All quiet on the Western Front

I’ve been a bit quiet on here recently, ok, I’ve been very quiet.

In all reality I’ve been flat-out, but don’t worry I’m keeping up my end of the bargain – supporting local businesses day in day out.

I even have Little Miss 2 so well-trained that she knows we go into the fruit and veg shop before going anywhere near a supermarket (and that is only if we really really have to).

This week I am making plans for a weekend alone with hubby. It is our 5 year wedding anniversary and my parents are taking the kids for a couple of nights. Rather than go away we have decided to stay here and spend our days exploring our local surroundings. There are so many tourist sites, places to go and things to do that we just never got round to doing. Now I actually get a chance to book it all in 🙂

Is there anything special we need to do or see over the weekend. Drop your suggestions in the comment box below.

Wellington Point

Hubby was away for the weekend and I was home alone with 3 children for the weekend, so before we all went mad and killed each other (if you knew my children, you’d understand 😛 ) I decided to take them out and tire them out.

I packed a little picnic, stuck them all in the car and told them we were going on an adventure. Mr 9 wasn’t too impressed with being dragged away from his computer for a mystery tour, but he soon perked up when he realised where we were going.

We headed up to Wellington point, found a car park and walked our picnic over to the park. The weather was beautiful and the area was packed. We found a little shady spot and settled down. There is a beautiful children’s play park underneath the banyo trees, including swings, mini rock climbing walls, cubby houses and even a giant game of battle ships.

 

After convincing the kids to sit still enough to eat for a couple of minutes I let them go run wild in the park.

The park is right next to the beach, despite what it looks like from the photo, we were less than 5 meters from the sand. So once they had finished in the park, shoes came off and we went down onto the beach to play.

The tide was out which left us lots of beach to play with. There were hundreds of little crabs running across the water’s edge and the kids loved watching them (from a distance).

All in all it was a wonderful day. We went home sticky, sweaty and sandy but had a great time. They were all exhausted and even napped on the way home (successful trip in my mind).

What did you get up to over the weekend?

Exploring

In an attempt to spice up a trip to fill the pantry today, Little Miss 2 and I went exploring on the way. So we jumped in the car and headed off up through Ormiston to see what we could see. Did you know….

*     There is a brand new store opening in Ormiston called “Chatter Box Toys” opening on Tuesday 21st February.
You can check out there website http://www.chatterboxtoys.com.au/ to see the range they stock.

 

It will be great to see a new store open in the area, especially one selling quality children’s toys, which is something that was lacking before.

* Ormiston house is a beautiful heritage listed house that just up the road from Cleveland. You can find more details on the beautiful house and gardens here – http://ormistonhouse.org.au/.

Entry costs just $5 for adults and $1 for children. It is open Sunday’s from 12 – 4 and weekdays can be booked for special group visits.

 

So there you go – our 5 minute mini adventure on the way to grab some fresh fruit and vegetables found some beautiful little spots.

Maybe it is time that you went exploring in your local area. I would love to know what you find…

Coochiemudlo

By mid-morning Sunday the kids were running rampant and we needed to get out of the house to burn off some energy. So we decided to head to Coochiemudlo Island (Coochie) for lunch.

I packed a bag with some drinks, their swimming costumes and some towels and off we went. The Coochie ferry leaves from Victoria Point and is only a 15 min drive from our place, so it wasn’t long before we were finding a car park and heading down towards the jetty.

 

The yellow mountains you can see in the background are the sand dunes of Stradbroke Island (we will visit there in the future)

From the mainland all you can see of Coochie are the trees and the beach, and in all honesty there is little more. Coochie has a population of around 700, a small corner store/fish and chip shop and an all important golf course. It is a beautiful little community.

Once we reached the Island the kids spent some time playing at the park before we headed down to the beach. Unfortunately due to high tide, there was little sand for all those important things like building sand castles, but the kids had a great time in the water still.
There are volunteer life guards on duty, so you have peace of mind while you are there.

After the beach we headed off to grab some lunch from the small fish and chip shop, then started to walk around the island. The path that leads around the island is only 5km in length and makes a lovely walk… however, Little Miss 2 had fallen asleep in my arms after about 500m and Little Mr 3 requested a piggy back ride not long after. We didn’t make it the whole way, but turned to head back instead.

With the kids well and truly exhausted we headed back towards the boat for the short trip home. It was hard to believe, after 10years in the area, that I had never visited Coochie before.

Lazy Dinner

You can tell it’s the weekend when the days seem to fly by… all of a sudden it was almost 7pm and I hadn’t even thought about dinner.

So today we had a very lazy dinner, but of course, lazy with a local twist. You see I avoided the bright yellow glow of the fast food chains and stopped in at my local fish and chip shop instead.

Ok, so it’s still not the healthiest dinner choice, although they will give you more options. You can often choose how to have your fish cooked, grilled (for those health conscious souls) crumbed or battered. You could also just grab the fish and knock up some salad at home, note the could….

Another upside to shopping local is always the service. I took little miss terror (aka, my 2 yr old) to get dinner tonight. She seems to have got this “i’m cute and I know it” thing down pat now, as within about 60 secs she had the counter staff wrapped around her little finger 🙂 She loved the attention and walked away with a new teddy bear sticker as well.

