Roma St Parklands- Nov 2010

 

I've mentioned before how I love botanical gardens. I love how peaceful they are. I love all the beautiful plants and flowers. I love to wander around them with those I love, stopping to admire things of beauty in nature. We took my parents to Roma St Parklands and it was especially beautiful that day!

It also was full of bearded dragons that were also enjoying the warmth of the botanical garden. We all loved them except for my dad who said they gave him the creeps. Oh I should go back a year and post the pictures of when we took them to the Botanical Gardens in Brisbane and fed the possums. They were climbing all over my mom, Varian and me, but Dad just stood there trying not to let them get too close, saying they looked too much like rats. It was awesome!

My mom and I entertain easily!

We had a fun city night exploring here, the night markets in South Bank and riding the City Cat Cruise to see the city lights from that water taxi.

 

I love this shot of Jaren - he reminds me of a celebrity trying to tell the paparazzi to stop taking his picture. Poor kid - as my son, he'll never see the end of flashing cameras.

'bout time! (Jaren's 1st Haircut 11-2010)

November 19, 2010 - Jaren's 1st haircut. Oh my heavens just look at that poor kid. Why did we wait so long is the main question?!

Mom helped hold him down while I buzzed and trimmed. He got a bit teary but it was well worth getting rid of that sad old man comb-over he had going on. :) Either way though he's such a gorgeous baby!  (Not that I'm posting this quite today (12/14/11), but Reid's hair has been getting out of control with a big mohawk growing down the middle - and today I had had enough and took the scissors to it and oh it looks a million times better. He was much easier to give a haircut to than Jaren but he's only 7 months old and Jaren here was 10 months so we'll see how Reid does at his next hair cut.)

Here are some after shots, including some experiments with gel. Ah, I'm so glad we finally cut it. When I look back at some of these pictures I'm just itching to trim his hair! :) Incidentally it was getting long again a few months ago and at the time I was working on making his baby book. His long hair was driving me crazy and so one day I strapped him in his highchair, put the buzzer on nearly it's lowest setting and went to town on his hair. He looked like a chemo-baby which we decided was not very PC to say and so we called him our Ghandi baby for awhile till it grew back a bit. You'll see when I get to those shots.

I've been trying to get tips from my talented hair dresser sister, but after every haircut I give him, how I wish she were here to do a professional job. But I'm learning as we go and for now Varian and the boys get to be my guinea pigs.

The Sea was Angry that Day

After a few hours sleep (see last post) we woke up to drive to where we were catching our boat ferry to Lady Musgrave Island - located in the Southern part of the Great Barrier Reef. Look at us up there all smiling and laughing as the boat ride just began. Pretty soon this is what I was looking like -

Oh my heavens I have never thrown up so much in my life! It was by far the worst boat ride of my life, and so incredibly miserable. I hope to never have to repeat that experience. Normally I'm a sucker for ferries, but unlike my Dramamine-taking family, I being pregnant, had only taken some ginger in the homeopathic hope that it would prevent sea sickness. I was wrong.

When the staff learned I was expecting they were concerned that I would be too sick sitting at the front of the boat. But by then the other seats were pretty crowded and so we stayed where we were. Once we hit the open sea however the boat (quite a big one by the way) was flying up and smashing down on the water, jarring your bones and making you feel like you were on a really wild roller coaster. Water was spraying in on us through the open door and soon I understood why the cabin crew was so worried about where we were sitting. They too decided the water was just too rough and they asked people in the back to move so we could sit back there. They told me that someone would hold my arms and that I was to hold on to the back of every seat as I walked to the back of the boat. I joke that being pregnant I'm fragile - but not that fragile - I thought I could walk down the aisle to the back of the boat without being supported. I was wrong.

As soon as I started walking we cleared another swell and flew through the air and I lost my balance and on my way to the floor I let out a giant man-scream (yes those of you who have ever sat next to me in a horror movie will know the one I'm talking about) and being at the front of the boat all eyes were on me. I started laughing and then happily accepted the help of the all-knowing staff who then held my arms and guided me where to hold on as I made slow baby steps through the rocking boat.

