Day 37

On Sunday afternoon, while Jacob stayed with Mum and Dad - Sam and I drove to the end of the road to the bridges over the canals. The houses along the canals are amazing, the water is gorgeous and the boats... well, let's just say, what a lifestyle! I wasn't very happy with the photos I took, they didn't turn out as I had hoped, but I'll add one just so you can get a glimpse of the lovely location. 

We arrived back home today. It was fantastic to see Lewy... Sam was beyond happy to be in his Dad's arms again :) 

As for TV news... who has seen/watched the series 'Gavin & Stacey'?? Lewy and I watched it last year when it was on ABC.. and LOVED IT! It has just started again, showing the first series. We missed the very first episode, so was able to watch it tonight. If you haven't seen it, we highly recommend you watch it! English/Welsh comedy at its best! 

Day 36

It's great visiting my parents in Mandurah, especially for photography purposes, because I can take some different photos to my usual 'bush' ones.

We went to church this morning and on the way home, stopped past the bridge to take some photos (my other pictures from today are here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/traceyrankin/). What a great spot! Lots of people fishing, walking along the foreshore, swimming, boating, having BBQ's etc. Only got a few photos, but enough to add some more to my collection.

Having a lovely relaxing time here. Had a much needed sleep in this morning (thanks Mum!), Sam went to Sunday School for the first time, he LOVED it! I'm going to have to do some major treadmill running when I get home, Mum has been providing way too many yummy treats to pass up!

Day 35

This is commitment right here... I am actually in Mandurah at the moment but bought my laptop especially to continue with my Photo of the Day! (okay... and also because I still have to do my work tomorrow night but really you guys were my TOP priority :)

Most of the time when I come to stay with mum and dad for a few days, it's always a last minute decision. Today was no different. I had been trying to plan when me and the boys could come and visit, and today seemed like the perfect time to come and stay until Monday :) Lewy loves it because although he misses the boys (and of course ME!), he gets to chill out, play video games, sleep in and generally just hang around relaxing. For the boys, they love it because they get lots of Nanna and Pop attention, treats and visits to the beach. For me, I love it because I'm not just a 'mother' for a few days, but also a 'daughter' who gets looked after by my parents, lots of TLC, not to mention the gorgeous food my mum cooks :)

After dinner tonight, me, Sam and Dad headed to the beach for a walk. It was GORGEOUS! The water was amazing, I wanted to jump straight in. There was a fog over the beach and the sun not quite through the clouds, which made it perfect for taking photos. Unlike my HDR's, today's photo isn't edited at all.

I figured I better get to the beach to take some photos before Cyclone Bianca makes it's way to Perth tomorrow... fingers crossed the reports that it will have lost some steam by the time it gets here is true and not much damage occurs. Be kind to us Cyclone Bianca, we are happy for the rain but would prefer for everyone and everything to stay safe. Okay? Good, it's a deal! xx

Day 34

It's been a busy day today... between cleaning, washing, kids and work. I found 15 minutes to sit down, put my feet up, have a coffee, watch an old John Candy movie that was playing in the background and take one picture to capture the scene.

Roleystone Adventures

Lewy had organised an RDO for today, so early this morning we went out for breakfast. We wanted to do something different for the day ... so Lewy got out the GPS, put the map of Perth on the screen, shut his eyes and pointed....... to Roleystone, so that is where we headed! We had no idea what we were going to do there or even if there was anything to do there, but decided to enjoy the journey and see where we ended up!

At breakfast. This photo makes me laugh - Sam wanted to be like Jacob and sit in a high chair... even though he is way too big! My beautiful blue eyed boys! We were all filled up from a big cooked breakfast, coffee and juice so ready to head off for our big day!

Roleystone is gorgeous! We loved driving through and enjoying the scenery, the hills, greenery and trees. 

We ended up driving down this road and saw a sign for Canning Dam, so decided that was a good place to visit :) 

Feeling high on adventure, we decided to tackle the walk even with a pram and toddler :) 

Clearly, when I got dressed this morning I never imagined we would be taking a hike to a dam! 

The views were stunning

Self-made double pram working its magic again. As you can see the track wasn't really made for prams like this! 

Lots of steps

Sam did a great job on the walk 

Holding onto Sam VERY tightly!

