Semester Break - Port Douglas - Part One

Almost exactly 10 years ago when Shannon and I were living over here in Australia, we headed up to far north Queensland from (freezing cold) Melbourne for some fun and adventure!  We ended up staying in Port Douglas for a month, living in the Port Douglas Motel (for free) and cleaning it by morning, going to the beach all afternoon, then washing dishes at our respective restaurants by night! (Which I might add payed $20/hr and this was 10 years ago!)  It was awesome living there...

So when Andrew and I moved over to Australia, I knew we had to make it up to Port Douglas so I could show him and Charlie one of my favourite places!  Andrews semester break seemed like the perfect opportunity because we only have Charlie and he's still considered a lap baby (even though he's huge and that would have been a nightmare - luckily on both flights we had the row to ourselves and they even gave him breakfast on the way there! Bonus!)  We left on Saturday morning super early (our flight left at 7am so Andrew and I had to wake up at 4am! gross) and flew into Cairns where we were going to rent a car, but at the last minute decided just to take a bus up from Cairns and not worry about going and doing too much while we were up there - Andrew and I both just wanted to relax!  But since we hadn't planned on taking the bus we had to wait around in the airport for almost 3 hours!  Oh dear.... luckily Charlie didn't mind at all and just had fun running around and exploring.

Charlie on an airplane!  Even though he's been on a ton of airplanes before, this is the first one where he kinda understood what was going on!  Whenever we talk about airplanes or helicopters or see them in the sky Charlie does this high up motion with his hand and then brings it down like his hand is the plane... you'd have to see it but its so cute!  He makes the noises too!  This is at the beginning before he didn't want to be cooped up and spilt juice everywhere!

Of course Charlie fell asleep on the decent!  He would only transfer into his stroller like this!  He eventually almost slipped out and that really woke him up!

So we arrived into Port Douglas at about 2pm - perfect for check in time!  I forgot to mention before that we were staying at the Port Douglas Motel where Shan and I worked 10 years ago!  Back then it was kinda run down, and I can remember seeing a guests postcard to someone detailing how crappy of a place it was!  But it's been totally renovated and under new management and it's pretty nice now!  The owner thought it was so interesting that I had worked there so long ago, and apparently it went from a motel to a hostel to a motel again in that time.  We unpacked our stuff and went off to explore!  The nice thing about where we were staying is that it was right in town, 2 minutes from all the shops!  So we got some groceries and cheap pizza from Dominos and just let Charlie be wild.... and wild he was - knocking the pizza onto the ground... we were so hungry we ate it anyways!

With no church in Port Douglas we were forced to do something else instead... namely the Sunday Markets!  And the circle of palm trees...

Charlie and Andrew at the markets trying some sugarcane juice with ginger and lime - so good!

At the circle of palm trees park - Charlie spotted a boat!

He was so excited about seeing boats on water instead of just in books!

This is the coolest tree ever!  And I regret that I didn't get a full shot of it, but it has tons of roots or branches or whatever that make it the perfect climbing tree!

Charlie loved being up high - he's definitely not afraid of heights!

There were some cool little tunnel areas too!  This tree is like an umbrella tree, with a HUGE canopy!

Swings with daddy!  Charlie was so excited to have Andrew around the whole time - he wanted nothing to do with me for the most part and just wanted to play with dada - he's going to be really sad when Andrew goes back to school!

It was pretty cloudy the whole time we were there, which was ok with us!  It was sunny the very last day and we got burnt despite only being outside for 2 hours and having sunscreen on!  So it's a good thing it wasn't sunny the whole time!

After Charlie's afternoon nap we headed over to the beach.  It was like a whole new experience for Charlie even though he's been to the beach heaps!  I love four-mile beach, its got great sand and its lined with plan trees - very tropical!

He is obsessed with digging!

Not afraid of the ocean at all!

Even when the first wave knocked him right over!  He definitely wasn't expecting it, but it never happened again!

Charlie especially loved holes filled with water that he could splash in!

After the beach we checked out the pool at the motel.  It had a little ledge perfect for Charlie to walk along!  I didn't get a picture of it, but there is an outdoor kitchen area right next to the pool when we did some of our cooking!

