Friday, April 29, 2016

Happy Birthday to Curtis!

Last evening we celebrated Curtis' birthday, but today is the real deal.

He drove yesterday morning to pick up his dad from the train in Shelby (about 90 miles north on the Interstate).  We have a family wedding to go to tomorrow south of Helena.  Lots of driving these next few days.
Curtis got a new camera that he wanted to replace his little Nikon with the busted switch.  And some new shirts and the latest Star Wars movie.

Here he is with his cake last evening


His dad took us out for a yummy dinner this evening and tomorrow we head out for a wedding.  

I recently finished an 8x8 album from a 2009 Caribbean cruise and here are a couple of the pages






.

Thursday, April 28, 2016

Snow???

Yes, it is snowing and 32F out.  Yesterday we reached a whopping high of 38F.  The bipolar weather of spring in Montana.  Thankful it is not tornados!!and we have received much needed precipitation.  
Had fun with Cooper yesterday morning. He loves to come here as his siblings do.

We had to have a hunt on after school as Harlee's little camera was missing.  She said she had searhed her room.  Her dad had even pulled the bed out last weekend.  I said I would go over and help.  She was so upset and didn't want her room torn apart.  We went into her room, her mum pulled back the curtain to have some light and lo and behold there it was sitting on the window sill!  Shortest visit ever to their house!  

A few remaining photos from the trip.  We spent the next couple of days in Cairns, up at the Great Barrier Reef.  The weather was pretty over cast and steamy- hot and humid.  
Sunrise coming into the harbour at Cairns.


We were off to tak the boat to Green Island.  Almost didn't go as the weather was so iffy.  But it cleared once we got out to the island.


We rode a glassbottomed boat to see the coral and colourful fish. 


This was the view going onto the island.
And then after some lunch and walking around we came back out and the tide was out.
You could see the beautiful under sea life from the dock.

And I leave you with one little layout.  From swimming lessons last summer and water safety day.







Wednesday, April 27, 2016

Good Morning!

I seem to be neglecting my blog this past werk.  Not sure why, as I still have a few travel photos and I have been scrapping a few pages too.
I worked Monday and not sure why the days I am there the unit has to be out of control? Not many babies, but very busy!  And having the added job of answering the phone and opening our secure door since we have no secretary.  My legs were aching when I got home.  They were elevated, took some Motrin and rubbed with Deep Heat!
We have been experiencing much cooler and rainy weather.   The moisture has been very much needed, so I won't complain!  But Cooper hasn't been thrilled he can't go out and play.  
We have a family wedding to go to this weekend! So Curtis' dad is riding the train over from Whitefish and will go with us.  We will also celebrate Curtis's birthday.
And I will iclude a few shots of Airlie Beach as we headed north up the Eastern Australia coastline.  Heading to the Great Barrier Reef.  You won't guess it by the photos, but we were dodging rain showers all day.  And it was so hot and humid!

They don't recommend going in the water here because of the stinging jelly fish.  The have made a special lagoon a little further down the beach where they recommend you go swimming.






Look at the colour of the water.  All the different layers of blue and turquoise.  And yes, that is how it truly looked!  So beautiful!



One little layout I will share.  Photo is from last summer.
The background paper is from Authentique.
Other papers from Glitz Design, October Afternoon, Fancy Pants design
Sun glasses- Crate Paper
Stickers- Echo Park
Flair- Fancy Pants
Bakers Twine

Thursday, April 21, 2016

A Few Layouts!

Not quite finished with my travelogue, but thought I would break it up with a few layouts.  Soon I will be starting on my Down Under" album.  Slowly getting photos printed.  It is a tedious job sorting through all the photos that were taken and deciding what I want to print.!

A couple of weekends ago I went to a creative weekend.  I finished Cait's France album from when she visited back in high school(2006?).  It will be heading out to her on our next visit to the coast?  I also started working on a mininalbun from a cruise in 2009 we took with the cousins.  It is almost done too!

A Quiet day doing laundry after working in the NICU all day yesterday!  Had a visit from a friend that needed to stop in for a bit!






Tuesday, April 19, 2016

Happy Birthday Cooper!

Yesterday we celebrated Cooper's 3rd birthday!  Oh, where has that time gone?  It was quite the celebration!
The big kids were off school yesterday and they all were here for a while!  We got Cooper this huge blue ball.  This kid loves balls!

He chased Harlee with a pool noodle too!
For dinner we headed over to Kirsten's for a BBQ.  The day was beautiful.  
He opened gifts!

He tried them out!  They were found in Nic's bed this morning!
The awesome cake his mum made for him!  Cooper loves trains!
Everything was a little overwhelming!


But he was happy in the end
And he got an awesome train engine that plays music and blows bubbles from his auntie in Seattle.  It was a big hit!




Sunday, April 17, 2016

Whirlwind Tour of Brisbane.

Wish we could. Have spent more time in Brisbane!  We spent the next day seeing the sites of the beautiful city with John. He picked us up at our hotel, toured us around all day and dropped us off at the cruise terminal so we could board our next ship and head north to the Great Barrier reef

We started our day heading to the Lone Pine Sanctuary! Lauree really wanted to hold a koala bear and there are very few places that allow that, despite the number of koalas that live in Australia.   




Kookaburras are terrestrial tree kingfishers of the genus Dacelo native to Australia and New Guinea, which grow to between 28–42 cm in length. The name is a loanword from Wiradjuri guuguubarra, onomatopoeic of its call.Wikipedia




The cassowaries (/ˈkæsəwɛərr/) are ratites (flightless birds without a keel on their sternum bone) in the genus Casuarius and are native to the tropical forests of New Guinea (Papua New Guinea and Indonesia), nearby islands, and northeastern Australia.[2]
This a beautiful bird and I would have loved to see one in the rain forest.



Yes, she got to check one off her bucket list!

The city of Bribane from Mt. Coot-tha Summit



Look at the art work on the concrete.


On board Royal Caribbean's Legend of the Seas!  Quite a let down after being on the Solstice!
Can you see the rainbow.
As we set sail from the harbour in Brisbane.