would try to steal them in the night and couldn't break the stems so I'd come out the next morning to find another poor sunflower drooping miserably.

Well... this is my latest lot. Alan and Spencer actually planted the seeds and Spencer really enjoyed watching the seeds sprout and slowly grow into little baby plants. Once the flowers go to seed I will collect the seeds and save them for next year in the hope that the next crop from that group of seeds will be even bigger.

Try staring at the centre of the second sunflower... after a few seconds the centre starts to spiral - I just love that every flower is different yet still kind of the same.

Gorgeous trees

As well as the fantastic play equipment for the kids at New Farm Park there are some incredibly old and beautiful trees there. I am not sure of the age of these trees but I know a lot of them are protected and some even now have fencing around them so people cannot touch them...

Above are two of the amazing trees we saw at the park

New Farm Park ... finally!

I had been nagging Alan to take Spencer and I to New Farm Park the whole of my holidays. Unfortunately we didn't get there during my four weeks of holidays due to me being sick and then the miserable weather....

Soooo... when it was finally sunny on Sunday we packed a picnic lunch and headed to New Farm Park. I had taken Spencer back in November last year and raved and raved to Alan what a fantastic park it is with the amazing play equipment they have for the kids.

I can't wait to go again - Spencer has such a great time and I really enjoy watching him have so much fun. It's a really great atmosphere with loads of kids having a fantastic time and with it being next to the Brisbane River it's in such a gorgeous location too.

A day out at Underwater World

Spencer and I standing in the shark's teeth

The cheeky seals

Spencer and a shark at The Wharf, Mooloolabah

Today Alan, Spencer, Grandma and I visited Underwater World at Mooloolabah on the Sunshine Coast which is about 1.5hrs drive from home.

We all had a fantastic day. Spencer seemed to really enjoy himself and especially seemed to enjoy the "Seals behaving badly" show waving at the seals and applauding them when they performed one of their tricks.

One of the highlights of the day though was the stingray feedings which were taking place as we arrived. These rays were enormous and propped themselves up on the side of the pool waiting to be fed. They were almost performing like the seals flapping themselves about and hitting the sides of the small pool demanding food... and wetting everyone in the process!

We also saw lots of cute little turtles, the adorable and playful little otters as well as some amazingly beautiful fish in the walk-through aquarium where the fish swim above and around you as you are moved slowly along a travelator.

The day was made complete with a bite to eat and one big cup of Vanilla ice-cream for Spencer... one bottle of milk and around 10 minutes later and we had one exhausted little boy who slept the whole way home!

Po Bears

Spencer's latest obsession (apart from his Tom trains) are.... I bet you can't guess... polar bears!

Now as you can imagine, we don't see too may polar bears here in Queensland. I'm assuming that the lack of ice and snow and the rather hot weather keeps them well away!!

Anyhooo... Spencer, Alan and Grandma visited Queensland Museum on Friday. He had visited the Museum with Grandma a few months ago and had a great day. As they were leaving he apparently became rather excited to see the life sized stuffed polar bear standing near the exit and seemed to remember him from his last visit.

Sooooo ... all weekend he has been saying to us "I want po bear". He even wandered into the pet shop today saying "po bear... po bear".

You've gotta love kids!

The dishes are done dude!

Well I survived my first week of work... I was very depressed and frustrated on my first day back on Tuesday but I think by Wednesday afternoon the misery and pain of being back at work had set in and was leaving me kind of numb... which no doubt is how I'll feel until next holidays.

Don't get me wrong... I don't hate my job... in fact I actually enjoy it. It's just the whole mundane process of getting up, catching the train and walking from the station to work that I hate the most... you know... seeing the same people on the train every day but for some unknown reason you don't speak to each other!

I'm pretty excited though... I booked 2 nights away for Alan, Spencer and I in February. We will be staying at Novotel Twin Waters on the Sunshine Coast - not far from Noosa. Here is their website if you want to take a looksee ... http://www.twinwatersresort.com.au/ ... I know if the weather is great Spencer is going to have a ball as they have a great pool there with a beach across the road.... and hopefully I'll sneak in a facial or massage - or heck even both!!

