Birthdays, Halloween & Things In-between!

Last week was very, very busy!

Monday afternoon, Jessica had a piano recital/Halloween party and Samuel had his first Occupational Therapy session.  After that it was MacDonalds for dinner and then we went in search of the the

GREAT PUMPKIN

for

Family Home Evening

Jim and I spent Tuesday evening at a seminar on Autism at St. Joseph's Hospital.  It was very informative.

9am Wednesday morning, Jim and I made a decision that is going to change our lives forever. 

We took Samuel to look at Golden Retriever puppies.

We pick up our puppy on Saturday at 5pm

Puppy proofing our house has been worse than baby proofing our house.

Paradise Golden Retrievers

Samuel and I then zipped across town for a hearing test.  Sam passed with flying colours.

Wednesday evening, Jim and Jessica went to a special college open house at church.  The different Latter-day Saint schools were represented and had information on their school for high school seniors.

Sam and I went to church to make some copies for the boy scouts and afterwards we went to

for a

This is probably Samuel's second favorite food!!!

Can't remember which day I took this photo.  We had some Italian bread to go along with our dinner, Jim was trying to teach Sam how to tear a piece off the loaf.........Sam just said, "Tank you," and took the whole thing!

Thursday, at approximately 6am, Samuel turned 4-years-old! 

We had Halloween cup cakes to celebrate.  Later that day, not at 6am.

Jessica had a harp concert that night.  Jim and Sam stayed at home and did manly things like wrestling, spitting and watching baseball.  There was possibly some more cup cake consumption that took place.  No one would admit it, but there was a lack of cup cakes on the plate and a copious amount of crumbs on the couch.

Friday night

Saturday morning was SAT prep class for Jessica.

I cleaned the house.

and then...........

Samuel had never carved a pumpkin before.  Last year we didn't get a pumpkin because we were in Canada.

Jessica passing on her knowlege of removing pumpkin guts.

Of all the tools we had on hand, spoons proved to be the best thing to dig out guts.

Great big globs of ooey gooey pumpkin guts

ooey gooey pumpkin guts

ooey gooey pumpkin guts

Great big globs of ooey gooey pumpkin guts

and me without a spoon!

.............wait a minute........we do have spoons!!!

Being our resident artist, Jessica took over the carving.  A simple ghoulish smile was not good enough for her this year.

Samuel was just exhausted by the whole thing!!!

I know this is a bit out of focus, but Sam followed me around saying, "CHEESE", until I took a photo!!!!  He kept getting up really close and then backing away.

We spent the afternoon melting at a Trunk and Treat at church.  Great activity, but boy was it hot!!  Sam was very excited when he discovered that all he had to say was, "Trick or Treat," and people put candy in his bag!

Right before we headed off to go trick or treating.

Can you tell what Jessica carved on the pumpkin??

Jessica went to a Halloween party, she took off before I could get a picture of her, so this one will just have to do!!!!

Sunday was a normal busy Sunday!

Monday, we finally got to give Samuel his birthday cake.

Samuel loves "Blue's Clues", so that is the cake he got to enjoy!

Sam's puppy will probably be named Blue

Happy birthday to you

Happy birthday to you

Happy birthday dear Saaaaam

Happy birthday to you!!!!

Sally-Ann

Devils, and Wombats, and Roos, OH MY! Tasmanian Devils that is..........

DEVILS

WOMBATS

and ROOS

Oh my!!!!

Our main destination for our last Thursday in Australia was.........

Trowunna Wildlife Park

Each time we come back to Tasmania, this is one of the places we make sure we visit.

Joshua, Jessica and friend

I'm the king of the castle...........

Feeding kangaroos is a very tickley experience

Sam loved the cockatoos, they kept saying "Hello" to him everytime he started to walk away and then they all had a bit of a dance - Sam included!!  Joshua and Jessica fed the kangaroos a couple of bags of food and wandered around.  Sam hadn't had a "accident" the entire trip, preceeded to wet his pants, his spare pants and then a extra pair that I found tucked down the bottom of his bag.  Sam and I went and sat in the car and had a snack of Teddy Bear Biscuits.

On the drive to the wildlife park, the big kids had spied a Honey Farm store and museum in the middle of a tiny town called Chudleigh........of course, they wanted to stop and take a look......never mind that their little brother was pantless!

It was a cute place, suprisingly interesting!!!

They breed very big bees in Tasmania

The shop had anything and everything that you could possibly imagine......as long as it was to do with bees and honey!

They didn't have pants for Sam.........Jim wouldn't let me buy a yellow and black striped pair of tights for him.   They would have kept his bare little legs warm.........

It was fun tasting all the different types of honey.  Leatherwood is one of my favourites.

