Christmas Wishes

Father's Day

Just when we get used to Father's Day in the UK being the same as South Africa (and Mother's day not) - now Father's Day in Oz is defferent to SA and the UK.... whenever it is, it still comes once a year (unless you move between June and September - then you will have 2 ...)

Back to Father's Day in Oz! We had a super day with the Rouxs and went on the Kookaburra River Queen for a float down the Brisbane river and lunch. Abi had so much fun with Juliette - what a pair. The Dads had a pretty cool father's day too...

We had an 'episode'

Regular Saturday afternoon - we put Abi down for a sleep... and Guy and I are in the 'guest' room, getting ready for ... 'guests!' She says 'I want to sleep in Mommy's bed' -'Fine', I say, 'but if you don't go so sleep, you will sleep in your room.' In she climbs into our bed.

Then she finds us and says 'I need cream - I've got itches on me'. There are loads of mozzies here - and if you are not careful, the bites are sore, itchy and red and they flare up. So we put some antiseptic cream on them to stop the itching. All those moms who know what Sudocrem is, will know that it is a VERY thick, white cream - can even be used as a barrier cream for nappy rash....

Anyway. Abi wants cream. And she likes to do everything herself now days. So we supervise the 'cream application' and she goes back to sleep. Or so we thought!!!!!!!!!!!

The tub does say 'apply in a thin layer' - lucky it also says 'no known case of overdose' - until now...

When I saw her for the first time, I got a fright... I was 'Oh my word' - then we didn't know whether to be angry or amused. I think we were both, if that is possible.

Oh well, we thought, top-to-toe cream.... and then we saw the rest of what she had been up to for the last half an hour!!!!

Our carpets still look like this.

Life is harsh.

Daily Commute

Here are some photos from our daily commute.

First we take Abi to Kindy:

Then depending on traffic, it takes about half an hour to 45 minutes to park the car - the weather is normally lovely and this view is a far sight better than Croydon!

Brisbane is a lovely city....

View from Guy's work lobby (mine is not so illustrious :) )

Sometimes we meet for lunch:

Life is harsh.

Redcliff Beach

Still a bit chilly for swimming, but that didn't stop Abi from getting in the water and having fun!

CupCakes

Today I have posted 3 entries in the blog... it has been a busy day

This afternoon, Abi's friend Juliette came over to bake capcakes. It was a baking marathon and we baked 60 in all! The girls had a lot of fun and when they got bored with it (after about 10 minutes) - the bigger girls carried on and had a chat and tea and decorated cupcakes all afternoon.

It was a super day.

Be suitably impressed:

Abi Swimming

I managed to capture a few shots of Abi swimming on Saturday morning. This morning there were 4 little girls in her class. The teacher is amazing.

Abi Swimming - in her cool goggles and cap - its the first time she has been wearing those:

Abi is the one on the far left with the pink cap with cherries on.

Abi swimming on her back:

TopDeck

This weekend Abi had a turn to take the kindy guinea pig home. He is a quite gentle little thing and his name is TopDeck. His wife’s name is Caramello. She wasn’t able to come because she has just given birth to their child. The kindy thought that they had 2 males. Not so. Abi has not spent as much time as we expected with TopDeck – good for a trial run to have a pet in the house.

Gold Coast - Coolangatta

We had a great weekend, on Saturday we took Abi swimming. We have started her at swimming classes every Saturday morning at 9am. The lesson is for half an hour and she swims with 2 other little girls about the same age as her. The teacher is amazing as she manages to handle 3 children who essentially are not able to swim yet. Abi has an absolute ball, so excited and they clap for each other – its too cute to watch. The rest of the day was spent doing grocery shopping and gardening.

While Guy was down at the pool he looked up and saw what he thought was a snake in the tree. It turned out to be a snake skin – quite a long one. Abi took it to nursery for ‘show and tell’ and it was a big hit! Her kindy teacher wanted to keep it to show the other children and we have since ’donated’ it to the kindy. Scary to think that the snake is still somewhere in our garden!







Sunday we went to the Gold Coast.
I’ve never been to the Gold Coast and Guy has only been there for an interview. It was a long drive to Coolangatta, but it is very beautiful there. We spent some time on the beach, Abi simply loves playing in the sand and the water and had loads of fun chasing seagulls. The water was too cold for us – but there were others swimming and Abi got wet in the pools Guy dug for her. We had a simple sandwich and strawberries picnic and then took a slow drive back up the Gold Coast to see the other beaches.



They all look nice – still so much to explore!

Disney-On-Ice

We went to Disney-on-Ice at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre on Saturday. Abigail went with her new friend and she had an absolute ball! Note the 'merchandising'.

Little Sunshine

Maleny

We drove up to Maleny last Saturday. This is about 1-2 hours north of Brisbane, depending on traffic! We went to friends for a lovely lunch. And what a view from their house!! The pictures don't do it justice, but take a look...

Baby Croc

They had a “Dreamworld Wildlife” show at Kindy today – they brought in a few animals like a possum, bilby, blue tongue lizard and a baby crocodile.
Apparently Abi guessed all the animals first when the keeper read the clues about the animals out… the keeper was so impressed that Abi got to touch the crocodile first.
Here is a picture – she sure does look chuffed!

Abi's Birthday Party

Party Room Before and During...


Birthday Cake...

Happy Birthday to Us

Some snaps of Abi opening a selection of presents - she opened some on her Birthday (Thursday) - some on mine (Friday) and some on Saturday - the day of her party...
My birthday was very low-key - went to see a movie and had lunch with Guy - a lovely day - wish there were more like that!
Thanks to everyone who sent presents and cards from afar - they really made our birthdays!

Brisbane Rain

We have been having the most amazing rain here this week – more rain than we would normally get in a month. The dams are filling up fast and the drought officially over.

We are fine – just had terrible traffic home today and picked up Abi from Kindy half an hour late. Our outside entry area’s ceiling has flooded – so Guy will need to get up there at some point quite soon to sort that out because any more water and I think the ceiling may well collapse…

Abi - who will be 3 tomorrow and is very excited about waking up and finally being 3!!!!

I am taking Friday off for my birthday and going to movie and lunch with Guy - and baking a cake for Abi. We have bought a pink bike for Abi's birthday.

Flooding News: http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,25513566-29277,00.html – flooding is near to us – but we are quite high-up – so we are ok…

Mother's Day

Had a great day today - Guy and Abi made me breakfast in bed... memories are made of these...