But once at the back of the boat I then had no sea breeze coming in and I had ample view of all of the other passengers who along with me became very sea sick. People started throwing up all around us and I tried to hold out but couldn't and soon all that disgusting ginger was making its way back up. For some reason I then burst into tears. The main crewman that was helping me came to check on me and I laughed through my tears saying I was fine I was just pregnant and so overly emotional and sick. He laughed and said I should cry all I wanted and to not be embarrassed. I then hoped that having thrown up and had a little crying burst I would feel better. I was wrong.

I have never had the horror-pregnancies that you hear about standing in the grocery market lines or at ward functions. I don't get morning sickness, I never throw up. In fact besides throwing up in highschool after having my tonsils out, I think the last time would have been in Jr. High or Elementary school. However on this lovely occasion the 2 1/2 hour boat ride the cabin crew was kept very busy collecting all the barf bags from me and the other passengers around me. But apparently I and some poor sucker on the top deck came in first place for filling the most bags (6) so at least that's something. :) After awhile I would just start praying - please let that be the last time. I may never be able to eat crystallized ginger again and even the last time I had ginger snap cookies I had flashbacks and almost couldn't swallow them down. :(

So anyway enough of the spew. We got to this beautiful island and began snorkeling. It was amazing. I was a bit shaky from the ride and had to adjust to sticking my face in the water and breathing, but once I got going I really loved it. What a spectacular activity and to actually be there at the Great Barrier Reef was so amazing!!!

We snorkeled, we ate, we hiked around the island, we saw sea turtles (both on the glass bottom boat to the island and snorkeling around)....it was an amazing day despite the rocky start. I'm so glad we went. It was a great adventure. I thought the boat ride home would not be as painful. I was right. :) It was more like a rocking lullaby boat and I even fell asleep at one point. What a dreat day!

On our way to the Great Barrier Reef

These posts of my parents trip are turning into a big photo album, but I still want to put them all up. I feel a bit pressured to get caught up to date before turning the blog into more of a "memoirs" as the title suggests and a bit less of a photo album, but in this age of digital photos it is nice to have a place to show them!

   

We decided to take a trip to the Great Barrier Reef (I know, so cool!!!) On the way there we wanted to make a few stops. We were up and leaving around 3 am to begin our weekend adventure. 1st stop - Tin Can Bay and feeding wild dolphins

 

My mom was thrilled at that but probably just as much at the pelicans and flower shots she got that day and throughout our trip. As a side note the Australian Pelican I believe is the largest species of pelican and it is really big and impressive!

 

We then were off to hike and see the Carlo Sand Blow which is so pretty and yet we never quite schedule enough time there. 

3rd Stop Rainbow Beach. We went there for Varian's birthday in April and loved it.It's called this for it's colored sands and above you can see a picture of one of the yellow sections. When we went last time we sauntered around (well through the pouring rain) and then a rainbow came out on the beach which I thought was stunning. This time we had a different experience. Instead of the beach being covered in rainbow mist it was covered in....dum dum dummmmmm.....JELLY FISH!!!

Okay the clear ones above are harmless and beautiful. But on the left are the blue bottle jellyfish and they sting like a mother! Ouch! They were all over in the bubbly surf that was splashing in and because we were there on high tide each time a wave would come in we'd all shriek (well I think Mom and I were shrieking, Varian's not really that reactive) and run for cover on the nearest rocks we could find to avoid being stung. It was a bit adventurous and scary. It did make it a bit hard for sauntering, but was still a fun walk. Later we went down the beach and swam in a life guarded area that wasn't so saturated with them, but both Mom and I still got stung. Frankly that's something that I've always been nervous about, but it wasn't as bad as I imagined it to be. It stung, mind you, but after 1/2 hour or less it had gone away. Later that day I got an ant bite that hurt a million times more/longer (ants here can be nasty). 

   

Jaren enjoyed his new favorite activity - sand eating. (Below I'm singing the Sesame St song in my head of one of these things is not like the other.)

Final stop The Mon Repos Turtle Encounter where we waited to watch sea turtles come onto the beach to lay their eggs. Sadly none came in time for us to see them as we had to be up so early the next day to catch our boat. SI tried to talk my parents and Varian into not being so weak sauce and wanting sleep, but was unsuccessful. Sigh.We'll have to go back.

 

ps: I've been wanting to remind readers that in these posts I'm not just getting chubby, I'm actually pregnant with Reid. Here I'm about 3 months pregnant. :)