Andrews First Rotation Break

Between each rotation Andrew has a week long break! I initially wanted to go on a trip, but then slowly came to my senses as to why that wasn't the best idea.  Andrew wanted to get some studying done for his next rotation, the children thrive on schedules, Elly is just barely learning to nap well and we're going home in the next break for rotations 3 and 4.... So it was easy to see that sticking around was the best option! We did manage to do some fun things around here though!  

This girl loves her solids!  Beets were on the menu...

Friday of Andrews last week he had an exam in Brisbane, so the kids and I went to pick him up after it was finished and we headed to Kangaroo Point!  We parked by the temple and walked down to the Baby and Toddler Show by Southbank,  We got some neat free things! 

After the show we got Mexican food! It's pretty authentic from here and SO DELICIOUS!

Then we headed over to Southbank for a swim!  Charlie and Mommy got in the water, while Elly and Daddy hung out and watched.  The water was so chilly as it got dark...

Pretty sunset by the river!

This girl has THE BEST SMILE!  She's so much happier these days then in her first few months.  She's actually taking some naps longer than an hour a few times a week!  Yay for progress!  (I was way spoiled with Charlie being an amazing sleeper!)

Ipswich had an animal day where you could go and touch snakes, lizards, turtles and see other animals like possums and bats and there was even a baby koala!

Our first koala sighting in Australia...

On the Thursday we met up with Nima and Emma (our old housemates) and went to Tambourine Mountain for a little hike and BBQ!  Charlie was so excited to be going to the mountains!  I can't wait to show him REAL mountains back in Canada this summer!

So cute - love these two!

So this was shortly after Andrew slipped and fell while carrying Elly in the carrier... Elly was soaked and had a little red mark on her forehead (that Andrew denies happening from the fall) She was not impressed!  Charlie doesn't know whether to trust daddy - will he slip and bring me down?

We found some rocks and had a great time throwing them in the water!  Big splashes!

Elly working on her rock climbing skills

Cedar Creek Falls  (It was nice with the kids, but it would have also been fun with no kids, then we could have swam!)

I love Charlie's excitement!

Group shot - minus the photographer Nima!

Also after the hike back up we had a BBQ!  There were these huge lizards (Goannas maybe?) that were circling us waiting to pounce!  They had these wicked long claws and looked vicious!  I'd rather them than a snake though...

That is about the extent of our adventures during Andrew's break.  I started a boot camp exercise program that week as well, and it's been really fun!  Boxing and kettle bells and super fun to work out with (which is a surprise to me!)

Now we just need the weather to start cooling down and then all will be right with the world...

Month of Birthdays

Well it is officially the end of summer - but you wouldn't tell by the weather - it's been so hot and humid consistently for weeks on end!  In the last day or two evenings have started to get a bit cooler (18-19ish) so that makes me hopeful!  As usual we've been keeping pretty busy with all our usual haunts and playgroups. I really do love all that there is to do around here!!

this girl fights napping but then gets so tired she falls asleep during dinner!

we got a new dishwasher and with that came a great box to turn into a house!! 

We made it with a chimney for the wolf to go down! (like in the three little pigs!)

we bought this hiking backpack to take home for this summer for the mountains! Elly seriously LOVED being in there!

Valentines Day sugar cookies!  This was Charlie's first time doing them and he loved how he got to eat little scraps!  He needs to work on his cookie cutting skills though...

This kid would eat frozen blueberries non stop if I'd let him!

One of Charlie's favourite books is "Room on the Broom". One afternoon I made him a little wand out of connector pieces and immediately he was like "wheres my broom? and cat and dog???" So we found all the bits (except a dog...) and I read him "Room on the Broom" multiple times while he sat on his broom...

We went out to Redcliffe Lagoon the Saturday before Julies birthday

Elly liked it!

She likes to try and eat mommy!

This is a horrible picture, but the background is nice!  We headed over to Costco after - I'm excited for them to build another one - hopefully it will be closer to us! (Or maybe that will be a bad thing for our budget...!)

Every morning Charlie wakes up earlier than us (unless Julie is already up with Elly) and he brings some toys outside our door and plays until one of us moves or makes eye contact with him!  Then we're fair game

On Julies birthday at playgroup there was a bomb threat and everyone had to be evacuated!  Charlie thought it was exciting to see all the police!

Elly loves her bouncer!  She especially loves it if someone sits there watching her, and see the little house on the far left of the picture?  You push a button and a dog pops up - Elly is obsessed with getting it back down, as soon as she hears it or notices it she zooms her little hands over there and tries to push it back down!  It is the cutest

On Julie's birthday we went over to Springfield Lakes to explore!  

Holly had given us a gift card to Grill'd for Christmas and we used it on Julie's birthday for a yummy meal she didn't have to cook!

Yay for zucchini fries!

We also swam (well Charlie swam, we waded) in the lagoon

Yay for free birthday ice cream!

Yay for free birthday churros!

On our most recent trip to the zoo, Charlie wanted to be in charge of Elly and have no help pushing her in the stroller.  He needs to work on his steering, but it was really cute! At one point he even said "mom you go back and I'll take Elly this way!"  Um no... you're not quite old enough for that yet son!

Charlie giving Elly a drink of water - she just adores Charlie and she also loves grabbing/touching faces!

With all the hot weather we've been spending a lot of time at Bundamba Pool!  You can just barely see Charlie in the background.

On Andrew's birthday we went to buy him a cake (it was way too hot to turn on the oven!) There were some diggers working in the parking lot, so of course we had to stop and watch!

Charlie picked out a pavlova for Andrew's birthday cake - yum!

Ride 'em Elly!

Whenever we walk this way down the street, Charlie always has to stop and look at the "ABCs" on the ground!

This girl wishes she could move more than she does

Elly girl turned 6 months old!  It has gone by so fast.  She's getting better at sleeping, and when she does nap she's just the happiest, smiliest little girl!  No teeth and no sitting and no crawling yet, but she'll get up on all fours and rock back and forth, so maybe some movement soon?  We sure do love her!

And of course Charlie wanted to be in the picture!

Elly loves her brother heaps!

After we were done with the little 6 month sign for Elly, Charlie wanted to have a turn with it too!  

Good oral hygiene starts at a young age!  We're still working on technique...

One afternoon we made some little railway tracks out of masking tape on the couch - Charlie had a lot of fun with it!

Well that's got me about caught up for now!  We've having a lot of fun here in AUS!