Well another week has gone by, and have come to the conclusion it is nearly Xmas. Xmas I hear you say, well it is nearly there, next week is September and really it is not that far away. So to make you all sick I have started my Xmas shopping list, and I am slowly getting some things, I could honestly say I am half way there, not even started on Jade who was reading my list wondering where her name was - as if I was going to write her name on the list and what we were getting her!!!!

Jade is in the school musical this week, she has one of the major parts - well minor major, so that is cool. They did a matine yesterday afternoon and an evening show last night which I went to and another evening show tonight which Ralf has gone to. She is very proud.

Two weekends of soccer to go, being such a good mother I can honestly say I am over it and looking forward to not having to go anyway.

Ralf has a golf tournament this weekend on Sunday, I have told him he is to win me a car - fingers crossed :-)

Anyway must away for a spa

another great 10d's weekend

Well us girl's had another great weekend away together. I think we have finally found the right balance of who brings what, and eating out for every meal - how could it have taken so long to come to the thought of eating out every night???

First layout is of Ralf and his brother, Chrissie and I had them put on the 3d's glasses from the movie theatre and act like geeks - they did it so naturally!!
Next one is of Jade (did I really need to state the obvious) just sitting outside on the deck, another day of me annoying her with the camera - my girl is no longer a wee girl, she is growing up so quick!
We Luke is just so cute! We put him into Jade's beanbag for this photo - god he is cute! So cute!!!!
Ralf is such a funny man! I told him I should have a photo of him with a sweat band on! Funny man said yes and let me take the photo!!! Oliva Newton John - or Olivia Newton Ralf :-)
This one speaks for itself.
A nice layout, a bit over due in doing it, the photos are from when Mum had all the kids staying together - i don't know how she did it!!!
We told Jade that as I was Luke's fairy god mother and Mel was hers, then obviously her and Luke would have to be fairy god cousins!!
Jade's birthday party

A day we were babysitting Lucy, the neighbours dog, Ralf and her get on so well together, this photo just cracks me up!

Back to work for another week, nothing exciting happening I think, work work and work. Then this weekend just soccer, Ralf is playing a little poker on Friday night.

Facebook

I have decided that facebook is interferring with my blog! I happily put a little comment here and there on facebook as it is so quick, same with uploading a photo - nice a quick. BUT.... I do not right big stories like here, and I don't say all of what I am thinking on there as it is not like it is your real friends that are reading it. Well some are, but then there are all the people you have clicked as "friends" when they are no more than someone you know, for whatever reasons.

So, yes I love facebook, but it is not the same as my blog :-)

We had Mel, Jase and Luke come to stay last weekend which was fantastic. I wish oh wish that they lived closer!!! Luke is such a cute wee baby, and I kid you not I do not think I really ever heard him cry - he talks!!!!

But how could he not with his mother being Mel!! Jade just loved him, funny thing happened. We told her that Luke was going to sleep in her room, she thought this was a great idea, until the morning, she moaned she did not get much sleep, as he talked and talked and wiggled too much!!! Funny!!

On the Sunday we were looking after Lucy while the neighbours were away. Funny Ralf has gone from not being a dog person to just loving Lucy. Look at the joy on their faces, Lucy loves him too!! Don't think it will take too much to convince him to get a dog now - well after Oscar has passed we decided.

We have also recevied our bark, spent the week moving it all into the garden, thought we had enough, but no, we will need to get another 4 cubic metres I reckon, starting to look good though.

Last picture ever of Ralf with long hair, he has moaned his hair would no longer fit under his cap for golf, so it had to go. I cut it tonight, but managed to convince him to leave a mullet!!! Funny, will see how long that lasts, did not know I had such great skills with hair cutting, a new career path for me - well for bogan haircutting anyway!!!

Speaking of all things bogan - we have ACDC tickets - yay!!!!

Time for this girl to go, not sure what I am going to go and do, but time to be off the computer.

My Birthday...

2 sleeps til my birthday, I just love birthdays and go on and on and on and on about it for normally a good week before hand, really annoying everyone!

