Careful what you wish for

You may remember in my last post that I mentioned a storm was building up and I didn't think we were going to get much out of it.

The below photo was taken about 10 minutes before I headed to my Mum's for my nephews birthday where we were going to enjoy cake for afternoon tea.  She doesn't live very far from me and 99% of the time when a storm is south of us, like in the picture, we're lucky if we get a few spots of rain.

Just as I was walking inside at Mum's the first drops of rain started.

Not long later, we were all inside (6 pre-teens and teens and 6 adults - very noisy), when we heard the distinctive plink..plink on the tin roof.  Everyone stopped for a second then rushed to the windows to see a few pieces of hail landing on the lawn.

Moments later it was coming down like snow!

It lasted for a good 10 minutes, maybe more and I have to admit it was pretty exciting.  The only thing I was worried about was my car as well as my sister's and Uncle's cars which were sitting out in the street bearing the brunt of the hail.

Miraculously there were no broken windscreens and only a few small dints in the cars which we can't believe but are grateful for none the less.

I'll leave you with about a 15 second video that I took so you can hear the hail on the roof and see it falling.  I hope it works okay as I've never posted a video before.

I also stopped filming early because I didn't think you would hear much of the hail on the roof.  At the time there were 6 kids and 3 or 4 adults on the verandah watching it and everyone was yelling and squealing and exclaiming so loudly and all at once. 

 I didn't think you would hear the hail over the noise of everyone but I needn't have bothered as when you listen you can hardly hear the people, that's how loud the hail was.

Enjoy!

Have a wonderful week everyone.

xx Susan

This week I'm loving.....

Crochet

Of course there's always crochet.  This week I'm working on a cotton triangular shawl in a granny stripe which I'm loving the easy flow of.  I'm not following a particular pattern as I'm just making this up as I go but a granny stripe is pretty easy to do and it's so effective.  As it's cotton it would be perfect for a beach wrap too.

I've also been working on a scarf in some of the alpaca wool that my Mum gave me.  I haven't quite been sure about the pattern of this one but the closer to completion I get, the more I like it.  (Red is really difficult to photograph so I'll show you more once I've finished and blocked it).

Rain

Days and days of rain that has hardly let up from heavy downpours to gentle drizzle.  It's been perfect for indoor snuggling and cosy pursuits.

(The photo below is from my front door and somewhere in the grey sky is a mountain.  We haven't seen it for days but I'm sure it will peek out through the clouds soon enough).

Storms

A prelude to the rainy weekend were the storms each day.

Of course most of them hit around 3pm when it was time to pick the kids up from school.  There seems to be some unwritten rule from Mother Nature that school time is the best time for a downpour.

We were lucky to escape any damage unlike some friends in the neighbouring town of Glasshouse Mountains who had trees ripped out and power lines down at their place.  No property damage on the farm though which was good although another friends trampoline ended up on the roof of their house.

We did get some hail one day and had to wait until the worst of it was over before picking the kids up.  Thank goodness the school kept the kids in their classrooms and realised that it would be a slightly later pick up for most of them.

Sewing

Slowly, slowly doing little bits each day to make these Christmas gifts for the kids school teachers.  One day its cutting out fabric, the next its pinning it together and then the process of doing a little sewing each day until it finally all comes together.

Afternoon tea

Nothing beats something warm and homemade when the kids walk in the door after a really wet and cool day at school.

Sometimes it's fresh scones but this time I made pikelets which were enjoyed with lots of butter, jam or golden syrup.  I had no cream  :(  as it was a spur of the moment cook up.

Making a double batch also ensures some for either lunch boxes the next day or a very quick filling mini pancake breakfast.

Board Games

The Monopoly board has been out while the rain teems down outside.  Ours is a Lord of the Rings Monopoly which we were gifted many years ago.

We zip through the Shire, Bree, Rivendell, Lothlorien, Rohan and onto Mount Doom while passing by the Steeds of Middle Earth (instead of train stations), Shelobs lair and the staff of Gandalf and Saruman.

This version also has the bonus Eye of Sauron on one of the dice instead of a one.  Each time this is rolled a special gold ring is moved onto the next property around the board and as soon as it reaches Mount Doom.. game over!  I love this shorter game and it's much better for the kids too as the game doesn't drag on and boredom sets in.

