Emily turns 17

We celebrated Emily's 17th at Raby Bay Oriental with two of her good friends - Vanessa and Natalee. 

Happy Birthday Em!!!

Our first camping trip in Australia

Camping in Australia is a bit different......no RV for starters!!!! We went over Easter weekend - much warmer weather than we usually have for Easter but we made due.... 

Emily & Nat made sausages for dinner....

 Smiling for the camera in her camo suit from Academy... Won't find one of them here.

 The water in the river was deep and clear but super cold! 

The "big kids" hanging out by the campfire. 

Allie and I got a little too much sun

Allie, Georgie and little Emily getting out the sparklers.

We had a nice time but all the work packing, setting up, tearing down and unpacking once you are home really make you appreciate the ease of the RV. I don't expect us to do very many one or two day trips like we use to. You really want to stay for longer to make all the work worth it.

Nice surprise

My wonderful husband surprised me by re-wiring my antique lamp to work on 220 volt. It has been sitting on my night stand for months but now I can actually use it to read by at night! What a sweetheart he is sometimes!!!

Fishing????

Allie has been begging and begging to go fishing but we just have not had the time. Finally I took her to the little pond by our house on Sunday. Well we didn't catch a single fish, but we learned that turtles LOVE hot dogs. We caught 5 of them in about 30 minutes.

On the walk back home Allie looked over and said "we didn't go fishing, we went turtle'in"! Aren't they just super cute sometimes?????

We had fun but can't wait to do some real fishing over Easter holidays.

From the past

Look how cute Amanda and Emily were! Not sure what was up with my hair though.... Haha

Off to camp

Allie left for her school camp this morning. She is going off for three days and two nights full of fun, learning and fellowship. She is excited but a little apprehensive about being away at night. I was not able to go on this trip with her like I did in Florence. I am sure she will have a great time.... Hopefully she will take some photos that I can share.

Abby turns 7

Some adorable photos of Abby in her dress-up clothes! Isn't she a cutie!!!

Happy Birthday Abby - Hope you had a great day!

Australia Day 2012

We were looking forward to a day at the beach bbq'ing and relaxing, but mother nature had other plans. It has been raining all week and most of the Australia Day events around us were cancelled. No fireworks or live bands due to rain. We made the best of it at the house though...

David grilled up some great "OZ" shaped burgers....

We had all the traditional Australian fix'ins -lettuce, tomato, cheese, bacon, pickles, grilled onions, fried eggs, avocado, beets and pineapple - YUM, YUM!!!

Allie played the Australian National Anthem on her trumpet while we attempted to sing - We are not the best singers.... :)

It was a nice way to spend the day even with the rain

HAPPY AUSTRALIA DAY EVERYONE!

End of Summer

Today was the first day of Year 6 for Allie and Year 11 for Emily.

Allie has grown a lot taller since July when they started school here in Australia - Emily on the other hand seems to be done growing! :)

A Special Thanks to Aunt Jannene for showing up early (in her PJ's) to French Braid Allie's hair!

Summer Fun

David took Allie for her first motorcycle ride in Australia on Friday. They went to Wellington Point for lunch and ice cream. It was a great way to spend the last day of summer vacation.