Well Jade got me a beauty today! i said 2 sleeps till my birthday jade, i can't wait, and her reply was 2 sleeps and 2 years until your 40 mum! Cheeky little mare!!!

Weekend has been a good one. Friday night we had a 40th surprise birthday party to go to at the Bulls Rugby Club, far to much beer later, we got home! So Saturday.. was a right of, not hungover thank god, but just very tired. I went to bed at 7.30pm! Sunday we did housework and then went to town for a shop. Jade had her birthday vouchers to spend, which did not take long to be gone! We went out for lunch at burger fuel which we were told was fantastic, but we beg to differ, so will never go back there again!

Onwards to another week, Jade is back to school, and I think she is going up from Brownies to Guides tomorrow night as well so that will be cool.

No Broadband

Well I had these three layouts done and ready to upload about 2 weeks ago, but I had used up all 10Gb of my broadband usage. I was so confused as to why this had happened, until I figured out that my rather insane addiction for Facebook games had been the largest usage of this!!! No more facebook games now, just chatting and looking!!!

The day before I went scrapping with Jo we received our warehouse clearance pack from Pink Paislee, what a wicked pack, awesome value and such nice product!!! I used it on all three layouts.

Anyway first one, is Brooke and Daniel (niece and nephew in Australia), what of earth did Chrissie bribe them with to get them to sit on Santa's knee at this age, I wonder whether I could get Jade too, but I doubt it considering she won't do it now!!!
A nice wee town inland and up the coast a bit from Brisbane, I could not tell you the name of it for the life of me, but it was a town of the coolest craft shops, which we speant hours in, the boys I think were very relieved when they found this bench outside one shop - FUNNY!!!

Another layout for my BOM (Book of Me), i quiet t;ike this photo that Kris took of me at our last weekend away together down at Waikane. Of course the layout is in my favourite colour.

10 years ago

Do you know that about this time 10 years ago I was in Palmerston North hospital, think it was about time that baby got out of my belly!

That is right our wee girl is 10 tomorrow, how scarey, I remember thinking how weird it would be when she was about to go to school, and now she is turning 10. It is so bizzare to think how fast 10 years goes by, and a horrible thought to think that in 10 years more Jade might not be living with us anymore, but off living her own life.

I wonder what she will be doing, will it be at university, or will she have a job, or will she be wanting to go off overseas?

Another week past

Another week has past.

I have been busy at work, our storeman has been away on holiday for a couple of weeks so I have been covering his job as well as mine, busy but I enjoy doing it for a change, and an excuse to wear jeans to work every day!!!

Saturday was no soccer for us, we had a bye which was great, nice excuse to stay in bed for a sleep in, even Jade was pleased to have a sleep in. Then Kate, Drew and Flynn came around for tea which was cool. The kids mucked around doing kid things and Kate and I were utter idiots, she had lots of costumes that she had not been hiring out to sell on trade me, so we set up 50 auctions, very funny, even dressed up in one of the most beautiful numbers!!! Ralf was not home, he had golf, then out to the neighbours place to watch the rugby and drink beer and bourbon - happy man.

Sunday I planted another 20 plants into the garden which is good, and did the usual recycling and rubbish runs and then it started to rain. Great excuse not to plant anymore!! So boring out there by yourself. Ralf had another day of golf.

So Friday night Ralf the super husband did all the housework while I went out to Jo's house to do some scrapbooking! Lucky me!

First layout I did was of the cutest baby in all of the universe!!!! He is such a cute we boy, even with his parents being Mel and Jase LOL!!! Just jokes!
Then I did a layout on all of the theme park photos we brought in Australia, towards the end of our holiday we clicked how many we had paid for!!!!! Funny, good times though

This week, nothing exciting I can think of is happening, work, work and more work, with some school in there somewhere. The weekend as a form of punishment we get soccer on saturday and on sunday all day for a tournament! I brought a new tent though just for this occassion. It is a dome tent with no floor, so no matter whether it rains or is windy we will at least not freeze and get wet like last year!!!