What are you loving about your week?

xx Susan

January

Can you believe that January is already behind us?  Wow.  I can't say that it has gone fast because it seems forever ago that we were celebrating Christmas and the New Year. 

We've been busy though and life has been pretty full for a lot of January which meant that the days continued to roll on with their usual regularity.  Then I woke up one morning and realised that it was February.

 

January consisted of quite a bit of family time as lovely hubby took a little time off work which was really nice.

 

We went out for a picnic but took the boat instead of the car. 

 

 

 

That meant that hubby could do some fishing once he dropped the kids and I off at the northern tip of Bribie Island (Caloundra end).  We walked across the tip to the beach on what was a really beautiful day for the first day of the year.  (Yes, this was WAY back on January 1st).

 

 

 

  

 The kids had a great time cooling off in the surf...

 

 

 

...and watching the ships head into the port of Brisbane. 

 

It certainly wasn't a bad way to start the year.

 

 

Little Miss R's best mate came to stay for a few days so we went swimming and a zoo trip and a few other things to keep them occupied. 

 

Master W moved away mid last year and this is only the second time they've caught up since then.  They were pretty excited (understatement :) )

 

 

 

 

We also celebrated a 10th birthday.  I can't believe I no longer have any children with a single digit age now.

 

 

 

There were more trips to the beach while Dad was home too.  This time late in the afternoon on a really hot summers day to cool off.

 

 

Then we just had to have fish and chips at the beach before heading home.

 



 

 

The kids and I had a couple of outings of our own, usually when we had appointments or needed to get school supplies.

 

We treated ourselves to Churros from here which were very much a hit.

 

(I can't seem to get the link to work today.  It was San Churro café at Sunshine Plaza shopping centre in Maroochydore)

 

 

It was lovely to spend some time with the kids doing something a bit different and having fun.

 

 

 

 

It wasn't all about food though.  There's also a new project on the go with colours picked by Little Miss R for her blanket she's been harassing me to make for more than 6 months!

 

(more on this another day)

 

 

 

 The biggest news came from the very end of January when a new school year started.  Little Miss R is no longer Little and will probably be referred to as Miss R now that she has started high school.

 

Yes my girl is now Grade 7 and off to high school.  Eeeek!

(She's loving it so far by the way)

 

Hoping you are all enjoying your start to 2018.

 

xx Susan

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A White Christmas?

While a white Christmas sounds something that many of us in the bottom portion of the globe only dream of, it just might be a reality this year for my sister.  Having said that, I've just remembered that she's already had one.  Well that buggered that thought up!

 

Anyway, she flew out to England yesterday evening to spend Christmas with one of her dearest friends Elizabeth in Yorkshire.  I doubt it will be snowing though as it doesn't often snow at their place at Christmas.

 

Driving to Brisbane International airport was a pretty exciting outing for the kidlettes as they've never been there before.  Master M was so worn out by his excitement that he slept nearly all the way down there.

 

Now I never drive into the city because the traffic freaks me out these days but I just told myself that I would be fine and everything would go well.

 

I didn't account for the storms and peak hour traffic though!

 

 

 

 

Two storms converged into one evidently and we drove into it.  Luckily not into the middle of it but we did have to drive through the outside edge of it. 

 

I concentrated on driving while my sister madly took a heap of photos until the traffic got heavier and the rain started.

 

Once we said our goodbyes the kids and I headed home and ran into the back of the storm this time.

 

There was heaps of really HUGE lightning and it got pitch black really quickly.  We ended up stopping on the way home to get some dinner and let a bit more of the storm roll away before we headed for home.

 

So to my lovely sister S.  I hope you have a wonderful time with your English family.  Try to relax a bit and enjoy this precious time with them.  You truly deserve it.

 

xxxxx Susie

 

 

 



Warm weekend

Hubby was home for the WHOLE weekend.  What a treat that was!  Not that we seemed to do anything exciting in the way of outings or anything.  No... not.. at.. all.  We are a homebody family, especially when it is a tad warm outside.