Well I think that is enough for one blog post!  If I make them smaller maybe I'll do them more often cause they'll be more manageable... maybe?

Introducing Doody!

I really did not think I was this far behind in my blogging!  Apparently time has just been flying by.... So for the last two weeks Charlie and I have been a little husband/daddy deprived as Andrew has been studying for finals and then actually writing them.  We've been trying to keep busy with playgroups and the park and the zoo.  

Mondays are generally free, Tuesdays we go to a playgroup run by the red cross, on the third Wednesday of the month the library puts on a program called "seeds" (I forget what it stands for) but it generally involves music/nursery rhymes/stories/crafts/free lunch!  I quite like it, even though it sometimes gets crowded and Charlie can't quite sit and listen the whole time, but it's nice not to have to make lunch!!!  Then on every other Thursday and Saturday we have a playgroup at the train museum - Charlie loves that place!  After its over we generally have a picnic lunch there and Charlie runs around for hours!  It's all about the choo-choos! Then on Fridays we have a playgroup called step-into-school, which is always really fun and interesting.  And we often get free books when they have story time! (They give everyone the same book then read it all together)  And on that note, I have to mention that Charlie is OBSESSED with books!  We don't have t.v so that's his main source of entertainment.  He especially loves them if they have trucks or buses or tractors.  

Charlie is getting so vocal, he often puts a few words together to get his point across and he has the cutest little voice!  His main string of words is "Dada! Doody! Walk!" Meaning I want to take my stroller on a walk to meet daddy on his way home from school - and he'll come right into my face with his face with super intent eyes, like he's really trying to get his point across.  Its really cute.  We still don't know why he calls his stroller "doody"...  Enough boring rambling!  On to the pictures!

Walking to stake conference - I just think this outfit is adorable on Charlie!

Charlie has discovered celery and peanut butter, but mostly he just licks out the peanut butter....

At the little zoo Charlie found this peacock feather and was so excited to bring it home to daddy! He fell asleep on the way home though and I had to pry it from his little fist

Trying to be crafty and make coloured pasta for Charlie to play with...

Charlie loves his play dough!

28 Weeks 

Charlie walked the whole way to the library! (20 minutes - he did so well until he found these rocks and wanted to take a break)

Charlie didn't end up having a nap before church one week, and ended up falling asleep sitting up in the pew almost as soon as we got there!

Charlie loves the mini carts at Coles!

Charlie is really observant and good t spotting things!  We were at the little zoo one day and were going past a pen (not this one in the picture) that usually doesn't have animals in it.  I kept going but Charlie looked at the little sign, then pointed!  It took me a minute but there were some little pademelons inside!!!  Very impressive I thought!

Cute little guy

Charlie loves taking doody everywhere!

Snack time at the train museum!

Charlie likes to spread them all over the super dirty bench and then eat them off with only his mouth!  Helps him build up a good immune system... (but for reals - he's hardly ever sick!)

Charlie loves taking doody for walks and always insists on daddy bringing his doody too!

Charlies new orange sweater for the winter, he loves the "hat" part and putting his hands in the pockets.  Sometimes he'll put things in the pockets too, but them can't get them out!

On a walk, Charlie sometimes needs little breaks and wants to ride in his doody

And sometimes Charlie finds it easier to carry doody...

I love this little guy!

At the zoo - its fun to see animals from Charlie's books!  Charlie loved to watch this wombat dig

We went to a children's fair and they had a free bouncy house!  Charlie went nuts for it and I had to drag him away kicking and screaming...

Second Sunday Charlie didn't nap before church he made it all the way to the end of nursery before crashing on the floor!

'

I made Charlie some pipe cleaner glasses at playgroup! He calls glasses "eyes"

Charlie and daddy making pancakes

Charlie was so excited to be matching with Momma!  Andrew showed him his glasses as well and for the next 2 weeks Charlie insisted on us all wearing our "eyes"

Now that I've finally caught up on the past month and a half I can move on to our little semester break vacation!  We just got home last night... stay tuned!