My birthday weekend

Another year older, On Saturday I hit the ripe old age of 28 and now have the wrinkles to prove it!

After a lazy morning and a present opening session, we decided to take Bradley for his first trip to the swimming pool, yes we do have a pool in the back garden but it's too cold especially for babies as it isn't heated. So we went to the local heated indoor pool which is only 5 mins from our house. Unfortunately Bradley fell asleep on the way and didn't seem to appreciate being woken up to be put into his swimsuit! Once in the water he seems to like it, there wasn't any smiling or laughing but no crying either which is a good sign! His Mum and Dad definitely enjoyed taking him.





Saturday night with Bradley safely tucked up in bed and my parents babysitting we headed out for a birthday meal to Mooloolaba and went to a great Italian restaurant on the beach front and looked out over the very rainy coastline! Luckily for my Mum my mobile had no credit so I couldn't phone every half hour to check he was ok! But they didn't hear a peep out of him the whole time we were gone.

In our glad rags with no nappy bag required!



My birthday cake!



Sunday was another slow start with a bit of shopping and an early morning Starbucks on a sofa overlooking the River.

Late afternoon the weather had turned rainy again(consindering this is the dry season it doesn't half rain alot!), so we went for a walk and to photograph waterfalls in a nearby rainforest as the showers seemed to of died off. Neil got some good images and Bradley seemed to love the sights and sounds of the rainforest especially the noisy waterfall. Now he is 3 months he is full smiles, laughing and 'talking' lots and is taking a real interest in his toys and his family especially his Daddy, who is flavour of the week!

The Paskins on a sunday afternoon outing.



Serenity Falls at Buderim





And to the wildlife section of the blog as it seems to have turned into.

Swampy (the swamp wallaby) made another apperance this week, Mum and Dad thought he was a solitary wallaby but he has obviously been busy during his absence as he brought with him Mrs Swampy and the 2 kids(joeys!) to graze on the lawn. It was great watching them but poor Neil missed it all as he was at work!

© CJ Paskin



Also, My Mum volunteers for a wildlife rescue charity manning the hotline and working on the committee, one of the carers had identified our garden as a good release site for some possums who have been nursed back to health. So we now have a release trailer in the garden which they will stay in for a week to get used to the surroundings before being released next weekend.

A hungry possum.

Bradders at the beach!

On Friday we took Bradders for his first taste of the Ocean. He put on his swim suit on rather a windy beach (explains Bradley's wild hair!) and headed for the surf, Neil stayed fully clothed as the nominated photographer for the occasion.

He seemed to like it (well he didn't cry and his Mum had a great time anyway!) He paddled his feet and then sat in the water but wasn't too impressed when a little wave came!

Wow, this is ok!



Oh no, I don't think I like it!



Yeah, I'm nice and safe. A Mummy hug!



Needless to say, this momentous occasion had to be followed by, yes you guessed it coffee and cake, which Bradley slept through while attached to Neil's chest by the sling!(I think the exictment wore him out). Even managed some clothes shopping for my birthday while it was quiet, might have to take him paddling more often!

As it was nearing the end of the day, photographing sunset was a must. Mother Nature provided a nice sky and Neil ran around the rocks trying to get a shot he liked. Here is the result.





Saturday morning while having breakfast we got the map out and pinpointed an area to visit that we hadn't been to before, the towns of Kandanga and Amamoor. On the way we decided to go to Eumundi market which is famous(thats how they bill it) and very popular with tourists, especially for art and crafts, we were checking out the photography stalls.
On the way to Kandanga we passed a barn Neil has photographed before, he stopped to give it another go, the owner was selling fruit outside his house so we thought we should buy some as a good will gesture and ask if Neil could enter his property to photograph the barn, I ended up with a pineapple and a bag of custard apples(yep, have no idea what they are but will keep you posted when they are ripe!) That was fine by Farmer Bob but he wanted a donation also! Neil told him we had already ended up with a pineapple and a bag of custard apples and continued through his gate to take some photos!

