Christmas and New year camping trip.

Well firstly the news from the ultrasound suggests we are expecting a baby girl but she was only 80% sure so so far have resisted buying too many girly clothes and are trying to think of a boys
name for back up!

We have had a very busy summer/christmas season for the business, thats the problem with Oz both busy things fall together, the kids have there long summer holiday over christmas. Turnover was greatly up on the previous summer which was great but poor Neil worked his butt off keeping up with printing and framing a lot of photos.

Christmas was a lovely day but all over too fast, as we had markets Christmas Eve and Boxing Day!

Bradley had a great day and had to be coaxed to keep opening his presents as he was quite happy to play with what he got! The little mite was utterly spoilt!

We had a relaxing day with an early walk at Wappa Dam, a swim in the pool, lots present opening and a late afternoon Christmas dinner.


First presents at home.



Neddy!



My new bike, thanks Uncle Ian and co, at Grandma and Grandpa's house.



Cooling off with a xmas day dip!





My new megablocks sets from Mummy and Daddy!



Lost in the wrapping paper!







Neddy gets spoilt too!



Then on the 29th we headed off away from markets and framing before we went nuts to Lamington National Park. We had booked a safari tent for 4 nights, they are permanent tents with proper floors, proper beds and proper lights! Luxury camping! It was the perfect combination between roughing it and a easy life. Also they had a tea room that served espresso coffee and hot meals!

Unfortunately the heat was the worst thing as it is 5 degrees cooler up there but as it was 38 degrees at sea level it was still over 30 up there. We have to confess we missed our air con!

You basically go bush walking so in the heat with a toddler and a pregnant wife neil had his hands full!

The first walk Bradley walked a whole 1.2km in the rainforest without being carried at all.







I think Bradley decided that was his walking for the whole holiday and travelling on Daddy's shoulders was so much more fun!

Some shots from our tent on the first night.










The first breakfast! Little boxes of cereals have so many uses!


Next day after doing the short walks we tackled a longer one, 5km to some caves!











It was a lovely walk but Bradley decided to fall asleep so poor neil had to carry him over his shoulder a long way!

The afternoon was spent going for a drive to civilsation in the air conditioned car!A play on the park for Bradley in a local town and coffee and cake for Mummy and Daddy.



Next day we tackled the big walk, 12km, after an early start on New years day(yes we were in bed by 9pm the night before!)We took it nice and slow and made it the whole way but our muscles were very sore the next day. Bradley fell asleep half way back so Neil carried him a while but we found a bench for him to finish his nap before being woke again and put on Daddy's shoulders!







A few more snaps from around the national park grounds.

Fraser Island, trains and exciting news!

As always we have been busy busy and not got round to any blog posts! But we will try again!


At the end of August, Martin (my brother) came to visit so we went for our annual 4wdriving and camping trip. This year was Fraser Island, the largest sand island in the world which is about 2 hours north of us.

It was a great trip full of adventure, one of them being a paralysis tick embedded in the back of Bradley's head and having to find an emergency doctor on a sunday morning! After a lot of panicking and waiting the tick was removed along with some clumps of Bradley's hair. There was a lot of tears but soon made a recovery. Others adventures included getting stuck more than we would like, the worst being in the soft sand in the dark with an incoming tide. Needless to say with Neil's determination, digging his way out, letting a lot of air out of the tyres and making the rest of us walk to lighten the load, we escaped the soft sand and made it safely back to camp! Also on a sunrise shoot at Indian head, things turned out to be a bit scary as sunrise is not only for photographers but for packs of dingoes too! Young children and dingoes are not a good mix, as there has been a rise in attacks and one death over recent years. Needless to say we stuck together and bradley stayed in Uncle Martins arms and the dingoes left us alone, phew!

Here are some photos of the trip.












































Another good day out was on 'The Valley Rattler' a steam train which runs twice a week from a town about an hour north of here (Gympie). Bradley loves trains aswell as diggers, trucks, tractors- you name it!











Of course, we had to go out for dinner. So Bradley got on his gladrags and headed for the RSL. Bradley loves going out to restaurants especially as he got a childrens meal which involved ice cream with m&m's his first experience of sweets! It didn't take long for the e numbers to take effect!



The last family bbq before Martin headed back to the UK.



We head down to one of the local parks usually once a week as it's a off leash park for Neddy. Also once a month some enthusiasts run a miniature steam train for the public to ride on. We actually remembered in September the right day!









One final photo just to show you that Bradley Paskin is very much his fathers son when it comes to breakfast at the weekend! 10 mins later Bradley's plate was completely empty!



The exciting news is that we are expecting the pitter patter of some more tiny feet. Our new bundle of joy is due on the 17th April. In the next couple of weeks we shall be finding out if Bradley is getting a brother or a sister! Will keep you posted!