Fun at Home

Part of the Frugal Living for Gigi and myself is learning to have fun at home. And there is plenty to do. From cuddles and adventures with our goats....

To wonderful pedicures for Mumma... 

 Playing with Pippi in the mud.....                                                                  And building castles

There is always something fun to do at home, a free adventure to be had and an animal friend to play with.

A Weekend at the Beach

Last weekend, Gigi spent some time with her Dad at Golden Beach on the Sunshine Coast. From all accounts, they had a great time- Op Shopping for a new hat and sunglasses; eating ice-cream; and kayaking in the Pumicestone Passage. 

From Golden Beach, it is a short paddle across the passage to the northern end of Bribie Island. This part of the island is uninhabited and as a lovely view back to Caloundra and the coastline.  

 On Sunday, we had a 'family day' at Shelley Beach. The beach isn't very good for swimming, but its great for collection shells. When the tide goes out, it reveals lots of rock and rock pools to explore. If you arrive at high tide, I recommend walking along the beach to the north (left when facing the ocean) towards the headland. There is a number of 'streams' that meet the ocean and interesting caves at the headland. By the time you've walked back, the tide should be low enough to walk along the rocks to the south (right when facing the ocean). You are able to walk a fair distance along the rocks and there is a stunning view of Caloundra in the foreground and the Glasshouse Mountains in the background.

As a bonus there is lots of sea-life trying to find refuge during the low-tide. We chased lots of crabs, squirted water from the sea squirts and watched the sea slugs make their way across the rocks.

Gigi loves exploring, climbing and jumping across the rocks.

Happy 3rd Birthday Gigi!

Today, July 16th is Gigi's 3rd Birthday. We celebrated on the weekend by having a small party with family. Gigi's Nana; Poppa; Uncle Benny; Cousins Lily and Asha; Old Pop; and Gran-Nan all came for afternoon tea and cake. Gigi's Nana (my mum) made a princess cake.



















The girls ran around all afternoon, playing with balloons, chasing chickens and jumping on the trampoline.

Later, we went down to the goat paddock, so they could pat the goats and try to catch the babies.

  

 It was a low-key affair- my mum and I prepared all the food ourselves, there were no 'party games' or 'goody bags'. Just kids running wild and adults catching up for a chat.

Homemade Dollhouse from Book Shelf

Today is Gigi's 3rd Birthday (16th July). For her birthday, I wanted to give her a dollhouse, as shes been showing interest in the ones at the shop. 

I spent a few weeks scouting Op Shops and Gumtree for a cheap, solid timber book shelf to convert to a dollhouse. Finally, I found one for $20 on Gumtree.  I sanded down the bookshelf, painted it white, then painted the shelves with poster paint. The bottom shelf is the 'farm' section of the house, with green grass, blue skies and a pond. The middle and top shelves are the 'house' part of the dollhouse. The middle shelf is painted in three different coulours to represent kitchen, bathroom and living room; whilst the top shelf is two different colours to represent two bedrooms. Obviously I didn't get it finished before her birthday. I still have to put in some bits of wood for actual room dividers and I'd also like to paint on some trees on the bottom level and windows and doors on the top levels. 

For dolls in the dollhouse, I used some wood offcuts, sanded them back and painted them with people and animals.

I'm not a great artist, but luckily Gigi has enough imagination to recognise the chickens, ducks, goats and cats that I painted for the farm level.

I also painted 'dolls', modeled on our family. There is 'Nana', Gigi','Mumma', 'Poppa', and 'Daddy'.

Gigi loves the dollhouse, she thinks the 'Gigi' doll is hilarious and she tells a little story as she plays with them. As time goes on I will make more people, animals and some furniture for the dollhouse, as well as finish it, according to the plan in my head. 

Frosty Mornings and Mt Beerburrum

As mentioned in my previous post, winter has hit. We have had frosts every morning for the past week and the fire on every night, to keep us toasty.

Gigi and I climbed Mt Beerburrum with a girlfriend of mine, early one morning. Due to the cloud cover and the 8am start, it wasnt too cold. Although the track was very steep, it was a reasonably short climb, with a beautiful view from the top. Gigi walked most of the way, but had to be piggy-backed for the last section. I thoroughly enjoyed this climb, it was a good workout,  wasn't very busy (only two other cars) and much better for toddlers (as opposed to Mt Ngungun). I think we'll definitely be doing it again.

A day at the Show

One of the local shows was on last weekend, so I took Gigi along to see the animals and the ring events. She had an absolute blast and I had a good time too. 

