Ledge Point

Today the kids and I headed up to Ledge Point for the day to hang out with the Macqueens who were camped out at the local caravan park. The kids always want to got camping, but we have neither a tent, or caravan as an option, so this was the next best thing I could offer.

We started with a drive up, then met them at the beach near the caravan park. They had driven down onto the beach and parked on the sand, so the kids went straight for the water, Alex got dumped by a wave almost immediately when he let go of Maddie's hand and came running back to me...

Madeline was absolutely in her element, straight into the water and messing about with Uncle Mat

He even picked her up and threw her into the waves a few times!

Joseph was less than impressed. It was too windy and the water was too cold and he wasn't having a bar of it. You can almost taste his excitement in this picture. Ha.

Needless to say, that made it a little hard to get a nice beach pic of the three of them. Oops, oh well.

He was more than happy to play in the pool though, once we got back to the caravan park. 

They splashed around forever before sausages in bread for lunch with weet-bix slice for dessert... real little Aussies! 

Some snacks for the adults and an afternoon of laughs, running, tag, playground and icecream from the caravan park general store. Don't even ask how much they cost haha.

A day well spent with the bestie. Our kids had to be friends too... they had no other choice. ❤

life's a beach

would you believe me if i told you i went to the beach today? probably not hey! but i did. it was the australia day public holiday today and our lovely friends the newmans were going to the beach and convinced us to go too. 

if you know me at all. i only have to look outside to get burnt. i am whiter than the sand that covers the beach. i am so pale that my skin is practically transparent. everyone thinks that i don't like the sand, but i actually don't like the sun! i get burnt and i get a headache... enough said. decision was made: sunnies, lots of clothing (life hack from today: if you're like me and don't really want to be seen in public with a bathing suit on, work out pants and a top made from the same kind of material are so good in the water. they sit close to the skin, are super comfortable and dry quickly.) and bucket loads of suncream before we hit the road.

but we went... and it was a nice day. it was hottttttt and i felt it. but the kids loved it and are dying to go again. the newmans have a giiiiant shade shelter which i spent much of my time hiding under, while going in the water a few times. alex went in his little blow up seat and promptly got blown away from madeline (i trust that girl with her baby brother so much, she loves him so much and would never let any harm come to him, so i watched them in the shallows from under the tent) so we got that out of the water quick smart and i went and held him instead. it was actually quite windy considering what a fine day it was!

joseph loved playing with the girls in the water and sitting down in the sand. the kids really were in their element - must be that island blood... which made me think we really should do this more often! maybe i could handle it.

playing in the sand and making their own little puddle a little way inshore. the waves would come up and fill the hole every so often and they would squeal with delight as they got wet again.

alex was the absolute cutest - he loooooved the beach. especially the sand. after a few dips in the water, he sat with us and pawed around his little legs, getting his hand covered in sand and eating plenty of it too! ew. he was especially thrilled when madeline brought him a bucket with water and his own little shovel so he could dig and play about in the shade. so cute! looks like i have yet another water baby in the making.

this was my favourite part of the day - after a picnic in a local park and icecream from a "mr whippy" van who just happened to appear at the perfect time (with the most reasonably priced items i've ever seen in my life as well as tap and pay on board!) we packed up and made our way home. but not before madeline took this adorable selfie with her brothers. i love it (and them) so much. it was a great day, with family and good friends. 

australia, we love you! 

a trip to rottnest

sam swears that her main draw card to want to visit perth was to see a quokka. i distinctly remember when she told me she was obsessed with quokkas and seeing one and i responded with, "what? they are eveywhere at rottnest. but i have lived in perth more or less my entire life and have never been there." and then it was decided. we would go to rottnest!

issue: new born baby. cannot swim, or cycle with said baby.

resolution: bus tour. no swimming, no cycling - this time around. another rottnest trip will need to be made at some stage in the future. 

so. we booked our rottnest day, for sam's last full day in perth. i practiced tying the baby carrier, got a big hat and lots of suncream ready - and prayed that alex would make it through a long day without any major issues.

murphys law. things with a newborn will never go smoothly. we are literally about to walk out of the house and alex hurls all over the place. we drive as fast as is legally possible, but we can see there is no way we will make our ferry. i called them on the way there and it was no issue at all, we were just moved to the next ferry. easy! so we had a poke around in fremantle for a few minutes, bought some vanilla slice (i don't know what the hell this girl has been up to on previous visits to australia, but seriously, what the hell kind of person hasn't tried vanilla slice?!) visited elizabeths bookstore (best bookstore ever!) and then headed on down to the ferry terminal. right on time. day is back on track. 

by the way. how cute are the cranes at the port. i love that they look like dinosaurs.

i actually loved the ferry ride across to rottnest. a quick half hour ride... alex got comfortable in his carrier and went off to sleep straight away. i took that as a good sign that the day was going to go well.

and it did! what a beautiful place we have right on our doorstep! this is the view from the top point on the island where the cannons were set up. there is a tour of the tunnels that was included in our day long bus tour, but alex woke up right as it began, so feed number one for the day was at the top, as the rest of our group went exploring. 