 

We've had a few storms of late but not much rain.  As a result it's pretty dry here and we're really looking forward to a day or two of good soaking rain.  Until then we'll enjoy the storm build ups, the lightning and thunder and the rainbows.

 

 

For some reason we live in an area where a lot of the storms seem to 'split'. 

 

When you are a storm lover like myself we do still get plenty to keep us happy.  This season though, most of them seem to go to the south through Brisbane, or the north through the Sunshine Coast and Gympie.  The Glasshouse Mountains area (my neck of the woods), gets the top or bottom of the storms.  That means that we get the build up and all the flash but about 6 spots of rain.

 

Ah well, at least we don't really get the damage then do we?  There's always an upside.

 

So my Saturday morning started pretty early.  About 3.30am in fact when I woke up and couldn't go back to sleep.  Rather than disturbing lovely hubby who had only arrived home late the previous day, I decided to head out to the lounge to toss and turn to my hearts content and leave him to snatch a few extra good hours.

 

Unfortunately I ended up having two restless children up at different times and I wasn't even able to snatch a few more minutes like I had hoped.  Once Master M was truly up (around 5am), I knew that the day had well and truly started.  Master M has ALWAYS been an early riser so I left him to the xbox with promises of keeping the volume down low, and snuck back in to bed.

 

Not that I slept.  Lovely hubby ended up waking up too and made me a cup of tea which is one of my life's true indulgences.  The indulgence is not just having a cup of tea.  It's someone else MAKING me a cup of tea and me being able to finish a cup while it's still warm.  That is a true indulgence in my book because it's so rare.

 

Since everyone (except Little Miss R) was awake, I decided to finish my snowflake garland.  The snowflakes had been finished and blocked for weeks.  I just hadn't hooked them together which I knew wouldn't take much time at all, I just hadn't set any  time aside at this stage to do it.

 

In a remarkably short time it was done.  Both garlands were done as a matter of fact as I made a small one for Little Miss R as she wanted one for her bedroom.

 

 

Once the whole house was awake and breakfast was had, we started to decorate for Christmas.  My first priority was to hang my snowflake garland up.  I'm so happy with it.  Even though it's white and sort of blends in with the walls and the rest of the house, it still looks lovely.   (I did add tinsel and other colour to the walls and hallways behind a bit later on, just to make things a bit more festive and brighter.)

 

 

There was a well deserved break mid-morning to down a coffee and a fruit mince tart because it is the season......

 

I had another brief moment to admire my snowflake handywork before the kidlettes and I got straight back into the decorating.

 

Now I could show you the pretty bits and the all so happy holiday moments but I'll give you the realistic view of the moment after the tree was finished...

 

There are two children under the blankets on the above lounge.  It was bloody hot and humid outside so we had the airconditioners on and they were content to snuggle up and not clean any of the mess  up.

 

I can't say I made it spotless either but we did get it tidied up a bit so that no one would get injured if they walked through the lounge.

 

Then of course we got to enjoy our handy work when we had another evening storm and the power went out for a short while.  Our new battery lights worked a treat in lighting the place up and created a magical little world for awhile.

 

 

I won't say that the power came back on all too soon because I was in the middle of cooking dinner and really NEEDED it at the time.  For a brief moment the magic of the fairly lights were a wonder though.

 

 

 Sunday started a little differently. I'd been up since 12.30am watching the Rugby Union and then struggled to go back to sleep.  I did snatch a few minutes before Master M was awake just after 5am. 

 

No happy xbox playing this early though.  It was a case of "Mummy I feel a little sick"  and me then having to clean up the trail of vomit that he left throughout the whole house.  It was closer to 6am when it was cleaned up and a load of washing on. 

 

Lovely hubby blissfully slept through it all of course.  :)

 

xx Susan

 

 

 

The weeks zooming by...

I have to take my new phone into be repaired as there have been issues with it since day 1. While backing it up and uploading photos I realised that it's been awhile since I've blogged and even though I haven't been super busy, life has been trundling along all the same.

Wednesdays mornings are still taken up with knit and natter at Mary Cairncross.  We're in for the long haul there and won't be going back to our houses for our get together's in any known future.  As my sister Sandra said, when it was at her place she'd still look around and think about the floor that needed sweeping or other things she needed to do.

