Happy Birthday To Me!

This past week I celebrated my birthday - my first birthday at home in quite a long time. My twin sister and I were able to celebrate our birthday together and we had a great time.

Our DH's had planned a surprise for us on the Saturday night and rented a limo to take us out to Surfer's Paradise. I had no idea where we were going, all I knew was that I had to get dressed up and be ready by 5pm. While in the limo I obviously figured out that we were heading to Surfer's Paradise but when it pulled up in front of the hotel - I had no idea where we were. It is pretty easy to keep a secret from me...........sometimes I am so clueless.

We arrived at the Marriott Hotel just before 6pm. This hotel is absolutely gorgeous - I love the ceiling fans they have throughout the lobby. We had dinner reservations at the Lagoon Restaurant which is an All You Can Seafood Buffett. Now usually I don't like buffett's but when it's Seafood I am all over it!!!! The food was amazing - I think I ate enough prawns to last me forever. My sister and I also got the wine buffett too - basically you pay $19 and can all you can drink red or white wine all night long.

After our amazing dinner we went for a walk through Surfer's Paradise then headed down to Broadbeach to Jupiter's Casino. We gambled for a little while and then called it a night. We had an awesome evening - it was fun to dress up and be treated like a Princess for a while.

The next day we had a family BBQ at my parent's place to celebrate my nephew's birthday and my sister's and my birthday. All the family came over, even my Grandmother came to the house for a while, which was great.

As I have probably said a thousand times, I love having my family all together for events like this. I missed it for those 8 years I was away and am enjoying it all over again.

Don't ever take your family for granted........

Till next time..............

Wet N Wild

A few weekend's ago we went to Wet'N'Wild for my nephews birthday.

Wet'N'Wild is a theme park we have here on the Gold Coast that is filled with fun water slides, a great kids area, a lagoon to totally chill out in and a swimming pool with waves.

My older sister and her family have season tickets to this theme park so they know the ins and outs of it all. We got there early in the morning so we could be the first in to get good lounge chairs and a picnic area. My Brother In Law was on top of this - he ran with my two nephews to get the perfect spot - right in front of the wave pool. Why is this the perfect spot........... well at dusk they play a movie on the big screen at the wave pool. It was the perfect setting for an awesome day. That night's movie was the latest Indianna Jones movie - we stayed a watched a bit of it then left early................ we had been out in the sun all day and were exhausted.

We picked the perfect day to go as it was hot all day long........... we realiased how hot it was that night when we couldn't sleep thanks to the sun burn!!! We started off the day going on a few of the slides - I am not a huge fan of water slides so I only went on a couple of them but I had lots of fun.

My favourite thing to do was to go on the lagoon ride where you lay in a tube and float around a lagoon for as long as you like. It was fun to watch my DH totally pick on my mother - she couldn't control the tube and my DH wasn't helping much either by pushing her in every direction possible. Later in the day we went on the tubes again but this time we got separated from my older sister and my neice. We couldn't find them for quite a while until finally they met us back at our lounge chairs. My two-year-old neice had fallen asleep on my sister and she couldn't get out of the lagoon so she kept going round in circles till her husband found her!!!

The wave pool was alot of fun too. Surprisingly, the waves were fairly strong and it didn't help that my DH kept throwing me under the water. Later in the day my twin sister's daughter came into the wave pool with me and that girl has no fear at all. She is only 3 but wanted me to leave her on her own in the wave pool - she kept wanting to go out into the rougher waves. She had a blast and was making me laugh so much!!

The birthday boy had lots of fun on his special day......... he enjoyed going on all the rides with everybody from his brother to his Grandfather.

We even had a birthday cake for him and a BBQ for dinner.

Happy Birthday Liam - glad I could be there to have fun with you!!!

Till next time..........

Mamma Mia, Here I Go Again........................

Sing it with me everybody......... finally after a long wait I got to see the movie Mamma Mia - and I LOVED IT!!

There was a showing of the movie at a park at Varsity Lakes. Varsity Lakes is a really nice new area on the Gold Coast that is growing so fast. I wouldn't mind being able to afford a house there. A development company had planned a big screen in a park and encouraged people in the area to enjoy an outdoor movie under the stars. It was awesome. I went with my mum and older sister and my nephew - who celebrated his birthday that day - and we also took two homestay children that were staying with my sister.

Here's a little preview of Mamma Mia - if you haven't seen it already you should go.



As for the movie........................ fantasic. If you are a huge fan of ABBA music and just love a good fun movie you have to go see it. Also, it doesn't help that the really hot Colin Firth is in it (he is so yummy)

My nephew celebrated his birthday that night, Friday January 16th and he was quite happy to spend it with us watching Mamma Mia. He was having a blast............ singing along to all the songs. Even the two little girls that were with us were dancing and having fun!!

There is still lots to tell about stuff I have been up to.......... will leave that till a later date.

till next time..........

Happy New Year

Hope everybody had a wonderful New Year. We did the usual thing of celebrating at home with family. This year's theme was 'At the Beach' - basically we just had to wear our bathing suits so it was easy to dress up for.

It was a great night with lots of food and drinks. There was an impromptu ABBA dance off with myself and my three neices. I don't know what it is about ABBA music but we love it here in Australia. My two year old neice Chloe can sing Mamma Mia - it is very cute.

