Easter Photos

My Easter Bunnies

What a cute little boy

The Easter Bunny came and left tracks!

Happy (belated) Easter

Bula from Fiji!
We made it to Fiji a few days ago and have settled in. The kids are loving the pool and swimming, we are all having fun in the sun. The trip here was in the middle of the night and we were a little worried about it, but our kids did great! There was another child on the plane who was not as good though, poor kid, poor parents, poor plane... but at least it wasn't ours!
Today we set the kids up with a MeiMei, the nany service here, they will hang out with them for the next four days, Greg and I get to be adults and do adult things, like go scuba diving and sailing! We feel a little guilty about dropping the kids, but are also very excited!
We had a great easter hunt in our room, we will be posting pics when we get back to Melbourne. Lily found the majority of eggs, but Oliver got a few. Greg and I had fun watching them. The easter bunny dropped off lots of eggs, and even left his paw prints for us to see the next day! We hope that everyone had a wonderful easter, we will be back in touch next Sat. the phones and internet are not great here. Love to all!

A few finished projects

I have had a bit of time to do a few projects lately, and I love it. It actually lets me feel like I am accomplishing something when I finish. I know that I accomplish a lot during the day with the kids and house and all that, but to have something visibly finished is a really good feeling.

The first project I did was this trunk, I am very proud of this one, total cost of this project is 4$

Before

After

I found the trunk across the road, the neighbors were throwing it out, so the trunk was free! It was in pretty good condition, so I bought some 2$ fabric to replace the teddy bears, and I bought some 2$ paint to give it a fresh look. I am fudging a bit, this trunk isn't completely done. I need to find some hardware for it, such as handles and a piston for the inside so the kids can't slam it down and so that the lid can stay up when they are getting their toys out.

This is my next project, a little roll top desk that the neighbors beside us put on the side of the road. When Greg came home and saw it in our garage he was a little put out, but he has since come around, especially because I said if it didn't look any better then we could just return it to the side of the road, no harm done. I am planning on sanding the back down, it is a horribly shiny finish that is all dinged and scratched. Then I am at kind of a loss to finish, I want to change the color, it is going to go into Lily's room and I want something a little softer. I have a blue paint that I am thinking of putting on top, we will see and i will post a picture when I finish. This project has to be done in a month, before we leave for the summer, so I do have a deadline. I am almost finished with the sanding part.

And then there is the bunting that I wanted to see if I could do. This is actually the second one that I did, but it looks better than the first, so I guess I am on the right track. This one has fairy fabric, and it is going to go into Lily's room. I have pirate fabric for Oliver, so hopefully that will look as good. Overall I am very happy with how this turned out and I hope to do more.

Fall Down Under

Fall has arrived down under, and with it so have a few colds and runny noses in the Mickle house. Poor Oliver has a pretty good cold on the go, complete with owey gooey runny nose. Lillian seems to be immune to it so far, Greg is just getting over a pretty bad cold, but I am just starting with the runny nose! Poor Me :( I dislike being sick, and hope that it doesn't go beyond a runny nose and head ache.

On to better and brighter news, we are going to be going to Fiji for Easter, and we are so excited. There is a week of vacations here in Australia, so we are taking advantage of that and taking a trip. So excited to go to Fiji and see beautiful water and beaches. Bonus is that the hotel has babysitting, and Greg and I are really looking forward to this feature, we can go scuba diving and out to diner without kids! Yay. It will be a lot of fun all around, and we are looking forward to it.

Just a few things

We have been having some nice fall days down under lately! The ids have been enjoying the backyard, and the bag of sand that I bought them to play with. This last week was the last for the sand though, I am tired of having it tramped through the house, so the sand got redistributed around the back garden. This next week is the last week for swimming lessons. The kids did really great during the lessons, and I don't know how much 'swimming' they actually learnt, as they can't even float yet, but they are very comfortable in the water. Oliver started the lessons clinging to my neck like a koala, and now he is pushing away to try and get toys! he loves to 'jump' (belly flop) into the water too! The lessons also taught them how to listen and take turns, and it was just a lot of fun all around. We will miss them, but I think that we will still go to the pool around that time just for fun!

Having fun in the backyard!

Great news! On the cousin front Lily and Oliver have their first cousin! Kellie and Dennis have had a beautiful baby girl, Gabriella Rose Magnifico. She is beautiful, we got to see her on skype, her little eyes were open, and she has a head full of dark hair! We are so very happy for the new family, and can't wait to meet her this summer! Welcome to the world little one!

A few weekend ago we went to an estate here in the city, Rippon Lee, and had a picnic lunch in the gardens. We didn't do a tour of the house, didn't think the kids would appreciate that, but the gardens were very nice, and we got to go into the servants quarters and see the kitchen and laundry rooms. The kids did very well walking around the designated area and being patient while Greg and I had a good snoop around. It was a very nice way to spend a couple of weekend hours on a nice day here in Melbourne.

Oliver the explorer

Like father, like daughter