Flower festival

Today we ended up with a bonus public holiday, in memory of Queen Elizabeth. So Hayley and I took the girls on a mini influencer excursion to S&R Orchards for their annual flower festival. 

They set up the entire orchard with cute props all over the place for people to take fun photos with, like this mini retro caravan, plus there are food trucks, live music, and even a mini ferris wheel. It's so much fun, I'm absolutely filing it away for a visit next year, but maybe not on a public holiday as the lines were insane!

These girls were absolutely living their best lives though, taking hundreds of photos and loving every minute.

They even managed to talk us into buying them fairy floss which were by far the cutest ones I have ever seen!

Honestly these girls are goals, this is the kind of thing I could have only dreamed of doing with my best friend at that age!

❤

I have never met two girls that spend more time laughing either. 

They just laugh at anything and everything. Non stop.

and love every minute of being together.

They are at the age where they are all arms and legs and this shot shows that off haha

I especially love this pic of Maddie, her hair looks amazing in the sun - it is so many different colours and the light here really shows it off. She really is a lucky girl, people pay so much for that colour!

I even jumped in a couple of the shots, managed to get some time off being her "instamum" for a few minutes.

The flowers were so beautiful too. 

There was spring blossoms in full bloom everywhere and they were so pretty to look at.

Almost as pretty as these girls. ❤

 

Mat is 40

Today is Mat's 40th birthday. He is one of my oldest friends, we've known each other since I was in Kindergarten. It had been years since we had seen each other, but then he turned up when I was working at Woolies in high school, dating one of my friends! We reconnected and were inseparable after that and many years later, he ending up marrying my best friend! What are the chances? Anyway, I love the dude and would do anything for him, so being at his 40th was the actual best. This awesome photo, taken on Jens new phone (I am just a tad jealous) shows him perfectly, the country life, surrounded by mates, drinking a beer. Perfect.

It was actually such a good night, cold as anything, but that was no issue once they got the fire going! The kids all ran wild in the paddocks until they got too tired, at which time I took the boys back to mums and they went to bed while Madeline and I hung out.

Mat the party planner went all out and there was good food, a lotttt of drinks and even Mat's 40th stubby holders to go around.

Perfect!

Hanging with the bestie - photo by Maddie our 11 year old photographer haha

and one of Mat with Jen and baby Sophie 

The fire was raging - and provided some awesome light in the photos. It's just not a country party without a fire!

Mat decided an actual birthday cake wasn't necessary and instead had Jen make some poop cupcakes. They were so cute - and also so weird haha. But certainly tasted good!

Highlight of the night was definitely watching Mat smash up the piñata that I had so carefully filled with a buttload of lollies from Kmart. The kids went wild when it broke open, only to have the adults scrambling for first dips after a friend had jammed the top section full of mini bottles of spirits. Classic. Made it all the more perfect for Mat. Best bit was that he hit it so hard one of the bottles broke - even though they were all plastic! Wild. Had the adults cracking up.

Next day found us back in the paddock again, fire still burning away much to the delight of my kids. 

This girl of course needed to pose for photos and send them to her city mates. She's not quite a country girl, but she is sure trying.

She cute though. Haha.

Happy 40th Mat. Let's hope there's at least another 40 in you! ❤ 

Sneaky icecreams

I love these girls. They always make everything so fun. Alex has been a bit of a grump lately, I mean his world is continually being turned upside down while we have open homes, I deal with tradies, we move things between houses - and it's just left him a little unsettled. So, sometimes when it's bedtime and he's super tired, the best way to get him to sleep is just to pop him in the car and drive around for a few minutes while he fidgets a bit and looks out the window, before settling in and going to sleep. It's the best when he's over tired.

Tonight, we picked up Madeline's bestie Ella and they sat with him quietly as he drifted off, before we headed down to Joey's diner in Herne Hill and I bought them a sneaky icecream. As you can see it completely made their day and it was well worth it. Sometimes it's nice to spoil your kids (and other peoples I guess! haha) at the most random of times for no reason at all.

