28 August 08

Remember the wonderful Crocodile Hunter? Well my sons are following in the Australian icon's footsteps except it's not crocs and snakes etc that they are fearlessly tussling with its Ibis's. An Ibis being an incredibly unattractive and scabby bird found anywhere there might be the slightest chance of picnic leftovers. The boys were a sight to behold stampeding after the Ibis's as they defended their dinner last night. I might see if I can audition them for Bindi the Jungle Girl but that will have to wait until we get back from Perth. We are being picked up by shuttle bus to take us up to Brisbane Airport at 1.30pm and Paul's Aunty Helen is going to look after the house and of course the cat for the 11 days we are away. We will sleep easy knowing Daisy is ok and waking someone else up with the birds. Bye for now.

25 August 08

My thought for the day...al fresco peeing:
Is it just my son who specializes in the art of relieving himself outdoors? Today I had to surreptitously lower him over the beach wall and onto the stones below so he could down trou. Does he do his business subtly? Nope the bigger the arc the better. Given that it is illegal to urinate in public I live in fear of a tap on the shoulder from an unsympathetic Mr Plod who doesn't understand that when Josh has to go he has to go. x

21 August 08

Yesterday we saw a whale and her calf, a snake that would have got Steve Irwin excited and 1000's of bats swooping out across empty fields as dusk set in. I know I am showing my age by harking back to the 80's but honestly the song 'Great Southern Land' by Icehouse sprang to mind. I think the reason I have to draw on songs of old for descriptive purposes is that since having the boys the only music I have really listened to is either ABBA, the Nursery Rhymes CD I won from Little Treasures Magazine or the Gymbaroo disc that Emily burned for me. The reason for this being that when it is quiet in our house I am just so grateful for the peace. Now that we have established I am a bit of a saddo in the muso department I am going to change the subject and rave about Byron Bay. Paul took the day off (he had put in two 6 hours days on Mon and Tues poor love so he deserved a break) and we headed down the Pacific Highway to the famous beach. My knowledge of Byron Bay stretched to it being a surf beach where there has been the odd great white attack over the years and that it is a backpackers and hippy haven. I wasn't prepared for how beautiful it was going to be. I said to Paul, "I could live here." I wavered a bit on purchasing my slice paradise when we stumbled across a python. That and the fact we don't have a couple of mil lying round. There we were huddled in a small group looking aghast at this gianormous snake sunning itself brazenly on the beach boardwalk when a barefoot young lad wandered past and told us it was only a carpet snake. It didn't take away from the drama of the moment for me because no matter what it was it was still big and ugly. Having exhausted the delights of the Byron Bay play area we headed up to the lighthouse where the views over Cape Byron were truly magnificent. I kept saying to Paul, "This is so beautiful!" while waving my camera around. He got a bit shitty when I tried to take a photo of him and Josh climbing the steps up to the lighthouse. I dont know if he was worried about the camera angle on his backside or concerned with keeping his first born on the stairs rather than over the edge. He still bought me a double scoop of overpriced icecream though and soon not only was I full with icecream I was full with the delights of mother nature as we spied a whale with her calf in the surf below us. We decided to head inland on our way home via the timewarp town of Nimbin and all I can say about Nimbin is, "Wow far out - freaky man." With it's psychadelic shop frontages and smell of all things green drifting down the street not to mention it's paranoid long haired inhabitants it was kind of cool man. Dusk was setting as we wound our way home in time to witness the shadowy shapes of the bats sweeping across the sky. Australia is growing on me.

