My New Blog

I've started a new blog to document our families latest adventure, building a new home on acreage. I know things are going to get super crazy in the next few months but I will try and keep it up to date and maybe (if I get any followers), you can help me with the tough decisions...which colour carpet looks better, what vanity basin do you think will suit best, lol. Anyway here is the link to my new blog if your interested which for the time being will be known as Chooks Nest. http://chooksnest.blogspot.com/

What's Been Happening In My World

Well I'm finally getting back into blogging again for 2010. Where did January go? Since I last posted, our family spent Christmas, as per usual, at our family holiday home on Fraser Island. We all had a lovely time and didn't want to come home. Here is a pic of the kids in front of the Christmas Tree. They had already opened their Santa gifts by then.
The kids have had quite a few birthday parties to attend to. Here is Logan at one of her best friends Grace's birthday party also with her friend Ella.
Kyan turned 2 and his dad made him a Thomas the Tank Engine Cake which turned out really well.

We've also been camping in our caravan with friends, I've gone back to work for 2 days a week (insert sad face) and Logan has started Kindy for the year. It is Logan's birthday today and she has turned 4. She can't wait to start ballet classes next week so look out "So You Think You Can Dance" in a few years time. Well that's a quick round up on what we have been doing. I'll be back soon with a card I've made.

Our Family

Merry Christmas Everyone....

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Family Photos

Logan's kindy arranged to have family photos taken as a fundraiser. They only took 3 different photos but I'm happy with how they turned out and thought I'd share them on my blog (I hope I'm allowed to do that but we weren't told we weren't, lol) So here we are.....

Weekend at Elliott Heads

We have just returned from having 3 nights away at beautiful Elliott Heads with our friends. We had a lovely relaxing time and I always look forward to our next time back there. They have these cute little cabins only metres from the beach. We hired all 4 of them for the weekend. The kids had a ball playing on the beach.

Here is a group shot of all of us...The Riley, Bosel, Dudley and Board families.

The Ginger Factory

Well we have been too busy lately, so I don't have any cards to share at this stage but thought I'd add a couple of photos from our recent visit to The Ginger Factory. We only intended on stopping for an ice cream and a quick look but 3 hours later we finally left. We had a ride on the train called Moreton and went on a boat ride called Overboard looking for the gingerbread man throughout the world, which was really well done. The kids had fun and Ky didn't want to get off the boat.

School Holidays - A Few Pics

Well, we recently finished school holidays here. We didn't do anything too exciting as Shane was still at work. We had a few nights camping in our van at Burrum Heads and also a night camping at a friends place for a family reunion party. We also spent a couple of nights in the shed at Boonooroo which was fun and Logan also went to a Fairy and Wizard party at the library. So here is a couple of photos to share.

The first one is Logan with her friends Jenna, Meave and Grace at the Fairy and Wizard party.
The next is Kyan with Michael on the Go Cart at the family reunion. We currently have Kyan's tube out for a trial which has been lovely for him and us. He's not going too bad so far so fingers crossed.

And here is Logan and Kyan playing in Grandpa's dingy at Boonooroo.

Our Latest Backyard Addition

My darling hubby put together this swing set/cubby housey thing we bought the kids the other weekend. Not a job I think he'd like to tackle again in a hurry. The kids love it. It has a slide, swing, glider, monkey bar, cargo net and rock wall to climb. Underneath is suppose to be a sandpit but we might keep that area for the little see-saw Kyan is on as they have a separate sand pit.

Trip to the TESS farm

Hi There, hope your having a great weekend. Just thought I'd share a few photos from our visit to the TESS (Training Employment Support Service) farm on Friday with our mum's group. We had such a lovely time on this little farm which I didn't even know existed until recently which is barely 5 mins from where I live. There were lots of different animals including wallabies, kangaroos, emus, deers, alpacas, goats, a camel, parrots and other birds including a big wedge tail eagle, lizards and snakes. I'm sure I've forgotten some. We had a lovely picnic lunch and helped feed the animals. The kids all loved it. So here are some pics started with my son Kyan making friends with this little wallaby. Here is one of the lizards.

Apparently all the boy peacocks are trying to impress the girls and the moment. They were just beautiful.

Here is Logan and Ella with the camel. I even scored a smooth off the camel. He had lovely soft lips. Even softer than my hubbies.

And another lizard.

Here is an alpaca, emu and goat/sheep (how pathetic, I'm not sure what this fella was now).

Feed time for the kangaroos and emus.

And here we all are at the end for a group shot.

Can't wait to take Shane back for a look. It is like having a mini Australia Zoo in our backyard. The only cost was a donation for a lovely afternoon.

My Two Ratbags

Hi, just thought I'd share a photo of my 2 little darlings. Kyan is learning all about "Saying Cheese". He screws his little face up, it's so adorable. I just love this photo and wanted to put it on my blog (as my blog is like a bit of a diary to me).