We also have another holiday up our sleeve too... last year I won 2 nights accommodation at Paradise Resort on the Gold Coast... http://www.paradiseresortgc.com.au/ ... It's a family resort so it get's rather busy and noisy with so many kids... but the deal is we can't use it in the school holidays... which I'm thinking is probably a GOOD thing as there will be LESS kids! Hey - just because I have a child doesn't mean I want to spend my holiday with the rest of Australia's kids!

Off to work I go....

Well today is my first day back at work. I was in a pretty bad mood all day Monday knowing that not only did have I have to return to work the following day but that Alan still has another TWO WEEKS off work. I am so annoyed that he has the extra time off... I trust the weather will now be glorious and he and Spencer will have lots of fun outings... not much you can do about the weather I guess.

Well my first day isn't going too badly. I was greeted with a massive box of mail - four weeks' worth to open as well as dozens of emails. Thankfully there was only one message on my voicemail and that person had obviously listened to my message about me being away and decided to hang up!

Everyone is so welcoming on your first day back at work with huge smiles on their faces... for some reason they are expecting you to be happy too! HUH!! Who is ever happy on their first day back at work??

I brought my new T2 cup to work with me today so not long after I arrived I sat myself at my desk with a lovely brew of English Breakfast tea made in my new cup... it's the kind of cup that has a little tea strainer that sits inside so you can make your cuppa from leaf tea rather than a soggy old bag... yumm... I am sure it's psychological but the tea tasted soooo good!

Well I had better get back to work.... hopefully the rest of the day will run smoothly.... fingers crossed!

Crazy storm

A few days ago I posted about the crazy weather we are having in Brisbane at the moment. Well today we had a beauty of a storm. Lots of thunder and lightning, 20 minutes with no power, huge winds and lots and lots of rain.

Within 20 minutes of the storm starting it was all over and the sky was blue again. Weird.... I tell you this strange weather is freaking me out... they are predicting a top of 22 degrees here next week... 22 degrees in Summer... have you heard of such a thing!

... the very top photo is looking out one of our sliding doors showing how much water appeared within minutes of the rain starting and the bottom photo is looking out our front door...

Our day with Thomas & Friends

On Saturday 5 January 2008 we visited the Workshops Rail Museum to see the Thomas & Friends exhibit. Alan, Spencer and I were joined by Grandma & Grandad as well as one of Spencer's friends, Jacob, and his mum, Iris.

Spencer and Jacob had a fantastic day, as did the rest of us, looking at lots of characters from Thomas. The boys amused themselves for a long time, perhaps hours if we had've allowed them to, with the many train sets that were available for them to play with as well as lots of other Thomas paraphernalia.

The boys also played on the Thomas jumping castle and we all enjoyed a ride in the rather bumpy miniature train - I am sure the driver who was a young guy looked for as many bumps and potholes he could find to make the ride even more enjoyable for the many parents crammed into the tiny train... the kids enjoy the bumps though!

Spencer was spoilt as usual and came home with a Thomas t-shirt, Thomas projector torch, a poster and a Thomas bib..... if you can't spoil him with Thomas what CAN you spoil him with!!

Do you think we need more tracks?

This is Spencer's train set after our visit to Toys R Us... Alan has been having so much fun creating different track designs - I think he is enjoying it more than Spencer!

A photo of his train set before the additional pieces is below.

mmmm ... interesting...

My son who is two has this obsession with placing things in neat little lines. He does this with lots of things such as his toy cars, toy trains, animals, crayons, pencils. He's done it from a young age and continues to do it... I wonder if this is normal behaviour for a child or whether perhaps he has some of his mum's obsessional "qualities".

The picture above is how I found his animals the other day - all neatly lined up together!

Ahh to be young again

I just had to post this picture of Spencer... so cheeky, so carefree, so uninhibited... wouldn't it be great to feel like a child again and not have a care in the world!

A White Christmas

Thought I'd post a picture of the White Family on Christmas day.