The hot date

The date went well. Drew turned up to pick up Jade (driven by Kate and with Flynn Drew's younger brother tow) on time, there was no waiting around, good to see he was nice and prompt :-)

They stood and let me take their photo - neither wanted it, but did as they were told, I am sure in the years to come I will be told in no uncertain terms where to get off when I ask for the same style of photo, but until then I will click away happily. Kate took them to the rat hole (the local pub), organised their meals, got their drinks, and then she left them to it, and went and sat in the other bar (spying on them), I would have prefered that Kate had a camera with a long lens on it - but no, so no photos of them dining together!! Jade told me afterwards that Drew spilt his ice-cream sundae sauce on his shirt, and she caught him licking it off! But then she told me she spilt her's too, but of course could not lick it off her dress!!!

Then off to the school disco together, where there was little dancing, lots of drinking fizzy, and collecting glow in the dark bracelets.

A happy date had by the both of them.

I must be getting old......

My wee girl has just been asked out on her first date!!!!!!! The school disco! Funny how things do not change over time, the boy in question was too shy to ask, so asked his friend to ask her for him. Kate (Drew's mum) and I are just giggling and texting each other updates as we hear them. Just sooooo cute!!!!

Kate is going to bring Drew over on Friday night to collect Jade to take her, and I will collect them both after the disco to drop Drew back home. CUTE!!!!!!!

A bit slow at uploading these up. I had partially done these layouts at the pinkalicious day, finished them off last weekend finally.

Jet Rescue, cool ride at sea world, Ralf did not like it though as he said it had no support for his back and we did get thrown a bit.
Superman ride at Movie world, loved it, very very fast!

Still do not have the plants into the ground, every weekend it is raining, but nice in the week days - how rude!!!!!!

Mum is coming to stay this weekend - can't wait, she is staying for a week which will be fantastic, Jade is very excited too!!!

Squished

Funny Mel and Jase just sent me this photo, so laughing as I had forgotten it!!

Jade's Tea Party

Well last Monday Jade came home from School to tell me that her best friend Nyah and her had been talking and they had decided that they needed to have a tea party. So plans were made (by them) lists were made (by them) and shopping lists were given (to me), and guidelines and rules were set (by me).

Sunday

2pm - 4pm

Our House

The scene was set

Bradley and Logan were to be invited to be the guests. Invitations were sent out, with instructions to dress up, and remember pinkie finger out when drinking.

They had a blast drinking their "Champagne", little sandwiches, little biscuits, little chocolates and grapes, and don't forget using toothpicks to pick up the food!

Pinkalicious

A nice fundraiser was held this weekend just been to raise funds for the hospis here in Palmerston North which was fantastci, I am sure that they must have raised alot of money. It was of course a scrapbooking fundraiser, with a door fee, auctions etc. Very well done, and oh my god there were lots of people there.

First layout I did, love scenic route papers.
Next layout, so easy I really did nothing, was of Jade's soccer team last year, alot different in many ways from the team this year.

Really love this layout, brought some new paper and used it within a week - well done Margo!!!

Scrapping / Holiday Shots

Told you I scrapped. First is Dan, Brooke and Jade at the Auzzie Zoo with their pet snake. Very cool place to go, we did spend the full day there and all had such a great time. On a scrapping note, if you zoom in on the photo check out the new punch Jo brought, which I borrowed, god I love it, think I might steal it when she is not looking!!! Aussie Outback spectacular, going to surfers well worth the visit, it was a whole evening affair, right from the fire alarm evacuation at the start (oh wait i don't think that was planned) through to the hat's - no we did not buy them, good old country singer singing along with the kids dancing - not Jade, way too cool for that, through to the food which was fantastic, all the drink laid on while the meal is going and of course the show. It was just fantastic. On another scrapping note, see the new scallop punch that I brought from stampin up - love it, don't have to steal this one, but better make sure it is not stolen from me :-)

Dreamworld - getting a cuddle with a koala, it was definately the plan before we even left NZ so heavy he was and he even scratched her belly!

I scrapped with Jo last night, we had not seen each other for so long, the talking over took for a long time!!!! I am floored that I managed to get 3 layouts done!! Will up load them later in the week after I scan them in.