Bugger the housework!  It's coffee, good food and extremely wonderful company.  

There have also been some rainy days with torrential rain all through the night then all day again.  The mountains couldn't be seen either and we thought we'd be washed back down the hill on our drive home.  It was LOVELY!

Of course crafty stuff is still being done amid the eating, drinking and talking.  

I have been a bit lax in the circle area of things and am a bit behind but I think they're looking pretty good.

We're trying to get into the habit of meeting my sister and nephews after school on a Wednesday at one of the local parks.  It's a great chance for the kids to get together on a regular basis these days for an hour before going home to do the dreaded homework.

We're really lucking that within about a 10 minute drive we've got a few amazing parks and playgrounds so we've got plenty to choose from and a variety of very different playgrounds.

Skippy Park is not for the toddlers as the equipment is geared towards older kids, not to mention the 1.1km bike track that goes around it as well.

There's climbing webs, flying foxes, tree trunks, a couple of swings and things for the littlies and other more tactile areas like hills and gardens and things for the kids to run through.

They are all desperate for the new slide section to be finished...

Hubby and I are continuing doing things together when he's home mid-week and the kids are at school. 

 There was the usual standard shopping for things we needed, exciting things like dog food and bulk toilet paper etc.

Hubby did take me out for a late breakfast though which was nice and then on the way home we toured around and explored some areas we haven't been to before (all within half an hour of our home).

School holidays have also started so our days are currently filled with LOTS of jumping on the trampoline, a little movie watching, painting masterpieces and helping Mummy in the garden (more of that in another post).

It's also been ridiculously hot and really humid lately.  Winter is officially only 6 or 7 weeks away but we're having very summery weather.  Relief did come though..

On Sunday I had lunch at the local pub with the girls.  Most of them I had never met before or hadn't seen in 20 or more years.  They were the girls from my sister's primary school class (plus a few extras) and decided that they wanted to start to get together semi-regularly so Sunday was the first lunch.

It was a wonderful day and we're all looking forward to the next get together.  Luckily for me my parents live just around the corner from the pub and since hubby was away I needed someone to look after them for a few hours.

The above photo of the storm building up was taken from their house when  I picked up the kids. 

I LOVE storms and this one was great, especially as it was probably the last one for the season.

Eating out, catching up with good friends and family, a little crafty stuff, fun times with kids, special time with my honey and a storm to top it off.  It's been a pretty good few weeks.

I even had a train trip to Brisbane in all that which was a complete novelty for me.  We won't go into that right now because I was there to support my brother again with the latest of his court cases.  Lets all be thankful that he still has the boys.

xx Susan

Boondooma Dam - Part 2

I did mention that it was hot while we were at the dam.  Well it was in the high 30, low 40 degrees celcius pretty well every day we were there.

As a result we had a few good storms.

Watching them build up was pretty exciting but then we had to make sure that everything around camp was tied down and secured properly.

We even had some hail but luckily it wasn't very big so it didn't damage the cars.  The kids were a bit scared of the hail until I told them it was just chunks of ice.  I then had to run out into the storm to collect some and ate it to show them that it was fine.  

Bad move!  After that all they wanted to do was run out into the storm and collect the hail!  Ah well, they had fun, got soaked, cooled down and got to chomp on ice.  Then it was back in the dam for another swim because after the storm it was so hot and steamy again that it was like being in a sauna.

The main reason why we went to this particular dam this year is because they have redclaw.  The boat went out a couple of times a day to put the pots in and to check them.

The kids even learnt how to take the heads of them...

Even the little ones had a go although Master M didn't cope too well and freaked out a bit.  Nephew R was pretty happy with his though.

We also celebrated a birthday.  It was Nephew J's 9th birthday so we had some party food and a cake that was baked in the camp oven. 

Presents were opened around the campfire...

...and played with at the first opportunity.

Unfortunately there was only a small area we could fly the kite near our camp and there wasn't much wind.

But the dragon did get to fly and looked great.

It was another fantastic family camping trip and more wonderful memories for the kids especially.

xx Susan