A long post!

Whoa, last week was a busy one! On Monday night, Jeff had us over for dinner at his place. Karine and Jolyne were visiting from Canada and staying with Jeff. It was a little mini Montreal reunion with Jeff, Vic, Jolyne, Karine, me and Steve. Seemed a bit strange to be hanging out with them in Brisbane but really nice to see them and catch up with them! On Tuesday night, I went out for dinner and a movie with Brianna and Clo. It's nice to get out with the girls. Next week Clo and I are driving to meet Brianna in Noosa, where she's staying in a beautiful beach house. I have Friday off and we're going to drive up on Thursday evening and spend the night and then spend all day Friday being beach bums. I'm so, so looking forward to it!

On Wednesday night, we had everyone over at our house for a BBQ. I love having people over! Again, Jolyne and Karine joined us, which was nice and it was nice for Rej, Clo and Brianna to meet some of the people that we know from home.

Steve took Wednesday off work and drove our car to Noosa with Jeff, Jolyne and Karine. He's mastered driving a standard and apparenty did very well on the 2 hour drive there and back. I had to work, but judging from the pics and the sunburns they all had when they got back, I think they had a fun day in the sun!

This weekend was amazing. We were total beach bums. Originally, Clo and I were trying to organize a camping trip for the 4 of us, but because it's now "school holidays" it was impossible to get a campsite. We're going to try to plan a camping trip in the New Year, and book a site well in advance. I miss camping! Anyhoo, no camping did not mean no fun. We headed off to Byron Bay on Saturday morning, where we spent a beautiful day relaxing, swimming, body boarding and snorkling...well the boys snorkled and apparently it was amazing. They saw everything from turtles to rays, just swimming off shore a bit. We packed an awesome picnic lunch in our new cooler (we're pretty excited about having a cooler!) and ate on our new camping dishes (we're slowly trying to collect camping stuff again). A few pics...
Silly boys.
Pit stop. Clo is like me and eats often. It's great! We had several snack breaks throughout the day!
Our picnic lunch...It's so much cheaper and yummier to pack a lunch! Plus, I think it's so much more fun!

Clo went a little overboard on the sunscreen! hehe:) But, seriously, the sun is so strong here. It is definitely NOT the same sun as at home. We wear SPF 30+ (that's the strongest you can get in Australia) and we apply it about 3-4 times while we're at the beach and we still get tan lines and sometimes even burns (especially Steve). A lot of people cover up with SPF shirts. It's tough because it's so nice to be tanned but it's just not a good idea to get too much sun here. A lot of Australia women look much older than they are, because of growing up in the strong sun. People often comment to me that I have "Canadian skin", which doesn't just mean pale, but wrinkle free too. I was talking to a couple of people about our cruise and if we should be concerned about crocs or box jelly fish and they told me, dead serious that the only thing we should fear is the sun. I have met so many people that have blistered and become very sick after a day at the beach without the proper protection.
Steve and Rej, off to see the fish.
I need a new sun hat. This one is way too floppy.
Clo in her non-floppy sun hat.

Today we were supposed to pack, since we're moving next Monday, but we woke up to the sun shining and very hot temperatures. Summer is definitely here! So we said screw it and went to the beach instead! I'm getting really good at letting work go when there's something more fun to do (maybe a little too good!). We packed up another picnic lunch, threw Jesse is the car (this is exactly why we wanted a car...not for everyday stuff, but for the freedom to go wherever we want, whenever we want on the weekends) and headed out. The water was so warm. I don't think I have ever swam in an ocean that warm! It truly felt like bath water! Jesse loved it and definitely got his exercise today. The above picture is pretty funny...Steve definitely captured the moment there!
I laugh so hard watching Jesse take on the waves. He's mastered keeping his head above the waves and fights them quite bravely, in order to be out with Steve and I.
Although, sometimes even the bravest dog needs a little help...
Back to work tomorrow. Although, like Steve said at dinner tonight...it's not so bad working for a living, when you get to spend your weekends like this....

Hope everyone at home had a great weekend too!