12 Week Challenge - Week 3

Well so far I have been flogged by my Personal Trainer. She has updated my gym program from 'hard' to 'impossible'. We are also doing Saturday 'beach' sessions. 7am start at a beach somewhere around Caloundra. The first week was Shelley Beach. We ran here, up there, squats and more squats, jumps and lunges until i was completely wrecked.

I did however, turn up for Week 2. This time we went to Ballinger Beach. (it's between Dicky Beach and Currimundi Lake). The weather was horrible. It was still a warm 23 deg (well it was when i left) but the clouds came rolling in and started to pour down rain. Which didn't really matter as it kept me cool and i was running through the creek and up the sand hills anyway so i was well and truely wet and then dirty too. We did more running, climbing up the dunes, and boxing too this time. I was more than wrecked this time.

But....then comes week 3 'beach session'. Well this week isn't quite on the beach. It does look out near a beach. It's steep, very steep and very hard. I'm climbing Mt Coolum. We are car pooling from 6.30am this saturday at the gym for a race to the top. There are other trainers and their slaves, sorry participants, going too so about 15-20 of us.

Here's some stats from the Discover Maroochy website:

'208 metre high ancient volcanic dome' One of the best ways to appreciate the beach vistas of Maroochy is to climb Mt Coolum - a 208 metre high ancient volcanic dome. The reward at the summit is a truly magnificent, 360-degree vision of the Sunshine Coast, including a view of its sandy coastline that extends from Moreton Island in the south to Double Island Point (the gateway to Fraser Island) in the north. Nestled around the base of the mountain is the home of the Australian PGA Golf Championship, weaving its way through groves of Melaleuca bushland with kangaroos and wallabies just another part of the round.

They make it sound pleasant really but i'm a tad scared. I"ll report back for sure after the event.

22nd August - 12 Week Challenge

The Horley 12 week challenge officially started on 22nd August. I was convinced by my Personal Trainer to sign up and 'enjoy' the ride. It's basically a hard slog for 12 weeks to maximise your weight loss. Tomorrow is my first saturday beach session with my trainer at Shelly Beach near King Beach. I"m a little scared now as everyone else has chickened out so it's a 1 on 1 session with Jayne. She's awesome but makes me work pretty darn hard. Last night was the first of our 7pm night sessions. sometimes they show slides about nutrition etc. and then we go to woolworths to read food labels, and they even throw in surprise training sessions.

http://www.12weekchallenge.net.au/Home/

But i've stuffed my back on Thursday before the boxing class so that's not the greatest start to the challenge. Here's hoping i survive Saturday.

Nambour Nightmare

Well not long after our wonderful Anniversary Friday, we had horrible Sunday. Hayley being sick for hours and hours, ambulance rides to Caloundra, transfering to Nambour in the night and then the worst nurse i've ever come across EVER. She was rude to everyone so it wasn't something i did.

We were enjoying our local strawberry feast at Bulcock Beach on Sunday when the fun quickly turned to horror. I've never seen hayley or kirrily sick like this and i never want to see it again. although, if you look at the photo taken just moments after her first up and under, you would never have guessed what was going to play out for the next 36 hrs in the hospital.

Anyway, that was a learning experience that i'll never want to repeat. Although hayley did get the star treatment to Caloundra Hospital. Allira Richardson was our 'student' ambulance lady. If you don't know who i'm talking about (like lots of other people who went who?), she's is or was an iron lady/lifesaver from up here on the sunny coast. We almost named little Hayley Emma as Hayley Allira. Must have known one day she would save us.

21st August - our 5th Wedding Anniversary

The 21st of August seemed to come around very quickly this year. We organised for Nan and Pop to baby sit the monkey's while we went out for lunch. David took me to the vineyard near Montville. To say it's tiny and not quite the Hunter Valley is an understatement but who cares. YOu can't get a view of Mooloolaba, Mt Coolum and Caloundra from Cessnock. :-)

We wined and dined for a few hours and enjoyed the fantastic views too.

Even the local magpie came up on the balcony for a look around.

The Beach Visit

"Mum, can you take me to the beach tomorrow".

Kirrily has been asking me for weeks, over and over and over again to take her to the beach. So we went to Big W and splurged on the most expensive bucket and spade (well the lot cost about $4 so not a huge splurge). She picked the blue bucket and the light blue spade and carried it everywhere through the shops. When we got home the "mmaaaaaaaaaaaaaaam, can you take me to the beach tomorrow" kept going and going again.

We crumbled yesterday. The weather was only 23 but with a little cloud cover we put on her "Santa's" pink beach shoes and took the bucket and spade to Happy Valley.