Jade and I shopped for Shiloh today, chew toys, food bowls, a nice bed for the conservatory, and a pooper scooper!

The last of the holiday post

Friday – Surfers Paradise

Back to Brisbane today, we packed up the apartment and the car and set off back up to Brisbane, but with a few stop offs on the way. First of all we went to Harbour town as Ralf wanted to check out the Adidas outlet store. We were a little disappointed as it was not as cheap as we were expecting. From there we drove further down the road and found the IKEA store which I had been dying to check one out forever. What a massive store, and I do believe that if we lived in Brisbane I would out fit our whole house with all the wonderful storage things that IKEA has to offer, god it was cool. Got back to Brisbane and had lunch and then checked out the local scrapbook store just down the road from Tony and Chrissie’s place – cool, brought some more treats there!!!! Everyone except for the intelligent ones (Jade and I) went off into town to watch a game of Auzzie Rules – oh joy, apparently they all enjoyed it though, Jade and I, well we ate pizza and watched TV, far more exciting!!!

Saturday – Glasshouse Mountains & Montville

A family day out to check out the glasshouse mountains today – I have to say what beautiful scenery, but mountains? You have to be kidding, more like some very random looking hills in the middle of know where. From there we went onto Montville, a very quaint village up the top of the hill, past “bald knob”, so many and I do mean so many lots of little shops with many things to buy, so many things to buy. I loved it. And the boys were so patient while we shopped!!! Amazing!!!!

Sunday – Kallangur

A quiet day, well sort of! We finished packing making sure it was all sorted as we were leaving tomorrow. Then Chrissie, Jade, Dan and I went off to Churnside Mall and went to see Aliens vs. Monsters, which was in 3D, very cool. Then we did a little shopping in this massive mall – it was soo big!!

Monday – Fly home

Well what a long day this was, up and off to the airport by 6.30am, check in, and fly home, all with no hassles at all. Mel, Jase and Luke met us at the airport which was great to sit down with them for about an hour, which was very cool. Mel looks so much more rested now which is very cool, I do so remember those early weeks of figuring the whole baby thing out. Well that was the end of our nice holiday – from there the trip to turned to custard, and that is putting it so nicely! We got back to the truck, the battery was flat, Ralf and I could not push start the truck as it was too heavy, so we got a jump start – Yay. Then driving down the road every time Ralf put the indicator on battery was trying to stop again, the battery was beyond dead! So then it started to get darker, and rain, we pulled into the service station and there was only one battery there that fit the truck, what a great thing that was. We drove and drove and drove and finally got home around 11.15pm! Knackered! Oscar went ballistic, so happy to see us! So what did she leave for us while we were away...... a mouse, not just on the carpet, no that would be too nice, what she did was drop one down the toilet in the ensuite within a couple of days after we left, so it was huge and swollen and stinky!!!!!

Bring on the next holiday – it was the best!!!

Yes...

Shiloh is going to be Jade's new dog. We are going to visit him Saturday afternoon - yay.

Australia

A long blog - but jusst dropping on some of our diary.

Thursday – Driving to Auckland

What a long day at work – it just dragged on, I just wanted to be on the way for the holiday to start!!! Finally got away and collected Jade and we were on our way! Did not stop until Huntley for tea, which was quiet late, but as we took the back roads we could not find anywhere with food we all wanted – KFC!!!! Got to Mel and Jase's house around 9.20pm. Luke is so cute!!! What a wee button. Jade was infatuated with him, loved the wee boy!

Friday - Skeggasaourus’s House

Coughed up a storm last night still. Thankfully slept in until about 8.30am, much better sleep after I closed two bedroom doors between Ralf and me, then I could not hear him snoring!!!! Jumped out of bed to see what wee Luke was up too, so very cute, I could get very clucky! Hung out with Mel and Jase and Luke all day. Mel and I went into the mall and did a little shopping, and brought back some lunch. Then we watched the movie Marley and Me – so sad, but a very cool movie.

