A little cultural day

Not wanting our daughter to have all the cultural limelight, we set off towards to culture/arts precinct of Brisbane. I had heard that the Gallery of Modern Art was a place worth visiting. 
So by foot, by ferry, by foot we made the trek. It was a very interesting place and it was lovely to wander slowly throughout the displays. The added bonus was it was cool....a humid day today outside.
From there we headed by foot and ferry to the city for a few essential items on our list. Enjoying coffee stops along the way has also been fun....who knew there were so many different ways to make / drink coffee? Sadly it was after we had just had a coffee break that we discovered that in fact their is a "Bassett" coffee suppler around......on our "to have before we head home" list now. Funny I should say we......it is just a "he" thing! I don't drink coffee at all....so I am enjoying the variety in Hot Chocolate around.

Well it is hump day today and our dancer is having a great week....sore and pretty tired but filling up on all sorts of experiences and loving the variety of great teachers she is exposed too.

Walk total today = 16.5 kms + too many blisters from wearing the wrong shoes.

A helping hand...

 Our day in the sunshine state today gave us the opportunity of visiting with our dear friends up the coast.....they are right in the middle of packing up for a move....so lucky for them we lent a hand ( or maybe we just created more confusion) ....it was the least we could do seeing as we had a very lovely lunch by the water with them
Good friends are those who you live thousands of miles away and yet you can just pop in and lend a hand and have a good laugh along the way.

 While Meg is off doing her thing all week we intend to relax but we are also giving some head space to what our 2016 will look like....we already know it will be different to last year and are very expectant to the new around the corner.....so our ears and eyes are open.....looking for all sorts of inspiration..........
Like this???? .

Walk total  = 7 kms

Walking and Dancing

This week is about new things......
Meg was given the opportunity to dance in a new environment this week.....it did mean that we have had to travel to the other side of the country which also means that her dear old mum and dad have a week to explore and seek out all things new too.

So today she went off all excited but nervous and we sent her off all excited minus the nerves because we knew she would do good and that the experience of this week will be awesome for her.
So what was left for us to do but some exploring of our own.... we set off on foot to see how far we could get....well we got a long way...I think we walked almost 15.5 Kms today, which is no mean feat for this not so totally fit member of the family.
It was such a beautiful day...temperature was perfect and the city of Brisbane turned on a treat for us. 

Walk total  = 15.5 kms

Steamy nights

The sun has set on another night....another week even.....

It is steamy and warm....

But tomorrow the sun will rise.....it may be steamy, it may be wet, it well may continually change throughout the day......

And we are waking to make our way across the country for a big adventure with our big girl....

Retirement Day

We have two chickens that have faithfully given us a nice return of eggs over the last couple of years.....up until now.
We really like the relationship we have with them.....they eat all our scraps, manure our garden beds and then we in return reap the egg collect.

So when they tell us it is time to end the relationship...by not returning eggs we know it is time to retire them.

Now we have had to in the past, end their little life, sadly but this time these two lovelies scored big time.

A friend offered to let them see out their days in her bigger coop and find new mates among her brood including one big old rooster.

So today was retirement day.....and I must say we were mightily impressed with their new abode....so much so that we could see ourselves retiring in this little patch of paradise...the bigger property not just the coop!

I have just received a text to let us know they are all asleep and although didn't find their way to the roost tonight, fared pretty well in their new home.
Maybe they will love retirement so much that it will cause some spontaneous egg laying as thank you for greener pastures.

Oh and here is a cleaver strawberry planter that our friends rigged up...I can see something similar popping up around her in the future.

#1153 Thankful List......retirement home for our chickens.

The upside of beach swim lessons (Thankful list)

Well it has been four days into our two weeks beach swim lessons.....and despite the hesitant start we are doing good....

The upside to our beach lessons as opposed to the Aquatic lessons we are used to is....

The total cost for two weeks of lessons for 4 kids is $34.50!

No pool entry fee every day

Every day has delivered a different weather forecast.
 
The landscape and what you discover throws up new things every day

The chance for a brisk walk along the sand is good for my health

There is no over the top enthusiastic life guards making the kids walk everywhere,stop splashing and generally prevent them from  having a bit of fun.....instead they have the whole stretch of the beach to run , jump, splash, be loud and ......even throw sand at each other!

and lastly there is no kiosk in sight to feel the pressure of having to empty my purse everyday for ice cream! 

#1152 Thankful list

An important TOP SECRET converstion

{Beware if you are my  little sister of five little ones ....classified information TOP SECRET}

I had a fun little walk along the beach with two of my nieces and a nephew today while swim lessons were on...

The conversation went like this...with my 9 Year old niece...

"Aunty Bron could I ask you to help me with something?"

"Yes sure Kate what can I do for you?"

"I want to nominate my mum for Mother of the year but I need some help with the information. I have to do it online and I got a bit stuck."

{my heart melted at this stage}

"Oh Kate I would love to help you ...what a very sweet thing to want to do for mum."

"Yes well she has done lots for the five of us so I wanted to do this."

"Well Kate I will have a look online tonight at what we need to do and then I can help you with it...is that OK?"

"That would be good Aunty ..thank you."

Priceless 15 minutes with these beautiful little ones.....the other two 6 and 4 years old were busy running and finding beach treasure.

So I had better go and make good on my promise before tomorrows beach meet up.

Dear Tomatoes...

Thank you for your lovely red ripe crop to accompany the delicous meals that the man of the house prepares.
Even though we didn't plant you or even take any care ....sorry we should have staked you I know.

But despite all that we adore that you are strong enough to produce this fine crop....I promise that I will come back for the next wave in a few days.

Kindest regards
US. xx

The Next Day

Today as opposed to yesterday.....we sat huddled under the jetty to shelter from the wind and the rain.....
the kids? they swam on like good troopers.

In two days time the forecast is for a scorcher of a day!  Need to be able to roll with it when it comes to mother nature it appears.

Beach Lessons

Every year at this time we enrol in vacation swimming lessons...only we usually do them at the local aquatic centre.
This year though we are at the beach......
After our very hot last week it was particularly overcast and grey today...not too cool though.
My boy is none to excited about the beach lessons.....and when on arrival was made to wear the snazzy cap it sealed the unhappy mindset.

I think there will be lots to learn from the beach lessons....funny cause he loves heading to the beach and wave swimming with his dad...just not the place he wants to do lessons...even if he is in the same class with 3 of his cousins!! {poor swim instructor}
So we have two whole weeks ahead of us in which I do hope he quickly decides it could be fun after all......

...and it is nice time to sit with my sisters and chat while they swim. 
 

Summer hangouts

Hangouts in the Summer holidays are made so much better with company.

Butterfly Invasion {thankful list}

What better way to bring back to life to my very neglected Grateful/Thankful list than with the wonder and excitement of our garden being filled with more butterflies than I have ever seen in one place. They just filled the air.

We are in the middle of a heat wave...hot , hot , hot....we have communities 1 hour south of us who are in the middle of a fire storm. We are fortunate just to have the heat not the fire.

I ventured outside today briefly and was surprised as I moved about to discover that our garden was alive with butterflies....it was so magical...

So I am thankful for the magic and beauty of God's creation right in our backyard. Placed there to give us hope in some tricky days.

# 1145

Summer Lunch

There really is no other way to spend a way tooooo hot summer day than eating freshly local caught crayfish cooked on the BBQ. {in the air conditioning}