If you look closely, you'll see a tired Sam making his way along the bridge :) 

This is where our walk turned into a full blown adventure... the track got even more rocky, Sam was tired now so hitched a ride from Daddy. Jacob had the best seat... he was actually falling asleep sitting up like this when I took this picture:) 

Here was where we got lost.... because there were a stack of little picnic places around the area, to come to a sign like this does NOT help with figuring out which picnic place our car was parked at!!!! 

All we could see was bush.. but thankfully after a few wrong turns, we finally saw the stairs to take us back our car. 

We were very proud of ourselves for making it back! The boys fell asleep the moment we started driving away. A great little adventure :)

Day 33

HDR I took on the bridge at Canning Dam. 

Day 32 - Happy Australia Day!

Australia Day = Friends, BBQ, beer, games of pool, radio tuned into Triple J Hottest 100 countdown and perfect weather... it doesn't get any better than this! I put all my good photos in this blog, so one of these can be today's photo :)

The kids turn at pool... Sam, you might have more luck if you turn the pool cue around :) 

Eating lemons... hhhmmmm 

Gorgeous Val having a cuddle with Jacob

Shanika is so adorable - I love this photo!

Jacob & Quintin = Best friends.. they don't know it yet, but they will be :) hehe

Finally got a photo of all the kiddies together, had to do some serious cropping as Sam is naked as usual :) 

I love this photo -bit blurry but Sam and Shanika had the tap on and running around the water having a ball... gorgeous!

It's been a big day...but a fantastic way to celebrate Australia Day :)

Day 31

Well ... it's a very different photo for today!! I had a usual day at home with my boys, so I thought it would be cool to get Lewy to take the camera to work, to get a glimpse into his job.

At the moment he is working at a school, on this switchboard to a Manual Arts Block that got destroyed in a fire and this switchboard below and the whole building has to be re-wired. Where would you even start??!!!!

Day 30

Today's photo is of Sam because he has been making me laugh all morning :) What a character he is!

I love this photo, because while he was putting Ted on the back of the bike he was chatting away to him the whole time and explaining that Ted needs to "hold on and we'll go for a ride".

Day 29

It didn't take long for my heart to kick back into gear for taking photos....late yesterday afternoon, Sam and I headed out for some 'mum and son' time. We wanted to go to the bridge on Tonkin Highway that looks over the river (near Great Eastern Hwy turnoff) to look at the view. 

It turned into quite the adventure because I didn't know how to get to the path that leads to the bridge, so after some driving around the suburbs we finally found an entrance to the path that would lead us up to the bridge. Sam thought it was great and had a ball looking at the boats on the water, the birds and the cars racing by on the Hwy. I took a few pictures and this one was my favourite.

Day 28

My heart wasn't in the photo project today, so instead of taking any old photo for the sake of it - I handed the reigns over to Lewy!

Lewy and Sam went to the shops this morning, so this is his photo of the day :) You'll notice that Sam is wearing a green top and red shorts.. I did try to tell Lewy that it didn't match, but he said it looked cute, so that's why Sam had to go out in public not colour-coordinated!

Day 27

Easy choice for photo of the day.. Jacob, seriously, how cute can you be?! I love this little guy so much.

Friday

I found this top in my wardrobe this morning, that I bought months ago but never wore.. I love it when that happens. It's so pretty, I can't believe I forgot all about it.

Mum, Dad, Pam and Caleb got back today from their 11 day cruise.. so we went to Pam's house to visit, hear all about their holiday and take Skip the dog back. I took a few random photos while I was stopped at the traffic lights on the way. 

Skip looked at me like this the whole time we were driving... very distracting. 

Sam got a Bali T-Shirt from Mum. 

I got a gorgeous sarong and bracelet.. isn't the pattern and colours just beautiful?

Jacob spent some quality time with Pop. 

Pam gave this Darth Vader helmet to Sam, which changes your voice when you talk into the microphone... and then she told him to say 'I love you Mother'... gee, that's not scary at all?!! 

On the way home.. one minute Sam is talking about his new helmet.. next thing I realise it's gone quiet in the back seat and he is fast asleep. 

Yes...I do in fact have my camera with me. ha! I even stopped way back to take this photo especially. One of these days I'm going to get in trouble for taking pictures while I'm at traffic lights.

Overall, it's been a 'mind battle' week... there have been more 'dark clouds' than 'sunshine' in my mind. And let's face it, with my over-active mind, there are bound to be dark clouds at times.

Here's hoping next week is more sunshine.