So icecream it was - on a school night, then back home to bed, and to tuck in fast asleep Alex. Double win. ❤

 

Trail riding with my bestie

Every year when I ask my best friend what she is doing for her birthday she replies, "nothing exciting." So this year, I decided to make sure, she was doing something exciting and booked us in to go for a trail ride in Bakers Hill, not far from her house. I turned up early, with a waiver to sign at which time she was like umm okay with a bit of a giggle and off we went. 

It was a really lovely outing, the horses just wandered along, knowing pretty much what to do, with barely any direction from us. I have to wonder how often they walk up and down their trail a week.

She may not look like she's having the best time, but she assured me it was fun. I love it out in the country, so it was a wonderful morning for me. I just don't remember it being that hard to get on and off of a horse! Maybe I am just getting old. No, I am getting old.

Here is my lovely (although very skittish to begin with) horse. I swear he could sense I was nervous and ran with it until I got comfortable.

They had this cool wooden horse head sculpture on the gate which I loved. It amazes me how people see something like this and create it in an artistic way. I could never - and this looks so lifelike!

Jen and I at the end of our ride. Good times good times. ❤ 

There was just enough time for a pie at the Bakers Hill Pie Shop before I headed back to Perth. Hooray for a besties day out.

 

The BEST rocky road

This weekend has been full of baking at the besties house. I've made loaf after loaf of banana bread and then started on rocky road. It was a free for all in the kitchen, with me being told, "use whatever you want." So I did.

Which led to me making what I honestly believe is the best rocky road I have ever made.

Easter Rocky Road

Melted Cadbury Crunchie easter eggs/ bunnies

Broken Tick Tock biscuits

Chopped mixed Natural Confectionary Company lollies

Broken pretzels

Chopped pink and white marshmallows

Sprinkles

Combine all ingredients with melted chocolate and place in dish. 

Top with sprinkles and refrigerate to set. Cut into chunks and enjoy.

10/10. Highly recommend.

 

A spot of golf

This morning we popped down to the Bakers Hill golf club for a round of kiddy golf coaching. Jen and Mat's kids go each Saturday morning and because we are staying at mums this weekend due to the painters doing the doors and frames with the strong smelling paint... we decided to tag along too.

My kids were surprisingly good at it! Who knew. I remember playing once when I was realllllly young (at Bakers Hill too! haha) and it took me like shots to get the ball into the damn hole, but my kids were incredible. Got it in, in under 6 shots and had the golfing coach suggest to them both that they should be playing more regularly. Especially Joseph who was thrilled to pieces. Honestly struggling with finding a sport that's a good fit for him, so we may have to follow that up.

The kids all had the best time though. Lots of fun and laughs as we made our way around the bush course. Big apology to the people behind us as it certainly was not in a short amount of time.

Maddie was loving her cuddles with baby Sophie.

Alex was only interested in drinking the hot chocolate that Uncle Mat had picked up for me from the bakery.

Joseph our champion for the day, teeing off on the final hole. 

Then having a little chat about technique to the coach.

Nearly there and time for some fun at Uncle Mat and Aunty Jen's house.

Can't beat all the fun to be had in the bush! ❤

 

Joey's with the neighbours

It's back to to school tomorrow, so on Friday night, we hit up the local diner with our neighbour besties. We love having the Hayes live next door to us, it's genuinely the best thing that's ever happened. Their kids are all similar ages to ours and they just get along so well that it's actually a pleasure to have them spend time together. I mean seriously, you can tell how much fun they are having together.

On Great Northern Highway in Herne Hill, there is the most awesome burger joint, a retro looking diner style place, called Joey's. Their food is excellent, including their delicious burgers, waffle fries and iceberg desserts. All simple, but amazing. 

In winter, there is outdoor heaters and a closed in gazebo to sit in, in summer, aircon in the outdoor areas. Plus a kids play area, sandpit and arcade games. We really should come more often, everyone loves it.