We had a relatively quiet day. Alan's parents came over around 11.00am and we opened the presents and then sat down to a cold lunch around 2.00pm.

Spencer was fun to watch. He would open one present and be obsessed with that present and not want to open any more. I don't think he understood that he had many presents to open. I am sure that this will change in a year or so and that he won't be interested in what's inside the wrapping and will just want to open as many presents as he can... so I'll enjoy him not being greedy for as long as I can!

We had a lovely lunch of cold ham, turkey, silverside, smoked chicken and prawns as well as a gorgeous tomato, goats cheese & balsamic vinegar salad, potato salad and green salad... yummm. Spencer managed about two mouthfuls of food and nearly passed out from being soooo tired.... so he had a little kip for a few hours and came back all refreshed in time for Christmas pudding, jelly and mince pies... what a way to wake up!

Overall it was a pretty good day. It was nice not having to rush around to see lots of people and just enjoy the day... which was good considering I wasn't feeling the best with my middle ear infection... so until another year....

Frustrated

I'm feeling a little frustrated.

I suggested to my dad that he get me a book voucher for Christmas as there are a few beading books I am after... so my dad kindly got me the voucher, I've visited Angus & Robertson and can't find any of the books I want. Their online stores however have a huge array of beading books but of course I cannot use my gift voucher online. It's interesting because I've been to 3 book stores now and they average 2-3 beading books in each store however their online store has a catalogue of around 50+.

A&R have told me they can order in any books I want so I think I shall have to do that... I'll just have to be patient and sit out the 10-12 days it will take for them to arrive :( - for some reason I feel that when I am given a gift voucher I have to spend it straight away... I guess I am better to hold onto it and get what I want rather than just buying something for the sake of spending the money... right???!!!

Why is it when I have money to burn I can't find what I want but when I am broke I seem to find EVERYTHING AND MORE!

How crazy is this weather

How crazy is the weather... it's supposed to be Summer and it has been quite cold here in Brisbane, Australia. They predicted 21 degrees celcius for New Year's Day.

It has been scaringly dry in Queensland for so many years and we have recently been upgraded to Level 6 water restrictions which means no watering of any kind. It has now been raining for the past week and as I type this blog it's raining very heavily and blowing a gail. They said it's a result of the cyclones that have been predicted to hit North Queensland.

As a child I always remember Christmas Day being so hot - unbearably hot... I think the last Christmas that I can honestly say was ridiculously hot was 2001... the year my sister and her family came to visit and it reached 43 degrees celcius... the day we visited Steve Irwin's, Australia Zoo, it was about 41 degrees.... SOOOOOOO hot!!

Does the change in weather over the years freak anyone else out!!

Spencer and his Tom trains

Spencer got given a fantastic Figure 8 Thomas the Tank Engine train set for Christmas from his Uncle Malcolm. Spencer was quite taken with Thomas before this but is now obsessed with "Tom Train" (he can't say Thomas).

Grandad gave Spencer a gift voucher for Kmart so we were able to buy him an additional Figure 8 set as well as another extender track set.

Today we visited Toys R Us and bought Spencer a couple of track packs and a fantastic bridge pack which has a rope bridge and an awesome draw bridge... I think Alan and I get more excited over the train set than Spencer!

My holidays are nearly over

Well another year that Christmas has come and gone. Unfortunately I ended up with a middle ear infection one week before Christmas which left me feeling... let's say not very festive. Two trips to the doctor and two prescriptions of antibiotics I was finally feeling alive again two weeks later.

The first week of my four week holidays were spent at home spending some quality time with Spencer and by the Wednesday of the second week of my hols I was in agony with my ear infection.

The weather here has been quite miserable. Considering it is supposed to be Summer it has been rather cold and unusually wet... well wet for Brisbane who are on Level 6 water restrictions. As much as we need the rain it has put a damper (pardon the pun) on the holidays. We had many outings planned and the weather has crushed those. Still - now that I am feeling a lot better it's still nice to be spending time with Alan and Spencer.