Easter week(end)

Footy season has started! Mr. F is quite happy about this as you can see by his Dockers laniard and pin attached to his shirt. We watched the first Dockers vs. Eagles Derby a couple weeks back. The Dockers surprised us with a win. Paul was quite happy with that. This coming weekend we'll be flying 'home' to Melbourne. While there we'll be able to catch a Dockers game at the MCG, talk about good timing!

Easter is a big deal here in Oz. Obviously it's a big deal in the States as well, but it's BIGGER here. Good Friday-Monday are considered Easter weekend. Like most things I don't quite understand just how legit Paul is being when he says everything is closed on Good Friday. Most of Australia closes down for Good Friday. I don't know why I'm so surprised by this. Almost everything is closed at home on Christmas Day and Thanksgiving. But I couldn't believe it till I saw it. With that said Paul had Friday-Monday off. So we got to take advantage of the long weekend. Thursday and Friday evening we went for a bike ride. During the day on Friday we took about an hours drive to a botanical garden called Araluen. The weather was on our side. This was kind of a split second decision that we didn't really plan out. But it turned out beautifully. $4 charge per adult to walk around the garden. Lots of families were having picnics. There was even a surprise party we walked past. Next time we'll be definitely having a picnic. We wandered around for a couple of hours & I couldn't help but take a ton of low quality photos on my phone. Like I said, we didn't plan on going...so I left the good camera at home. Oh well! We'll be back!

The pink flowers above were randomly sprouted up everywhere.

 They were even in random areas on the drive to and from Araluen.

Clare De Lune :)

I swear my legs aren't that white. The sun was shining right on them.

My thinking man.

A pretty fountain leading down from the observation deck.

It was a bit of a hilly walk. More pretty flowers to the left.

Pink roses are my kryptonite. 

These made me want to make a pretty flower crown!

We think of Dad nearly every time we see a wicked Harley. 

If you moved here, Dad this is where you could park the hog. Hint, hint.

I wish pictures captured just how tall trees are. 

Although, that would defeat the purpose of seeing these beauties in person.

Walking down "Three bridge Road" we walked across one bridge and got ourselves lost from the trail.

He's a big fan of the grass trees.

Don't mind the kid, stage right.

We started lunch with a yummy slice of pecan pie.

For whatever reason they brought it out long before our meal(s).

Way more deep fried of a meal than I expected.

But I was hungry was junk. Please believe I ate every bite.

We saw two little lizards while we were eating!

Paul wasn't phased, but these little guys are new to me!

Saturday we drove out to visit Vanessa, Pauls sister. He assembled a shed while we did far less physically demanding work. We looked through an old photo album of Mum's before we hit the road. Ness let me grab a couple photos that made me fall more in love with Paul. How cute is he with that kitten named, Ginger-Megs! I mean, if meeting each other wasn't fate I don't know what is. Then little Paul with his new rig and a speedo (which is much more common here than Minnesota), lol! 

He's so cute I can hardly stand it!

When we got home Paul couldn't help but give me my Easter gifts. He obviously got my hints about really wanting and still not owning BD2, and of course he had to get his chocolate lover a treat as well. 

After I opened my Easter pressies I made almost forty mini carrot cake cupcakes while Paul made dinner. I topped them with lemon cream cheese frosting, dried apricots and a little green icing for artistic purposes. For my first attempt they were pretty yummy.

Sunday morning Paul got his Easter basket. I might have to buy him a bigger basket, because it only held about 1/4 of what I actually bought. Paul is a pretty healthy eater. So he got some dried mango chips, tuna, almonds, sultanas (raisins), gum, and of course a chocolate bunny!

Easter isn't quite Easter in Oz with out some sea food. 

We picked up some prawns on our drive towards the Dempsey's for a bbq. 

We spent our first Easter together with the Dempsey's and their little bunny, Charlotte. We started our day at the South Freo growers market. We spotted ol' John Butler and his family at the markets. This was our second of three JB sightings in the last 3-4 weeks around Freo.

Charlotte had her first Easter. Mummy made her a rice bubble egg with white chocolate. 

