Last day of school holidays

On Sunday I took the kids out for a special breakfast at the local cafe as a treat for the last day of the school holidays. I had yummy eggs and the kids had poffertjes which looked amazing. When the ice cream had melted the kids decided to use a straw to sip up the rest of it which I thought was really funny. Probably not the best thing to do in a public cafe but hey, I found it rather entertaining and we were there to enjoy ourselves.

I made them take something for them to do while they waited as in "kid time" 10 minute wait seems like a day to them. Sienna took a book and James had a little gadget game toy.

Photo Shoot

I am enjoying doing Karen Russell's Photography Workshop for the second year running. It's great to go over stuff you have learnt to keep it in your head and pick up new things as well. My other Aussie friend Di is doing this course as well so it's nice to see another Aussie on the "forum". That being said, I took the kids up the road for a little photo shoot to play with light yesterday afternoon, something I'm still struggling with how to use effectively. I took about 60 photos and the kids, well let me just say the kids are not professional models who do as they are told so I didn't really get totally what I was hoping for. Here are a couple of pictures that I did like from our 15 min session. The bottom photo James was making Sienna laugh. Our only prop was a little Ikea $25 cane chair.

Creative Imagination

The other day I caught up with my good friend (from kindy and fellow Project 365 partner) at the park for a coffee for the mummies and a play for the kids. The boys ended up playing with dirt, making a pretend camp fire with some bark and finding around the playground some red paper to be the fire. They played for ages creating this little area and it truly made me happy for these little boys to be doing this. In an age of technology and gadgets playing outside and getting dirty is so good for them. Sienna was delivering bits and pieces from around the park to help with the campfire effort.

Afternoon activities

Yesterday afternoon I took the kids down to the park and a little wander down to the local creek bed. They had a great time picking up sticks, throwing rocks however it did all end in tears when (i) James accidentally poked Sienna in the chest with a stick (real accident, not on purpose accident, you know the kind) and then (ii) Sienna accidentally poked James in the face with a stick (another real accident although I didn't witness it so not sure whether real or accident but we'll give her the benefit of the doubt).

I'm doing Karen Russell's photography course again which I am loving (again) and I was working on some leading lines and composition in the playground. The creek bed provided a beautiful dare I say tranquil (before the said accidents) setting.

Home made bread rolls for lunch

This morning I made some home made bread rolls and got a couple of DVD's out for a bit of a relaxing lunch time. The kids went to tennis camp for half a day this morning and really enjoyed it so I thought we would have some fresh baked rolls.

Santos City of Lights Laser Show (Brisbane Festival)

Here are some photos from last nights laser show. A tripod was needed however it didn't stop me taking photos of the pretty lights even though the picturese are all blurry. You get the idea of the people watching from the riverbank facing the city buildings.

It was amazing actually they had laser beams off the top of buildings and on the river they had huge waterfalls of water spraying high up into the air of which they beamed the lasers onto. It was incredible and we will definitely go again next year to have a look. The purple lights and the green lights at the bottom are actually reflected onto water spraying into the air. The whole show was done to music and I was so pleased we made the effort to go as it was the last night.

The Renovators

Is anyone watching "The Renovators" on Channel 10 at the moment? Last week they had a design challenge with metal and had to design and make an outdoor chair for Southbank in Brisbane. Natalia who by the way is actually from Brisbane designed a seat with the birds at the side of the chair which are everywhere at Southbank. The name of the bird escapes me right at this minute but we were walking along and I saw the chair and had to take a picture of it. Also included a picture of the city skyline as well. More pictures to come tomorrow on the big mirror ball which was set up for the "Santos City of Lights" which is part of the "Brisbane Festival".