The Nielsen Family

We heard Anaconda stores were dumping snow in their carparks this weekend so Isabel and I headed down there for a look.  The line for the toboggin ride was too long but we had some fun playing in the snow.  Will have to take Isabel for a proper ski trip soon, maybe next year.

We went for a quick trip to Coffs Harbour to scout our locations for Alexanders Naming Day / First Birthday in July.  Found a great place called Darlington Beach right at the end with Jumping Pillows which were lots of fun.

Isabel had a fairy concert as part of her Physical Culture classes and did very well, even got a certificate at the end.

We had a quiet Easter at home this year with just the family.  Alexander wasn’t sure on the coloured eggs but ate them anyway.  We tried to keep away from too much chocolate

We headed down to Bundall this Australia Day to check out the celebrations and displays.  Very muddy but had a good time.  Isabel even went in her first running race.

I got a voucher for an offshore fishing trip up in Noosa for my birthday last year from Mum and Dad and finally got around to organizing a weekend to go.  I went up on the train with Isabel.  It took 3 hours which was a challenge to keep her occupied for so long.   They ended up bumping us up from 1/2 day to 3/4 day which was probably a bit long for me.  I got a bit seasick and had to sit down for a while towards the end.  We ended up catching a few little ones but not enough to keep, although other people on the boat got quite a few.  There must be some practise involved.   Right before we turned around, someone caught a really big one and shared some fillets with us.  All in all, a fun day and a different experience.

Mum wanted a nice photo of Isabel and Alexander for Christmas and Isabel was in a stage of pouting or hiding when we tried to take photos of her so we went to a photographer and were very surprised at how well they managed to get the kids to smile.

We had a nice Christmas this year at home, Alexander’s first and Isabel’s third. She really got into it this year and had lots of fun leaving out stockings and opening presents.  Alexander started on solids (sweet potato) on our Christmas eve roast dinner and continued with sausages on our Boxing day barbeque in the park.

After Christmas we met up with Lisa and Damon and Ted and Val up in Brisbane for a nice catch up and to check out the newly refurbished backyard which was good fun but we all got very wet after a rainstorm on a post lunch stroll.

Finally we went to see Le Grand Cirque at the Gold Coast Convention Centre on the 30th December which was a great circus show with some incredible arobatics which Isabel and even Alexander were very excited by.

Merry Christmas and a happy 2009 to everyone.

Isabel and I went along to the Carols by Candlelight at Burleigh and had a great time.  We left it pretty late so parked up by North Burleigh then walked along the beach to the show.  Isabel managed to drop the camera in the sand and there was much crunching in the lens but it managed to come good again (woohoo!).  The fireworks were great and the moon looked really good as it rose up out of the ocean on the walk back to the car (the photo doesn’t do it justice).

We’ve finally got around to organizing a new kitchen for our house.  The new cabinets are all in so now we need to get the spashback in,  tile the floor and paint.  We’re really happy with it so far.  It gives us lots more storage space and really opens up the room.