Noosa Camping Trip

These past September holidays we went camping at Noosa. The campgrounds was like a Big 4 and about 10km in from the coast. It was really quiet, which we liked and we also had a private ensuite at our camp site which meant I didn't have to spend my holiday walking children to the bathroom! We loved the Sunshine Coast, particularly the more Hinterland areas as we are so used to country living now that we get annoyed by too much traffic.

 Last Christmas I got Steve a projector. We had movie night every night by rigging a wall on our shade to be the projector screen. I'd cook some popcorn in the camp microwave and it was a great way to spend our evenings. Here we are watching High School Musical. 

One of the days ended up being very rainy so we went to the big shopping centre for a look around and went to see 'Christopher Robin.' We loved it!

 We checked out the Eumundi Markets. Steve thought he found a park and went to check the sign for how long we could park there. One of the stall holders had a go at him for leaving the car on (he was gone maybe 10 seconds) because the fumes were stinky. This guy was selling PH infused extra healthy bottled water ... just one of the 'interesting' characters at Eumundi. The girls liked the playground the best (Amita is on the spider's web above) which goes to show they don't need much to be happy :).  

 We visited the Gingerbread factory and once again the big draw card was the playground there. 

 We attempted to go to Noosa headland for a bush walk but it was a nightmare just trying to get through the township area and there were no parks anywhere. Noosa is definitely designed for public transport and foot traffic, not cars. We eventually gave up and headed to Kondalilla National Park instead, which is more inland and a lot less busy. The walking track here is a steep decline from the parking area to the picnic area. Lizzie managed to trip over and scrape her knee pretty badly. We thought our bush walk was over before it began but she powered through and walked the whole track without being carried. 

 At the outlook. 

The track lead us down to some rockpools. It was beautiful. We could have kept going to get to the bottom of the waterfalls but the thought of coming back up afterwards was enough for us to be happy with getting this far. 

 Amita and Dad (the fast crew), Lizzie and I were the slow pokes!

The campgrounds had a games room and we attempted to teach the girls how to play pool. In the photo above Amita is doing her usual excited bouncing and that's why she's so fuzzy! 

 The jumping pillow was great for tiring them out!

Amita learnt how to cook pancakes with me and also learnt that the edge of frying pans are hot. She managed to get a big blister on her hand. 

Lizzie's 5th Birthday

Lizzie turned 5 earlier in the year. We were on the Gold Coast for her birthday so she had a cousins birthday party. I'm trying to ask Lizzie what she remembers and it's been so long that she doesn't remember much other than her favourite game was pass the parcel. 

Pin the tail on the unicorn. 

 Smashing the unicorn pinata.

 Bob and freeze on the trampoline. Bob and Freeze is her favourite game to play at Kindy and she says that she wins it most of the time. 

 Here she is in the beautiful dress from China from the Jeffrey's (she still picks it most weeks to wear to church), and her other gifts of a Pomsie, Emma doll and Miraculous Lady Bug mask. 

Here she is with her birthday cake. This is the 2nd year that she's chosen the piano cake. She says she likes it because it has chocolate icing and she gets to eat all of the chocolate piano keys! I put 'This is Me' on the little song card as it's one of her favourite songs at the moment. 

Here is her birthday interview.

1. What is your favourite colour? The colours of the rainbow so all of them.

2. What are your favourite toys? Ummmm I don’t know. LOL’s, play-dough and Lego.

3. What clothes do you love to wear? Dresses because they’re beautiful.

4. What’s your favourite game to play? Avengers, Disney Infinity and Basketball on the XBOX with Dad

5. What’s your favourite sport? Football and Soccer and all of the different types of sports.

6. What do you love about Kindy? I get play games and I like playing Bob and Freeze.

7. What songs do you love? Shut Up and Dance With Me, This is Me

8. What are your favourite foods? Noodles, Ham and Cheese Pizza and rainbow cookies

 9. Who are your best friends?  Elle, Aiden, Nate, Milah, Max and Aleera

10.  What do you love to do with your family? Cooking cookies, rainbow cookies, any type of cookies!

11. What do you want to do when you grow up? Be a baker with Amita

12. What are your favourite books? Shimmer & Shine and High School Musical Almanac

13. What makes you happy? When Amita lets me play with her play-dough

14. What makes you sad? Amita not letting me play with her Play-Dough (can you guess what’s been happening here lately?)

15. Where are your favourite places to go? The Park, the pool, going camping and going to Nan and Pa’s house to see my cousins

16. What are your favourite tv shows/movies? Harry Potter, Cookie Swirl C, Have a Cupcake, Cupcake Club & Hobby Kids TV (youtube channels).

17. What is your favourite animal? Unicorns, horses, dinosaurs, turtles, dolphins, mermaids, ladybugs, penguins, pigs, cats, owls and butterflies

18. Who is your favourite scripture person/story? Jesus of course! And Nephi.

19. What is your favourite ice-cream flavour? Choooooocolate

20. Who is your hero? Wonder Woman because I have the costume and she saves the day.

21. What do you like about Mum? Annoying you (so I guess my purpose on my life is to be annoyed by Lizzie), and you play barbies with me.

