"Three girls, a man and a caravan".: December 2014

With great enthusiasm we packed up and set off early for the short trip down to Sunshine Coast to stay with Boof, Nik and Ella for a short while. We arrived in good time and were greeted on arrival with slightly exciting news, Nikki was sporting a bit of a bump on her tummy....yes they were expecting #2 and we were going to be another Aunt, Uncle and cousin. Once we got over the initial shock, we unpacked and settled into their home very comfortably. It was great to see Boo and Meg having fun with their cousin Ella again and they were definitely excited to be around their Uncle Boof and Aunty Nikki again. It had been a little while in between visits, last seeing them in Geraldton just before we set off again, we had missed family and was great to be amongst it once more.

Ella's ready for the pool!!!

Cousins happy to be reunited once more!

Time for bubbles.....

The plan was to chill out at Boof and Nik's for a few weeks before heading out to Beerwah over New Years due to them having visitors. Hopefully in this time we will have sorted out a plan for this next work stop and have better luck. Unfortunately, they were also heading off down south for Christmas so we have organised to have our Chrissy with Bronnie, John, Brendan and Mog. They're another traveling family we had bumped into many times and haven't seen since Darwin (the first time) so we were excited to be catching up with them again.

So the next few weeks were filled with family fun and the build up to Christmas before Boof, Nik and Ella were heading off. The girls had a great time cooking with their Aunty Ninne, we enjoyed playful times, bike rides, time at the beach and catch up with mates.

Uncle Boof giving Boo some golf pointers!

Girls had just watch Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie
and had to make their masks!

Geez they breed their bugs big here!!!

Time for Aunty Bell to cook her famous pancakes, ended up a group effort!

Was a hit!!!

Time for beach fun at Cotton Tree...

Fun at the park....

Ella loves her cousin Boo reading books to her...

...a Boo!!!

Peek.....

Going thru the toy catalogs, researching for their Santa letters!

Time to introduce Ella to match box cars!

Movie time....don't think they blinked!

Girls doing some Christmas coloring in....

Time for Christmas cookie cooking with Aunty Ninnie!

Boo loves cooking....

You know thats the only reason these two
cook....to get the beaters to lick!

Ella couldn't get enough of licking the bowl!

So much fun!

Time for Bronny and l to get our hair revamped, thanks to Billie!

Meg, Mog, Ella and Soul waiting patiently for our hair to finish....

Christmas Stocking craft fun....entertainment
for the afternoon..

Great job girls!

Official 2014 Santa Christmas photo!

Boof came up with this idea to take the girls to a splash park for some water fun. I tried to tell him that we had been to few and they would probably be over it quite quickly, but Boof being Boof thought otherwise. At $10 per head we made our way in to the Oasis Resort down near Caloundra and within 5 mins, the girls had been down the slide a few times and were now chilling out on the banana lounges. Boof couldn't believe they were done! Maybe he might listen to me next time, but still, the girls did have some fun...

Girls at the Oasis Resort Waterpark...

Race time!

Boys relaxing!

We even had time to catch up with our buddies, the Hambrooks and 'Hardfirms' over the coming weeks. They were both staying at Forest Glen Caravan Park, a nice park set in amongst forest trees and loads of space. We even babysat Brenny and Mog one morning which the kids all had a ball on their scooters and climbing the rope mountain at the park. Was funny seeing everyone in nice clean clothes and setting up in 'normal' life. Both families had decided to settle on the Sunshine Coast and were busy looking at schools and jobs.....so not ready to slide back into that life just yet. Happy for a work stop though!

Jordyn, Meg and Mog having a cook at Bronny's van...

Time for some scooter fun while we babysat
Brenny and Mog for the morning!

Milkshake mustache time!

Another brilliant occasion we had arrived for was Ella's 2nd birthday! Its was a two day celebration with us going out for lunch on Ella's actual birthday, then having her party on the weekend when Nik's parents arrived. With Billie, Dale and Soul having arrived for setting up in the Sunshine Coast too, it was a real family event. The girls thrived being around all this love and family, something they haven't been able to experience for a long while. They were so proud to be Ella's cousins and had a brilliant day celebrating her birthday. It was unfortunately a little rainy, we had set up at a park for breakfast BBQ wraps waiting for other guests to arrive later in the morning, but with the rain set in, it was decided to move back to Boof and Nik's house. It was a massive day and we loved meeting all of their friends and seeing the wonderful life they had set up for themselves on the coast. Apart from feeling sorry for Nik with the kids not really liking her "healthy" option birthday cupcakes, it was a brilliant day.