Saturday – Flying to Brisbane

Woke up early this morning, when we heard that little Luke was up, so thought we had better get up and see what he was doing. Of course Mel was feeding him. Hung out with Mel and Jase for the rest of the morning, waiting not so patiently to go to the airport. Mel and Jase drove out with us to have a feed before seeing us off on the plane. Felt a bit stink about them driving all that way to sit there for 20 minutes before we went through to the other side, but not much we could do about it when we were all overexcited about holidays. Did our duty free shopping – my goodness a bit of booze!!! Flight was on a smaller aircraft than booked on which sucked, so no in-flight small TV’s on each chair and I am sure it was tighter fitting!!! Food was nice though. Finally got there and Tony and Dan were there to meet us, they did not recognise Ralf at all!!!! Funny!!!! Collected the car and got on our way – Yay GPS!!! Very cool to finally see their house. Love it, what a great layout and love the leather couch they have, wonder if it will fit in our bag!!!! Brooke not home, out staying with her boyfriend for the night. Jade and Dan got on famously, bouncing on the trampoline talking non stop – that was before they found out they both had a love of play station games – then they were off. We went out for tea to an all you can eat place, which was great. Ralf ate everything!! Then home so jade could get some sleep. Man it is hot here!!! Very very muggy. A massive cockroach was crawling across the desk in the lounge where we were sleeping, Chrissie killed it with fly spray for me – thank god!!

Sunday – Brisbane City

What is up with waking up so early! Up having a cup of tea with Chrissie at 6.30am!!!!!!! Could not sleep, lucky jade did sleep in allot longer! We were woken by crows! Wow they are loud! Today we went into the city for a look around. We drove down to some place by the river and parked our cars up there. From there we jumped on the city cat boat which took us into the city – what a great way to arrive in the city, very cool wee trip! In the city we looked through the markets, brought a gecko for the wall in the conservatory at home. Down to Southbank where the kids went for a swim, there is a pool right in the middle of town but they have built it too look like a beach which is quiet funny. From there we walked over the bridge into the main part of town and looked at a few of the shops. Back onto the boat to the cars and home. Chrissie and I went for a quick grocery shop for tea – I brought things we did not need J found easy Mac in a nacho cheese flavour, needed that of course, some wagon wheel biscuits and of course some Easter eggs. Then we collected Brooke form work and home for dinner.

Monday – Movie world

What a great place that. We collected Chrissie from her dropping off her car for repair and dropped her off home before heading down to the gold coast. Once again the GPS was fantastic, makes the driving and any little trips so stress free. We arrived at the park just after it opened, and queued up to get in. Not long thankfully. We did the Scooby Doo ride first up which we all loved, I think that was the favourite ride for the day for Ralf and Jade. Onto the log flume which was my favourite – awesome photo. That was the end of the rides that had nice ques. Superman escape we queued for a whole hour!!! Then Ralf did not even get to go on as he had his hat in his hand the chick would not let him on – pissed off!! But jade and I went on, I had the shakes afterwards it was awesome! Ralf had lunch at dirty Harry's bar, while jade and I had hotdogs and donuts – yum! Big long ones called churo’s – I am hooked. Brought a couple of t-shirts. Watched the Scooby doo show which was cool, and then onto watching the street parade which was pretty cool too – but very fast. While watching the parade we stood in the queue to go into the Shrek 4d show – fantastic!!! From there onto the batman motion master – that was wicked too. And there ended the day! Busy and rushed I reckon you could do two days there just not to rush and so you could see all the shows that were on, as we did not see many of them. Yay for gps driving us to the apartment, we were too late to check in with management, but lucky that they had left us the keys, we were all cringing about where I had booked us in as we walked up 3 flights of stairs!!! Great apartment though, just what I thought it would be – Yay for air conditioning. We went for a quick walk up town to get some breakfast stuff and some tea (subway). Then we all had showers and jade was in bed and I think asleep by 8.30pm. Ralf and I were asleep by 9.30pm!!!

