A Trip to Noosa on the Sunshine Coast!

 Well, of course Grandma and Grandpa had to join us for our weekly tradition of "Cookie Day" or as Park calls it "Fry-Day".  Every Friday after school we head to the Yeronga shops and get a treat.  Park usually gets hot chips (fries...hence "Fry-Day") the girls try out different treats and smoothies, but I usually can't stray from my fave treat here...a chocolate mud scone from Baker's Delight!!!  And yah, my parents fell for them too!  Yay for cookie day! (I actually sent them home with a couple mud scones for the flight
back...just a lingering taste of Brisby!)  At the Yeronga Shops we also found Chompers.  And Gramps was in heaven.  Fish and Chips at Chompers is some of Brisbane's best bites!  We treated ourselves way too many times while they were here!

 We had to show Grandma, a fellow lover of grand shopping, the Carindale Mall!  It is a MASSIVE mall with tons of cool shops.  You can easily get really lost at Carindale.  We enjoyed playing with all kinds of things in the Australia Geographic Shop and of course, how could we leave without having kebabs for dinner!

Lebanese kebabs are a favorite here in Oz and our family loves them.  We like mixed meat (lamb and chicken) with tahini hommus and carrots, lettuce and all the "salads" as they say here. They are so big, the girls usually just share one.

Grams and Gramps loved kebabs!

 Then we took off for the Sunshine Coast and the beaches of Noosa!  We had such a blast!  We got to swim with jelly fish (the non-stinging kind).  We even picked them up and let them slime through our fingers.  It was so interesting.

 We all loved boogie boarding and even Gramps had a go.  He caught a couple really good waves and when we caught his best one, it kinda caught him too and he lost his shorts while he was on the top of the wave!  Oh well, it's Australia, some people don't even wear swimsuits on the beaches here :)

We had so much fun with Grandma and Grandpa.  Syd said, "Well, Grandma was trying not to get her hair wet and then she just kinda got tackled by a big wave and ...down she went.  I think she was ok getting her hair wet though.  She came up laughing....that's the beach for ya!"

 We loved the little town of Noosa.  We walked to the shops, explored the boutiques and enjoyed all it had to offer.  Our apartment was awesome.  It was a fun little beach house and a good place for cards, bbqs and movie nights.  We even taught Oaks how to play Pounce.  She was the best 4 year old card player I've ever seen.  She'd pair up with Grandma and when things got moving fast, as they always do in Pounce, she'd take a breath and say, "Ok Grandma, where am I lookin?"

We love kayaking!  And we convinced my parents to come along with us and kayak the Noosa River.  It was so much fun, aren't my parents amazing?

 We rented our kayaks and got all set for our river adventure.

 Park got his own kayak.

 Me and Grandma and Syd manned one boat and Lex, Gramps and Oaks handled the other one.

We set off paddling!

 All was going just fine until...

 The boys got a little cocky and...whoops!  They capsized their kayak.  Oh, it was hilair.  Oaklee came up sputtering and the only thing she was bothered about was her missing flip flops.  Luckily they floated to the surface and the day was saved.

 We were close to the other shore, so they walked their boat in.  While I just kept snapping picture after picture.  Oh good times!

 Grandma was really proud of her dry-self and felt we better document her pretty much captaining our boat to safety!  Ay-Ay, Ca'tn!

 We had so much fun kayaking!  I love that my parents were willing to join us.  They never flinched just grabbed the oars and off we went.  Who doesn't like a good kayaking run?

The girls were very serious about kayaking.  We decided to take a pic of our tough faces.  Sydney was very serious about her very serious face.  Mean and tough isn't her strong suit, but serious and looking off into the distance developing a strategy...yes, yes that! :)

 Oaks playing on the shore after we got back off the river.

Park and Bird had a little dip in the river while the guys took the kayaks in.  The water was warm and just right for cooling off after a good row.

 Our beach house had an awesome pool and although we were at the river and beach most of the days...it still felt good to swim at nights.

We went on a really cool hike in the Noosa forest and saw a rock formation on the beach below the hiking path.  We were at a look out and the sign called it "The Boiling Pot".  It fills up and empties as the waves come in.  We saw some people jumping in and decided we wanted a dip in the boiling pot as well.  We hiked down the mountain and found the spot.  It was awesome.  My kids are brave and strong.  I love that they are adventurous and willing to try new things.  The water would come in fast and no one could touch the bottom.  Then it would slowly drain out again.

It really felt like a boiling pot...but with cold ocean water.  The water was roiling and crashing around.  It was so much fun.  We saw some awesome sea life on all the rocks around the edges.  "Breathing Rocks" as Oaks called them, because there was so much life on them, it actually looked like they were breathing in out when the water would drain.  There was all kinds of life in that pot.

 Brave Kiddos-- Having a blast!

We walked along the beach and met Grandma and Grandpa for another great day at the Noosa beaches.

This is a look out point on the hike.  Gorgeous!!!

 On the way back, we took some more foresty trails.  There were some really fun plants to see and animals to find.

 Grandma and Birdy...stuck like glue, pretty much all of December!  What a great relationship they have.  It's so special to see how she just adores her Grandma and how Grandma just makes her feel like a million bucks.  I love it.

Of course, we had to do some vine swinging.  All the kiddos loved climbing, hanging and swinging.

ALL THE KIDDOS!  Of course, Lex had a go.

Even Gramps got in on the vine action.  The vines are so awesome in the rainforests here.

 On the way out of the forest, we got to watch a koala rescue.  An unhealthy koala was stuck up in a tree and a rescue guy climbed up there with a harness and netted him down.  They take him to a shelter from there to treat his infections and then send him back out to the wild.  Real koalas are just as cute as everyone thinks they are!

 Lots of castles being built by 3 of the best sand architects I know!

A lot of this happening!  Yes, the beach is awesome.

For dinner we wanted to treat Grandpa to a true "Ausse Burger"-- that usually entails, huge piece of meat, cheese, lettuce, tomato, pickle, pineapple, beet root, bacon (ham slice), a fried egg and massive buns.  We found a Burger Barn with awards for best burgers in Queensland.  And they did not dissapoint!!!  The burgers were so enormous they came on a slab of wood with a huge knife stuck in them to keep them standing up and also so you can cut them up and eat them in sections...because no one's mouth could actually fit that thing!  But don't worry, the boys finished them off pretty handily!

A true Aussie Burger!!!

 Oaks tearing into her baby burger.  Too big to finish!

 The town of Noosa was really fun.  It was very quaint and full of live entertainment on the streets and plenty of stores to keep me occupied for hours on end.

During the trip, we did have one minor set back.  The Old Pajero nearly bit the dust.  But our 2 miracle worker mechanics, Lex and Park got her purring again!  Oh the Pajero.  Just hang on another 6 months!!!  You can do it!!!

 Enjoying some New Zealand ice cream on the boardwalk!

 A slurpee is good no matter what continent you're on!

Here is Park with some random Noosa guy that apparently thinks he is part Captain Hook.  He just walks around with his McCaw parrot on his shoulder.  And barring the line of bird poop that stains the back of his shoulder...it's a pretty cool pet!  Thanks random pirate for the photo op.

We had a blast at Noosa!  When can we go back?  And will Grandma and Grandpa come too?