Bye-bye bees

We went to Deloriane to have a picnic lunch.  There is a nice park by the river, with a fun playground.  We did make a pit stop at St. Vinnies and picked up a nice pair of trousers for Samuel.  We didn't want any pantless Purdys running around the town.

We headed back towards Ulverstone.  Stopped off at Graham and Dianne's.

That afternoon we went and visited Dad's grave.

Another good day,  can't believe that our trip is nearly over!

Sally-Ann

Lunch with a Bunch.......of family that is!!

Today is Tuesday and we are meeting family at.........

The Lighthouse is on the main street in Ulverstone and is a bar/bistro/hotel.  It has been there for as long as I can remember, but the outside look has changed a few times over the years.  The latest look is a.......well........a lighthouse!

The outside.

The restaurant area.

They even have a great play area for the kids inside the restaurant - without there being a clown with big red shoes and wild red hair in sight!

Here is a copy of the menu, prices are pretty expensive for lunch.

STARTERS....

Garlic Bread $ 5.95
Herb Bread $ 5.95
Venue Bread $ 5.95


Fresh bread of the day, made in house


* Bruschetta $ 6.95
Ciabatta, topped with an Italian spicy tomato salsa and melted
mozzarella cheese


Soup of the Day $ 6.95
Bread Roll $ 1.50

ENTREE....

* King Prawn & Shrimp Cocktail $12.95
Fresh king prawns & shrimp served on lettuce & drizzled with a cocktail dressing

Scallops $12.95
Served either battered or crumbed


Seasoned Calamari Rings $11.95
Crumbed, seasoned with lemon pepper & fried until golden brown


Cajun Scallop Mornay $12.95
Pan fried in Cajun spices and cooked in a cheese mornay sauce


Garlic Prawns $12.95
Prawns sautéed in a garlic cream sauce & served with a timbale
of rice


* Caesar Salad $10.95
Crisp lettuce, bacon, croutons, shaved Parmesan cheese,
egg, tossed through our in house dressing


* Chicken Caesar Salad $12.95
Crisp lettuce, bacon, croutons, shaved Parmesan cheese, egg,
tossed through our in house dressing served with grilled chicken


Nachos $10.95
Corn chips, topped with tomato salsa, cheese, guacamole
& sour cream


Satay Spring Rolls $12.95
Vegetarian delight, served with a sweet soy glaze

MAINS....

Tridents Catch $24.95
Tasmanian Salmon, grilled and topped with semi dried tomato,
asparagus & a lemon dill hollandaise


Battered Fish & Chips $19.95
Served with tartare sauce & lemon wedges


Deep Sea Platter $24.95
The Chefs selection of hot & cold seafood, served with chips
& garnished with fresh fruit


Garlic Prawns $21.95
Prawns sautéed in a garlic cream sauce, served with a timbale of rice


Scallop Cajun Mornay $21.95
Pan fried in Cajun spices cooked in a cheese mornay sauce


* Hokkien Beef $19.95
Strips of marinated beef, stir fry vegetables & hokkien noodles
with a Thai beef dressing


* Lighthouse Roast $17.95
A roast to leave home for


Chicken Schnitzel $18.95
Chicken breast crumbed, fried & topped with your favourite sauce


Chicken Parmigiana $19.95
Chicken Schnitzel topped with tomato salsa, ham & melted cheese


The Works $19.95
Chicken schnitzel topped with crispy bacon pieces, pineapple,
barbeque sauce & melted mozzarella cheese


* Chicken Breast $20.95
Marinated & grilled served on a sweet potato mash with your choice of sauce


Chicken & Scallop Filo $20.95
Sautéed chicken & scallops finished in a creamy sauce, wrapped
in filo pastry and oven baked

GRILL.....

* Scotch Fillet 300g $24.95


* Rump Steak 400g $20.95


* Eye Fillet 250g $26.95


Mixed Grill $24.95
Sausage, steak, lamb chop, chicken, bacon, onion, egg, fried tomato, mushroom cap, barbeque sauce & chips


*Your healthy choice options
we recommend these dishes be served with vegetable or salad

I particularly like the bit on the bottom that suggests that if you add a vegetable or salad, the meal will be healthy!  Never mind the Flinstone size portions, etc.........a salad will wipe it all away!

Below are some candid shots of family.  Remember, Joshua had the camera, I asked him to get some good shots of family members together - I should have explained myself a bit better!

Marie Woodhouse (sitting), married to my Mum's cousin.  They used to live just up the road from us and she would babysit me. 

My brother Graham (plaid shirt).

 Nephew Jason and sister-in-law, Dianne.

My sister Gayle (sitting far left)

Nephew, Andrew

Niece, Katrina

Step-mum, Birdie (sitting)

Auntie Lyn, Mum's youngest sister

Dianne, Graham, Andrew

Gayle, Birdie, Marie

Andrew, Katrina, Jason

Andrew, Anthony, Jessica

Same group again, but......this time......Jessica is.......'

