Family Day Out

Today, when it was suggested that we all go into The Bay for a shopping day, we realised that The Bare-chested Chef had gone to work with the baby car seat still in the back of the car.

Vegan Chickie volunteered to stay at home while Adoring Husband, Bubbles and I went shopping, but we all agreed that we didn't like that idea.

Adoring Husband then decided to drive into The Bay to where The Bare-chested Chef was working, to get the car seat, and then drive all the way back home to pick us up, and take us BACK into The Bay for our lunch and shopping day.

THAT is why I named him 'Adoring Husband'.  In the interest of everybody's happiness, he sometimes performs tricks that most other husbands wouldn't!

'Salt', on The Esplanade, was our place of choice for lunch.  It's a lovely restaurant on the waterfront.  I had the duck while the others had fish, and for a beverage, we all selected various flavours of thick shakes.

It was quite delicious and the atmosphere was very nice.  It was a late lunch and we were lucky enough to be joined near the end by The Bare-chested Chef who had finished work early today.

Little Chicklet was as cute as a button, as always.  She started out in a gorgeous purple dress that we had bought her at the Childers Festival last weekend, but decided to throw up on it just before we left.  So a quick change saw her in everybody's favourite black and white striped tights and a t-shirt.

I think she had a lovely time out with everyone... especially with Aunty Bubbles, who is trying to teach her how to 'baby high five', and hopes to have succeeded by the time she leaves on Monday.

There are no big plans for tomorrow, but we will be together, and that's what counts.

Nite all.

Psychotically Happy

We had a lovely drive down to the Sunshine Coast to pick up Bubbles from the airport.

The weather was a bit erratic as we drove through sun showers, heavy downpours, overcast skies and periods of bright sunshine, but that just made the trip a little more interesting.

This afternoon we drove down to the river to try and catch a pretty sunset, but most of the clouds cleared except for one big one that covered the sun, barely giving it a chance to glow at all!

Here is my effort with the camera ...

A regular dog walker enjoying the sandy beach.

Bubbles, practising with her new camera.

Thank you to the Sea Eagle who was kind enough to fly into my shot.

Just a touch of colour in the sunset.

One thing is for sure, the psychotic dogs are psychotically happy to see Bubbles again and right now, she is draped along the couch in the family room with all three of them laying on top of her.

I'm all worn out from my big day out, so I'm off to bed, but before I go, I would just like to say ...

... we are psychotically happy to see you again too Bubbles!

Nite all.

Poosplosions!

Just a brief post tonight because I have to get some sleep.

We need to arise early and drive for over two hours to pick up Bubbles from the airport tomorrow.

Tonight, I had Chicklet on my lap in the lounge room while Vegan Chickie and The Bare-chested Chef ate their dinner.

I had one hand behind her, on the back of her nappy, and the other hand was rubbing her feet.

All of a sudden I felt this explosion burst out of her rear end!

It was so powerful that it gave me a shock and I gasped and pulled my hand away!!

It felt and sounded ominous!

There were four or five more of these ominous explosions and then when she began squirming on my lap, I decided to find out who was on nappy duty... just in the nick of time!!

That's one of the great joys of being a grandparent ... nappies are for on-duty parents :o) heheheh.

Feel the love

I had heard stories about these poosplosions in the past, but never in my wildest dreams could I have imagined such power!

Lucky she wasn't sitting in the bathtub!  She would have propelled herself from one end to the other!

There was a lot of effort involved and I felt it important to document it here, so that perhaps this story can be read out loud at a significant birthday in the future!

Sorry my little Sweetie Possum, but this is what grandparents are for!  To embarrass you with poosplosion stories told with love and fondest affection :o)

Nite all.  

Little Drummer Girl

If there is one thing in this world that irks me, it's bigoted, negative, small minded people who don't approve of anyone who lives a lifestyle different to themselves and who make derogatory comments under their breath loud enough to purposely offend others.

I have decided to rearrange my life so that I don't have to deal with such evil, toxic behaviour anymore!

If there is one thing in this world that I love, it's my little drummer girl, Chicklet (and her surrounding family).

I've got rhythm!

I've got the music in me!

My loving, pacifist, hippie family who don't judge people,  never purposely try to hurt anybody and who are simply trying to create a warm, loving and happy environment in which their daughter can feel safe, secure and empowered.

I want to surround myself with warm, positive people who like to nurture their friendships and build happy relationships with those around them.

Life is very very short and I am not going to waste time with anyone who enjoys making others feel bad.

My positive affirmation for today is ...

