Photo of the Week

For my photo this week thought I would introduce you to this cute fellow we met at Seaworld. He popped up to say Hi as we walked past his tank. Isn't he cute!

Home Sweet home

Just a quick post to say that after 14 hours of driving over 2 days we are home!

Should have posted last night but quite simply I was shattered......

Day 8

Well I think it's day 8 - I have lost track of days *oops*

After our manic last three days we had a "quiet" one. Yeah right - by quiet Tony meant that we would go walking around Surfers checking out the over inflated prices of T-shirts - then around another block to check things out there - hmmmm he wouldnt let me go into Louis Vuitton, Prada or Tiffany's ~ don't understand that!! Hehe.

Up until now being so close to the pool has been wonderful for us - of course this place (Surfers) changes on Friday and Saturday nights doesn't it! We had backflips and bombs etc etc going on last night and then when the pubs closed at 5:00 they were back again! Mind you sleeping hasn't been the easiest with the heat we have had and only a ceiling fan for cooling us down.

but our holiday has ended way too quickly. We head back down south tomorrow - trying to do the trip in 2 days. Will see how we go! For a holiday organised at the last minute we did okay. Mind you I wish we had been able to get the Christmas - New Year break so we could go to Melbourne but it has been a great if somewhat (yeah okay a lot) exhausting.

Day 7

Today was Tony's birthday and we headed off to use the last of our 3-park pass and went to Movie World. The kids loved seeing some of their favourite characters and we went on quite a few rides - it was interesting to see the kids having so much fun in the Looney tunes section of the park - I thought they may have been too old but apparently not!
We went on a tour of the studio where the latest Narnia movie was shot, but the best part of this was......... and for those who know me will know how exciting this was for me.......... we went right past the studios where they were filming the new James Cameron movie, Sea Patrol and.... wait for it.... wait for it.... The Elephant Princess. What is the Elephant Princess? you ask. Well it's a show for kids on the Disney channel with none other than the wonderful, charming BRETT CLIMO! Yep thats right - I was within metres of where he was working. ALAS the red light was on when we passed so no glimpses were seen :(
We hit some more rides - Tony wanted to go on the superman Escape roller coaster but it was closed down for the day but he and Tasha went on the Batwing drop (not for me) and we all went on the Batman adventure ride. We checked out the street parade and then went to see the stunt driver show which was amazing.
Then we had planned on going out to dinner for Tony's birthday but instead we ended up going out to Peter's Fish Market at the spit and getting some wonderful cooked fish, calamari, scallops etc etc as well as some fresh prawns and oysters. YUMYUM

Day 6

Today we stuck with our pool theme but instead of making sure we spent some time in the pool each day we spent the whole day there! Today we went to Wet n Wild. We had a wonderful time, although I don't know if it is somewhere we would go again. When we first got there we stowed all our things in a locker and headed for the river rapids waterslides . You would think in a water park where people are walking around barefoot they would have some sort of feet friendly paths. NO concrete in 30 degree sun is HOT! VERY HOT! To get on the slide we waited in line for an hour for a 60 second slide - not sure about the time:fun ratio there!
After that we headed to Buccaneer Bay the kids play area where Kyle and Tasha had a ball. Water cannons, buckets of water that tip on your head, slides, climbing equipment - all under a constant shower of water. We then hit wave pool for a bit of relaxing fun before the adrenalin hit.
THE TORNADO. 4 people in a tube - you go down an amazingly steep drop into a funnel type area where you fly up one side and then up the other until you get flushed out the end. Heaps of fun.
Then after lunch we hit the aqua racer, twister and speed coaster rides before chilling out at Calypso Beach where you just float around in a circular creek type feature on rubber tubes - we spent about 45 minutes here just chilling out before we headed home.
We had a great day but with the queues to get on the rides and the sore sore feet from the hot concrete not sure whether it is something we would do again.

