Telling Stories, Making Stories

I am pretty convinced I am a story teller.

But I am not.

I am a story maker.

This was recently put into perspective for me by my little Miss.

"Mum; I love weekends with you because we DO things"

Now; the things we do, I feel are in no way extraordinary, but for Miss and JD it seems they are.

Every weekend they spend with the Mr and I, we try to find new and different FREE adventures to go on. We strap on our shoes, pack a picnic, grab a blanket and off we go.
We discover our natural surroundings as we explore National Parks, we attend free community music festivals, we take our picnic lunches to parks and to the river and to the sea, we swim and run and play.

We return home with our photo's and our stories and they are excited to return to school and tell their stories as "news"

Our most recent story was made when we attended the "Surfing the Coldstream" Festival in Yamba, NSW. This story sounds like local music, it looks bright and colourful, it tasted like sno-cones and it smelt like circus folk.

Making stories is the greatest thing i can do as a parent, and i feel that there are plenty more to come.

Gazbus Adventures Part 2

I love running away on weekends with my Mr, and this weekend is no different.

Friday afternoon we packed the van and for something different headed South. 

Stopping for an overnight stay in a cute little yurt at Valla Beach and an "interesting" meal at the Valla Tavern which involved, inter-family domestics, screaming kids and a beautiful meal,  the Mr says it was teh BEST $7 steaks he's ever had.

Saturday we headed South again starting out day with breakfast at the Boatshed Cafe at Nambucca Heads, a delicious GIANT pancake for me and  eggs Benedict for the Mr.

We put our tourist on and explored the history of Trial Bay Gaol, and walked the Monument walking track to watch whales followed by lunch at the Seabreeze Hotel.

The Weekend with ALL THE THINGS.

My weekend had ALL THE THINGS!

A road trip with the BF.
Ice-skating, my first ever adventure on ice.
A romantic night away.
Delicious breakfasts.
Strolls by the ocean.
Playing Marylin Munroe at the Sawtell blow hole.
A photoshoot at the local Agricultural Show with the beautiful and talented Minyarose Photography.
Eating carny food.
Watching bull riding and woodchopping.
My babies came home from their dad's house.
An ANZAC service.
A picnic in the park.
Horse riding with Deegan and Shannon.
and Movies with the munchkins snuggled in bed.

Shoot to Kill

Today was a long one.

I spent my morning working, mostly data entry and a little bit of admin stuff.

At lunch time I dropped in at my babies school to observe the ritual Easter Hat Parade.
Lillian was confident and happy, JD ended up in tears because he didn't win the raffle, and we spent a little bit of time talking about how not everyone can win and that the Easter Bunny will have a special surprise just for him on Sunday.

After a quick stop for a Chai and some fuel, I was on the road.
My life packed up in a back pack for a blissful 5 day break in the 'Ville, including 2 days of Bluesfest.
The drive is always a good time to think, play music and sing loudly with out being shoosh'd.

My afternoon mission was a delightful one.
A photo shoot with the absolutely stunning Shan-nay-nay.
She is truly one of the most beautiful women I know and I think the images we captured reflect that.
We laughed, we carried crazy props through long grass, we lost glasses off the roof of the car, we climbed through piles or sticks, we did crazy u-turns and basically had a blast.

This is how it looked in the end.

Road Trippin'

No getting to know you chit chat here, you are either reading this because you already know me; or you’re a nosy little fucker and in which case, Welcome.

Not known to be to wordy I will cut straight to the chase, I went on an awesome road trip today, awesome in respects of the company i

kept, the mixed tape that aurally devoured, the food that was consumed, the antiquities that were procured and the giggling that was audible everywhere we went.

In pictures that looks a lot like this….

Planking for Beginners

Ok; so i am not usually one to follow trends like the rest of the herd,

but how could i let such a "non-statement" such as planking pass by without

at least photographing some planking action.

Tri-level Plank

Dali Inspired Plank

Two-tier Plank

In celebration of an amazing day of friendship and adventure !

What a fantastic day, books, antiques, boutiques, treasures, food, chatting, laughing and sharing.

there was a schedule; however it was only loosely adhered to.

our first stop was the Maclean Rotary Book Fair - SCORE= 1 BOX of books $5 for Lola and a bag of books for Felix.