So there you go, even when the day passes you by in a blur, there is still an opportunity to support local and save on the washing up.

One of those days…

Sometimes things in life just don’t go to plan. Despite best laid plans to go lots of places and show you some gorgeous photos, but I am currently at home with middle child who has been vomiting all morning (in fact, I am typing this one-handed as he sits on the other hand)

This is the time when I appreciate community the most, when I have neighbours who are around to help, when there are local shops that I can nip in to, to pick up emergency supplies, that the services I need are close by and run by other friendly locals who know what I am going through.

It’s times like these that I am thankful for the small businesses that are still there, but I am seeing more and more closing their doors. Take this as a friendly reminder to shop local, to support your local community, you never know when you’ll need someone who cares just down the road!

Coffee Time!

Ok, so that is a little bit of a lie, I don’t actually drink coffee.

Today I stopped in for lunch at Pelicans Nautical Treasures, down in Redland Bay. It is a little out of the way, but well worth the trip.

Pelicans serves incredible breakfasts and lunches, and most importantly for all of you coffee lovers, a great coffee.  But the one thing that really makes them stand out from the crowd is the location and the “to die for” view.

Pelicans Nautical Treasure is perched on the edge of the Redland Bay Harbour and looks out over the bay islands.

You can’t complain about drinking coffee with that view.

To top is all off the team are lovely and will look after you from the moment you walk in through the door.

So why not stop in (293 Esplanade, Redland Bay) to say hi and grab yourself some lunch. Remember to head over and like their Facebook page as well.

 

Bubz’n’Kidz market

This morning, after the fight to get the kids to eat breakfast and get dressed which is always fun, I packed them into the car and headed off to the Bubz’n’Kidz market. (http://www.facebook.com/bubznkidzmarket)

The Bubz’n’Kidz market is held several times a year in Birkdale and offers a range of pre-loved and hand-made babies and children’s products. The range includes clothes, accessories, toys, bedding and much, much more. There is also a coffee van on site for that caffeine hit and a sausage sizzle.

Some of the beautiful locally owned businesses there this morning include…

Pixel Pop Designs (http://www.facebook.com/PixelPopDesigns)

 

And Saffy&May (http://www.facebook.com/saffyandmay) with a beautiful range of Candy Soirees as well

 

They even have a park to occupy the children and free face painting.

Entry is only $2 per adult with kids attending for free.

So whether you just want to occupy the kids for a while on a sunday morning or pick up some bargains (whilst supporting the local community of course) check out the website for the next dates.

 

Early start

This morning, despite it being a Saturday, my alarm went of at 5:15am. I must admit it was very tempting to turn it off and roll over, especially after a late night and 2 little ones sneaking in about half way through (If you’ve every slept in the same bed as small children you’ll know they have an incredible ability to twist and turn, kick and punch, rock and roll, all while they sleep soundly…. it is not a comfortable night!

Despite all that, I didn’t press snooze, instead jumped out of bed and headed down towards Victoria Point to meet with the Bayside Runners and Walkers (BRW). The BRW meet every Saturday morning at 6am for a beautiful run along the waterfront.

You really can’t complain when this is the view from your morning run…

“We had our first run on Saturday 9th May 2009 with a humble beginning of 4 people attending,and we have grown with our regular Saturday morning sessions having an average of 50 runners and walkers in attendance.” In fact there are well over 100 runners and walkers that attended the group (not all at once though…)

The BRW aim to support runners and walkers of all fitness levels and running with them on a Saturday morning is completely free. You can go as fast or slow as you like, and everyone is welcoming of new comers. The group varies massively in fitness level, from multi-marathon runs to us out on a gentle Saturday plod, but it is wonderful to be surrounded by a group of such supportive people.

You can find more details on Bayside Runners and Walkers here –> http://baysiderunners.com/

If you are interested in increasing your fitness level and meeting a wonderful group of like-minded local people, then it’s the only place to be 🙂

 

Pink Pamper Packs

Today I went and spent the morning with the beautiful ladies from Pink Pamper Pack – (http://www.pinkpamperpacks.com/index.html).

“A Pink Pamper Pack (PPP) is a beautifully presented gift pack designed to spoil a Woman Struggling  through difficult times and is in need of pampering. It is a combination of  beauty products, vouchers, decadent food and other items which bring joy to the  face of a woman who is struggling. ”

PPP are committed to helping women in times of hardship and providing support. Make sure you go to their website and connect with them on Facebook to see just what they are up to.

This morning volunteers were creating the Pamper Packs ready to go out to local women in need. This little bundles of joy contain all sorts of little things including a mini bottle of champagne, chocolates, soaps, make up, tea, coffee, notepad, pen, face washer and lots, lots more.

Each little package is the wrapped, ready to be given away. The Pink Pamper Pack ladies are always on the look out for nominations, ladies in need who could do with a little joy in their day. Just check their website for the criteria.

The little packs look beautiful all lined up and ready to go. Make sure that you head over to their website (http://www.pinkpamperpacks.com/index.html) and their Facebook page to support them on their mission to support local women.

Thank you Pink Pamper Pack Ladies for letting me stop in this morning to help with your packing and wrapping – I love what you are doing!

If you know of any other amazing local businesses, services, charities or places make sure you let me know in the comments below. They might just appear in the next Support Local Living Blog.