Tuesday – SeaWorld and The Great Australian Outback Adventure

Well the weather was not to kind to us here. But in saying that nothing like NZ rain! We walked the length of the park to get to the dolphin display which was fantastic, very similar to Napier’s one but of course bigger and more dolphins, I managed to get some great shots. Just as we left there it decided to rain, but really what I would call drizzle, funny we just kept going and went down to the shark bay and by the time we got out it had stopped. The sharks were cool, there was a mother shark with a wee baby one swimming underneath, but I could not get a good shot as of course you were looking through glass and I could not figure out how to sharpen the picture up. Must ask Kris about that she might know. My favourite would be the polar bear, how cute!!!! A log flume ride was next, fantastic special effects. It went into a mountain where the whole theme was we had been abducted by aliens, wicked! Then off to a roller coaster, back around to watch the water ski wipe-out show which was fantastic, and then onto the Jet Ski rescue ride which was quiet new. Very fast!!! We managed to get a couple of hours break before going out to the Australian Outback Adventure show – fantastic and well worth the money. BUT.... we lined up for ages to get in and just got to the counter when the fire alarm went off so we all had to go outside again and wait for the fire engines to come. Once we got back in it was great, got a lovely cowboy hat to keep, the food and drinks kept flowing all night – great show, jade loved it too!

Wednesday – Dreamworld

Our favourite park! Chrissie, Daniel, Brooke and her boyfriend Ash all came down to come to this park with us. The best thing was hiring this machine called Q4U, meant you could book a ride, go and do other things and when it was your turn to go on you just rocked up and went on straight away without waiting in line – way cooler!!! Well worth the extra money! The first thing we did as you can imagine was go and see SpongeBob and have Jade’s picture taken with him and Patrick – jade was in heaven!!! The Claw, Rollercoaster, wipe-out and then Jade and I went to watch the SpongeBob show while Ralf watched some movie on the moon in the Imax theatre. While this happened Daniel went on the claw again and then wipe-out again, and he threw up everywhere!!!! Funny!! Even had to close the ride down while they cleaned up all the puke. From there we went and did both of the log flume rides which were very cool! Ralf and I got saturated on one of them!!!! Checked out the animals there, jade had her photo taken with a Koala, very cool picture, jade was very happy with this. Had some lunch while we waited for the motorx ride to come free and then Jade and Dan went on that. Off to the tower of terror – wicked!!!! Then through to Tiger Island and on to the nickelodeon store – everything SpongeBob to be brought here!!! Jade brought a new toy and a t-shirt. When she was not looking I brought some more for her birthday. Then onto a SpongeBob fly pants ride, back to do the log flume again and then onto the angry beaver ride and then the last rollercoaster ride before leaving the park for the day. We went into town for tea tonight and a quick look around the shops which was nice, brought the best bargain of the whole trip here – a $5 sweatshirt – I look hip LOL!!!

Thursday – Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary

30 minutes further down the coast is where this is situated, nice drive down the beach to get there. Fantastic park, could have spent the whole day there but needed to be on the road by 2pm to miss all the Easter traffic, which we only just did miss. Lots of koala’s here, we must have walked for miles!!! When we arrived we walked right to the other end of the park, missing the didgeridoo man altogether!!! Jade got to hold a crocodile and have her photo taken. Then we saw this amazing bird show, they flew down low right by our head – very freaky. Saw lots of snakes, some dingo’s and the tazi devil, but the wombats were hiding from us!!! We drove back up to Brisbane just as the roads started to get stupid! Thank god, we looked at the roads later and they were blocked up completely 3 lanes across just about all at a stand still!!!! Jade was sick at night, not sure why just threw up once and then was fine, so that was good to get that done.

Friday – Sutton Beach

We went down to Sutton beach today to see the Brisbane to Gladstone yacht race, and they had a big festival on down there at the same time. I think we were all a bit overwhelmed with the amount of people there – certainly more than in Sanson!!! The lions club organised big beach dig Easter egg hunt which jade thought was pretty fantastic. They even had camel rides on the beach – first time for jade, but apparently they have them al the time over here. Australia even exports camels to Arabia – amazing. Too long in the sun for me, I managed to get burnt, not too bad, but panda eyes and a wee burn on one shoulder, I was watching myself and putting on sunscreen but must have missed some of it.

