Rick's New Toy

Today, after I had gone to work and the kids had been dropped off at school, Rick went up to Capalaba and bought a new "toy" to play with. He hasn't really had any past-time since we have been together, and has recently taken more than a passing interest in model planes. He hasn't flown a plane for well over 10 or 12 years now, so this is the next best thing. I'm glad he's got it now, because he doesn't get to play golf much either.

Here it is:

Of course, he was so excited about it that he couldn't wait for me to get home from work to show me, and then I picked the kids up from school early this afternoon so that he could show them before he had to head off to work.

When we got home from school, he had it out on the driveway of the house and taxi'ed it up and down the street from our driveway to the end of the cul-de-sac and back. I could tell that he was just itching to get it up off the ground. The kids were so excited: Bryce was jumping up and down on the lawn and Tyler was chasing it up and down the street.

Saturday 23rd August

It has been 6 years since we took the kids to the great Australia Zoo on the Sunshine Coast, we decided to treat them to a day out and we headed up there for the day.

Well.......................what a change. There has been soooo much expansion and improvement to the zoo in that time, but all for the better. Lots to see, experience and learn, all with an underlying lesson in conservation. We had the opportunity to feed the elephants but the kids shied away at the last minute - even Tyler, and that's not like her.

The South East Asia end of the zoo is just stunning with a day paddock and a night paddock for the elephants and the tigers enclosure was the equivalent to a holiday resort in tiger terms. This is the newest part of the zoo and yet looks like it has been there for years. The trees in this area create a beautiful "old" tropical rainforest.

AND EVERTHING, EVERYWHERE IS SPOTLESSLY CLEAN.

I had a slight brush with fame - I almost, literally, walked right into Andrea Boccelli (now who's the blind one?). He had his first concert of his national tour in Brisbane last night, and he was here at the zoo today with his wife, 2 teenage sons, bodyguards and official photographer.

Yep..............

I think it's definitely on it's way back. Here's the latest one I did last week and only finished on Friday night.

It is to fulfill the requirements on 2 Challenges on my local scrapbooking website, OSS. These challenges were:

To incorporate a lift-up flap

To use at least 10 buttons.

I love it when I can combine more than one challenge in the one LO.

Rick bought me 2 new sets of clear stamps on Friday so I also put together these 3 cards while I was playing with them and using up some pretty papers that were too pretty to throw away.

I Think...............

I'm finally starting to find my scrapping mojo again. I haven't really done anything since coming home from Sydney at Easter, but with Tyler's birthday yesterday and my new camera, I decided to sit and scrap at least 1 of her birthday photos today.

Here is what I finished up with...........................



A very simple one, but I'm happy with it. (I think it's coming back.............)

Here's another one I did this afternoon - and I have to thank the lovely Jaki from the OSS Design Team for inspiring this LO with her LO titled "Skater Girl". Thanks Jaki, you're a legend!

I took this photo out at the airport late on Friday afternoon when the sun was hiding behind the post. You can't really see it in this photo but it was shining through Tyler's hair and was creating a halo effect around her head. I couldn't resist playing around with this photo and converting it to B&W and then blurring the background.

Another Celebration!

I was too tired to blog last night, but yesterday was Tyler's birthday. 6 years old already - where did that time go. Our baby girl is growing up fast.

We decided to make a bit of a fuss for her birthday party this year and allowed her to invite 10 of her best friends (girls and boys). We had a Pink & White Butterfly party and I made her a beautiful pink and white butterfly cake (even if I say so myself)

Here are a few photos of her big day.

THE DECORATIONS

and finally.................

When the party was all over.

Another Celebration!

Celebration and Illness in the Family

While this week has been fairly normal for me with work every day, Rick has had a good one with regards to his work. He sat the exam for his Security Licence on Monday night and got 23/25 which was great. He just has to finish the 2 workbooks that were issued at the beginning of the course and pay for the licence. This should open up a few more job opportunities for him. He then had Tuesday allocated for his course so he didn't have to go back to work until Wednesday for 1 shift and then days off again.
Unfortunately, during his days off, he had Bryce at home with very high fevers and Bronchitis. Poor kid was not well at all. He spent 3 nights sleeping on an airbed in our bedroom with the heater on because he was so cold.
He was supposed to be spending the night at a friends' house tonight, but because he still wasn't totally 100% today, we changed the plans slightly, and his friend is having the sleep-over here tonight instead. Tyler has her nose put out of joint slightly thinking that Bryce "gets everything", but she's forgotten that she has a birthday with 10 of her best friends coming to her party next week.
Oh My God!!!!! Our baby girl is going to be 6 in just 6 days. Where did all that time go? And I still don't know what to get her for her birthday. Something nice and girly, but what. The local Pharmacy around the corner has some nice 'girly' giftware, so I might have to go and have a look there in the next day or so. That's where I got the fairy for her birthday last year!!!!