Day 5

Wow what a mad day. Today we went to Seaworld and we walked and walked and..... you get the picture. We had a great time - Tasha went on every ride she could find and Kyle was entranced by the pirate show.
Tasha loved recognising parts of the park from her favourite show H2O and she also loved the dolphin show. We left at the end of the day exhausted but happy Then we came back to our room and relaxed the best way we know how. Yep after walking around all day in 30 degree heat we hit the pool! Kyle has decided it is the rule - when on holidays we must swim every day. We also picked up this snakes and ladders game in a $2 shop so we spent some time tonight playing together.

We had decied that this holiday would be the start of a new beginning for us as a family and we have been watching what we eat - even being on holidays when it is hardest to stick to a diet we have made sure that if we buy lunch etc it is a salad and not Macca's etc. Well we blew that today - only because it was going to cost us $27.50 each for Tony and I to eat at the healthy buffet. So we bought fish and chips instead! Back on the healthy diet tomorrow!

Day 4

Today we stopped by the big prawn to get some pictures before it gets torn down and then we hit the road. Today was another short drive and we crossed the border about 11:30.

Hmmm was does a girl do when she has a few hours to fill in? Yep - we went shopping! Called into Pacific Fair and did some window shopping and then we went to see Avatar in 3D.

We did some more shopping and then headed into Surfers to our hotel. To find that they didn't our booking! This is one of those times it is good to be in a family where I do get picked on for being anal but aren't we glad we had that print out with us! Anyway they gave us our room which is really nice. We have a lounge area, kitchen, dining room and toilet downstairs and a main bedroom, second bedroom, bathroom, laundry and ensuite upstairs! With balconies on 2 sides. And the best bit - we are on the same floor and literally next door to the pool!

Day 3

Todays drive wasn't too long - about 2 1/2 hours I think -

We got as far as Grafton and stopped to hit the shopping centre! Mmmmm Big W and Target in one place - fun!

We then headed into Ballina where we saw the big prawn ....... will have to go back tomorrow and take a picture before it gets torn down...... and then you will never guess what we did next.

Yep we hit the hotel pool! - Surfers Paradise tomorrow. Will be so nice to not have to travel every day and to be able to unpack, do some washing and just settle in.

Day 2

Today was another long day of driving. We had a kind of later start than we had planned.
The trials of travelling with a teenager....... you have to wake them up at 9:00am and they look like this when you do!

I got to about 90 km north of Bulahdelah and hit roadworks for the next 50 or so km's which meant driving along about 80km/h. Oh well at least we got to look around more - at all the trees and plain paddocks

We stopped off at Urunga (just before Coffs Harbour) and had a picnic lunch in the park next to the tourist centre overlooking the river - noice!

Then we got back in the car and headed to the Big Banana. We had a quick look around. The kids were keen to partake in some of the activities but we were too late for ice skating (just missed closing time) and the toboggan rides were VERY expensive
But we did call into the Big Banana cafe where the boys had icecreams, Tasha had a fruit salad and I had a choc coated banana (with nuts). Just had to include a picture here. Sorry Sandra - had no pink icing! ~L~

Then back in the car for a short drive to Woolgoolga where we checked into the motel and hit the pool!

Day 1

Well after a long haul we made it this far at least! Hmmm more information you say?

We headed off about 10.00 ish this morning and put ourselves in the hands of our GPS unit - commonly referred to as "Holly" (for sci-fi geeks note obscure Red Dwarf reference there). Now here is where I must admit she hasn't always been totally reliable but we decided to trust her even when she didn't go the way we were expecting! Anyway - new experiences and wow is all I can say. One minute we were in Arncliffe the next we were emerging from a tunnel at Milsons Point....... Yep thats right - even after watching the movie Daylight - I have now been in the Harbour Tunnel. Talk about quick trip..... love the service in there too - there was one lane shut due to a breakdown and signs everywhere told you to tune into the radio where you were kept updated on what was going on. How cool!

Anyway enough blabbering about the tunnel - although did I say how cool it was ~L~. With one short stop we made it to Bulahdelah about 4:30. The kids and I hit the pool whilst Tony went searching for a grocery shop to buy a chicken and some salad for dinner. The motel is really nice - clean, tidy. And talk about room! We have 2 rooms and between them have 2 double beds and 3 singles! Anyone in the area want to join us?????