Saturday – Kallangur

We did not much of anything today which was nice after rushing around the place. Ralf, Tony and Dan all went to look at golf shop, but they did not buy anything. Chrissie and I went to look at scrapbook shops, but they were all closed!!!!!! RUDE!!!!! So we did some grocery shopping, and the Chrissie, Jade and I checked out the mall for a bit before going and feeding the horse.

Sunday - Australia Zoo

What a fantastic zoo. Certainly lots to look at which was really great. We watched the croc show, and Terri, Bindi and Robert were there to do the show which apparently is not the norm, so that was very special. We saw lots of kangaroo’s and koalas and lots of other animals. Great day. They had a big Easter hunt on which was cool, when you found them you took them in and got a prize, the kids walked away with so much stuff it was amazing!!!

Monday – Bribry Island – Golf

What a day – what great weather – would almost make us feel at home! It hosed down and I mean torrential rain!!! Flooding everywhere, and a poor wee girl even drowned in a river here today, a very sad ending to a long weekend for some family. Ralf, Dan and Tony went off to Bribie Island to play golf at this resort, teed off at 9.30am and did not get home until 6pm – a very long 18 holes, and they did not even get wet. Chrissie, Jade and I went off to Bribie island following a friend of Chrissie’s to go out for lunch. Well her friend’s car broke down so we ended up ferrying them back and forward, then got to have lunch quickly before having to go back to Kallangur to pick up Brooke to take her to work at 2pm. And it rained the whole time, not sure how Ralf etc did not get wet, but we did!!!! Home to eat cheese and crackers etc, drink some beer, ouzo and jacks, so much that only the boys wanted pizza for tea – funny!!

Tuesday – Dreamworld

Well we got up early to drive down to surfers to sort out our apartment before going to the theme park, and were worried it was going to be a stink day, as it tried to rain the whole way down!!! Chrissie, Brooke, Ash and Dan all drove down as well, so we met them back at the park. Jade did wipe-out again, and then we raced to do a game of alien vs. predator which had only opened today – fantastic!!! Basically it is laser strike but some very cool special effects – loved it. Then we watched Dan do the surfing, which was pretty cool. Off to do the log flume again and then Ralf, Jade, Dan and I went into white water world. Ralf was not feeling so good, so he slept and looked after our bags while we went off to do the big rides – what is up with those stairs to climb!!!!! My goodness!!!!!! We did some more rides through at Dreamworld and brought the last of the SpongeBob stuff, I am sure we nearly brought some of everything!!!!! From there we went to the new apartment, over to the supermarket to buy some supplies and back to relax – we are knackered!!!!!

Wednesday – Surfers Paradise

Love the new apartment block would definitely come back to this one again!!!! Went to a scrapbook shop this morning, only 10 minutes away – Yay! Then out to pacific fair which is a large mall not far from here either. Had a wee shop, jade spent the rest of her money, she now has $4.40 left in her wallet!!! Had some lunch then back to the apartment. Ralf has gone to Jupiter’s casino to win us millions so we can holiday forever!!! Jade and I swam in the pool here and then I did a bit on the net while she played on her new psp game – well one of them she has brought 3 this trip!!! Ralf came home after 8 hours – what a great days work, turned out that the gambling was free and that the parking there cost $190 per 8 hours of parking!!!

Thursday – Surfers Paradise

A nice relaxing day for us today, which was great. We went out for lunch, played in the pool, changed apartments, and then out for dinner at the 4 winds revolving restaurant, which was fantastic. We had a bet as to how many times it would revolve before we left – jade one, not even one rotation!!!! Ralf ate and ate and ate as much seafood as possible!!!!

still a few more nights of holiday to go - yay!!

The dreaded lurgy...

Well I managed to loose my voice - many of you may be laughing hysterically at this point, but still your evil laugh and have some sympathy for poor Jade. She did not cope so well with me not really wanting to talk to her and have copious conversations with her from Thursday!!

It is nearly back, thank god!

4 sleeps until our holidays - can hardly wait!!!

