last day of the month

wowsers! where did October go? 

That means you only have until midnight tonight to get your Scrap the Girls Challenge linked on the blog.

Here is the challenge and my sample just in case you missed it ;)

FLOWERS

TWO DIFFERENT ALPHAS

MORE THAN ONE PHOTO

STAPLES

Looking forward to seeing your layouts

slack post number 2

sooooo..... what do you do with your layouts when you have completed them? Are you organised that they get put straight into your albums? Or are you like me....And take forever.

My husband calls our formal lounge room my 'scrap room number 2' as that is where I put all of my layouts when I have photographed them....and I think he is a wee bit cranky with the pages everywhere. And just quietly I might be too. So today I started to sort them, so in other words I moved them from the lounge room to the dining room :-/ But trust me they are in piles for what albums that they go into!

Here is my mess right now

on the left......... boxes of layouts to sort

top right............layouts to photograph to blog

bottom right......layouts I sorted today

In the photograph on the left you can also see my new albums that are ready and waiting for layouts to be put into... (I don't think I will have enough... remind me to order more!)

I am off to a retreat at Scrapbooking from Scratch with an amazing bunch of girlsat Branxton in the Hunter Valley on Wednesday so I will be bringing a few more layouts home.... maybe it is time to get them all organised?

Looking forward to hearing your layout filing stories 

slack, slack, slack

OMG I can't believe that I haven't shared my Scrap the Girls CT layout yet! You still have 9 days to get your entry in for some great prizes from our sponsors.

This months challenge is

FLOWERS

TWO DIFFERENT ALPHAS

MORE THAN ONE PHOTO

STAPLES

Other stuff can be used but all of these things MUST be clearly visible on the page.

Another one for the our Vietnam/Cambodia holiday album (but I think I might need two to put all of the layouts in lol)

I created this layout while we were on our holiday in the caravan to Cairns. Craig sat there in the annex of the van watching me, he kept asking me questions about what I was doing. I have been scrapping for over 9 years and I think that this was the first time that he has actually seen me in action lol... talk about pressure!

I am looking forward to seeing your layout linked up at the STG blog.

Thanks for stopping by

cairns - the last day

This was definately the highlight of our road trip. We couldn't go all the way north without going out to the Barrier Reef, we just couldn't decided from where we were going to go from.  We were talking to some Cairns local while we were in Mission Beach and they recommended the Passions of Paradise Reef Tour tour. 

To say it was amazing is an understatement!  The 2 hour ride out was pretty rough and raining, but by the time we got out to the reef the weather was perfect. They took us to two different sections of the reef with lunch (which was delicious!) in between.  I don't know how long we actually had in the water, but we could have spent hours snorkeling around. The girls were absolutely shattered on the way home lol

If you are ever heading to Cairns I would highly recommend this tour company to take you out to the reef..... the staff were amazing!

The next day we started to head back home.  Nothing really interesting to tell about the trip back home.  I just know it took a bloody long time lol.

Thanks for dropping by and sharing our holiday with us

cairns

When we arrived on the first day we were a bit shattered from our late nights in Townsville. The only thing we planned on doing was going into town to have a look at the markets and get something to cook for dinner. Oh and to have a look at the shopping centre where the girls bought some more shorts... they NEED TO STOP GROWING!

I am only going to share the second day of our trip to Cairns in this post as it will be photo heavy...

We decided to go up to Kuranda for the day so Craig rang and booked us tickets on the Scenic railway for the way up and the Skyrail on the way back down.

This tourist asked Kirst to be in her photo lol

the girls waiting to board the train

The sharpest bend, great opportunity to get a photo of the front of the train

We had a stop at Barwon falls...spectacular

one of the rare photos of me on the whole trip :-/

After we arrived at the train station at Kuranda we went off to explore.  It was so peaceful and cool up there, it reminded me a lot of Maleny and Montville on the Sunshine Coast. After we had explored the two markets and stopped at bakery for lunch we came across this man doing Caricatures for $7.50 each... we watched him do a few and we decided to get the girls done... We had ones of them done at Southbank when they were two and four, I must get them all framed and up on the wall lol

As Craig went to pay the man wouldn't let him go without doing on of him too...

by the time he was finished there would have been at least 20 people standing there watching and ready waiting for theirs to be done....... I think he should have got it done for free!

bloody awesome hey! This one will definately be going up on the wall!

