Wedding activities!

Aloha to our wonderful friends and family attending the wedding in just a couple short months!

P and I have been discussing putting together some group related activities. We'd love for everyone attending the wedding to join. But there is absolutely no pressure either.

The Royal Lahaina (the place we'll be married at) hosts a very high rated Lu'au. We are planning on attending the Lu'au on Thursday 1st with as many as our guests care to join. I've heard very good things from people that have actually been to this particular Lu'au.

Lu'au info

We would also love for as many of our guests that care to join us for a breakfast the day after the wedding, again at the Royal Lahaina Resort. They offer buffet/menu dining.

Breakfast info

Please let us know if you'd like to join the fun, as I need to make reservations for both activities! Of course, there is no pressure at all! We realize this is also a vacation for everyone.

xoxo, Meaghan & Paul

Broome, mate.

For Easter weekend P and I took a trip to Broome. We had a one day layover in Perth. We were left with just enough time to see some family and friends. I haven't been to Perth in quite some time, so this was a nice overdue mini trip and catch up. 

On Good Friday we caught our second plane to Broome. We were greeted by our friends the Wilson's. Mr. & Mrs. Wilson are living/working at a school in a very remote area for the next couple years with their gorgeous kids. Fun fact: We met because Mr. & Mrs. W were married in Vegas. For their wedding and my 25th b-day the stars aligned and Mr. F and I were both in Vegas at the same time. The rest is history. P and I had hoped we'd make it up there to visit them before they came back to civilisation. Easter weekend was the perfect opportunity for us and them. I'm so glad we got to spend some quality time with them. 

Broome is hot, hot, hot during the dry season. Each day the temperature reached 37 degrees celsius or 100 degrees fahrenheit. Luckily, it was quite a dry heat. I don't think I could have coped with that temp and humidity. Each day we made it to the pool where the kids out swam me. They are 5 and 3, but are total bad asses in and out of the water. 

Broome tourism includes a few key elements: Camels, Pearls, Cable Beach, Staircase to the Moon, Dinosaur Tracks and Mangos. We ticked each of these items off the list.

We took a camel ride on Cable Beach with red sun camels. There are three time options to choose from: sunrise, afternoon, or sunset. The camels patiently waited for us on the beach. We took the afternoon ride. It was probably the hottest point of the day, but it was the only 30 minute option. As fun as it was I wasn't keen to sit on a camel for an hour. I really enjoyed myself, and as an American the camels intrigued me. Most Aussie's are pretty used to camels. P wasn't nearly as enthused as I was. But he admitted to having fun after it was finished. 

We managed to swim at Cable Beach twice. We also went there for a sunset after our camel ride. P and I estimated that just about 1 in 4 cars there were a four wheel drive. If your car is capable you drive it onto the beach while the tide is out and enjoy the sunset. The whole beach was lined with cars. We soon learned why everyone has a four wheel drive up there. Practically every other road is unsealed, so your car needs to be capable of driving in those conditions.

Here are the camels coming back from the sunset ride. 

Oscar and Dada looking at the camels (I think).

On our third day we swam here. The red dirt and crystal clear water felt as amazing as it looks. The water here is almost lukewarm as it's such a tropical climate. I've never been in the ocean with temperatures this warm.

We went to the Willie Creek Farm with Mrs. W on Easter. There we learned all about the pearling process and took a little boat tour around the farm. 

When the tide is high enough all this is under water.

Our view from the boat in the creek.

Beware of falling coconuts.

On our third night we caught the Staircase to the Moon. It only happens 24 times a year, and we got to see it twice. When the full moon rises over exposed mudflats and extremely low tide it creates an optical illusion of stairs reaching the moon. It was one of my favourite parts of our trip. 

See that spec in the sky behind us?

That's the blood moon on Easter.

We watched it again on our last night from our hotel. They put on a small event for it, and played aboriginal music as the moon rose. The music and atmosphere was a really nice touch on their part. 

I found a fallen coconut!

On our fourth day we started with a swim and then parted ways with the Wilsons. Our time together was short, but sweet. Mr. F & I stayed in Broome as they started their drive back home. We decided to get our tourist on. We went out for a coffee, and mulled over local attractions in and around town.

After coffee and a quick bite to eat we got a move on.

P won't openly admit it, but I think he has a little bit of Ross Gellar in him. He's mildly obsessed with dinosaurs. We decided if we had the time we better check out the dinosaur footprints in Broome. The drive there was short. Scaling the rocks to get to the footprints was the hard part. Of course we went late in the day when it was good and hot. 

This is the kid friendly version at the top of the rocks.

 It is an artificial imprint or cast of the real footprints below. 

It resembles Mars here, or what we might imagine Mars looks like.

Here's the real footprints, or what we thought were. We can't be sure we actually found them. After looking online I think we were fooled. But either way it was fun, and it was too hot to keep looking. 

On our last day we had most of the day to kill before our flight. We went to 12 mile bird park just out of town. Mr. F LOVES birds. He's confessed if he could be any animal he would be either a monkey or a bird. Whenever he sees a large bird in the sky he stops and looks up paralysed. The bird park was fun. They were all birds found in Australia, and two of them said "Hello" to us. That was the best part.

After the bird park we went to The Mango Place. P had been looking through a tourist book and decided to google them. They advertised vegetarian dishes, and I was fully on board. I had a vegetable curry and mango mojito. It was easily the best mojito I've ever had. P had a beef pie and mango wine. The wine too was absolutely amazing. 

After our lunch we still had several hours before our flight. We decided to take the time to write out a few post cards to some family.

I'm kicking myself for not getting photos of the kids, but I didn't want to be a paparazzi.  I also feel weary of posting photos of other people's children on the web (unless given permission). Anyways, that explains the lack of photos of the kiddies and Mr. & Mrs. W. 

All in all it was a fantastic trip. I would highly recommend Broome to anyone that enjoys the water and heat. The scenery is beautiful, and there is plenty to see. 

Home Tour

Back in July Paul and I bought our first home together. Most of our friends and family already know that, duh. But as most of our friends and family are between 3,000-10,000 miles away few have yet to see the place.

We cleaned the house yesterday good and proper. I was admiring our freshly cleaned castle with the sun shining in and it hit me to take a few photos. I wouldn't normally just post pictures of our house, but we've been lovingly hassled a few times for people to see. So here are just a few of our living, dining, and study. 

Our extremely talented friend Kieran was kind enough to take engagement photos for us. We have one of those gems hanging on the far left. Most everything in the living room is new to us. Apart from the couch. Paul only had that for a short time before I got here. It's actually a great little couch. He did well to pick a colour I love before he even met me.

We only just set up a proper study. It's made such a difference in the house. I love having a workspace. We got that adorable stool at a small rustic shop on a little road trip. Don't mind the kettle bells. 

We've got the start of a gallery wall in our study. My amazingly talented friend Julie's art takes up 95% of the space on the wall. She has generously gifted me several pieces. We have a few other things to hang, but we're waiting for frames worthy of the art.

I love our dining table. It was the first big ticket furniture item we bought for the house. 

I felt like a real adult when it was delivered.

Obviously I have several Kitschy Honebees garlands hanging all over. 

At the moment we have a tiny fridge from our one bedroom place. We haven't bought a dishwasher just yet either. Those are two things on the back burner for us. Paul installed the flue above the oven. That was quite the project, but well worth it. 

I love our wood floors. It took Paul a little while to decide how he felt about the colour, but I'm fully on board. They are such a rich and warm colour. As you can tell we're pretty cool with the whole white and grey colour scheme. It's neutral and I dig it. I definitely don't have an eye for interior design, but whatever I like what we've done thus far.