Two out of three

The kids are back at school today, well two are anyway. It has been nice having a quieter day, I do enjoy my time to myself, although I don't miss the getting ready in the mornings.

Thank God I got up early, had a quiet moment to myself, and then got started with the day. I'm pleased I was ready and in the car early as my car wouldn't start, so Bunny had to come and jump start me. Luckily the car was booked in for a service today, so it will have gotten a new battery.

When we finally got to school Billy-Joe got the kids organized in their rooms while I queued up to organize some new uniforms. Mickey has grown so much, and filled out that he looked absolutely ridiculous in his clothes. I had some larger sized ones, so that was good for today. The queue for the uniform shop was long and it was so hot in the room with no ventilation. The guy at the mechanics brought Billy-Joe and I home.

I did my ironing and finished the invoices for Barbi. I am so pleased that's finished. Two years of invoices from a busy retail store, is quite a lot of papers!!! Once again I handled a snake. I'm pretty sure it was a tree snake, but quite an aggressive one. Billy-Joe wouldn't even come out and take a photo of me holding it. He's absolutely petrified. It was quite a pretty snake, although not at all happy that Izzy was trying to hit him on the head with her paw. I'm sure she thinks it's a play thing. I don't think she caught it, I think it was just on the verandah, at one point it had half it's body inside the door, Billy-Joe really panicked then lol......

Billy-Joe and I then made melting moments, although I was disappointed with them as they're quite flat. I should have stuck to my tried and true recipe. I'm sure they'll all get eaten though.

Dinner is simple, spicy mango chicken with a potato salad. I don't feel like being in the kitchen for ages today as it's quite hot.

Tomorrow is Australia Day. Mum and Dad are coming around to celebrate. We'll have chicken skewers, sausages, pork spare ribs salads, and a home made pavlova for dessert. With a bit of wine thrown in too!!

This was the photo for today's Project 365!! It was supposed to be of the kids' first day of school, but we weren't in the same place all together at school, so it didn't happen.....lucky, the kitties are always there to photograph.

At Rain(bow) Beach

We're away on our long awaited annual holiday. It almost seems unfair, that we save so hard for our break and then it rains....but you know what? We are still making the most of it. For one thing, we've already decided that next year, we'll go away a little later in the year. Sept/Oct is too unstable weatherwise here in Qld. Last week the weather was just glorious. Hot everyday, cool nights and I was in summer clothes, with short shorts and a singlet top and this week, it's raining.... Thankfully though it's not cold.

We booked the same house that we had last year. We're a little sad though to see that nothing's been done to the place. The weeds have been let run rampant and the broken towel rails, and door knobs haven't been fixed. Even the hissing/whisting toilet that Bunny fixed last year, hasn't been fixed properly. We'll go somewhere else next year, and this house is on the market too, it's obvious the owner doesn't want to spend any money. Sadly too, most people who rent holiday homes treat them badly. We treat this house like our own.....why can't more people be like us.

On the flipside though, the beds are still comfy, the house roomy, and I love having an ensuite. I can't believe that I think having my own shower and toilet is luxurious, but it is. Home has had bucketloads of rain, it's made the papers, they've had 10 inches of rain in a few hours....we're lucky to not have had as much here.

Probably the only thing we've done different so far, is that we can't sit on the beach, and I've not sat by the pool. We have still eaten out, enjoyed the relaxed feeling and enjoyed each others' company. We've even all been in the pool, crazy as it sounds, because it's not hot, but we're not going to miss out on having our own pool.

Even from last year, my kids have grown up so much. We let them in the water on their own now. All three are competent in the water, and it's a liberating feeling.

We stopped in at Aldi on the way up here and bought some nice food. There's a woolies about a half hour away from here, and an IGA and Foodworks handy for everyday things. The bakery sells yummy bread and there's the obligatory fish and chip shops, cafes and pizza places. Last night we out out Thai. It was very nice, but rather expensive. It's a shame that it costs $145 to take a family of five out for dinner!!!! We won't be doing that again. The same menu in Nambour would have cost us about $85, and the food would have been just as good. No wonder we don't eat out much as a family, the cost is prohibitive. The kids love eating out though, and we love taking them out, so it's a real treat for all of us.

The boys have been fishing twice already, and I've been happy staying home, on my MacBook, reading and snoozing. Tomorrow they want me to go too though.....and they want me to get dirty yikes, they want me to have the mud coming up through my toes.....not sure about that lol........ I don't mind to fish though, so we'll see what transpires. I'm not going if this weather continues though.

Sammy playing with the wrestling figurines in the lounge room.

Billy-Joe on his 'Apple Dell' in the family room.

Kidlets enjoying an ice cream at the yummy ice cream shop.

Kids swimming , with Mickey saving on washing.

Cheese Platter for Dinner

I mentioned in the previous post about our cheese platter for dinner. We added some smoked oysters on toast with french mustard too, and only made a tiny dent in the cheeses. It's so rich, you don't need a lot. The cheese board was a birthday present from Karen. I love the knife in the foreground, it's for cutting hard cheeses and does a great job and feels nice in your hand.