GOMA

Yesterday we visited the Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) at South Bank, Brisbane. They always have a kids program for the school holidays and it's a great place to beat the Summer heat. The children's program was about an Australian artist and his book and paintings about different roos. There were masks to make, computer games to play and a computer generated poster to make. We also visited many other free displays. Nic is very interested in the Aboriginal art and there is always a lot of alternative art which is great for the imagination. We particularly enjoyed the maze of fluffy white trees. Very serene and relaxing.

Today was another hot day which we spent in and out of the pool. Hopefully we'll get a storm tonight to cool us down as we are sweltering at present. We also went out to pick up some colour swatches in readiness for painting the downstairs interior of our house later in the month. It is soooo hard to choose. I'm sure I'll be back and forth a few more times to get more swatches. The kids were very good under the proviso they could go to the vet to cuddle the kittens up for adoption. There were really cute kittens running amok there today. Up and down the Christmas tree and playing with the baubles. Penny is determined to bring one home over her Daddy's dead body!!
Have a great weekend.
Love, Rach xx

*** 2014 - HAPPY NEW YEAR! ****

I'm back and determined to document our year ahead through this blog. A new blog appearance and a beautiful sunset in Lombok adorns my header to celebrate the passing of one year and the anticipation of the next.
What a busy year we had in 2013. My Christmas letter was a little more difficult to write this year as I neglected my blog. In a nutshell this is what we did:
* holidays - Byron Bay in January
                 - Bonville and Gold Coast (Craig and I) in March to celebrate turning 40
                  - Lombok Indonesia in October
                  - Adelaide (me only) in November to celebrate turning 40 with school friends
*children- Nic - completed yr5, playing soccer and tennis and attending cubs
                  Penny - completed yr2, playing tennis and dancing (tap, jazz and ballet)
*Craig - promoted to general manager of sales and marketing at Lindsay Australia
            - hiked the Kokoda track (PNG) in August - very tough despite rigorous preparation
            - playing golf and has brought our Kevlar cat (boat) down from Bundaberg to Nambour so               that he can go fishing more often
*Me - not much has changed
        - loving our 80yr old Queenslander despite its flaws
        - have reverted to project life scrapbooking but still seem to be slow (will explain this in another 
           post)
The highlight of the year was the wedding of my sister Robyn to Ian Greening in Lombok. We had a great holiday and it was so lovely for our family to be together as this is such a rare occurrence these days with us all being spread around the country.

I have set new goals for the year. I often fail miserably at my goals but they serve as a reminder I guess. I would love to get my fitness back so will try hard with this.
I have also added the books I read last year. I am a very slow reader so was surprised at how many books I actually did get through. The book that was the highlight for me was The Rosie Project. Very entertaining. I also enjoyed Shane Jacobsen's biography and the Loretta Hill books are always a good, easy read.
We enjoyed our Christmas at home in Brisbane and were joined by Craig's mum (Bundaberg) and his sister Annette (Cairns). We went out to a restaurant for lunch and returned home for a refreshing swim in the pool. We had a BBQ at home with friends last night to celebrate New Year's Eve but were tucked up in bed well before midnight and only lifted my head for a minute when I heard the fireworks in the city
Well it's time to take the Christmas decorations down and start to cover books in anticipation of the new school year. I'll be back with a new post soon.
Love, Rach xx

Hello There

Another long absence but for good reason. Shortly after my last post we were robbed. Due to the invasion of privacy I shut myself down to all social media but have slowly returned. I find it's important to blog as it is my diary. So here is what we've been up to.

In March, Craig and I went away to Bonville (just out of Coffs Harbour) and stayed at the international golf course. We went down for a 2 day work function for Craig's company but it was the most superb location and food and was very relaxing. Our night at the Gold Coast at the Marriott on the way home paled in comparison. I also turned 40 in March - how horrid. Unfortunately, I can't change that but would if I could.We also went to Caloundra for a night to meet up with some old friends from Bundaberg which we all enjoyed.
We spent Easter at home relaxing. My brother, Richard and his family came to stay for a night just after Easter on their way through. It was a great to catch up. Nic wasn't very well over Easter and the first week of school holidays but after some antibiotics he was ready for tennis clinic the following week. Nic was runner up in his tennis group and received a medal. Penny received a certificate for her tennis prowess.

