Jellies...

There are lots of good jellies...

jelly babies...
jelly for dessert...

jelly cakes (especially pink ones)...

jelly in a cup (freddos are a bonus)

good ol jelly beans...

and the super comfy jelly sandal...

but jelly fish can really spoil your day at the beach.

When we were at Port Fairy we had a couple of days when the water was thick with them. There were tiny bluish ones & larger pinkish ones, fortunately we were not stung by any of them but they spoil your splashing about.

Even our wandering along Rosebud beach on the weekend was spoiled by yet another type of jelly fish, a slug looking thing that was coiled like a clear doughnut.

Uughhh!

Back to it...

Back to work & its as if I never went away although I do feel like I have had a break. I'll need to settle down after next week & get stuck into some projects. I've had a whisper that the funding I put a submission in for has been granted which means I will have to justify the dollars!

I also want to get back into some scrapping & get some layouts done for our albums. I bumped in to a friend who I had originally introduced to scrapbooking. She has lots of enthusiasm & puts me to shame. She has taken over their garage & gets lots done even with 2 young boys & a full time job. She had encouraged me to go on a scrapping retreat held by the local scrap shop in May.

I'm going to really try to get there this year & get a little bit done each week, so hopefully I'll have lots to show you.

An excellent night...

The final of our celebrations for our anniversary was a night out with the kids at the local pub bistro.
We had fun & some yummy food that I didn't have to cook...bonus.

The kids were very entertaining at the end taking some classic photos with the ol' point & shoot camera.

A silver milestone...

Today is our silver wedding anniversary. Today is the actual day.

Didn't we look young? Well we were young...21 & 24 and about to embark on a lifetime together.

25 years seems like a very long time but it does seem to have passed by very quickly. Thanks Babe for the ride.

I was surprised at work with some lovely flowers {credit to Hayley for the subtle shoving in the right direction}
And an addition to my Pandora bracelet has filled it nicely since last year.

Anniversaries...

A quarter of a century ago Boy racer & I said 'I will.'

Will see you through richer & poorer, sickness & in health, through good & bad.





In this stone church in Moonee Ponds we made vows to see each other through the thick & the thin.

We rode down to see it today as our anniversary draws near. It hasn't changed much, the doors are the only change I could see.

We on the other hand have changed...a bit, matured & stuck by each other through the ups & downs.

Through changes of home, employment, the addition of children, travel...tears & joy. We've both added a few kilos, grey hairs.
Then we paused at Queen's Park where our wedding pics were taken.

This particular anniversary has stirred a lot of thought in me. We are lucky to have reached this milestone, some don't make it through no fault of their own & others of their own making. We don't have any magic formula, no sage words for those starting out in wedded life.

Maybe we are just tenacious.

Lazy days...

The second week of my holidays have been much less interesting than the first.

Just sleeping in, pottering around at home & doing nothing much. I have to stop thinking its a waste & think of it as relaxing before the pace of term 1 starts.

Today we did manage to sort out Erin's books & picked up her new school shoes.


So some productivity today.

Camels...

This pic is to brighten up what has been an unbearably hot day...up to 42 degrees & no relief til midday tomorrow. On days like this we bunker down with all the blinds drawn & don't venture out unless we smell smoke coming through the air conditioning to check if we have to make a move.

At Port Fairy [44 degrees there today] you can go on a camel ride. As we were walking along the beach we spotted these footprints in the sand...

Camel toe!!!!

I couldn't resist taking this photo for Hayley.

Our new fridge was delivered today at 545pm, wiggled into position & fired up. I'll do serious restocking tomorrow, just emptied the esky for now, it will be a bit cooler then. How come when you have no ice-cream that's all you want?

Our digs...

Our accomodation could have looked like this...

But instead it looked like...
this!

Our regular spot is very well set up & we can just walk across the road to the beach, which makes it very easy to come & go.

My holiday feet...

it was lovely to take off the shoes & enjoy a patch of green green grass.

Erin's holiday feet...

just chillin with a DS game after a hard day of soaking up the sun.

We're back!!!...

back from a lovely week at the beach. We had fantastic weather, we were able to swim & laze about & totally relax.

See... perfect weather
on a perfect beach
perfectly perfect.

The only drawback... coming home to washing, housework & a broken fridge. It seems I am going to get appliances for our upcoming anniversary.

More photos & stories to come.

There's something about...

Erin & I going to the beach.

As I look out the window, it is raining.

Erin is desperate to go to the beach again...she loves it & told me last week as we were driving along she wants to live near the beach so she could go every day. This sparked a conversation with her father who grew up in Rosebud, he & his family (according to him) never went to the beach even though it was just across the highway.
Even now it is one of his least favourite things to do, I had to laugh when he came home from work & told me he had taken a group from the centre to the Williamstown beach in scorching weather!

Last summer when we went the weather had turned & we had some sunny but cool days, chilly nights & rain. I was hoping for some really good beach days this time.

I'm looking forward to the break...just have to pack & prepare then we can head off in the morning.

A New Year...

What a way to finish the year...a stinking hot day ending with a savage storm washing out fireworks & rock festivals.

During the year we have been extremely hot, chilly, a bit wet but mostly dry. We've been happy & sad, celebrated & commiserated. I've been to more funerals this year than any other.

We had a 21st & an 18th. We had one child finish secondary school & one finish primary school. We've had progress with employment, we've cheered on the kids pedalling from Darwin & enjoyed the Mikado.

We've had driving achievements with Hayley coming off her 'P's & Callum getting his 'L's. Holidays & working days, a little surgery & a nearly broken arm.

And I haven't done nearly enough scrapping but this blog has enabled me to look back today at a whole year of memories...remembering the ordinary & the extraordinary

I wonder what this new decade will bring