22. What do you like about Dad? He builds Lego with me.

23. What do you like about Amita? That she lets me in her room.

Fast Forward to Present Day

I am terribly behind on all of our family blog posts so this is a big one with all of the most important things from last Christmas to now. Lizzie's birthday will have her own post.

This is how we spend Christmas Day. On the floor, putting together our brand new Lego sets. We love it!

Wiggle Bay at White Water World. 

Amita, Nan and I went to see The Last Jedi together. Amita loved it though was a bit confused in the part where Kylo is shirtless. 

Poses with the Lego World displays at Dreamworld. The Storm Trooper looks a bit miffed that Amita is taking his gun.

Hulk Smash!

Rawwwwr...

Lizzie and I went on a Mummy Daughter date and her choice was to go to the frozen yogurt place. Good choice Lizzie!

Hanging out in Nan and Pa's pool with the cousins.

I love Lizzie's style of swimming with floaties!

Hanging out together at Dreamworld while the big kids go on other rides. 

This is the first day of school for both Amita and Lizzie in 2018. Amita started grade 2 and Lizzie is at Kindy. 

Both girls are doing dance this year. Lizzie is in the Twinkle Toes class and Amita does Jazz/Hip Hop and Ballet/Contemporary. 

In the Easter Holidays Amita got her ears pierced. She did really well and only cried for 2 minutes. As a reward for being brave she got to have some Frozen Yogurt with lots of gummi bears in it.

Here's Amita's first ride on a roller coaster at Dreamworld! Her cousins are behind her.

Family movie trip to see Marvel Infinity War.

When it rains we always take advantage of the big puddle in front of the house.

When it doesn't rain enough we make it rain in the shower instead.

Making some flower crowns after church one day. I used to make these every week when I was a kid.

Dinosaur themed mini putt putt, what could go wrong? Only Lizzie being terrified of the electronic caveman on the 2nd hole. It took a lot of convincing to get her past him.

Once we were past the caveman she was happy to give it a go.

Amita's first lost tooth. It was put in a cup for safe keeping and Steve accidentally threw it out when he did the dishes, but the tooth fairy was kind and still left some money.

Our faces just before playing Monopoly... they weren't quite so cheery at the end.

Amita's silver medal from a WAG 2 gymnastics competition. 

Lizzie got to drive the vintage cars at Dreamworld and now thinks that she's the best driver in the world and won't need any lessons when it's time to drive a real car. 

I am a Child of God

One of the songs we are learning in Primary this year is 'I am a Child of God.' Earlier this year when Lizzie was learning the other verses she started to sing, 'I am a Child of God, and so my knees are brave.'

Hervey Bay Camping Trip

We tried out a different camping ground (Pialba) at Hervey Bay last year. This one had us camped about 20m to the beach and right next door to the free water park so we had a great time! We would go to the water park just about every day. The toilets and camp kitchen were clean and close so we would 100% go again. 

Lizzie: This is me and Dad. I'm licking the Shape flavours off my hand.

Amita: This is at the water park. It was really fun. My favourite thing was a clamshell that squirted water.

Lizzie: I'm at the water park sliding down a slide. I'm having fun. 

This is our camp set-up. We got to use our new camping trailer which means we could transport more things and have a pretty comfortable time at camp. I especially love the fridge/freezer so I don't have to think too much about storing perishable food. 

Here we are doing tricks at the trampoline park. Amita is in the pic above. As a gymnastics coach, I really don't know how these companies get anyone to insure them. There's so much we have to do and prove before we can let anyone try a somersault but at these places you can walk off the street and give it a go first time. I naively wore linen pants and ripped a hole in them when I tried an aerial so there's no photos of me this time.

Lizzie.

Steve.

Sometimes Mum and Dad need a break and the only thing that stops these girls from moving and talking is being on their tablets. 

Maryborough is a nice town about 25 minutes inland from Hervey Bay and we spent a day here going to the markets and checking out all of the heritage displays they have. 

Here's Amita looking very fancy in old time dress.

Here's Steve looking very dapper as a town crier. 

The Town Hall had a bunch of children's Christmas actvities set up so the girls decorated gingerbread cookies and made screen-printed banners. 

Maryborough's claim to fame is that it is the birth place of  P.L. Travers, the author of Mary Poppins. There is a heritage trail you can go on to find clues about Mary Poppins. We were pretty tired already from walking around the markets so skipped right to this statue of Mary Poppins outside the old bank. Lizzie is not busting for the toilet, or doing a Michael Jackson... she is just trying to duck her head underneath Mary's umbrella.   

We visited the cemetery where Grandpa Tom is buried, found his plaque and cleaned it up a little bit. 

The girls with Santa.

On our last night, looking very tired, but content, and having a special dinner at Hog's Breath Cafe.