SMILING!

I suspect Auntie Lyn is giving Graham an earfull for not stopping by to visit more often!!!

Birdie

Sam and me

4 of the group were having birthdays within the next few days, so Dianne and Katrina baked a cake!

Anthony, Joshua, Jason & Denise

Happy birthday to you

Happy birthday to you

Happy birthday dear Jason, Denise, Anthony & Joshua

Happy birthday to you!!!!!

After eating and visiting, we drove to Devonport to look around.

This is looking across the river from the Esplanade to East Devonport.

The Esplanade is a park that runs along the river from downtown Devonport to the Bluff.

The Spirit of Tasmania is an over night ferry service from Devonport to Melboune.  Ideal if you want to take your own car.

This house is located just off the Esplanade, and I would like to own it very much.

I think the Chicken Feed store was one of my Mum's favorite stores.  She would often send things to us that she had found there.  We bought an extra suitcase to bring home Tim Tams.

Sally-Ann

Platypus Capital of the World!

Today we spent the day in.......

LATROBE

PLATYPUS CAPITAL

OF THE

WORLD

We found a spot to park the car on the main street of Latrobe, and then headed off to explore a little bit.

Several people    EVERYONE has told us about a store in Latrobe that we absolutely needed to see, that a trip to Latrobe.....Tasmania......or even the whole of Australia wouldn't be complete without visiting this store.

So, with a recommendation like that, how could we possibly not check it out???

Reliquaire

Reliquaire is the name of the store, and if you want to check it out more, click on the link.

This store was packed to the rafters with stuff.  You name it, they had it.

Teddy bears and dolls

science stuff

books

Tasmanian food

ornamental things for your garden

renovation items

infant & children games, clothes, etc.

fairy room

puppets

telephones

the list goes on and on!

The foyer was jammed packed with things......so was the rest of the store!!!

These life size dolls were showing a little more wrinkley skin than a normal person would care to see, but they seemed familiar.........mmmmh?

Those who have ever been to a beach in Florida......

I loved this telephone, but the price tag was a little steep very steep - over $400! Everything in the shop was pricey, but it was fun.  Samuel liked the spook corridor and stomped his way up and down to make all the scary things go off.  At the end was a mirror room that was amazing.  Sam was lost in the maze of rooms and stuff on several occassions......at these times Jim and I just prayed that we didn't hear a great crash coming from somewhere.....remember the phone cost over $400 and that was cheap.  The big kids had a good time exploring as well.  I caught glimpses of them as we passed by doorways and turned corners.

We continued down the street where the kids found a big chess board and proceeded to play a game.  Jim and I chased Sam in and out of stores and tried to convince him that taking off down the street with a chess piece that was taller than him, wasn't a good idea!

We then headed off to Graham and Dianne's for lunch and to catch-up with everyone.  Graham, Jason and Andrew were coming back from the Lakes this morning.

Everyone was there except for Andrew.  Graham and Jason suspected that Andrew and his friend may be stuck in the snow.

We had a great lunch and then talked, and talked, and talked and

...........talked some more.

Anthony, Jason, Katrina, Dianne........and........my brother, Graham - waving?

No funny business in this photo!!

So, the big kids pulled out the legos for Samuel to play with.

What is missing in this picture????

Yep, no Sam to be seen, but the big kids are hard at work!!

Well, it was time to head out again.  We had a appointment to go on a platypus encounter.

How many people does it take to put shoes on one small child???

Last time we were in Australia, we tried and tried to spot a platypus in the wild.  We did get a brief glimpse of one, but wanted to try again.

"In 10 years of conducting tours, Ron Hedditch has never failed to spot a platypus at Warrawee Forest Reserve near Latrobe. The site is so reliable that David Attenborough and documentary makers from Japan and Germany have filmed there, and the local council agreed to call Latrobe the “platypus capital of the world”. Hedditch and his brothers are the core of a Landcare group that turned a 10ha quarry site into a thriving platypus habitat by the Mersey River. Picnic and barbecue facilities are under towering white gums, and there’s an observation boardwalk. It’s free, but to guarantee sightings, go with a guide for $10 a person. You might also see wombats, tawny frogmouths and possums. "

True to their promise, we found platypus!!!

Truly a unique animal that cannot be found anywhere else in the world.

A great end to a great day.

Sally-Ann

Sunday

Sunday was a sunny, but quite nippy, day.  We all got ready for church, packed a picnic lunch and headed out.  We arrived at church a few minutes late and quickly found a pew to accommodate us.  I was worried that there wouldn't be anyone there that I knew, or that would remember me.  It had been 12 years since we were there last and with Mum gone, I hadn't had very much contact with the people who attended the Devonport Ward.