Nic is now sporting a new look with a set of glasses. We all agree he looks very brainy! Nic has begun soccer again and is also filling in at tennis fixtures during the week from time to time. He is loving his sport and is trying harder with his school work. Nic has celebrated his 10th birthday this week and is having friends over for a sleep over this weekend. Hopefully we'll get some sleep tomorrow night! On the cubs front, he has been on a camp to Kenilworth which he loved and he proudly marched in two marches on ANZAC day with his cub scout group. They marched at Graceville (local) early in the morning and then went on to march in the main city march late morning. He was one tired boy after soccer practice that evening!

Penny is busy with dancing. She has ballet and tap exams in a few weeks and will perform in the junior performance team at the Sherwood School fete. She is still swimming and playing tennis but her main love is dance.
Craig is madly training with a back pack filled with sand as he is walking the Kokoda trail later in the year. He is also playing golf again and having some success with his old form beginning to return. He has had 2 x hole in ones in the last 4mths too.
Our darling little Westie pup, Pip is fast approaching one. She loves to eat shoes and steal all manner of things and head out to the front garden with them. Nic and Penny are quite used to going to look for their missing school sneakers out in the yard. One day they may actually put them in a cupboard so she can't get to them. Pip goes to the groomer occasionally and came home sporting this little bow which she didn't really like. She's a bit of a scruffy tom boy so I don't think it really suited her.

Well, I think that is enough for one post. Hope you're still with me. Oh and I have started scrapbooking again and have had 2 layouts accepted for photographing for a magazine. Will post some photos of my LO's soon.
Have a great weekend.
Rach xx

Hello

February already and mid way through at that. I have been busy with work in the last few weeks working 5 days a week (school hrs) as one of the other sonographers is away. It has been very busy at work with the back to school rush of Mums who wait until school goes back before they think about themselves and their ailments. I am looking forward to returning to 4 days next week and having my Friday to get all of those odd jobs done that I need to do since my children have returned to school.
The kids and Craig had a great week in Bundaberg and returned just before the big storm and flood hit up there. Our hearts go out to all of our friends in Bundaberg who have been affected. Parts of Bundaberg look like a war zone but they are a very motivated, tough, tight knit community who are getting on with it and trying to return their beautiful town to some sort of normality. The storm hit Brisbane later in the long weekend and was quite severe although I think it's intensity has weakened compared north of us. There were many huge trees down around the city but thankfully the flooding was minimal.
This week we went down to the school on two evenings to meet the children's teachers. Nic has a great teacher whom I'm sure will give him the big nudge he needs but in a gentle way. She has some great ideas and seems very switched onto the national curriculum in Qld, having written the science component for grade 5 last year. Penny's teacher is also very enthusiastic and Penny is always keen to please.
Penny is back to her jazz, tap and ballet on a Thursday and also performs a performance class on a Saturday in which she will learn a dance to perform at school fetes and eisteddfods. She has moved into the last swimming group (prior to squad) which we are thankful for. Having a pool at home has certainly improved her confidence and skills. On Wednesday morning Penny is having tennis coaching at school which she is enjoying.
Nic is really enjoying his tennis with two lessons of coaching a week and hoping to play fixtures soon. He is playing soccer again this year and practice will begin soon with matches commencing after Easter.
Well I best get the troops organised to leave for school.
Have a happy Friday and a great weekend.
Rach xx

The Last Two Weeks ...