Think thats about it for today - not much to report - lots of driving. Oh did I mention how in awe we are of the Harbour Tunnel............

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Edited to add: Bulahdelah has one redeeming feature - the local (and only) supermarket stocks Perky Nana's ......... well they did till we came to town - now they are out of stock! (Oh and Tasha has decided she likes them again!)

Madness and Mayhem

Madness and mayhem and laughs. Oh my!

Yep I definately live in a mad house - after the madness of last night it hit again tonight when we started packing. I got my list out - yes yes I know... no comments needed about how anal I am and how I write lists a week or so before.... Anyway..... we got the suitcase out and I called things out from the list and the fun began !

I had two kids running to grab the item mentioned.....eg: t-shirts x3, undies, socks etc etc and racing back to be first to get them to me to pack and then the BIG KID felt he was missing out so we had Tony skipping yes you read right he was *skipping* to our room to get his stuff too. 3 people trying to squeeze through the door into the lounge room to be first to get the suitcase - TOTAL madness.

Photo of the week

Here is my photo for this week. Doesn't look special but this plant is extremely special.

Just the fact that it is still alive is amazing. We are not known for green thumbs - infact we have brown thumbs! I have even been known to get plants from the nursery that are indestructible and impossible to kill and ..... yep you guessed it..... we killed them all! Not due to neglect but rather we tend to kill them with kindness. Being aware of how good we are at plant homicide you will find that at some stage during the day not only have I looked after the plant and watered it but so has tony and at least one of the kids. OOOOPPPPS

Anyway this plant is special for another reason - it came to me as a 5cm cutting from an old patient. All the girls at work had a "Jack's plant" at some stage and when he heard I loved frangipanis he cut this just for me. He is no longer alive but its great to see his tree is going and is now waist high. With glorious flowers blooming all over it. Every time I walk out of my back door I see it and think of Jack - he was a really lovely man and it makes me smile every time I see it.

Missing you

Well this house turned into a mad house last night. I love the madness that flies between the Allan house and the Lucas house. It started with a simple text message from Melbourne - very closely followed 2 more - and an email - and another text message etc etc. Hmm all in all something like 20 text messages in the space of 5 minutes including lots of laughs, hysteria, and apparently bubbles of snot in a foreign language (not mine- you had to be there)
I just wish I lived closer to this girl so we could get together more often .........
miss you heaps sweetie

Weekly photo

Well with all my blog surfing I have seen quite a few people doing a photo of the day - I thought this was a cool idea but I know that this something I just would not be able to accomplish so I thought instead I would subject to a weekly photo. Nothing too amazing just my fav pic from the week or something that has meant a lot to me in the past week.

Anyway this is my first photo. It was taken New Years Eve when I had the tripod set up outside for the kids sparkler pics. It was a gorgeous full moon and a beautiful clear night so I couldn't resist taking this pic and I am so happy with how it turned out.

Scrap day with Cass

Spent a wonderful day with Cass today. I got to the Kings about 10ish and got to play in Cass' new scrap room for the first time.

We had a great day of scrapping, chatting, yummy food, the obligatory Lindt ball and some more chatting and scrapping. I actually got 3 1/2 pages and 6 cards done. Yay me!

Would show you pics but haven't even unpacked yet so will have to do that tomorrow.

Thank you to the Kings for welcoming me into their house (especially Annie who kept poking her head around to say "Hello Cathy"). They are a wonderful family and Cass and Dale do a great job raising those two kids. Thanks Dale for letting me steal your wife's time for a day.

New Years Day

After our late night New Years Eve ( well late for the kids anyway) we had a quite New Years Morning and then we headed out to the beach for a swim and to try and cool down in this hot weather. After first discussing heading around to Plantation Point Tony decided it may be too rough there and so we went to Huskisson instead. Hmmmm didn't have that problem! The sea was almost totally flat! The kids had their boards and ended up paddling around like they were in a swimming pool - there was no wave activity at all.
Oh well - they seemed to enjoy it and had lots of fun and had to be dragged away from the beach a few hours later. We headed into the main street and got some fish and chips for dinner. Very very yummy. Sitting outside the fish and chips shop I took this picture of Tasha. Now I know my boy is growing up and that scares me enough but this is ridiculous...... how old does my little girl look in this photo?!?! Waaaaay too scary.