18 August 08

Goodmorning, well I started the morning seriously motivated and went for a run down the beach front. I am over all the skinny blonde women they all look the same anyway and I figure it does the general Gold Coast community good to see what a real woman's bum looks like when she goes for a jog! Josh's words of wisdom this morning were, "Mummy I am angry about something." "What's that then?" I replied as he came out of the bathroom. "I am angry because my poose is green." He answered looking very concerned about the situation.I assured him it was probably down to the green iced donut he had the other day and he ran off happily. Meanwhile Daniel was strutting around in a pair of heavy duty flanel underpants. I have decided to bite the bullet and start toilet training. Judging by the fact he peed his pants approximately 15 minutes after donning them I think it is going to be a slow process. Oh well at least the weather's good to get all that extra washing dry. Paul's back at work this morning after having all of last week off mind you with a 9am start you could hardly say he is hard at it. He has nearly finished his 1000 piece jigsaw thank goodness! It was beginning to cause marital disharmony because every time I finished doing martyr bit ie emptying the dishwasher or hanging out the washing he was too busy doing his jigsaw to notice. Jigsaw aside we had a really fun week last week. Thursday saw us up and at it and on the road to Brisbane by 7.30am. We were off to the EKKA, Brisbanes huge A&P Show. As arranged we met our old friend Kath from our Ireland days along with her new hubby, Mike and their wee boy Luke. Do you know what I love about good friends? The fact that it doesn't matter if it has been 6 months or five years since you last saw each other when you meet up again it's like you saw each other yesterday. The highlight of the EKKA was the showbags. Showbags being massively discounted goodybags. I bought my own personal shipment of knockoff perfume while the boys thought Christmas had come early with M&M goody bags. Needless to say we paid for all that sugar consumption on the way home with Daniel screaming all the way down the freeway that he wanted to go to McDonalds. On Saturday another good pal from our Ireland days came down from Brisbane with her partner, Monique and their two boys for a picnic on the beach. Twas lovely to catch up. Last night I heated up one of Pam and Bob's frozen $4.95 ham & pineapply Pizza Hut pizzas, wrapped it in a towel and we headed down to the lagoon for tea. Once the boys had eaten their oh so healthy dinner they charged round like loonies while Paul and I kicked back with a glass of red each and listened to music courtesy of a drug and alcohol free event being held nearby, funny how all the party goers looked pissed! Anyway it was one of those perfect family moments where you look at your kids and your hubby and think all is great in the world. We all need one of those every now and then to keep us going!

12 August 2008

I never saw myself as a greenpeace kind of a gal but after what I witnessed today I am ready to part my hair in the middle, forego my razor and throw away my makeup. Stereotypical of me I know but hey it's my blog and I am still buzzing from our visit to Seaworld. How we came to visit Seaworld today is kind of a long story but last week when we were at Movieworld Paul,in true Vernal style, signed us up for an Accor seminar in return for free theme park tickets. I'm sure you know there is nothing for nothing in this world and on Saturday morning we sat through two, nearly three hours of hard sell at the Sofitel Hotel while the boys were entertained in the Kids Room. Our salesman, John was gushing as he got us fantasizing about spending the rest of our lives staying in five star resorts on our annual hols for a fraction of the normal cost. He wasn't gushing when we weren't keen to hand over the $21,000 required to realize this fantasy - in fact he was quite short. Still we scored a couple of coffees and some biccies as well as our Seaworld passes while we were there plus the boys were entertained all morning so it wasn't all bad. Paul finished his painting job for Margaret yesterday and yes, he is in right there with another job lined up next week. Hence we decided to use our passes today. Good pick, Seaworld was busy but not overly so and we spent the whole day there. The boys were bug eyed looking at everything and in typical Josh style we were given approximately 2 seconds to look at each sea creature before being herded on to the next one. The mono rail was a huge hit with Daniel who is definitely heading for a career in the Railways. A highlight for me was the Dugong. What the **** is a Dugong you may well ask? I too had no idea when I stepped inside the aquarium to see a Dugong called Pig. Actually now that I think about it I still don't really know much about Pig thanks to Josh and his 2 second rule. A cross between a whale, a walrus and a seal,he was big, white and loves seagrass and that's about the limit of my knowledge. Nevertheless it was amazing to watch how graceful this huge creature was. What pushed me over the edge and saw me wanting to join the Greenies though was the Dolphin display. All I can say is WOW! I actually wrote a segment in my book that sees my heroin having an up close and personal episode swimming with dolphins. Not having done it myself it was all imagination with a bit of help from my friend Bron thrown in. It is now on my list of must do's. Now this little tale will make you smile,it made me laugh outloud. In need of a loo my Paul disappeared only to return a few minutes later red-faced. It seems he saw a sign depicting clasped hands which he took as someone washing their hands and barged on in. Now thankfully he is not an over eager lad and he hadn't already unzipped when he popped up in the Prayer Room.

