8.52 {what scares you} tired goggly eyes

A tuckered out little boy, eyes ringed by goggle marks, taking a little poolside power-nap xx

Soon, all smiles again, my little sunshiney son....

We have just returned from a two week road trip up and down the East Coast of Australia. We swam, swam, swam, like never before! For most of the trip, I either could not be bothered to pull out the 'big camera' (so slack!) and then when I did found it wasn't working as I had killed the battery. I revived it just in time to take a couple of shots so here they are. When I get my act together, I might try to put all my phone photos into one big blog post just to commemorate the trip as it really was something special.... we visited SO many places and saw SO many lovely friends. It was a really special trip, filled with adventure and memory making and sunshine!

This week's photo theme was 'what scares you'. Well, it was something that scared not me but my darling middle man, which was swimming. Ok, not a huge fear but he just wasn't yet super confident in the water. We made it a little challenge over our two week trip up to Queensland to try and swim every day.... and we did, and then some! The kids swam every day and often two or three times in a day! From hotel pools to my Dad's pool to the beach to the river... they swam and swam and swam. And this kid, this beautiful boy, went from a fairly tentative swimmer to swimming three laps of the pool in one go, diving, jumping and just going for gold. It was amazing to watch, I was so proud to see him flourish with confidence :) 

One morning at my Dad's pool, the kids decided to make a world record of spending the longest time in a pool (ha!). Three hours later, Lily was asking me to call the government and inform them of their progress and Eli was asking if they could sleep IN the pool overnight so they could keep going. When I let him know that would not be an option he eventually dragged himself out to have a little power nap poolside. Then jumped back in for another hour or two!

{Project 52: A portrait of my family, once a week, every week, in 2017)

#highlightsreel // cousins at the cape

Well, it probably looks like all we do is go to the beach, but really it's just the only time I bother to lug my big camera along these days.... I think the key observations here are both that I am falling more in love with the beach while also getting a lot lazier when it comes to taking photos. Who am I anymore?! Ha!

Anyway, a couple months back, we drove down to the Victorian coast to spend a delightfully low key long weekend with my little sister, her partner and their three little girls. We stayed at their family's beach house and basically did nothing but chill out, wander down to the beach for walks and plenty of beach play... and then stayed up late chatting and playing Uno after the kids went to bed each night! It was nothing short of bliss!

Best of all was seeing the cousins now getting old enough to really enjoy hanging out and playing together... making memories and building those family bonds, hurrah! They really had a blast.

May there be many more adventures to come!

#compulsaryfamilyfun

So thankful for family and for time spent together... it's a rich blessing indeed xx

Take me home, country roads....

On the long drive home to Canberra from Brisbane, we took a short stop through the little country town where I lived till I was about nine. It was my first time passing through since I had children and while I duly expected a fun little trip down memory lane with my babies, I was rather surprised to be hit pretty full force with a strong wave of emotion and nostalgia. 

It was surreal to say the least, to see my own trio of children standing in front of the house I lived in at their age, part of a sibling trio myself. So many fond memories of that simple little country life, running around barefoot and grubby with my sisters. Feeding scraps to the chickens and bringing the cows up from the paddock after school... yes, those were our chores. How sweet it was to share some of those old stories with the kids. They could barely believe I lived somewhere so 'exotic' haha... and they also found out that we had our own pony. Uh oh!!

How can it be that life moves on, through so many winding paths, and yet this little farmhouse remains, basically identical to the day we left it....those two palm trees, the fig tree, the huge pepper tree on the right, the loooooong driveway (felt like miles as a little kid) which we walked to and from the bus each school day... often I was also lugging my cello.

The same rusty old mail box still remains.... looking even rustier and a great deal wonkier, yet still standing, still in use. I remember being terrified of spiders when I reached inside for the mail.

When I was about four, my grandmother bought some of our land from us to build a house next to ours. We had a connecting driveway about 100 metres long and we loved running along it to go visit her after school, where she would teach us to garden (we each had our own little garden bed set aside for us) and to bake (we each had our own particular biscuit recipe we would bake with her each time... sadly I can no longer remember what mine was though). Oh, Granny. She was very old school, super strict, a lady of the highest order...tough as nails yet as elegant as an aristocrat. All about manners and decorum and so on. She was strong and she was amazing, having lived a fascinating life filled with writing and theatre and travelling to Europe as a Red Cross nurse in World War Two. She spent so much time telling us stories and family history, walking us through the house and showing us all her incredible family heirlooms and antiques. She passed away when I was about twelve and I often wish I had known her better, as an adult. To have soaked in and better understood her stories, who she was as a strong, creative, passionate woman.

Her mailbox still stands. Her hand painted lettering fading but still neat and tidy after all these years (thirtyish?!)... I expect our surname got scratched off by new owners! But 'Weetwood' still remained. Granny named her home thus after the heritage listed home that had been part of our family in decades past. How lovely it is to see 'Weetwood' still standing.