Books @ Eclectika, Maclean

second stop was "on the bite"

a delightfully warm and inviting cafe on the main strip in Maclean

- SCORE = 1 x skinny latte for Lola and 1 x skinny flat white for Felix

Skinny Latte @ On the Bite, Maclean

we unswiftly followed out coffee with a visit to "OUR" favorite gem of Maclean "Eclectika"

when Lola became engaged in taking photo's of the unique and beautiful store and Felix engaged in a deep and revealing conversation with "Eclectika's" owner about food and restaurants of the area only to discover that said owner, once owned and ran the most successful restaurant in our region. the things you discover when on an adventure in your own back yard !

Felix @ Eclectika

stop number three, Bangalow and lunch at "ate" OMG the most delicious food.

- SCORE = Pumpkin and burnt spinach lasagna and Organic Lemonade for Lola

hmmm i can't recall a delicious looking pie with crispy brown pastry and an Organic Lemonade for Felix.

Felix deep in the pages of a cookbook @ Ate, Bangalow

Then we wandered the streets and boutiques of Bangalow

giggling, enjoying and embracing the culture of doing not very much.

I have had the most amazing day!

Hanging @ Minnie

Hanging out at Minnie, awaiting the warm weather.

Interesting Things

After a busy morning doing a photo shoot with the gorgeous little Bailey.

I returned home and we decided the pack up the car and take a trip to a little village about 30 minutes away.

Nymboida was just a blip on the map until last year when Russell Crowe decided to buy the local pub and build himself a museum.

"The Museum of Interesting Things" is really just a place for Russ to store is excess wardrobe I am sure, with most of the "interesting things" being costumes and props from his movies.

And obviously Russ only has a small garage at home because he has park a half dozen of his personal motorcycles at the museum too.

But there is something a little bit special about this museum,

something a little bit personal, you see, my dad is a car man...... no that is an understatement, he is a car NUT, you see my dad owns a Robinson Jaguar, it is his pride and joy, I don't know a lot about cars, but I know I like this one, it's red and it's shiny !

The kids were very excited to see "Poppy's Racing Car"

although Lillian was reluctant to have her photo taken with it

(she was distracted my the mannequins in the stage coach, after we had just explained the process of taxidermy and the giant horses pulling Russ's Gladiator Carriage, she was a bit concerned that the people had been taxidermed too ! )

ParkLife

I jus tlove a good saturday afternoon at the park with the husbeast and the kids!

to see my favorite photo pop over here to my photography blog

100 Stars !!!

Miss Lilli has been working on her star chart all year.

She earnt stars for good manners and for helping others,

for setting the table and clearing up after dinner, tidying her room,

helping pack her school bag each preschool day,

and other efforts she made throughout the year both large and small

Her self determined goal was 100 stars, her self determined reward, Seaworld.

Well last week, Lilli made it to 100 stars,

and not a parent to go back on my word

and wanting to give her the reward in a timely manner

i booked in to take a flex day and we took

Miss Lilli and Mstr JD to Seaworld yesterday

and i don't really know who had the most fun ...... i think it was ... me :)

I took ALOT ( 281 ) of photos and of course

i can't show them all here, so here are a brief selection from the day.

why you should not take your children to work..

... because the co-worker who's chair you tied all the balloons too that were left over from safety week last week will offer said balloons to your child, and you child will not be able to refuse the delighful gift that said co-worker is offering and will accept with a squeal of ecstacy, you will have to shove the ballons in the rear of your station wagon and use only your side mirrors to navigate your way home, and once home you will be requested to "take pictures of me mummy, with my lovely ballons, please mummy, i love them, i feel like a bug"

Boys and Toys

Took JD to check out the Grafton Aero Club Jacaranda Rally this morning.

I think he wants to be a pilot...

Inspiration comes in many forms

Images from an inspiring weekend with the most amazing women i know xxx

10 Pin Bowling !!!

what do you do on a rainy saturday morning with a 2yo and a 5yo???

GO BOWLING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So much fun - huge congrats to Lilli who won on 90 points, JD how came second on 76 points and poor mummy came last on 68 points.......and i was actually trying !!!!!