But, as I looked around, I saw many familiar faces.  Sitting in front of us was Wayne and Maureen Lunson.  A few seats up, Mike Fitzpatrick.  The Travis family and the Horsmans

I felt quite emotional.  These people had played a big part in my life while I was growing-up.  Together, as a small branch of our church, we had saved and saved to build the building that we were sitting in.  Many parts of it was built with our own hands.  My friend Angela and I had stained the wood in the library.  For a youth activity we put the insulation in the ceiling. 

They were people who had been my Branch President, Bishop, Primary President, Home Teacher......and friends.  They were people who remembered my Mum and had helped care for her.

It was so good to see them again.

After catching up a bit with everyone, we went to the Devonport Lawn Cemetary to go and see Mum's grave.  I hadn't been able to come home for Mum's funeral, so this was the first time that I had gotten to see it.  I know that it is just a plaque, but it was important.

My Auntie Lyn had given us great country directions to find Mum's gravesite.  Down to the number of garbage cans to look for on the side of the road!  I only just found out that you could get a map on line that pinpointed the location - who would have thought???

We found the spot with out incident using Auntie Lyn's directions, but......... we had not anticipated............

PLOVERS!!!!

These birds are the things that nightmares are made of.  The Alfred Hitchcock movie, "Birds", could have been made just using these birds and no other.

I kid you not.

Many a child growing-up in Tasmania has fallen prey to these swooping, evil birds.  They are mainly aggressive during nesting time, I think they just do it for fun.  They have barbs on their wings that can scratch if they swoop close enough to make contact........they swoop very, very close.  I had warned my family about  Plovers, but this was their first experience with them.  We managed to get close enough to take a photo of Mum's grave stone.  Jessica wouldn't venture from the side of the car once she saw how close those dreadful birds came to your head.

I love my Mum and I miss her.

We drove to Latrobe and had our picnic lunch at a place called "Bells Parade."  It had changed quite a bit since my childhood, but was still very beautiful.  When I stayed with Graham and Dianne, my nephews, niece and I would ride our bikes down to Bells Parade and swim.

We then went on to my brothers' place.  My neice, Katrina, and nephews, Andrew and Jason, had come over from Western Australia to see us.  Andrew and Jason had gone up to the lakes to spend some time there with their Dad, but Katrina was there.  It was very, very good to see her again.  We had all grown-up like brothers and sisters, we are closer in age than I am to Graham and Gayle.  We had a wonderful visit and were coming back tomorrow for lunch.

This is my sister's oldest son, David, his wife Denise and their little boy, Freddie.

David loves trains and he helps to run a minature railway just outside of Ulverstone.  They only operate on the 1st Sunday of the month during the winter, so we stopped by there to have a ride.

We rode on David's train, which is a replica of a Amtrack train. We thought we would just do a couple of loops around the track, but David had other ideas!!! We went around and around and around.........

I lost track of how many times, and we would probably still be going around if other people hadn't come for a ride!! It was great fun and David showed us all of the other trains that were there.

The big kids were good sports!!

It was a good day.

Sally-Ann

The Mersey Bluff

One of our favorite places to go  in Tasmania, is The Mersey Bluff in Devonport.  When my parents divorced, Mum and I moved to Devonport and we lived within walking distance to the bluff.  During the summer, my friends and I would spend a lot of our afternoons swimming here.

We enjoyed walking along the paths.  There was a fantastic playground for Samuel.  Just a great place to go and hang out for a little bit of down time.

One summer my Mum rented a caravan for us and my sister-in-law, niece and nephews.

It was a fun week.

Located at the bluff is Tiagarra, an aboriginal museum.

If you look around the area, you can find aboriginal rock carvings.

This is taken off a lookout overlooking "the blowhole".  When I was a teenager, teenagers would jump into this......I'm not saying I did, but others may have been foolhardy enough to try.

Jessica and I on the lookout overlooking the blow hole.

I love lighthouses.

Samuel had a fun time running around the paths, chasing seagulls, trying to climb all over the rocks and get to the water.

Jim, Sally-Ann, Joshua and Jessica had fun chasing Samuel around the paths, all over the rocks and through the water!

Because it is a popular beach, there is a surf lifesaving club there.

This is a big thing in Australia.

Now, they may wear funny hats, but they are very athletic.

Found this picture of life savers in action.  They had a shot of them from another angle, but I would have had to slap on a big, blue butterfly for modesty sake.  Take note of the speedos. Speedos don't hide very much. Speedos are from Australia......not sure if I want to admit that or not, in fact, I don't think I will.

So you don't have that image seared into your brain.......

Here are two better images.

I must be getting old, I prefer this image!!

Sally-Ann