By the time that was finished it was time to get on the skyrail and head back down the mountain.

Craig was a wee bit worried being up so high lol.. especially when I was standing up to take some photos....

And we were finally back on land.. and I had one happy husband lol

After a mix up with our bus transfer back to the train station we were more than ready to head back to the van...

The Footy final was on! The van was way to hot after been closed up all day to watch the game inside so Craig bought the TV outside to watch the game.

 Lots of people in the park would stop and check out the score while they were walking past...

After the game was over it was time for bed... we had an enormous day planned for the next day.

I will tell all about it soon :)

from airlie beach to south mission beach

Our September Holiday Part 2 

After our lovely time at Airlie Beach we headed to Townsville for 2 nights. We knew that we were going to have a busy time there. My cousin, Brad, is based at Townsville with the Army. So I couldn't be in the same city and not catch up with him and Jess. 

love this boy! just sad that I don't get to see him very often :-/

We had also arranged to meet up with our friends Warren and Rowena and their kids while they were on their way home from a holiday at Cairns and were heading back to Emerald.. it was great to see them! I can't believe how much my beautiful godson has grown in the 2 years since we have seen him :(

On the second day we took the kids to the lagoon on the Strand to have some fun. After lunch Row and I took all the kids home for a sleep (and us as well lol) while the boys went for a bit of Barra fishing.

By the smile on Craig's face,I would say that he had a great afternoon. They even got a tour of the Army base there too, it is mind blowing at how big it is! And then it was out to dinner again with Row, Waz and kids... it was hard to say goodbye :(

The next morning we headed off to South Mission beach. There wasn't really that much to do there, but that was exactly what we needed. We did do a bit of exploring though. The view of Dunk Island from the beach was spectacular.

After two days we were ready to move on to Cairns... but that needs a whole blog post to it's self........

Thanks for dropping by

the first three days of our holiday

A few months ago Craig and his brother did a road trip to Mackay to attend the Mackay Mining Expo, after he arrived there he rang and suggested that on these holidays that we pack the van and head north. 

In his normal 'she'll be right mate' attitude, he wasn't interested in any forward planning AT ALL *sigh*  We have done a few holidays like that before but we normally head down the New South Wales Coast.  

But this time he wanted to go to places that we hadn't been before. On our honeymoon we went as far north as Airlie Beach and I have driven to Townsville with a GF once, but the girls hadn't been further than Mackay and they can barely remember that.

So mid morning on the first Saturday of the holidays we were all packed and ready to go. A bit of a late start for us as Craig had been away for work that week (and the normal important golf game on Friday afternoon didn't help either) and he hadn't packed a thing... I had the van and the girls ready to go of course!

So off we went. We stopped for the lunch in Miles, one of the great advantages of the caravan is that the food is all there and you can pull up anywhere and make a sandwich :) And then a few hours later we stopped for afternoon tea and to stretch our legs.  We had decided to stop overnight at a free camping ground in a small fishing community called Clairview. It was dark when we arrived but this is the view that we woke up to on the Sunday morning.

After breakfast we packed up and headed on our way to Airlie Beach. I rang the Big 4 van park on the road and booked the van site for two nights (we weren't that disorganised lol) And of course as we pull up, Kirst finds out that one of her friends in her class is arriving at the same park about an hour after us.

The next day was our 18th wedding anniversary, so we went for a drive and showed the girls the resort we stayed in for 3 nights before we headed over to South Molle Island for a week for our honeymoon.

The boat harbour where we boarded the boat to the island

putt putt at the c/van park

I was going to try and do the first week in one post but I thought that it might be a wee to long lol So I will be back shortly to share some more :)

thanks for popping by