Our trip to the Melbourne Zoo with Grandma and Grandpa McDonald!

Robert and Hope took us all to the Melbourne Zoo while they were here and it was a fabulous day. The weather was perfect, we packed ur picnic lunch and headed off! Hope and Robert managed to avoid all photos but rest asured they were there. The lids loved exploring all the exhibits with them. Especially when there were little hidden snippets of information to find and read.

Charlotte has the map and was only interested in seeing ' Gloria, Alex, Marty and Melman'. Our favourite movie at the moment is Madagascar. So off we went.
Charlotte loves to take photos! Say cheese!

Jason and the troops enjoy some unwater exploring.

In the butterfly enclosure...... a butterfly on Jacob's hat!

Our American BBQ afternoon.

Well, after church this week, Robert and Hope invited my whole family over for a delicious American BBQ spread to help thank everyone for their genrous hospitality. Now this was a BBQ to remember and certainly not one we're used to!!! We had all things cooking. There were hamburgers, hotdogs, huge steaks, baked beans, corn on the cob, huge potato salads, colslews and to top it all of we had icecream sundaes with nuts, whipped cream and cherries!!!! Talk about feast. The weather held off to be beautiful. We enjoyed a nice afternoon outside,

Jason and Robert finishing off the last of the steaks!

Hope, my sister in laws and my mum entertain the elders as we all wait patiently for the feast to arrive.

Chow time everyone!!!! Smile

Smile everyone - let's try this again! Chow time!

All the children love that sandpit,,,, including some big children too!

Jason and Hope relax after a hearty meal!

Finally for some sporting action after we've eaten ourselves silly!!!! Jacob I think is going to be a natural sportsman!!!

An Australian Traditional Summer Pastime! Fish 'n' Chips and cricket on the beach!

We decided to take a family trip to the beach this week. We went to Edithvale which is about 45 minutes from where we live. We loaded the cars up with blankets, towels, cricket gear, boogie boards and a kite and headed for a paddle.

Robert and Hope take in the sunshine and beautiful views of the horizon.
Then ofcourse there's my family!!!!! A family who can never seem to take a normal photo -ever! But we love them just the same!

Charlotte tries out her Dora boogie board in about an inch of water! Watch my Daddy!

Brooklyn, Jacob and cousin Madison take a more adventurous approach and head out for some slightly bigger ripples.

Never one to be outdone, Charlotte heads out into the deep with not a care in the world. Not a swimming lesson either as her mother panics and holds her hand.

Sarah and Jay in their beach attire and some lily white legs!

Maya not sure about her liking of the waves just yet!!! She changed her mind later in the evening, stripped off and went exploring with a smile!

Poppy David giving Brooklyn a lesson in how to send a kite into the air.

Charlotte with her new sunnies from Santa, showing off her shell collections.

We all had a fabulous trip, wading in the water, playing beach cricket with family. Morgan and Jacob made sand castles and we brought home some fantastic shells to decorate.

Chow time. Nothing like eating hot chips and fish out of paper on the beach!

Better eat up before the seagulls know your there!

There are also alot of uncomfortable things about going to the beach - flies on your food, seagulls pinching your food, sand chafing between your legs, sand throug all your clothes and food, crusty hair and skin smelling of salt water, accidently squishing washed up jellyfish, getting hit in the face by a stray ball, getting scalped by a stray kite. I could go on, but let me just say - Coming from a person who lives on a continent surrounded by beaches, I love the beach. Swimming and body surfing in the ocean is a mesmerising experience that everyone should try. How lucky are we to be able to sit and enjoy the food and the view!

Dill Pickle Relish time!!!!!

I'm not one for pickled relish. I didn't even know that cucumbers were pickles. I thought pickles were something entirely diferent. So you can guess that I stayed out of the kitchen for this one. Jason and Robert are both pickle relish fans and have an obscene amount on their hotdogs. So as Jason harvested his variety of cucumbers - what better way than to preserve some in a relish, besides eating a million cucumber sandwiches each day!

Men at Work

Christmas here with the family!!!

Something Hope and Robert are not accustomed to seeing is swimming time on Christmas Day. After a fantastic roast lunch with all the trimmings it was time to let our hair down for a while. Some played guitar or Band Hero, some had a nap, some read books and others enjoyed a quik swim before sweets was out!

Back insode before lunch was the crazy mayhem that is often called exchanging of the gifts. This included people yelling across the room, presents being tossed everywhere their was an arm in the air and finished with a screwed up wrapping paper fight!
Bring on the turkey!!!! says Jason and Jacob!

More Adams family.....

Charlotte and her cousins enjoy a fabulous warm christmas roast lunch.

Unsuspecting pictures of Hope and Robert joining in the fun of christmas lunch. Below, Brooklyn and her Aunties and Uncles line up for some food backing onto the spa.

Merry Christmas honey!!!!!!!!

Here's to a better, bigger and brighter 2010 for all the family!!! McDonald's and Adams'!!!!

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!!!!!!

Christmas with the McDonalds

Welcome to McDonald family Christmas morning! Here we are patiently waiting to open some of Santas pressies. Santa even came to Grandma and Grandpa and Mum and Dad! It was a beautiful fresh morning and all the excitement was over in a matter of an hour.

We followed the present mayhem with a relaxed morning of playing with our new treasures!

Brooklyn enjoys jewelery making with Grandma MCDonald

Charlotte in her new clothes enjoys a quiet movie after the present mayhem with Grandpa!

Jacob and his new transformer friends, Bumblebee, Optimus Prime and Megatron!

Brooklyn shows off her jewelery.

Grandma McDonald plays cricket with Jacob!!!!

Jacob was just dying to have some play with his new cricket bat and stumps that he got for christmas. So guess who volunteered??!?!?!?!?!?! Grandma!!!!! Grandma had a crash course in how to play cricket and then bowled away to Jacob. He was quite the sportsman too, smashing all the balls to the fence line. We had to step up the pace of bowling!