The barn.



The first town we got to was Kandanga.





Then Amamoor.



Some Aussie countryside.



We drove the scenic way home, then went for a quick look at the house.



Sunday was shopping day, more birthday shopping for me at the Sunshine Plaza which is the big shopping complex on the Sunshine Coast.

And one last photo, we found this cute little guy on the garage wall, we believe it to be a Laughing Tree Frog.



Thats all for this week.

Not much going on.

We have little to report, so this is just a short one. The weather has been a bit up and down either clear blue sky(so not great for photos) or overcast and raining(not nice for outings).

The first news was our visitor in the garden, a swamp wallaby who is affectionatly named Swampy! He had visited the garden a few times before we moved here but has never put in an appearance for the last 6 months. We saw him 3 times this week.

(© Cj Photo)


Last Friday, Bradley and I went for a short walk with my Mum and Dad to Poona Dam, they were bird watching. It didn't seem to hold Brad's interest as he fell asleep!

(© Cj Photo)


We went to one of Neil's workmates 50th birthday bash, it happened to be held 5 mins from our house at a lakeside. We didn't go till late Saturday afternoon as it had been raining all day. It was battle against daylight for Neil and Yak to get our tent up in time. It was a fun evening with a live band and a spit roast. Bradders enjoyed being made a fuss off and managed to sleep through the band snuggled in my arms. The camping went well and he didn't manage to wake everyone up in the middle of the night. No photos due too much beer drinking by the photographer and not taking the right camera! So you'll have to imagine us in a remote field by a lake with a band etc and lots of drunk people apart from me!


Bradley is very smiley and giggly now which is just lovely but not all the time as he hasn't quite grown out of his colicky behaviour yet. He is going in the shower nearly every day with his Daddy, which they both love.




Mum and Dads house is coming on fast and should be finished in 4 weeks, so will hopefully be moving in around the end of June.



Last but not least it was Mothers Day here on Sunday, my first Mothers Day! Bradley (with some help from his Dad) bought a beautiful beanbag lounger for us to cuddle on and a lovely card.

First weekend in May

Not much to report this week, just a normal week at work for Neil and a lovely week at home for me and Bradley including our weekly visit to Mothers group and a day out with the grandparents but as Bradley chose this as his unsettled day; I don't know how relaxing it was for them!

Bradley is changing all the time and his new trick for this week is to reach out and grab his sheep hanging down from his activity arch which delighted his Mummy no end.





Saturday, Neil did an extra day at work but as I was dropping him off we thought we might aswell go an extra hour early to get sunrise. We went to Currimundi Lake as it was only minutes from the job, its a large expanse of water that meets the surf with a running stream(thats how a website described it!), due to a lack of clouds there was no colours for sunrise but Neil got a few nice shots.





Unfortunately for Neil as he finished early and Bradley and I were busy hitting the big shopping complex, he had to spend a few hours drinking beer with his mates till I could pick him up! So, it was a good afternoon for him!


On Sunday Bradley let us have a lie in till 8.30am before demanding to get up which was a nice treat. Early afternoon we jumped in Tanky and headed to Noosa Heads National Park (stopping for coffee and cake first!), we did a lovely walk through the trees to Alexandria Bay.It was all really beautiful well apart from the old naked people as it is an unoffical nudist beach! Luckily Bradley was asleep so no need to sheild his eyes! It was a long steep walk back to Sunshine beach over the peninsula but very scenic. We stopped for a break on the beach to feed Bradley, Neil keeping himself busy shooting Sunset before a long trek back up the hill to where we had parked Tanky.

Bradley looks like he's after my cake, it's a while yet before he gets chocolate brownies!



Some of the undergrowth we passed on our walk



Alexandria Bay



A rest stop



If you enlarge this one Bradley is laughing at his Dad trying to get in shot in time!



A beautiful sunset but no foreground around!