We finished the day off with a fish n chip basket down on the beach. Oh life's tough!

9 August 2008

Oh how I remember the days of getting up after 9.00am on Saturday only to make coffee and toast to take back to bed. Thanks to Daisy the cat who prowls round the house howling at odd hours, the boys woke up at 4.45am this morning. Of course I screeched at them that it was the middle of the night and to go back to sleep but I knew it was a lost cause when they stampeded into our room and switched on all the lights. Daisy's nocturnal activities are down to the fact that cats are not allowed outside between 6.00pm and 6.00am here. As ridiculous as this sounds the reason for their curfew is because birdlife is protected on the Gold Coast and under cover of darkness is when cats like to go hunting. Hence Daisy takes her frustration at having to be home by 6 out on us. Sleep deprivation aside we had a pretty exciting week with a visit from cousin Alison whom I had never met. Alison is 25 and having a blast tripping around Australia on her big O.E. A complete chatterbox it was lovely to spend time with her. She only had a day here and she decided she wanted to do something really cool so that the boys associated the name Alison with fun. She shouted us to Dreamworld. Josh, Alison and I went on the log flume ride and I just had to buy the photo even though it is all a money making gimmick. Paul reckons he never knew my mouth was so big - I was screaming that loud. Poor Danny was too small to go on so Paul consoled him by taking him for a ride on the miniature train. We dropped Alison at Coolangatta Airport later that afternoon with promises to try and meet up again before she heads back to the UK. Friday morning is playgroup. Daniel was in disgrace after putting on a shocker of a toy snatching performance. Not content with having upset three quarters of the play group he proceeded to do more of the same over at the park. We had to leave before a local mother's group lynched us. He was worn out after all the fun at Dreamworld the day before, that's my excuse for his behaviour and I am sticking to it. With his 5.45am start this morning I have a feeling we should stick pretty close to the Vernal Family base camp today.

4 August 08

Well my jogging career is over before it even began. Is this due to injury you ask? Ah no it's basically due to a lack of motivation. Paul however has gone from one extreme to another. Not only is he jogging regularly but he rushed over to Westfield in Helensvale to score a half price AB machine at the K-mart there last Thursday. I am hoping he is not having some sort of mid-life crisis that culminates in him jogging off with a busty, bleached blonde who actually enjoys running. Though, having just glanced over my shoulder to where he is presently lying on the couch with an empty bowl of custard and icecream I think I shall stop worrying and serenade him with "I love you just the way you are" instead.
Our weekend was relatively quiet with a fry up at Paul's Aunty Rosalie's cafe at the Southport Yaucht Club for breakfast on Sunday followed up by a visit to Currumbin Beach. The boys were fascinated by a statue of a sunbathing lady. I decided enough was enough when I caught Josh copping a feel of her boobies. Today Paul went off to work while I wandered down the beach front with the boys, stopping off at the different parks along the way. Though the weather here is gorgeous and we feel right at home staying at Pam and Bob's I cant see us ever calling the Gold Coast home. The sight of ten or twelve total bogans or, as my friend Kath would put it, socio economically disadvantaged people holding a booze up near the children's playground reinforced this feeling. I think it has done me good to spend some time away from home if only to realize that nowhere is an Avalon and that it is up to me and Paul to do our best where our boys are concerned. Enough of my profound life revelations and back to Aunty Rosalie - she offered to babysit for us tomorrow night. YEEHA! So Paul and I are going to go out for dinner. He told me we are not fine dining though as he wants a decent feed. Romance is not dead and on that note I shall put the dishwasher on and head up to bed.