Happy Mothers' Day!!

To all Mums, Nana's, Great-Grandmas ... I hope you had a special day with family gathering around to remind you how much you are loved and appreciated! :0) And since it was Mothers' Day ... we trekked off to Flaxton near Mapleton in the beautiful Sunshine Coast hinterland where Mum and Dad are currently house-sitting. If you haven't explored this area of Queensland ... you really should!!! :0) It's GORGEOUS!! Imagine rolling green hills with fat, happy cows grazing (I know they were happy cos they were smiling! Tee! Hee! Hee!), stands of old tall trees, picturesque villages ... and you can also see the ocean! Perfect, right?! :0)

We've often visited the popular village of Montville to enjoy its great selection of arts, crafts, boutiques and specialty shops and made a return visit this weekend for some browsing ... oh ... and maybe a FEW things followed me home! Tee! Hee! Hee! A gal's gotta shop!!! :0) We enjoyed a DELICIOUS lunch, munched on some hot cinnamon-and-sugar-coated almonds (YUMMO! Gotta get me a recipe!!) ... and then it RAINED! My Beloved Geek Boy and I are starting to think we're not meant to visit mountains cos whenever we do (ie. numerous Mt Tamborine visits!) the sky leaks ... SIGH! So the afternoon was spent working on a jigsaw and adoring two cute doggies and generally just hanging out with Mum and Dad. Not really a tough way to spend a rainy arvo! :0)

Today dawned nice and sunny and we thought we were set, so after a Mothers Day church service, we put together a picnic and headed off to a pretty park ...

Mum and I laughing cos when GB went to take this pic he captured a really odd expression on Mum's face cos she was trying to swallow a grape and smile at the same time! Tee! Hee! Hee! Love ya Mum!! One of the things I love about Mum is her ability to laugh at herself ... a trait she has passed on to me! :0) In fact, my Mum has many traits that I admire and while I know I missed out on some (that neat/tidy/organised trait seems to have bypassed me entirely! Tee! Hee! Hee!), if I've inherited enough to make me half the woman my Mum is ... I reckon I'll be doing OK. Happy Mothers' Day, Mum!! Love you heaps! :0)

And here's a pic of the boys. They were being so difficult about having their photo take ... pulling faces etc ... that I threatened to name this pic "The Three Turkeys" ... they looked at me strangely and said ... "There's only two of us" ... not from where I was looking! :0) The very busy scrub turkey in the background was pretty chuffed with the Mothers' Day picnic leftovers he was finding! :0)

So ... after lunch was finished we decided to head off to see some privately owned botanic gardens ... at which point it started to ... RAIN!! SIGH! Still ... we had a sort of long-distance peek from the cover of a pergola ...

You can see the grey skies that closed in and the rain in the background coming in off the coast. Still ... it was a pretty view. :0)

... one of the water features. This 'garden' consists of over 3 acres and since it's on quite a steep, hilly block, some very hard work has obviously gone into creating this beautiful space. We're hoping to go back and see it properly one day ... when it's NOT raining!!

We then headed home ... and found the rain had cleared a bit closer to Flaxton, so we stopped in at Kondalilla Falls national park. After a VERY steep descent from the car park to the start of the walking trail, we thought we'd better check the walking guide before heading off to the falls, as we had limited time before GB and I had to hit the road to head home. Hmmm ... OK ... 1.4km circuit taking approximately 45 minutes. That was doable ... so off we headed on our walk. And we walked ... and walked ... and walked ... and after about 30 minutes reached ...

... a small waterfall that was NOT the Kondalilla falls! SIGH! Pretty, though. :0) And so we set off again ... walking ... walking ... walking ... did I mention there were some really STEEP sections of trail?? And that I am incredibly UNFIT?!?!?! :0# After we estimated we'd walked well over half the distance (and another 10-15 minutes), we reached the top of some steps that went down ... down ... down ... we could see people waaaaaaaay below us walking down and it was a looooooooong way away. A look at the clock (and just quietly, a check of the ol' spaghetti legs!!) and we decided we just didn't have enough time to get down to the falls and back to the car by the time GB and I needed to hit the road ... another thing on the  'next time' list. So much for the estimated 45 minutes on the sign! Perhaps if you were a  mountain goat or an Olympic triathlete you could manage it, but since we were neither of those ... we headed back to the car.

We've decided that either someone in the National Parks and Wildlife Service has a nasty sense of humour in signposting distances along walking tracks or they're paced-out by a VERY tall man ... who loses count of how many strides he's taken and fudges the distance from time to time! :0) We may not have made it to the main waterfall, but it was still a very pretty walk ... when I wasn't huffing and puffing up a hill! :0) All in all, a lovely way to spend the weekend and celebrate the special part Mum plays in our life.

How did you celebrate Mothers' Day? Low-key or fan-fares galore? Whatever you did, I hope you all made your Mum feel super-special ... and if you are a Mum ... I hope YOU were SPOILT, too! For those whose Mum is no longer with them physically, I hope memories of your times together warmed your heart today as you thought of her.

OK ... I think it's time for a cuppa before I take my tired, aching muscles off to the shower and bed. I hope your week is super-fantastic and includes lots of time to create. :0) Til next time ...

BEAR HUGS!!

CHEERS!

KRIS