She shells were fantastic and even lots of little bits of coral were along the beach. We were collecting for about an hour, the bucket was filling fast before we finally dragged her away. Kirrily had a fantastic time and Hayley didn't miss out either. She was in the sling on the front of david laughing and squeeling in delight and excitement watching kirrily. Or was she just trying to tell me i'm mad for going in the water up to my knees. I would have gone further but i didn't take my swimmers. The water temp is a cool 20deg which isn't too bad for winter.

Here she is:

Back and Blogging again

Well it's been a long time between blogs but spare time is a luxury lately.

Kirrily's birthday cake turned out better than i'd expected. And even if the icing wasn't 100% perfect, do you think Kirrily knew or even worried. No way.

Here are some photo's of what we have been getting up to recently.

Cupcake Teahouse - Buderim

The cupcake of choice was one covered in bright pink icing. Who would have guessed. Pretty similar to the colour of her shirt.

Hayley's first ride going fowards in her new car seat

Hayley is pretty pleased with herself in her new surrounds and loves facing forwards in the car. when you turn around there is always a cheeky grin waiting.

One of 'those' photo's.

I've been told that this beanie (thanks to Panadol) will be one of those moments you will just have to bring up at her 21st birthday. It's a dragon and keeps her lovely and warm. What you can't see is the dragons tail at the back of the beanie.

Hayley's first ride on the 'swings'

We arrived at Picinic Point and kirrily loves these swings so was happy for hayley to share some sea-saw time with her. (that's Pop's arms holding hayley on).

You will see that in the photo's we've had to get out the jumpers or long sleeves. who would have thought. Once it gets below 20 degress we all become cold frogs (or whimps).

Is it June already?

Well i haven't posted for ages. There never seems to be much time left for these luxuries anymore.

Since my last update many moons ago, i've been going to the gym 3 x per week. The gym is great as the creche for the kids is excellent so that gives me peace of mind that they are being looked after as i slave my guts out over a treadmill or a spin cycle class. Kirrily loves it as she gets to play at "little gym school" with Hayley, unlike Pelican's Nest where she is there on her own.

The other 2 spare days, well they aren't really spare. Tuesday is Kawana Library 'story time' in the morning followed by a play in the park behind the library with James. there is a little ice-cream toy shop, a pretend petrol station and the all import 'fort' where kirrily climbs ladders and looks though the telescope in charge of the big pirate ship. Thursday is usually Mooloolaba fish market day. we did go on the Caloundra Cruise before all this nasty weather kicked in. Kirrily was over the moon riding along in the boat. I was told by other families on the boat that kirrily and hayley were the best kids and were extremely well behaved. Now that was pretty good. Made me feel all warm and fuzzy.

David has been in his new job at Dept. of Communities for 1 week today. Got to love full time permanent work with the Government. And perfect timing too. Next Monday is Queens birthday and the Friday is Maroochy show holiday. All paid holidays now whereas before, no $$$$.

Before David started, we had 4 days off and enjoyed the flooding rains. We had to postpone our Coolangatta holiday as we couldn't get there due to the flooded highways and roads. We managed to stay high and dry and the tarps on the roof held out and didn't blow away which is always good. We went to Noosa Junction and found a little chocolate shop. to say it's expensive is an understatement but so is Lindt chocolate and it too is worth every cent spent. david ordered what i called death by chocolate, aka dark chocolate hot chocolate. the glass is coated in dark chocolate on the inside, and then filled with the richest hot milk i've ever tried. this then melts the chocolate in the glass but then there is more chocolate sprinkled over the top. So much for going to the gym. :-)

We also dined in Marochydore, Cotton Tree and wandered around in between rain showers. It was nice relaxing.

But back to reality this week. and back to the gym. Maybe i shouldn't have told my trainer just what i got up to. My legs are still sore for my last weeks session. ahhhhhhhhhh.

So here are some snaps of our last few months. i wont' bore you with too many.

This is on our day trip to Maleny. Kirrily wore her new "investigator" or as i call it, a vest. It was actually cold. Well for me, being a sooky Queenslander now, it was 23 deg. I think Hayley even has a jumper on in this photo. We bought some farm fresh mandarines and kirrily ate 3 in a row. But there was still room for the jelly shark at the Miss Molly Lolly shop.

This is Hayley doing what she does best - smiling and having a great time. This was before the little teeth peeped through. The 2 teeth are growing very very fast now. Giving her grief, yes, but so is the man cold that david so kindly shared. not sure man cold and teething is a good combination.

Family photo at Cotton Tree. Have you noticed, we are all actually looking at the camera. not sure how we managed that. A nice lady sitting near us offered to take it so i couldn't hide from this photo. that's the beauty of being behind the camera and taking the photo's.

Kirrily is reading her Caloundra Cruise brochure. It has all her favourite things, ferry's, pelican's and seagulls not to mention the mountains too.