Happy Easter!

Happy Easter to you! I hope everyone had a nice long Easter break. We had some surprise visitors come to see us for a few days. The little fishes got to spend some time with Nanny and Poppy Fish (Mr Fishes parents) who were on their way home from a month long road trip around the centre of our great big country. They were very excited to see them and we had a lovely few days of catching up. The boys even went out fishing one day and managed to catch enough for dinner! (That only seems to happen when Poppy Fish is here, he needs to come for a visit more often). Mr Fishes mum likes to have something to do so we got to work and finished painting the last wall of the house that has been waiting and waiting to be done. And we even managed to get the carport painted and some plants moved around. Apart from that we ate scones and pikelets and went to our favourite restaurant for a roast one night (our restaurant is my mum and dads place, all the grandparents get along really well and like to catch up when they can).

The fishes of course were beside themselves with excitement with the idea of the Easter Bunny leaving them with a surprise and wanted to stay up to catch a glimpse. Littlest fish even left a carrot out for it. The Easter bunny was then in the bad books for leaving the loot in a spot that was not immediately apparent and not leaving a trail of little eggs! The egg trail trouble was sorted as the Bunny had planned to have an egg hunt outside once it was considered to be morning and the chocolate bilbys and bunnies were quickly discovered. I guess the Easter Bunny better lift its game next year!

Oldest fish had a bit of an accident on the trampoline and after a few days of being rather sore we are pretty sure she sprained her wrist. It is much better now and she is going back to school tomorrow with strict instructions to try and be careful. This is a girl who rubbed her elbow on a tree because it was itchy and ended up needing a bandaid to cover the nice bit of blood that resulted! I'm ever hopeful. She is not as accident prone as her sister but has her moments.

Not much sewing has been done but I'm keen to get back into it when the routine gets back to normal. Hope everyone has a smooth back to work/school day!

Holiday Adventures.

We ventured down to the Sunny Coast for a holiday over the Christmas break to catch up with Mr Fishes side of the family (and only just made it back before the highway was cut at several places). The Fishes nanny is a dedicated wildlife carer (she was awarded a pride of Australia medal in 2010 for her many years of looking after little furry and feathered critters) so they are always excited to go for a visit and help feed whatever is in residence. Oldest fish is especially taken with feeding the wallabies and can now feed two at a time, a feat she was rather proud of.

Littlest fish seemed to enjoy having staring competitions with the wallabies just before feeding time.

We had promised the little fishes a trip to Australia Zoo on our trip and despite it raining A LOT we managed to get a day of light drizzle (not technically rain) and so off we went!

Littlest fish was happy to sit on the tail of a giant crocodile sculpture and look happy but despite being quite alright with walking all over it, oldest fish was not keen to have her photo taken. At all. She pulled what can only be described as a rather evil looking, scrunched up face and we put the camera away.

She was however quite happy to let me take a picture of her feeding an elephant.

We also got to see the show at the Crocoseum and after watching Bindi sing many, many, many songs (the young girls loved it but all the men in the audience looked like they would rather feed a crocodile or catch a snake or something) we got to watch Terri feed a croc. The Irwin's were all there and were in the show (and Wes, can't forget him) which is pretty good considering they are not there all that often, so we timed this visit well.

The little fishes got a puppet theatre for Xmas which they LOVED. We had to watch lots and lots of puppet shows put on by all the kids (some not so small ones as well) and it was a big hit. It was quite funny watching them as the storyline was quite similar in all the shows that were put on one after the other by the little kids. They seemed to take whatever the first show was about and run with it.

Both the fishes were very taken with Lulu the possum who was a very patient little thing and let them pick her up and have cuddles all the time. We had to hear about Lulu tickling little fishes tummy about 1000 times.

They both loved feeding the wallabies and even though it took longer than normal and little fish had to be constantly reminded to hold her bottle up so they could get the milk, the wallabies were all lovely and didn't complain too much.

Lulu and her biggest fan.

Lulu trying to get in on the wallabies dinner.

We had a lovely time and got to see all the other fishes and even though it rained nearly every day, all day, we managed to have fun and play in the mud. Our trip home was decided rather suddenly when we saw the flood waters making their way towards Rocky and after checking the RACQ website to find out if the highway was open at GinGin (which it was not previously) we decided to make a run (drive?) for it.