The end of a year!

We ended 2009 in a day full of laughs, smiles and fun!
We started the morning with a houseful....... Tony was mowing our lawn so Dominic brought his mower up to help Uncle Tony. Tasha was looking after the twins and Jhorjie came along to play as well so at one stage I was sitting in the lounge room with 7 kids! It was slightly overwhelming but it was quite nice as well. There was lots of activity, lots of noise, laughs, giggles...... and in the middle of it....... 2 boys quietly playing their DS's. Hehe don't think even a bomb would have moved them. Then in the afternoon Tony, the kids and I headed over to Berry for their New Years Eve Festival. The festival was slightly disappointing. They had a few sideshows and 3 or 4 stalls but that was it so we wandered up to IGA in Berry to get a loaf of bread and a hot chook and then went back to the showground and set up our chairs and picnic rug and sat and listened to the "entertainment" Hhhhmmm I guess the best word for it was mediocre! But we had a fun time. We sat and chatted, played games, just generally mucked around.

And then...... what Tasha (yeah okay and her mum ~L~) had been waiting for - FIREWORKS. For a small country town they were very very impressive. Went for about 7 - 8 minutes and there was some really cool rockets and fireworks that we hadn't seen before - Well worth the wait.

Then we came home - Tony went to bed and the kids and I stayed up - got the sparklers out and played with those whilst we waited for the midnight fireworks to come on TV.

My husband the Hoon!

Hehe or should I say wanna be hoon!
Poor Tony has had a love of motorbikes for years and infact rode one when I met him and had done for years. When we had kids the bikes left as there was no way to fit a child seat to the back of a motorbike!

Every now and then he dreams about getting another bike and then realises its not in our budget but the other day I think the dreaming was back. I heard sounds coming from our backyard and when I went out there is Tony doing rounds of our yard and donuts on the old postie bike! Hehe - doesn't look quite so tough!!!!

Stedfut family Christmas

The Stedfut family Christmas was held on the 28th of December. It was a wonderful chance to sit and chat with Mark and Mel and just to give my big brother a big hug which I have wanted to do since they returned from Dubai. We had a lovely lunch with waaayyyyy too much food and caught up on all the gossip. It was so good to see them. After lunch we decided to work off the meal with a few rounds of pool which..... sad to say....... took us all afternoon. Mark and I put it down to the fact we were playing sober and in the words of an amazing friend of mine "What the.... thats now not how you play pool". But it did give us a chance to laugh and chat and just relax together. A wonderful day.

The following day we decided to drive up to Shellharbour to see Avatar 3D. So after rushing up to Shellharbour we got there just in time to find out that both shows had been sold out! So instead, Mark, Mel, Declan, Mum, Kyle, Tasha and I hit Shellharbour Square to spend some money. After that we drove to Kiama Blowhole to find that there was no swell at all and so there was nothing happening there. We stopped for lunch at the cafe there and then I took the 3 kids back to Berry for ice-cream before going back up to Mum's place for another round of pool and a bbq dinner.

It was a lovely two days but over way too quickly.

Lucas Family Christmas

Yep I finally got aorund to uploading the pics from Christmas Day at Gail's.

We went to the Comber's for lunch on Christmas Day. It was a relaxing time where we sat, ate, laughed and (of course) they sang!!!!! It was lovely to spend time with some of the family and catching up on whats happening but basically just sitting and relaxing. It was overcast so we didn't end up spending time in the pool but it was still a pleasant day.Here is a pic of me with my Christmas presents. My gorgeous bag was a present from the Allan's in Melbourne (gee who would have thought to buy me a bag hehehe) and my book was from Miss Jane. It has all sorts of quotes and poems etc to use in cards and I know will come in very handy as this is something I tend to struggle with when making cards. Thank you so much girls. Love you.