To The Beach!

Mary and Brian left us for a week to head over to NZ (where they had the WORST luck!!) and when they came back we had a couple of days, then headed over to the Sunshine Coast for some time at the beach!  It wasn't exactly beach weather (low 20s during the day) but we still had fun!  We let Mary and Brian go a couple of days early so they could go to the Steve Irwin Zoo and celebrate their 1 year anniversary without kids running all around, then we came on the Friday with Andrew.  It was nice he could come for the weekend!!  The first night we were there we went for a walk down at the beach and there was heaps of foam coming in from the ocean!  And it was windy so when you would walk through it it would blow across the sand and the kids LOVED chasing it.

This was a trip out to Wivenhoe Dam (and of course the Fernvale Bakery) on one of the days before the beach!

On Saturday we headed over to Currimundi Lake and I was all excited to float, but NO!  Apparently every year they close off the opening to the ocean to try and regulate the bug population!  I was so sad!  But paddleboarding is fun too....  if you're Mary and Brian - I think its scary and I'm all wobbly!

Uncle Brian gave Elly a little ride

It was a miracle this sandcastle stuck around long enough to have a picture taken of it!
Elly loves to squish sand castles!

"I climb on you!"

Mary liked to pretend Elly was their child (jokes!)

Brian dug Charlie and Elly out some little beds!

We tried to go looking for cool things in tide pools but we had no luck

Happy Anniversary!  

Brian dug a hole as deep as Elly!

On our last day there Mary took me out for lunch while Brian watched the kids!

It was so delicious!  A coconut prawn wrap with grilled haloumi amongst some other things...

We are missing these guys! Elly especially misses brushing Brians beard...

On the way home we took the scenic route through the "mountains" and stopped at the Rainforest

It was hard work keeping those kids walking through the rainforest!  We got to see some wild Wallabies too! 

Last night Aussie Burgers!

Well as sad as we were to see Mary and Brian go, we're going to be seeing them again in just over a month!  The kids and I are flying home for Amy's wedding and are staying for Christmas.  Andrew will come when he's all done his last rotation, so that will be a bit sad being separated for so long, but after we move to Mt. Isa who knows when we will make it home again?!?!

The Gorners in Australia

We were so excited to have my sister Mary and her husband Brian come for a visit!  Charlie and Elly LOVE having visitors and these two were super fun and loved to play with the kids!  We tried to show them around all the places we like in our area and had a great time.

After we picked up Mary and Brian from the airport we went to Mt. Coot-tha and went on a little hike and picnic! 

And of course no visit would be complete without a trip to the lookout!

The Saturday after they arrived we went to the markets first, then over to Springbrook National Park.  It was pretty chilly up there so princess Elly needed her cape on! 

At the top of the falls

Throwback picture!  Every time we've come here Charlie gets a picture like this!

Aunt Mary doing Ellys hair in french braids!  So ambitious!

Charlie and Elly were thrilled to get blueberries and raspberries at the market!  And can't forget the fresh squeezed orange juice!

After going to a few waterfalls we headed over to see the glow worms!

At the best of all lookouts!  Its a pretty good view, but the lighting was all wrong for a good picture!  Charlie and Elly liked playing hide and seek at the top

BBQ at Colleges Crossing

YUM!

So cute when they're sleeping!

Heading over to Southbank! 

It was so chilly!  And the sandy beach part was under construction which was so sad!

We bought Groupons for the Wheel of Brisbane and the kids were SO EXCITED!!

Mary was really excited too!

Before Mary and Brian headed over to New Zealand we went on a little road trip to the Gold Coast and Byron Bay.  We saw a gorgeous sunset and a really neat moon-rising!

The moon rising was way cooler in real life!

Mary got roped into reading a lot of books!

Charlie had a really hard time hiking up to the lighthouse!

We saw whales!  Try and spot it in this picture....

Mary and Brian took the kids to explore the tide pools and they had so much fun!

Merman Charlie!

We stopped at Doughnut Time on the way home!

Charlie ate a whole one!  And Elly ate the entire topping off of hers!

Last day before they went to NZ we headed to the Art Gallery and Laneway 116 that is next door for these crazy shakes!  Charlie barfed that evening and no wonder!  A doughnut the night before and this shake.... bad mom award goes to me!