Four days into the New Year and my DH and I went to the beach for the first time since we moved here. It was an overcast day but the water so was nice and warm. The waves were awesome but there were some strong ones - really have to watch for the rough seas here!! We had such a great time just jumping the waves and having fun. I forgot how fun it was just to go swimming in the ocean. I think we will be doing that more often now.

I found this flickr slide show on the internet of the beaches on the Gold Coast. We really do have some amazing beaches.


http://www.flickr.com/photos/gold-coast/show/with/515819212/

Have a wonderful 2009.

Till next time...........

Christmas Family Traditions

It is truly hard to believe that another Christmas has come and gone so soon. Such big build up and preparation for just one day that seems to come and go so fast these days.

Here is a picture of my sister's and I on Christmas Day. I think my older sister told me at least 5 times that day that she was glad I was home!!!

Christmas has always been about family for me. Even though with just our immediate family there are about 20 of us and it can get quite noisy - I just wouldn't want it any other way. Christmas always starts on December 24th - Christmas Eve - for us. We all went over to my older sister's place for drinks and nibblies. This Christmas Eve it was pouring with rain so getting the gifts and food in the car was an 'event' in itself. We finally managed to get over there and have a good time. At about 11pm 'Santa' arrives to hand out all the presents under the tree. This year 'Santa' was played by my sister's Father-In-Law. It was great to see a really skinny Santa with an Irish accent handing out gifts to the kids and they not having a clue who it was!!!

This is my nephew Liam, and I celebrating Christmas Day!! He is such a cool dude!!

Every year one of the men in the family have to dress up as Santa to hand out the gifts. When I was younger it was usually my dad who would dress up as Santa for us kids. My most fond memory is when we were just a bit older and clearly realised that Santa was not real. My dad and mum had planned this whole scenario that dad was called in to work on Christmas Eve. We didn't say anything at the time - but we all knew that they were telling us stories so that dad could go to the neighbours house and put on his Santa suit. The things you do for your kids - I just love mum and dad for trying to keep the fun in Christmas when we were kids.

Here is Dad and I on Christmas Eve - I do not know why I am pulling this face......... perhaps too much punch!

The next day, Christmas Day, was spent at my parents house. Christmas Day is another full on day in itself.

5 years ago on Christmas Day my dad's mother passed away. Every Christmas Day we start the day by visiting her gravesite and leaving her some flowers. I have to say, I like starting the day like this as it feels like we are including her in one of her most favourite family holidays. She always loved having family together at Christmas.

This year my mum's mother was put into a care facility - we didn't want her spending Christmas alone so we took her to our place for the day. Well, actually, we took her to our place for as long as she would stay - we didn't know how well she would do. She surprised us all and had a wonderful time with us. She did some dancing, and enjoyed her dinner and even had a little glass of wine. It was great to have her spend the day with us.

Now, Christmas is all about food for our family too. We had: turkey, ham, lamb, prawns, pasta, potatoes AND dessert!!!! We were totally stuffed by the end of the day. The kids had fun playing in the pool and also playing with the Wii they got for Christmas.

As for me - I loved being home with my family, I loved watching my nieces and nephews open up their Christmas presents, I loved having my Nana at home with us and I loved having my DH experience his first hot Christmas.

My two older nephews received there very own golf clubs for Christmas. For the first time ever the two of them were speechless!!!! They really loved these gifts.

Madison got this cute bear for Christmas - she just loved it!

My DH and I giving me a 'Christmas Kiss'. I was so glad to have him with my family for his first Australian Christmas!

Christmas SHOULD always be about family - spending time with them and loving them for who they are. I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas this year and a Happy and Healthy New Year!!!

Till Next time..........

A brush with fame....... and a haircut!

The one sport that I grew up watching was Rugby League. Unfortunately, (for my DH anyways) Ice Hockey is not a big sport here in Australia. Infact, ice hockey in Australia is near to non-existant - we have grass hockey but apparently that is definetly not the same if you speak to my DH.

I grew up watching Rugby League as my dad used to play it when he was younger. Now on the Gold Coast we have our very own team. To make it even better, the stadium is literally 5 minutes away from our house.

The Gold Coast team are called the Titans!! I am yet to see them play as it is off season right now. My DH and I got to meet two of the Titans as they were at our local Mall - Robina Town Centre.

My parents have season tickets to the Titan's games - I am hoping that they let us use them throughout the new year.

As for who the players are in the photo's - I have absolutely no idea - although I did find out the guy with the dark hair is Mark and he is a cutie patootie. (See, I managed to put my hand on his shoulder).

Other news in the homefront - I got a haircut!!! In these photo's I have long blonde hair - now I have short dark hair!!! It was getting so hot here and having long hair I just kept putting it up anyways. I needed a change and I love it. I am sure I will get some photo's at Christmas and will post my new look then.

A big shout out to my friend Eleonor - saw your photo's of your Christmas Light bus tour!!! You guys were freezing your butts off!!!! We celebrated Christmas by attending Carols by Candlelight at a park by the beach. What a difference a world away makes!!!

Till next time...............

Summer Fun - part 2

Here are my three gorgeous nieces from my Summer Fun blog. My dad is holding Madison (the eldest of the neices) and Chloe (the youngest).

The second photo is my middle niece Olivia.

My three cute little angels. Each of them is so adorable. I told my brother and sister's that they really made some cute kids.

Till next time..........