No Worries, Mate!

That would seem to be the national phrase and philosophy.  How can you argue against that?!  LOVED Australia.  We even felt worry-free in the rain.  The sun did decide to make an appearance for our days at the beach in Manly and for the wedding of wonderful friends.  Gorgeous is an understatement.  Even though it is a ridiculously long flight and we missed our little monkeys lots, it was well worth the speedy trip to Oz. 

A taste of our pics. More to bore you with come later.  Cheers Mate!

Wordless Wednesday - December reflections

I'm having troubles writing anything lately. Thankfully it is Wordless Wednesday and I've got some pics. Hopefully my brain will return soon. Happy New Year! (A little late on that one. Methinks my quit procrastinating resolution isn't working so well. )

Unusual Decoration

Holiday challenge time! I know you need a game to help keep your peppermint scented, mall-brawling and gingerbread over indulging self from going insane. So here you go.

Spot the ornament that is not like the others. It's so nice to have help with the Christmas decorating. The tree hasn't tipped yet but I expect to hear a crash any time now.

Did you say;

a) candy canes ('cause it just isn't right to have that much candy within reach of the free-range tykes)

b) a duck ornament ('cause that really has nothing to do with a traditional Christmas story but is there due to my husband's waterfowl fetish)

c) a furry feline in the artificial tree.

The correct answer is c), but I'll accept any answer really. I say "pshaw!" to them Martha Stewart look-alike, colour coordinated trees! Ours if full of unnique crap and I'm proud of it! Every little homemade festive thing is prized as are the ones we get while travelling. It all looks awesome after a wee bit o' Christmas cheer anyway.

TTAM #3 – The Post-Halloween Post

I can’t really call this a Wordless Wednesday post ‘cause I’m feeling to word-full.  It sort of fits in with the Things That Amuse Me theme as happy, sugar-filled kids are forever amusing, even if that is a stretch.  Anyway…

So it was a great Halloween weekend here in chilly Ottawa.  All things Halloween were on for three nights in a row.  (Now I’m in a great post-chaos sugar-low crash reaching for yet another java.) 

On the Friday, the school hosts a family Halloween dance.  Wouldn’t you know it, our DD, the lucky devil, won a prize yet again– a giant spider spinning his web around a bowl of candy.    She’s happy and I have one more Halloween decoration for next year.

 

 

 

On the Saturday we went to the National Arts Centre, “Trick Or Treat to a Wicked Beat” family concert.  This concert series is wonderful for everyone in the family for music appreciation and live orchestra fun.  Cool to see and hear “Sorcerer’s Apprentice” while dressed up in costume.  (Laura was a princess and Owen was a proud Ottawa Senator, delightfully coordinated in red.) Then it was off to a surprise birthday/Halloween family party.  A good feast and fun for the gang.

 

 

Sunday was the much anticipated Trick or  Treat day!  Not anticipated was the great layer of snow on the ground!  That just added to the kids happiness.  Snow shovelling and playing in October.  They were highly bundled and eager trick or treaters with too-cool-to-bundle–up-icicle-dad.

I found other things to amuse me -  pumpkin ale and way too much candy.  Traditions are good, even for grown-ups.

Wordless Wednesday - Some old castle thing

And to think last week at this time I didn't have my passport yet.

It's been an amazing week visiting Edinburgh, Scotland. This is the view from our hotel room - Edinburgh castle on the hill, National Gallery across the street. Yep, this will do nicely.
(More to come when I can see straight.)

Wordless Wednesday - Southampton Holiday

Our family beating the heat on the beach in Southampton, Ontario.

Easter Egging

Does the Easter bunny do the egg hunt for the kids or for my amusement. I'm not sure who gets more pleasure out of it. The weather was a record breaking sunny and warm all weekend. Gorgeous.

I don't know what was stranger: that my kids insisted on fairness between them, helping each other find eggs and splitting the spoils evenly after the hunt; or that they both only wanted to eat one egg a day over the next month instead of having a chocolate pig-out. Never mind. I will just have to accept them, quirks and all.

Chocolate for the Greater Good

Virtual chocolate Easter baskets. Saw this on Turtlehead’s amazing blog and thought I’d pass it on. Much easier on the waistline but the sentiment is the same. And with an extra charity twist…

By mentioning this Easter Basket on my blog, I’m helping get Hershey’s to contribute a total of $5000 — $10 per blog post — to the Children’s Miracle Network.

If you’re interested in sending a virtual Easter Basket and being a part of the Easter fun, here are the rules:

• Copy and paste these rules to your blog post.
• Create a blog post giving a virtual Easter Basket to another blogger – you can give as many Virtual Baskets as you want.
• Link back to person who gave you an Easter Basket.
• Let each person you are giving a Virtual Easter Basket know you have given them a Basket.
• Leave your link at BetterBasket.info/BlogHop comment section. You can also find the official rules of this #betterbasket blog hop, and more information about Better Basket with Hershey’s there.
• Hershey’s is donating $10 per each blog participating to the Better Basket Blog Hop to Children’s Miracle Network (up to total of $5,000 by blog posts written by April 4th, 2010).
• Please note that only one blog post by each blog url will count towards the donation.

by each blog url will count towards the donation.

So I’m passing this on officially to three blog friends I know in person and who are all amazing people.

Bibliomama, Life is Good...At the Beach and Krista's Scrapbook Blog

Everyone help yourselves to some along the way. Happy Easter to All!