Our Latest Purchase

Hi, just thought I'd share a pic of our new van we purchased a couple of weeks back. We have enjoyed camping in our old van (pictured below) over the last couple of years and I wanted to upgrade to something a little nicer. We only bought the old van to see if we liked camping this way and we do, so here is a picture of our old van which is now for sale if anyone is interested and our new van, a Jayco Flamingo.

Exciting News

Well, I have just returned home after 5 nights at our holiday home on Fraser Island. Just in time as the weather started to turn a bit yikky today. I had some very exciting news when my mobile came back into range on my way home. One of my besties Mel, had her 2nd bubba while I was away. I had a feeling something may have happened while I was gone but as she was still a couple of weeks off being due I thought I was probably being ambitious. Anyway, I'm yet to hear all the details first hand, but little Gracey Elizabeth wasn't mucking around and was born before Mel reached her intended hospital destination. I can't wait to hear the full story. So congrats Mel and Dunc and little Emy on your new baby daughter and sister.

The main reason I went over to Fraser was for a combined 40th party for some good friends of ours Craig and Shaun. We had a lovely day up at Eli Creek. They couldn't have picked a nicer day if they tried. Here is a pic of the birthday boys and their better halves Katrina and Amanda. (Hi Trina, if you still check out my blog).

This also presented a great excuse for my dear buddy Tina, her husband Dave (Sean's brother) and their little man Wil to come and stay with us. Here they are up at Eli Creek.

Logan and Kyan loved playing with Wil. I think Kyan enjoyed having a big brother and followed Wil around like a bad smell. Here they all are on our lounge over there.

I also had a muck around with my camera in the backyard over there the other day. We had 4 Kookaburras that kept hanging out in our yard. Here is a couple of pics of them and a pic of a banksia. Well that's it for me. Off to feed my little man and off to bed. Bye bye.

Mary Valley Rattler

Hello there. I just thought I'd share a few pics from our day on The Mary Valley Rattler. We had most of our playgroup there and some other family and friends and although we had patches of rain through the day we still had a great time. The trip starts at Gympie with a stop at Kandanga on the way out. Lunch is at Imbil and a stop at Dagun on the way home. The first pic is our little family with The Rattler in the background (this was taken when we arrived back at Gympie) and the other 2 pics are of our playgroup on the train and at Gympie station.

Deshon's Retreat

For our anniversary we stayed at Deshon's Retreat (right next door to one of our favourite Wineries "Crane's Wines"). These were excellent little cabins with polished cement floors, king size beds which felt huge, lovely bath products, fantastic breakfast, great views... I could go on and on, but I might just show some pics. The first picture is taken from Cranes Winery looking at the retreats.

Tipperary Winery

Well we've had a busy week around here. On Monday we had an appointment in Brissy for Ky, Tuesday was my birthday (by the way, Shane cooked me the yummiest dinner....chicken and mushroom crepe for entree, herb crusted rack of lamb and vegetables for main and blueberry and white chocolate cheesecake for desert) and Wednesday we went away to the South Burnett area for a couple of nights as it was our anniversary on Thursday. The first night we stayed in a little cabin (come shed converted into accommodation) at Tipperary Estate Winery at Moffatdale near Murgon. Although nothing flash it was quite cute and comfy and we had the best views and the serenity (once the kids were tucked up in bed). Here are a couple of pics from our time there. I'll post another lot of pics in a minute from our second night at Deshons Retreat near Kingaroy.

Easter 2009 on Fraser Island

Well don't you just love it when your camera plays up on holidays, grrrrrr!!!! Anyway, we hopefully have it all sorted now but here are a few pics from our Easter on Fraser. I can't believe this was Logan's 4th Easter. She had her first trip to Fraser at about 10 weeks which was an Easter and Kyan had his first trip to Fraser last Easter at about 8 weeks of age. Oh how time flies.

Pic 1: Here are the kids playing in the rock pools in front of Happy Valley where our place is. Normally there isn't so many rocks out put after the recent cyclone action there were quite a few to keep the kids busy with exploring. In this pic is my goddaughter Charlee, Logan and Lewin. Charlee and Lewin's little sister Trinity is in the background with their mum Jenny. This was little Triny's first trip to Fraser and you can just see a glimpse of Kyan (the blue hat) and my hubby Shane. Pic 2: We saved a little turtle from the rough seas. He stayed with us a couple of nights and regained some strength. Hopefully he survived. Pic 3: Logan made a little outdoor nest for the Easter bunny using twigs, leaves and grass and was very excited the next morning to see the Easter bunny had left some treats in there. Pic 4: Here are the kids with their Easter treats. Our little boy Kyan unfortunately has some food intolerance issues and couldn't get stuck into the chocolate, but loved playing with his Bob the Builder torch.