i would absolutely recommend the tour we did. our bus drove around the entire island and our (very knowledgeable) tour guide told us everything cool there was to know about the island and even answered all the random questions people (including myself) had about other things we passed.

including the little rottnest island cemetery, which of course, i had questions about. fun fact: you can no longer be buried there, which i expected.

there was amazing, perfect beaches all the way around and i was just blown away by the beauty of it all. i absolutely want to go back and i can now see why everyone raves about it.

i mean, seriously. look at the views. 

and the colour of the water

it's all so pretty!

the lighthouse was gorgeous too, i will absolutely be climbing that next time.

we had such a good day. little alex slept the day away, only waking up one other time (he had another feed and went straight back to sleep) until we were just about back at fremantle. the day certainly got better, what an angel child!

and sam got to see her precious quokkas, so the day was absolutely worth it

unfortunately they weren't playing as nice as instagram claims they should be, but she did get a few pics with them and a lot of them.

they are super adorable. it certainly is tempting to scoop one up and sneak them home

our last pic before jumping on the ferry to go back home (in which you can see baby alex neatly tucked away and snoozing in)... what an incredible day it was! thanks for coming all the way to perth to drag me to rottnest sam. it was totally worth it! ♥

beach family photos

i had a blast a few saturdays ago, taking photos on a beach down in mandurah with a friends sisters family. it was full on, 15 adults, 3 kids... and just for good measure: a dog. but it was fun! there was lots of laughs and some great pics. ♥

the starfish

Once upon a time, there was an old man who used to go to the ocean to do his writing.He had a habit of walking on the beach every morning before he began his work. Early one morning, he was walking along the shore after a big storm had passed and found the vast beach littered with starfish as far as the eye could see, stretching in both directions. 

Off in the distance, the old man noticed a small boy approaching.  As the boy walked, he paused every so often and as he grew closer, the man could see that he was occasionally bending down to pick up an object and throw it into the sea.  The boy came closer still and the man called out, “Good morning!  May I ask what it is that you are doing?”

The young boy paused, looked up, and replied “Throwing starfish into the ocean. The tide has washed them up onto the beach and they can’t return to the sea by themselves,” the youth replied. “When the sun gets high, they will die, unless I throw them back into the water.”

The old man replied, “But there must be tens of thousands of starfish on this beach. I’m afraid you won’t really be able to make much of a difference.”

The boy bent down, picked up yet another starfish and threw it as far as he could into the ocean. Then he turned, smiled and said, “It made a difference to that one!”

adapted from The Star Thrower, by Loren Eiseley (1907 – 1977)

i think pretty much everyone that knows me knows that i love stars and starfish, so when 

my lovely friend vivienne posted this photo this morning on facebook, which she had taken while walking at their local beach , it was love at first sight! she posted it along with a version of the above story, which i love but had not heard for years. i love the moral it carries. that anyone can make a difference no matter how small. 

be the person that throws the starfish. make the difference and seize the day.

beaching in bunbury

as a kid, i always remember fondly holidaying in bunbury and staying with my aunt and uncle and cousins... and most of all, endless trips to the beach... that will be funny to anyone that knows me well, as in my adult years, i've not been the biggest fan as i am so super sensitive to the sun and burn at the drop of a hat (haha i am funny aren't i. look at that awesome pun!)

it makes me happy to know that my kids can now have the bunbury experience too, as our friends cody and dannielle have moved to eaton (just the other side to where we would stay) and we can visit any time we please! yay! they were in karratha until a few weeks ago and we are beyond thrilled to have them back in driving distance. this will definitely be a regular thing! hello long weekends :)

this morning before church we took the kids (and their dogs) to the beach for a bit of a run around. madeline loved every second of it and i loved to watch her! i really need to take my white skin to the beach more often... it makes every one so happy!

maddie and her new friend millie, she has learned to love dogs in recent months, which is so nice to see, she was bowled over by an excited dog when she was smaller and was petrified of them for years. she explained to me this morning though, "oh i am okay now mummy, i like dogs now, just not the excited ones!" hahaha

the boys and marley, just watching the waves come in

and doug and baby j. he wasn't so sure about the beach, but he loved holding daddys hand tightly as he walked around taking it all in. most observant our boy!

i am loving bunbury! can't wait for the next visit ♥

hello! hillarys calling...

public holidays are the best... and this one was no exception, our friends rob and bianca have (just) moved back from kalgoorlie (yay yay yay yay yaaaaaay) and suggested we head over to the childrens beach at hillarys boat harbour for a dip. so we did!  

it's no secret that i don't overly love the beach (i can't help it, i hate sand!), but i think i may be able to be persuaded in the future, the kids were so excited and had the time of their lives... plus it was so hot that the water was a relief to paddle in while the kids splashed and joseph ran in and out of the water.

what a gorgeous day to be at the coast, how lucky are we to live so close? plus burgers at grilld afterwards? the perfect night out.