Patting the Farm Babies

I haven't been to a Country Show for a few years and the last time I went, it was pretty sad. There weren't many competitors, nor were there many ring events. All of the Judges, Competitors and Organisers were elderly and I wondered if eventually the whole 'Country Show' would die out. 

However, there seems to be a resurgence of interest and participation in the small Shows. There were lots of families attending the shows; lots of competitors- both young and old; and lots of Organisers of varying ages. 

Hopefully the Shows will be here for some time to come. I'm thinking in future years, I might join the Show Society and volunteer to help out at the Show. I don't want to see the tradition die out, and unless new people take an interest and join up, at some point it'll be no more. 

Weekend Camping Trip

The June long-weekend just passed and Gigi's father came down for a visit. We are lucky enough to have a reasonably amicable co-parenting relationship and both want to give Gigi wonderful childhood memories (as most parents do).

Gigi's father wanted to take Gigi camping, so we organised a trip to Crystal Waters Eco Village on the Sunshine Coast Hinterland, about an hour away from home.

 

 Gigi and her father playing by one of the many creeks.

 Crystal Waters is an alternative community set in 650 acres of bushland. The community includes a number of private residences, village green/ common area, bushland reserves, creeks, lakes and the village camping area. 

Gigi wanted her face-painted with a Unicorn

The community holds a market on the first Saturday of every month, selling everything from fruit and veg, to plants, clothing, handmade goods and second-hand items. There were also several small bands playing, delicious food and kids face-painting. Its was almost like a small festival, or a village fete from medieval times. Best of all, there was about twenty kids of all ages running around, playing together and not an electronic device in sight. Gigi had an absolute blast. 

The village camping area was a short 300m walk from the village green and was surprisingly luxurious. I'd packed an array of cooking equipment to cook over the campfire and an esky to keep our fruit and veg cold, but it was completely unnecessary. The camp area included a camp kitchen hut, which had two refrigerators;  gas cooker; sink; kettle; toaster; microwave; cutlery; crockery; pots; pans; and utensils. We still had a campfire every day and cooked all our meals over it, but having the use of a fridge and proper washing up facilities was amazing. 

A delicious camp meal of Quinoa salad and crispy-skin salmon 

As an added bonus, the camping area also has real toilets, hot showers and a laundry! All for $10/per adult/ night!

But the best thing about the camping itself was the surroundings and the company. Three other families with kids also stayed at the campsite for the weekend, as well as a German backpacker, a couple and a single. During the day, everyone did their own thing; but of a night, everyone gathered around the campfire and shared food, wine, tea, hot chocolate, marshmallows and great conversation. All within a beautiful backdrop of  native bushland. 

It was a great weekend, one that I hope Gigi will remember and that I also hope we can repeat in the future.

Gigi and I by the creek

I would definitely recommend Crystal Waters Eco Village as a wonderful camping spot. 

The Planting Festival

On the weekend- 9th-11th May, The Planting Festival was held at the Woodford Folk Festival site. The Woodford Folk Festival is a six day festival in Woodford held over the Christmas- New Year Period.
In my humble opinion, Woofodford Folk Fest is the best festival ever with an eclectic mix of music, crafts, activities, workshop, talks and people.

Sharing a picnic Morning Tea

Gigi and her new friend helping out

The Festival site used to be a cattle farm, so from an environmental view, pretty degraded.  Over that last twenty years, an army of volunteers have been planting native species, removing weeds and generally improving the site.

Planting a tree

Helpers

This is where the Planting comes in. It started as a weekend of volunteers planting trees and weeding and has evolved into a small festival with music and gardening/composting/ weaving workshops.

It had to be a pink pony

I volunteered to help out at the festival in return for a ticket. Over the Saturday and the Sunday there are two large group planting activities. Gigi and I participated in the first of these on Saturday, as it was family friendly. Needless to say, Gigi loved it. She loves getting dirty, mulching and planting trees. Best of all, there was another little girl the same age to play with. Very quickly the two girls became partners in crime, kicked off their shoes and ran around like crazy.

It was a huge hit

A woolen doll I made with scrap wool

One of the beautiful things about childhood is the ability to instantly connect with other kids. Everywhere at The Planting were groups of kids running around playing- with sticks, with seedpods, in the creek, in a tree. It was fantastic to see the kids playing outside with objects as toys and their imaginations. Not one 'smart device' was to be seen. It was just lovely.





















As for me, I also had a great time. I went to several workshops on working with bamboo and also a weaving workshop. I'm feeling very inspired and will be posting all of my projects as I attempt them.

An orange Tiger!