It was lucky we decided to as we made it home late that afternoon and the highway has been closed at various locations up til today. So despite driving past some very flooded areas (not over the road, mostly paddocks) we were very glad to get home and not be stuck on the highway somewhere with two little fishes. We had decided to try and make it home and if we struck water anywhere over the road then we were just gonna turn around and head back again. (It is not cool to drive through floodwater, you just end up needing rescuing and heaven knows, the rescue people are busy enough). So we have been at home and watching the horrible floods destroying whole towns out west and submerging our states capital city. The waters in Rockhampton are only just starting to recede now (think two weeks with your house under water) and the clean up there has only just begun. It will take our state many, many months (probably years) to get things back to some sort of normal again but the willingness of complete strangers to lend a hand and shovel mud for hours to clean up someones yard and house that they don't even know will surely get our state through this. The huge number of volunteers that have been out in force helping to make things just that little bit easier for people who have lost everything has to be something that we will remember for a long, long time.

Don't forget to hop on over to Make it perfect to check out the master list of bloggy peeps having auctions and raffles to raise money for the flood relief appeal. There are some amazing things on offer and all the proceeds will go to the flood relief appeal to help people get their lives back to some kind of normal.

Holiday!

We just got back from a lovely weekend in Mission Beach for our 10th wedding anniversary.

We stayed at a beautiful place that has the bungalows set in tropical gardens and a giant free form rock pool in the centre. It is a lovely place to visit and they even had markets on the weekend we were there! I managed to convince Mr Fish to take a trip to Paronella Park and am very glad I did, as it was awsome! If you don't know what it is just google it and you'll see, it's well worth a visit.

We got some very nice port at Murdering Point winery that is made from mulberries and black sapote fruit. And we managed to find a toy cassowary to bring home for the little fishes. (unfortunately, the real ones were hiding and we didn't get to see them )

Back into the sewing now with a few projects to finish off and lots of pants to sew.

Well, we are back from our holiday and getting back to normal. We went down to Yandina on the sunny coast and stayed with Mr Fish's parents for his sister's wedding and then for a little holiday afterwards. Oldest little fish had a great time feeding all Nanny's animals- 2 wallabies, 2 possums, some birds, some chooks and a dog. (yes, she is a wildlife carer, she doesn't pinch them from the bush!)

And of course we had to go to underwater world where oldest fish was mesmerised by the sharks in the tunnel. After going round the tunnel 3 times we said the sharks had to go to bed now.

The wedding was lovely and a bit wet. The sensible people took their shoes off for the ceremony as it was in 4 inches of mud and water! (that makes me one of the sensible ones, yay!)

and the people with 4 wheel drives came in handy to ferry people to and from the site as it had become a quagmire.

luckily, the reception venue (the backyard) was dryish, just a little damp and shoes could be put back on if required.

So we have married Aunty Sandy off and she is Uncle Brian's now to look after. The bride managed to look beautiful, dry and unmuddy (we have no idea how-the dry and unmuddy bits) and her very clever brother Steven took some beautiful photos of the day. Some which required standing in a flowing creek in waders (the photographer, not the bride).

After the wedding we had a nice peaceful week of relaxing and I even managed to go to the Eumundi Markets without the husband OR the children!

I love going there and seeing all the clever things people are making and selling. We also managed to go up to Steven and Claires place at Kureelpa and I was lucky enough to raid her stash and take some goodies home. Honestly that girl could open a shop with all the fabric she has and I would be her first customer. She has raided all the op shops in tassie which apparently are the best in the world and had an amazing collection of vintage sheets and curtains and tablecloths which can be refashioned into clothes. anyone who is a sewer would just drool if they were ever lucky enough to feast their eyes on this amazing collection, most of which you won't find in the shops. (there is a picture somewhere on her blog of some of the stash- alittlespunkiness, if you want a look)

Enough gushing now.

Easter was good to the kids and they had an egg hunt and ate too much chocolate of course. Mr Bilby met Miss Chick outside oldest fishies bedroom while they were waiting to be discovered and I caught them having a nice little chat.

It was lovely to catch up with all the loved ones and go for a visit, but boy was it nice to sleep in my own bed again when we came home.