Have to read the card before opening the pressies!

Special birthday breakie of french toast, strawberries and cream! Yummo

Out for lunch with all her cousins...Boo, Ella, Soul and Meg

Time for the birthday party....bit wet!

Started at the park for breakie....

Healthy caterpiller muffin birthday cake!

Then ended up back at their house to take
cover from the rain..

Birthday selfie time!

One thing that was a must before Boof and Nik set off was to go to Christmas Carols. We decided to head to Cotton Tree for the Carols, and made sure we took our umbrellas too. The rainy weather had stuck around but it wouldn't dampen our spirits. Beautiful Billie had made Ella and Soul these gorgeous Christmas themed outfits for the night, and then she brought out some for Boo and Meg. They were so grateful, the girls loved them. I think they also loved feeling part of this big gorgeous family that had just included us like their own. We were all so overwhelmed really. We made our way to the Chrissy Carols, loaded with rugs, umbrellas and our precooked snags and hamburgers, which were transported in our trusty Thermo Pots. We got a good spot and all got in the Christmas spirit, with all the girls making their way to the front of stage dancing away to all the amazing music and songs. We all had a great time, even though it was cold and damp. Loved sharing this moment with my brother and also with his wife and her gorgeous family. Great way to get us all in the mood for Christmas!

Girls loving their Christmas out fits Billie made them!

All the girls dressed up for the carols!

What's with the Sunny Coast and raining in December!!

Time for a dance!

Sausages in bread under the brolly!

Billie and Soul having a dance and sing!

Aunty Ninny being a guts! lol

What a rainbow!!

Boof and me....never done a Christmas Carols together in the last
decade....so great to spend it together!

Girls being total groupies!

Boof, Nik and Ella!

Santa's arrived....

Soul, Bille, Colleen, Nik and Ella

We had arranged an early Christmas celebratory dinner with Boof and Nik before they left to go down south. We had all the festivities of a gorgeous decorated table with Bon Bons and a delicious roast meal and desert. We even did our gift giving early so the kids didn't miss out on the tradition. Unfortunately, l had just got a new phone and while setting it up, proceeded in loosing all the photos of this wonderful night. Thankfully, it will be stored forever in my memories as its the first (close to) Christmas meal l have spent with Boof in over 5 years!!!! At least l have pics of our last day together, girls playing Play Doh and doing a bike ride...

With Boof, Nik and Ella leaving their house to us, we tried our best to sort our short term future plan out. I was having no luck getting on at the local public hospital due to Christmas approaching, Marty had no bites from jobs he was applying for the same reason and we didn't know where we were going to book into with our van so didn't know what schools to enroll the girls in. We decided to leave things be for a while and just enjoy Christmas...which approached really quickly!

We had planned for the Hambrooks to join us for Christmas so we were excited not to be spending it alone. The girls woke early and Marty and l had given them instructions not to wake us early, which was so funny because we listened to them trying to guess all their pressies until 6am when they were allowed to come in and wake us!!! The girls were so excited as they grabbed our arms and ran out to the tree yelling "Santa found us and brought us all these presents!". The girls had been spoiled once more with copious amounts of Lego, dolls, match box cars and craft. Boo and Meg took to playing while we got the house organised for Christmas lunch. This was the first time in a while we have had a house to have Christmas in so l was looking forward to the cooking.

Christmas morning....Santa was hungry by the looks..

Meg a tad excited over the huge Lego pressie!

The Hambrooks arrived and the kids set to playing while Bronnie and l opened the bubbles! While Bronnie and me got the meal organised the boys sat round and chilled out. We enjoyed a massive feast and were so full that we had no room left to splurge on all the food. Their was heaps of left overs that would feed us all for the next week. After lunch, the kids hung out in the pool for a good while, so we sat round having a few beverages poolside. Was such a relaxing Christmas day, great to have spent with friends with good food and drinks. By the end of the day we were all knackered, the Hambrooks leaving late arvo, we all just vegged out and watched a movie on the couch.