have been busy. My brother, Richard and SIL Trudie came to stay with their children Alex (photo with Penny) and Lachlan for just over a week. They came to finalise the sale of their house in Brisbane. The cousins all had a great time together. They swam most of the time and enjoyed each other's company. One day they set up a great vet hospital with its own radiology department filled with an ultrasound, xray and MRI machine. Pip also loved having so many people around and more shoes to steal.
Last week, we went to Byron Bay for a relax and recharge and stayed in a 2 bedroom apartment with a lovely heated pool. We visited the historic light house which sits above a short walkway to the most eastern point of Australia. We went to the beach on a couple of days although it was closed for the other couple of days due to sharks. The Macadamia Castle (just nth of Ballina) was a favourite. We went there about 4yrs ago. Penny was so excited about cuddling a rabbit as last time she wasn't quite 4 and was too frightened to do so. Nic and Penny fed milk to the calves and lambs, held baby chickens, fed the kangaroos and joeys (that were big enough to eat food) and enjoyed playing on the flying fox and huge tree house. I managed to read two books and have a good rest.
I am back at work this week whilst Craig and the kids have gone to Bundaberg. It's very quiet, just the dog and I but I am enjoying the solitude and getting lots done around the house. I took the opportunity to go out on Friday night whilst everyone was away. My friend Petrina came down from Bundaberg to attend the opening night of "Bundaberg Bohemians not Bogans" exhibition at the Bleeding Hearts gallery in Brisbane city. Petrina's sister, Renita also attended the exhibition with us. One of Petrina's Yr 12 students from 2012 was exhibiting her works. We went onto the city afterwards for a yummy Singaporean meal. It was a lovely night and we enjoyed catching up.
All the books are covered and pencils sharpened in anticipation for the start of a new school year next Tuesday - Yr 5 for Nic and Yr 2 for Penny. Wow hasn't that come around fast! Fingers crossed it will be a good year for both kids.
Have a happy Wednesday.
Rach xx

Baby Possum

Back in October we found this baby possum making a strange noise outside the laundry one afternoon. I had heard the noise for at least half an hour but was not obviously concerned to go and investigate. Luckily I discovered the little one before our puppy, Pip. It was tiny, with only a light covering of fur but very cute. We left it alone for a while so that it could call out to it's mother in the hope that she'd return but at dusk it was getting quite cold so we wrapped it in a towel and heated up a wheat pack. We tried to contact a local wildlife station to no avail so possum was staying for the night. I kept heating the wheat pack up which quietened it down as did wrapping it up. We tried to feed it some puppy milk with a dropper but it wasn't very interested in this. We were unsure that it would make it to morning alive but Nick was up at 5am and ran in to tell us that baby possum had survived. We tried more milk but again to no avail so we contacted the RSPCA who told us to take it to a vet or the Uni vet hospital. As it was a Sunday we thought most vets would be closed so we packed our little possum into a box with the heat pack and delivered it to the uni in St Lucia. The kids wanted to keep it and rear it but our lives are too busy for a tiny baby possum and particularly as we have little Pip to care for we decided it was best. We decided against finding out what happened to baby possum but like to think that it had a favourable outcome.
Hope you've had a happy Monday.
Rach xx

Book Review - "All That I Am"

Well I'm back, 2 days in a row! I have recently finished reading a book called All That I Am by Anna Funder. It won the 2012 Miles Franklin Literary Award amongst other awards. The book is set in modern day Sydney through the eyes of an elderly lady looking back to her life in Germany in the early 1930's when Hitler came to power. It is about the difficulties faced by the Jews and their brave resistance to Nazism causing them to flee the country and live in exile. They tried to continue their resistance movement with great difficulty and trepidation. This is a true story and very thought provoking.
I thought it must be a good book to win all of these awards and to be in the top 5 on the weekly reading lists. Well I must say that it was not an easy read but I am glad that I did persevere. The book swaps alternate chapters between two characters, Ruth and Toller. This makes it difficult for a slow reader like me who may only picks the book up once a week but for the fast reader who reads daily this wouldn't be a problem. I was surprised at the liberation of young women in this era in Europe with talk of speaking out, free sex, abortions and drinking. They were very brave souls who stood up for what they believed even though others were being executed around them. The book gives a good insight into the struggle of the Jews and I feel richer for having read this book.
SCORE: 7/10
Have a beautiful day.
Rach xx