As we stood there, taking photos of the mail box, the current owner came driving up. Being the country, he was friendly - even when discovering some random family taking photos of his letterbox!! And being the country, he still knew of our family, remembered meeting my Dad. We had a good chat about the neighbours living in our old home, and how long he had lived at my grandmother's place. He chuckled and said he had always meant to update the letterbox but never quite got around to it. Life moves slow in the country and I could only be grateful for that thread still connecting me to my past, a thread far stronger than I expected it to be.

Thank you, country roads, for that trip down memory lane..... nothing quite like a heavy dose of nostalgia x

Big City Adventures with Kids! // Brisbane (Redcliffe) // Part Two

We had the most wonderful time living the urban "BrisVegas" life for a week around SouthBank back in November. After that, we headed out to the Redcliffe area (just north of Brisbane) to spend a week chilling out at my Dad's house. It was so nice to get some quiet family time... especially as Mark got to actually have a break too after studying hard the week before in training! 

After our busy week in the city, with lots of outings and catch ups, it was a blissful, more peaceful time just hanging out by the beach, taking the kids on little adventures and constant swimming in my Dad's pool. Us Canberra folk have to soak up the coastal lifestyle whenever we can, right?! ;) 

After the year we had, a quiet week together was just what we needed and so refreshing for us all. 

Fish and chips on the beach is a coastal-visit must-do. As I sat with my Dad and step mum at a picnic table, we turned around to survey this perfect scene unfolding - Mark and the kids down by the water - and the dog too! Silhouettes of my beloveds, skipping rocks on the water, playing and just being together. LOVE.

Grandparents who have pools? The best!!!! These kids swam in the pool at least once a day...usually three times! It was amazing to see their swimming ability completely take off, just having so much free time to jump and dive and race around the pool. Eli went from a pretty nervous swimmer to doing cannon balls and laps across the pool and back!

He made a water bicycle, lol!

Showing off his first lost tooth, My big boy!!!

Mr Personality!

I met up with a lovely friend at the most gorgeous beach side playground at Scarborough Beach! Fenced in (handy by the water to know the kids are near by!) and filled with these incredible Cottonwood trees that twined all over and were so enticing for climbing!

If you go to this playground, right near by there is this secret and rather magical
little door!

Miles was annoyed it didn't open for him!

A beautiful day by the beach with our lovely friends who we haven't seen since our last beachside meet up about two years
ago! It was wonderful to see the kids playing together once more, while we got to chat up a storm! xx

Ah, kids. A glorious whole ocean before them and they decided they actually wanted to go to the beachside lagoon/pool instead! However it was too far away for us to lug all the way down there, so we told them we would need to stay by the beach. After a little bit of pouting, they decided to make their own pool instead and spent a very dedicated hour digging this pretty sizable splash pool. Ha!! :) #kidsatwork # kidsatplay

Our next holiday adventure was something a bit different for us. For some reason, Mark and I had been itching to go kayaking! So I hunted around and found a hire place right near my Dad's and a very quiet little bay to paddle around in.

I know it looks like we were heading out to open waters (!!) but actually I wasn't too sure if the kids would really be keen on kayaking (you know... kids!) plus I was nervous about taking them out too far (paranoid mother!). So with three adults and three kids, we decided to just hire one kayak between us. A couple of adults would take a couple kids for a little paddle along the shore line, then come back and swap out after a while, while the others played and swam on the beach. It worked so well and we loved it even more than we thought we would - especially me! It was soooooooo peaceful and lovely, paddling along on the water. Next trip, I can't wait to go out again!

One of my favourite things to do around Redcliffe is exploring the mudflats by the bridges with the kids at lowtide. Wide open spaces for kids to run free, exploring what the tides have left behind.... it always feels a little bit magical!

I don't know what these little green worm-y snake-y things were but they really creeped me out!!

The longest bridges in the Southern Hemisphere...2.7km long!!
The interesting thing is they have now built three bridges right next to each other, connecting Brisbane to Redcliffe!  The one on the right is the newest. In the last decade I have seen this third bridge built, and the original bridge which was on the left side of the left bridge pictured has been pulled down leaving two bridges for driving in both directions. Each bridge gets a little higher than the last one too, lol. ;)  #bridgetrivia

Ha!!

Grandpa, Kaos the Dog and our trio!

A man and his dog...

I have never seen a child so obsessed and connected to all manner of tools, building, machinery and 'fixing'. Miles is like a magnet to anything of the sort. So it was a dream come true to spend a happy morning perched on a ladder, going through Grandpa's treasure trove of a shed, examining all his tools. My Dad was soooo patient (and after three daughters, probably just happy to have someone show an interest - ha!). 'What's dis one???' Miles would ask - over and over and over.

'More?? What's dis one?'

Note - he was not dressed to code ;)

Brisbane, we love ya! We will be back! xx


PS You can read about our Brisbane city adventures around Southbank here...