spencer james // six months.

This has been a BIG month for you! Your newest tricks include - feeding yourself finger food, sitting up all by yourself, started rolling again, giggling at your brother and still loving carrots the most. You are a super smiley and happy little baby and I can't get enough of those big blue eyes! xoxo

thomas the tank engine.

The Queensland Rail Museum put on a Thomas the Tank Engine exhibit over the summer school holidays so I decided to take the boys down there for a little visit. It was a bit of a hike and it was really, really hot day, but we all had a great time exploring the museum and looking at all of the Thomas characters.
 

Lachlan wasn't completely sold on the ol' "fat conductor". The super loud voice and the train whistle kind of freaked him out. It was an interactive show but Lachlan pretty much had this look in his face the whole time while Spencer was happy to just snack.



I found the other sections of the museum to be more interesting than I had expected. I am thinking this might be a good place to take my dad or my in-laws next time they come for a visit.



And out of all of the amazing real trains and interactive exhibits, Lachlan decided this shopping centre, fake train was the coolest. Sigh... two year olds!



It was a great day out with my two little guys!

fraser island (part 3).

First up // A day at Eli Creek.

It was hot & sunny and this icy cold, fresh water creek was the perfect place to spend a day with the kids! Some of the guys went out for a motorbike ride (dirt bikes) that morning, so it was up to me to get both the kiddos ready and drive us down the beach to Eli Creek. It is a good thing we have such sweet friends who are always there to lend me a hand and give me the confidence to do some four wheel driving without Max.



You can't really tell in these photos, but that water is absolutely crystal clear.









Chloe and Ryan took Lachlan for a float down the creek and again, I am reminded at how lucky we are to have these kids on our lives. They are the sweetest with our boys!






New Years Eve // My favorite day at Fraser!

I didn't really get a good photo of this, but on the left of this lagoon is a HUGE sand dune that you can slide down right into the water and on the right, the ocean! It was the absolute perfect place to spend New Years Eve!



We backed the cars right up to the lagoon, set up some shade, cooked some lunch and enjoyed the water!



Again, Spencer enjoyed eating the sand and looking extra cute.









I think I can let the next few photos speak for themselves.
























After spending the day in this little piece of paradise, we went on one last adventure and found Max's heaven!



It is really impossible to get a picture of what it really looks like here and how high these sand dunes really are, but just know it was pretty amazing.



Some of our group on New Years Eve.



Happy New Year!! See you again next year Fraser Island!

fraser island (part 2).

Since we had wasted our first two days at Fraser driving, being sick, going to hospital and then trying to get back on the island and find my family again (huge island, no car, no phone reception... it was a mission) I was super happy to wake up with these boys the next morning!



It is SUUUUUPER hot at Fraser this time of year so we find the key to enjoying ourselves is to get out and check out different places each day. On this particular day it was a little cloudy and even rained for a little while, but it was actually a nice break from the sun and heat!



Lachlan absolutely loves playing with Ryan (our friends' son). He spent the majority of our holiday following Ryan around, playing cars and motorbikes. It was adorable!












After spending the day at Waddy Point (I think that is where we were??) Max was on a mission to find some new four wheel driving tracks like this...



Do you wonder what everyone is watching?!



This...



The guys taking turns as they see who can drive up different steep sand dunes.



This is pretty fun when you are in the car, and watching is even entertaining for the first 20 minutes or so, but after that I lose a bit of interest. I come for the views like this one!



And this one!



And the kids, they aren't fazed by the crazy driving at all!



I think it is pretty safe to say that this kid might even love it ;)



Stay tuned for the final part of our Fraser Island holiday... coming soon :)

fraser island (part 1).

Similar to last year, we packed up shortly after Christmas and headed to Fraser Island to meet up with a large group of friends for a (now annual) camping adventure. Only this year we were going with TWO babies.

Six days. Two babies. One camper trailer. No running water or electricity. Yeaaaa... I was a wee bit nervous. But look at this place! It was going to be totally worth it!

The trip started out on an unfortunate note when I began to feel a bit unwell on our drive up the coast. Fraser Island is the largest sand island in the world but is also pretty remote. There are a few resorts and houses over there, but no real "roads" or typical amenities. It is a four wheel driving only island and we camp on the beach which means we have to be completely self sufficient (ie. not the kind of place where you would want to have any kind of emergency situation).



Us on the ferry pictured above. Me with a totally fake smile on my face trying to convince myself that I was feeling fiiiiiiine. Totally fine...

To make a really, really long story short, I ended up getting very sick and was taken off the island via ambulance, ferry and then another ambulance before arriving in the emergency room. Max and Lachlan weren't allowed to come with me but because Spencer was 100% breastfed and I had brought no backup feeding options (at all), he was taken to the hospital with me. Ugh... it was not pretty and NOT the way I wanted to start our holiday! Turns out they think I had a very severe migraine. I never knew a migraine could make you so incredibly sick but I was also happy it wasn't something more serious.

After it was all over, other than being very dehydrated and hungry from all of the vomiting (and having a really bad headache), I was completely fine. One taxi ride to the ferry terminal and one ferry ride back over to the island, we were back on our holiday, ready to enjoy Fraser Island for all it was worth!

Spencer celebrated being out of the hospital with a mouth full of dirt. You know - to really get into the camping spirit! What a team player, that baby of mine!

Stay tuned for Fraser Island Part 2 where I get to actually talk about and show you pictures of the FUN we had while we were there :). xoxo