"I am unfolding in fulfilling ways and only good can come to me"

I am happy.  I am feeling the love.  

The bluebird of happiness is wrapping it's loving wings around my life as we speak and I can feel the balance and harmony readjusting as I bring this post to a close.

All is right with my world :o)

Nite all.             

So Much to Learn

We subscribe to the 'Australian Photography' magazine.

I also watch the Canon facebook page and their website.  I follow the Canon EOS chains and their EOS 1 Wall and sometimes submit entries on both.

I follow half a dozen professional photographer's sites via RSS feeds, both local and international, which  provide some great information on cameras, all forms of photography and sometimes offer short training videos on these subjects.

I have a Flickr profile and am a member of a photography group, where I can post my photos and be critiqued by both professionals and amateurs and where I have already learned a lot in a few short months.

I have a 500px profile, which I don't go into very often because the photographers there are amazingly talented and use a lot of editing software like photoshop to manipulate their photographs into extraordinary pieces of art.

I have used my camera every day for more than two years and now with my new camera, practise with different lenses in different light conditions and at different times of the day as often as possible.

I play with the iphoto editing tool on my laptop to enhance the shots that I take and I have photoshop, which I haven't used yet, but am looking at it with more of an open mind to learn a few tricks like framing my photos and adding my signature.

I did a ten day photography course last year in February, which taught a little about photography and too much on photoshop.

I attended a weekend photography workshop in Maleny which taught me more in two days than I learnt for the entire ten days in the previous course.

Adoring Husband has a sponge for a brain and has studied everything 'Canon' for the last six months and passed on lots of information to me in that time (even though I mostly hear blah blah blah lol).  Every day, I learn something new from him.

I am currently doing a Photography Diploma online.

Every day, with all of this experience and knowledge, I still feel like a beginner.

It doesn't matter how much I learn, there is always still so much more!

For every new piece of information I find, it creates a whole new section of information to learn!

I always thought that photography was just about having a good camera, learning how to compose a photograph and being in the right place at the right time for that 'special' shot.

Once you start looking beyond your own little world, where your friends and family tell you how fabulous you are and create a wonderful bubble of security for you, there is so much more to it than you could ever imagine!!

Sometimes it can feel a little overwhelming, but mostly it feels like an exciting challenge.

Even if it takes 500 shots to capture that ONE MAGIC MOMENT ... it is SOOOOO worth it!

She's the apple of my eye!

Every moment with Chicklet is magic!

So I still have so much to learn and one day I want to be able to combine technical perfection with creative beauty and present an awe inspiring photograph that captures the world's imagination.

Wish me luck!

Nite all. 

A Multi-cultural Day

Today, we attended the Childers Multi-cultural Festival!

http://bundaberg.qld.gov.au/discover/events/childers-festival

Every year, the last weekend in July, is set aside for this festival.

Adoring Husband and I have now been to three out of the last four festivals and have really enjoyed ourselves each time.

The food didn't seem as good or as varied as the last few years, but there were lots of market stalls and we were able to buy Chicklet lots of lovely baby hippie clothes.

We even got a couple of little dresses!  A lovely deep purple coloured dress and a little shift with a bright red apple pattern.

After a couple of hours walking, we stopped to rest and listen to some music.

There was lots of musical entertainment and we sat down to listen to 'Twine' for about half an hour.

Twine.

There were lots of people sitting down listening to the music and couple of adults and a few kids were up dancing at different times.

Enjoying the atmosphere.

The 'Brass Monkeys' played after them, but we only heard a little of them as we walked around some more.

This interesting character was selling bongo drums and other interesting instruments as well as having his photo taken with almost everybody who walked by.

Vegan Chickie has a while to go before her dreadlocks are as long as this character's!

We didn't have a program, so most of our day was spent wandering through the market stalls and spending our money.

Little Chicklet had a lovely time in her new stroller and even had a little nap.  She also spent some time in her baby carrier (I think it's an Ergo Baby Carrier?).  She was very happy all day long, smiling and talking and checking out the people.

She's so lovely.

I believe she was probably the happiest little cutie pitootie there!

After four hours, we still hadn't seen everything, but we were done.  We packed all of our goods into the cars and found our way home.

Next year, I think we will print a copy of the program and perhaps plan our day, so that we get to see more of the entertainment.

I'm glad we got to share it with the Bare-chested Chef, Vegan Chickie and Chicklet.  It was a lovely day!

Nite all.

PS  Bubbles is coming to visit after all!  She will be here from Thursday to Monday next week and we are all very excited!