Happy Halloween!

Seth got the day off of work. But he kicked me out of the house so he could play a new video game. Ok, he didn’t really kick me out. I went willingly. Monday is assembly at Lilly’s school so I like to go and see what announcements are being made. Then I stick around for morning tea. It makes for a nice beginning to the day and week.

Trick-or-Treaters – we had 2 groups come to our door (this was after we put out a jack-o-lantern and a large banner that said Happy Halloween AND left our front light on). First group had three kids. No one was dressed up. The oldest pointed to the pumpkin and said “trick or treat?” I laughed and said sure. Second group had about five kids and a dad. All dressed up except dad (mostly in scream type outfits but dressed up all the same). They yelled trick or treat and I handed them all candy. The dad said “what about me?” I’m not a rude person so I just said um, yeah and gave him one piece of the kind I wouldn’t eat. They all ran back to the car and drove off. Not a big turnout.

Halloween - AWA Style

When I talk to Aussies, they tell me how popular Halloween is getting. I still chuckle as I think back to our house in Dearborn with the massive amounts of kids and the parents acting like it was giant tailgate. I'm happy that we have the AWA Trunk-or-Treat to do instead. There are people who tailgate so it's amusing to see.

When I arrived to help with set-up, I was told we had 720 registered people coming to do trick or treating. And it was cold. And it was threatening to rain. I don’t know what we would have done if it had poured. There was a small building but I can’t imagine it would have held more than 100 people. I did see people go inside to eat their pizza.

Same as all other years, I didn't get a chance to walk around and see all the activities up and running. I didn't even see any of the cars when it was time to walk around. That was my chance to eat pizza and pass out candy.

So what did we dress up as? Well, I ended up not dressing up. I just got too busy and never put on my costume. Lilly was a butterfly. She had long sleeves on so she couldn’t get extra pity candy with her cast. Seth did tell me that another couple had our costume (we were going to do last year’s costume of bacon and eggs). Seth put Adlai in his carrier and strapped him on. He went around pretending to be the guy from The Hangover. It was pretty funny.

Oh my!

I was given the news that our Halloween numbers are just over 600.

If You Want to Talk Teeth

Lilly

is about to lose a tooth.

Adlai is about to get teeth.

Oh, they are getting older!

Seth's teeth are just fine.

Halloween - Coming Soon

We had our last Trunk or Treat meeting before the big day on Sunday. We have over 500 people registered. We’ll plan on 600 people just to play it safe.

We have changed the venue to accommodate for the larger crowd. The AWA board also decided the event should be a fundraiser. We added a bouncy castle. A few more games. Little differences but same great fun. Let's see what happens!!

7 Months!

I have felt his first tooth coming in. He still isn’t a fan of being on his belly, but he’ll tolerate it. And if he’s in the mood, and you look away, he’ll flop over to his back. While he’s experimenting with solids, I think he would much prefer a sandwich than his puree or rice cereal.

Showing off his multiple chins:

A First I Could Have Skipped

Our first broken bone. Not ours, but Lilly’s. I could have done without it. I don’t even have any pictures yet as she refuses to talk about it.

There isn't even a good story. She was pushing an empty swing and she fell. That'll teach her not to say "just one more minute, mommy!"

Driving, Driving, Just Keep Driving

I will not bore anyone with details of our drive home. We had approximately 1,753 km to drive and two days to do it. We just drove. And slept. And drove some more.

But we did take a pic or two. Really we got the camera out for this bird:
But he stayed hidden in the tree so this was the best one.

Seth got the three of us for fun. I'm looking a little hippie.

And More Touristy Stuff

It was time for Alan and Pennie to head back to the states. Seth had to run them into Brisbane and come back. Then we would need to go to my friend’s house to get the rest of the luggage and then back to the hotel and load the car and begin the drive home. We decided against all that. Seth took his parents to the airport and then we decided to hang out for one more day! We even procrastinate going home!

I wanted to see the Ettamogah Pub.

I can't believe I didn't take a picture of the front. This pub is just a huge cartoon. It was cool. We of course had to get a beer there.

We also went to a market in Eumundi. (It's listed as a must see market in Australia. It was pretty good and had a lot of different items) We bought a wooden dinosaur with a peg on it to hang in his room. Considering we haven't hung anything, we will see what happens to it.

We wanted to get to the beach so we ran back to our hotel. The lifegaurds are on duty until 5 and so we had an hour to play. BUT as luck would have it, a pretty big storm moved in and the lifeguards announced they would be closing the beach. So, we left a little early.

We also went to my friend's house for dinner. We had a lovely time with her and another of her friends. All the kids had a lovely time together. Here is a pic of Lisa's kids with mine.

Lilly, Adlai, Sam, Henry

Me, Adlai, Lisa, Sam
(Sam is Fijian and he makes my little boy look whitey white white. Sam also has the cutest, biggest grin that any small boy can ever have. And he knows it!)

**Note to self, comfy couches do not make for good pictures. Just sayin'.**

Thanks for the Recommendation!!

We were given a park to go see – Noosa National Park. Put the park into our Tom Tom and told it to find the quickest route. Thomas (as in the Spanish way of pronouncing) led us to some residential street that just ended at the end of a path. We figured we would see where this path went and hoped it went to the beach.

And so we walked. And walked. Up hill, down hill. Eventually into sand. And finally, we saw beach. I was carrying Adlai because we started with a stroller and it seemed a bit difficult. So I was ready to be done. But wait, what is that walking towards us? Definitely a guy. Um . . . is he wearing anything? Um, I think his swimming trunks could be in his hand! Well, that seems strange. And what are those people doing? Oh. My. Goodness. There were no signs to warn us of clothing optional. And everyone opted to not have clothes. Do you remember I’m checking this out with my in-laws? And, sorry, but we weren't talking about a young crowd. Nope. Nope.

So, if you can’t beat them, join them! HA! I may have let my young children have a romp at the beach in the buff. But you can’t prove it. I might be able to, but I will not show that here. Besides, most of the pictures show wrinkly bums. Why is it when you tell a 5 year old to 'just stand there', she clenches every muscle in her body? Wrinkles galore.

Oh wait, here’s one of Adlai falling asleep.

He’s naked.

*** Let it be known that no one in our party over the age of 6 took off any clothes besides their shoes and socks.

Typical Touristy Stuff

We went here:

To pick these:

Hello, Big Pineapple!

It was closed, that was as close as we got. And this was pulled over on the side of the road. Anything for a picture of the Big Stuff!

I believe this was the day we went for a drive and it ended up raining, again. We tried to go for a hike but it got dark and the park was about to close. We found a really nice place for dinner and we were about the only ones there. But I don’t have any pics of any of it. Take my word for it.