Meet Shilo - hopefully this is Jade's new dog. I have found him on trade me, his owners are moving to Brisbane in August, so when we get back from our holidays they are bringing him out to meet us and to check out our house, to make sure they are happy with the house and his to take over ownership. He is six months old - look how cute!!!!

It is happening..

Not finished yet, but will be done by tomorrow - apart from the wood surrounds painting that Ralf and I have to do.

The view from the outside. Each end window is mirror tinted.

Looking down towards where the spa is going. This window end still needs to go in obviously.
Back towards the other deck.

The new dog door.

Just discovered that we have some paint left over from when we built the house, so that is great, will have to start painting tomorrow night.

Conservatory

The windows are arriving tomorrow morning

The spa pool is draining now.

I wonder whether some windows will get installed tomorrow - that would be cool.

The Finished Deck

Finally got around to putting up some photos of the finished - deck.
God it rocks!!!!

Sat out on the deck with Ralf, Jade and Dave eating pizza and some beers, man did it get cold 10 degrees, but we had to sit there!!! Then Dave went home and Ralf and I jumped into the spa at 12.30am to warm up.

This life rocks

Too Many Cakes and Pies ....

My best friend Mel has been eating too many cakes and pies - nah just jokes, but holy check out the size of that tummy - all baby!!! So can't wait to meet the wee man - 2 weeks and 1 day to go until he is going to pop on out. Mel and Jase are going to make just the best parents, such an exciting time!

He had better not be late. I was so stoked to be able to go up to Auckland a couple of weekends ago for her baby shower - so exciting!

Finally onto some scrapping .....

Well we had a nice weekend away this weekend. The 10d's headed off for a weekend at Waikane, we stayed at a batch we rented and scrapped the weekend away!

So first up is a layout from when we went to the Napier Aquarium last year. Jade loved it, we paid a little extra and went behind the scenes, she got to hold and touch all the animals which was pretty special. Even got to go into the crocodile enclosure (behind a fence) which was pretty wicked.

Next up is a layout I did with no title. Last year we had some portrait photos taken when Ross Street School in Palmerston North did a fundraiser. What great photos, I was very impressed.Well you know how much I dread challenges, Jo came up with this challenge where we had to do a 6x12 layout which is half the normal size. Lucky we were given a sketch, so not too much of a struggle. This one is showing the birds one day in the paddock beside us, one day they just all sat on a post each - funny things.The funny thing is after I had done it once I loved it and did another one!!! I had been wanting to do a layout about the floods back in 2004, so this was the perfect opportunity to have that done.Then a layout of some pictures I took of Jade a few days after we brought the spa. Such cool photos and the saying is so true, she just loves the water. Some how she thinks that the spa is a swimming pool for doing laps in!!!
At Xmas time Jade and I went for a walk up through Mount Bruce which was not far from here. Funny thing though while we were walking Jade kept wanting to know if we had nearly finished, I stupidly said how long it should take and she jsut had to know how much longer!!!

Also at Xmas we had Mel and Jase come down to visit - yay!!! Well I made Mel pose for me, and what else could the title be! She was very fierce, a and strong model, she really owned her look!!!

Only one to go. Jade's Xmas list for last year, if you can't read it, well there was a pet monkey and a million dollars on her list - thank goodness she was not too disappointed to not get everything on her list!!!

Do you like all the posts I am doing tonight - making up for lost time!!!

The Manor Burns Down...

So last week I get home from work to see loads of smoke all through Sanson, what a panic!!! But our house was fine, it was The Manor that is about a kilometre down the road on fire.

This is the view from our place.

I drove down to have a look thinking that I should not really be doing that, but my goodness it seemed as though all of Sanson and half of Bulls had gone down and everyone was sitting on the side of the road watching it burn.

A couple of years ago a young guy brought the property and has been running a maize maze, which you can go through during the day or on Tuesday night they have the trees of terror and also a night time spooky maize where they have actors dressed as monstors etc and jump out at you with chainsaws etc giving you a fright. A very fun time.

So it was very sad to see this. It has not burnt to the ground, but the top half is well and truely scorched, apparently there was a gas explosion in the roof.