We all got to try a bite. It was yummo!

Charlotte approves.

Hangin' with the cutest bunny on the block, Charlotte Lee.

Thanks to Amy for the Lindt bunny. I ate those ears right off! 

Uncle Freddy & Daddy putting together Charlottes new play gym.

Today I enjoyed some of the left over Easter treats with my afternoon tea. Until next year, Easter, until next year.

Bits and Bobs

This year was my first St. Patricks Day with out my family. We have always gone to St. Paul for the parade in the morning. Even as kids my Mom would take us out of school for the parade. Once we got old enough to hit the bars my brother & I did exactly that. I was a bit sad to be apart from my family, however, we had a great day here in Oz. Paul started the day by surprising me with some green decorations & Irish music playing. He brought me a cupcake while wearing his hat & red beard. I made some green banana cupcakes. They turned out less desirable than I had hoped. But these things happen! You win some & you lose some from internet recipes. We had our Sunday growers market date with the Dempsey's in the morning. Then it was to Rosie O'Grady's for some cider and guinness. 

Now I know that I was definitely not meant to wear a beard. Guinness on the other hand I didn't mind.

We're privy to some pretty neat (yes I said neat) happenings by "living" in Fremantle. We've been here since November. Most of our time here has been spent at the Quest Service Apartments. We're right in the heart of Freo. It's a very convenient place to be. Most weekends there is something going on within walking distance. From Mid March until April 1st there was the Sculptures at Bathers event going on. Bathers Beach is a short five minute walk from the quest. We walk past it nearly every day. A fair few Saturdays we'll head down for a cheap meal for the sunset markets at Bathers. Anyways.... Here's some photos from the Sculptures at Bathers event.

Pregnant mermaid on a window. Super dope.

Mr. F was a fan of the grass trees!

This was a mold of a woman turned into a mesh sculpture. 

The picture does it no justice. It was beautiful.

The Roundhouse in all it's glory. We run up these stairs most afternoons after a 4k jog.

Again, the perfect place to stay during this time of year. The next sculptures are from the Cotttesloe Beach. The Cott is a very busy, very busy beach. It's about a fifteen minute drive from Freo. One Saturday I woke up and went downstairs, looking rather homeless. Paul said he had a surprise in mind. He told me to put on some leggings or something, and we'll head out & come back for brekkie. The roads were actually quite busy for only 9am on a Saturday as we drove to the Cott. We got out and wandered the beach for about an hour.

How Aussie is this Kangaroo sculpture?!

Paul was quite a fan of this giant 'nut'. No pun intended.

This one reminded me of the bunny from Donnie Darko.

The water's were wicked busy with swimmers, paddle boarders and the like.

Dumbledore?

Croc made of old fishing nets and such.

On our way to the car we saw some pink and grey's or galahs. They're gorgeous little birds. Paul said "There's nothing more Aussie than that" as we walked past. Once we got home he made a delicious batch of berry pancakes. They were so good in fact that yesterday I was craving them, but we were out of eggs. I pissed and moaned for about an hour about wanting pancakes. Side note is that the day before Paul asked if we'd need eggs & I responded no. Next day...no eggs...but a MAJOR craving for pancakes. I finally got over it & had some oatmeal instead. However, next time he asks me a question like that I think we both will know the answer. Get some damn eggs!

This has been our week for bird sightings! 

On our walk to the markets we saw some bow tie rockin' cockatoos. 

Kieran was away for work. So we had to snap a pic to show him what he was missin'.

We even got Mum down to the markets for a cappuccino. 

We should be here (Perth) for another six weeks or so. After that we won't have much time until we fly to the states. Time is seriously flying by. We still need to work out what the next appropriate Visa will be for myself. I tried calling the Department of Citizenship last week. Unfortunately, after thirty minutes on hold the connection was lost. I was meant to call today & I just plain forgot! Looks like tomorrow is the day. we don't have time to mess around anymore. This weekend we fly back to Melbourne for 1 day/2 nights. We'll be sleeping in our own bed for two whole nights. Friday night is the xx concert & Saturday we have to footy! Another busy weekend, but it is going to be so much fun!