It's here, the new Year!!! A chance for new beginnings, new ideas, new things to achieve, new.... well whatever you'd like!!!
I've been thinking for ages "what am I going to do this year, my children are in a grade older, Sophia is now in Full time school...... ARHHHHHh!!!
Then today I read this from one of my favourite sites click HERE to be encouraged too!!
I hope that as this New Year kicks off that you are feeling excited and enthused but more importantly ready to have some super fun and quality time with the precious children you have been blessed with!!
Catch you again soon,
Smiles The Torrents's
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Kaizahn
My beautiful pussy cat Kaizahn was sadly put down on Friday. I miss her sooooo and wanted to just take a moment to share some of my favourite pictures of her. She was a super wonderful tittens (affectionately known as Fluffy Orange Tittens) with 13 years of life. Kaizahn coped through 2 moves, many a holiday being left to defend her self (with some help from friends,) multiply hit's from cars, a good few cat fights, 4 children, the occasional stuck in the garage adventure and lots and lots of love from us!
She LOVED boxes and WOOL! Yes she chewed and wrecked many a woolen jumper and especially LOTS of Allan's pairs of woolly socks! She even pulled out my knitting bag recently and munched through some of the balls of wool! he he, so funny but very TRUE! My favourite part of the day was when I came to rest on the couch and she would jump up, purr, paw and get comfy until I went to bed! I loved her soooo much and will miss her dearly!
Goodbye sweet Kaizahn, thank you for everything!Smiles The Torrents's
Friday, October 14, 2011
The wonderful places we stayed!
We had the most wonderful time staying in different caravan parks, seeing what the Pro's and con's were in each and checking out all they had to offer. Here is a list of some of the parks we stayed at.
View from our van! SO amazing!!
There are some super amazing places to visit over on the BIG ISLAND! My absolute fav was DEFIANTLY Burrum River, the people were amazing, outstanding, fantastic!!!! Here are the children in the buggie with Charles the Manager of the place! So fun!!!!
Smiles The Torrents's
Ocean View (near Landsborough)
Burrum River (just 35min's from Hervey BAy)
View from our van! SO amazing!!
Tun Curry- the first place we stayed at in a cabin
Swansea - Blacksmith's (click on link and see the exact Villa we stayed in!!)
second cabin we stayed in!
second cabin we stayed in!
There are some super amazing places to visit over on the BIG ISLAND! My absolute fav was DEFIANTLY Burrum River, the people were amazing, outstanding, fantastic!!!! Here are the children in the buggie with Charles the Manager of the place! So fun!!!!
Smiles The Torrents's
Thursday, October 13, 2011
And that brings us to the end
I feel as though our holiday was a mere moment in time - certainly not the 5 weeks that it actually was! We really needed that time as a family, life has been hard here in the Torrents household, especially leading up to July!! What this holiday did for us is nothing short of amazing! We have our family BACK! Our little tribe united again! Not only has it drawn us closer but it's made us stronger too!!!
I just wanted to go over the last day before the children and I flew out of Sydney....
Here are all the children outside our accommodation for the night, Allan dropped us off and headed south to Melbourne to sail home on the SPirit the following night.
There certainly wasn't much to our room! We were all very surprised, so we made good use of the "bathroom" we simply called it the second room! You can imagine how "comfortable" the floor was to read on while the children were sleeping and I was waiting to go to bed!! It's funny now but I can honestly say at the time.... well we tried to look on the positive!!!
After the park we walked around Botany Bay looking for somewhere nice to eat some afternoon tea. I saw this amazing cake shop and HAD to go in! The decor was sooo pretty and the food... oh the food that was before us was soooo tempting! We all decided this was the place to eat! It was hard to choose what goodies we should munch on but eventually we all sat down and enjoyed our tasty treats!
It was soon getting time to head back, we had caught a bus into the city (Sydney) and then caught one back to the hotel. Near the Hotel was a Maccers and so that's were we had tea. The children had the best time in the playground there, they had musical instruments that made HEAPS of sounds!! They loved it!
Walking back to the Hotel
The next day we were flying home! It's hard to believe after sooo much time that we were off to Tassie again. Esther especially LOVED seeing all the planes (she still even now when she hears one, looks up and waves madly to whomever might be on board! CUTE!) We ended up needing to fill in over 1hr of delay time so watching the planes was a good filler!
Once home we had just one more sleep till Daddy was home! The children were soooo excited but none more than Esther! When she saw Daddy she hugged and hugged and hugged him, with this amazing giggle and delight that here he was! It was sooooo wonderful and a very special moment for Allan!
So there you have it, it's now a wrap! Of course since being home we have been doing lots of other fun things which I will post on soon! I hope you've enjoyed sharing in our holiday fun with us!
Smiles The Torrents's
I just wanted to go over the last day before the children and I flew out of Sydney....
Here are all the children outside our accommodation for the night, Allan dropped us off and headed south to Melbourne to sail home on the SPirit the following night.
There certainly wasn't much to our room! We were all very surprised, so we made good use of the "bathroom" we simply called it the second room! You can imagine how "comfortable" the floor was to read on while the children were sleeping and I was waiting to go to bed!! It's funny now but I can honestly say at the time.... well we tried to look on the positive!!!
After the park we walked around Botany Bay looking for somewhere nice to eat some afternoon tea. I saw this amazing cake shop and HAD to go in! The decor was sooo pretty and the food... oh the food that was before us was soooo tempting! We all decided this was the place to eat! It was hard to choose what goodies we should munch on but eventually we all sat down and enjoyed our tasty treats!
It was soon getting time to head back, we had caught a bus into the city (Sydney) and then caught one back to the hotel. Near the Hotel was a Maccers and so that's were we had tea. The children had the best time in the playground there, they had musical instruments that made HEAPS of sounds!! They loved it!
Walking back to the Hotel
The next day we were flying home! It's hard to believe after sooo much time that we were off to Tassie again. Esther especially LOVED seeing all the planes (she still even now when she hears one, looks up and waves madly to whomever might be on board! CUTE!) We ended up needing to fill in over 1hr of delay time so watching the planes was a good filler!
Once home we had just one more sleep till Daddy was home! The children were soooo excited but none more than Esther! When she saw Daddy she hugged and hugged and hugged him, with this amazing giggle and delight that here he was! It was sooooo wonderful and a very special moment for Allan!
So there you have it, it's now a wrap! Of course since being home we have been doing lots of other fun things which I will post on soon! I hope you've enjoyed sharing in our holiday fun with us!Smiles The Torrents's
Sunday, October 2, 2011
Zeke's FAVOURTIE PLACE
Today is Ezekiel's 8th birthday (happy birthday sweetie!!) and so I wanted to share with you Zeke's favourite place that he wanted to visit while we were in QLD! COLD ROCK!!! If you haven't heard of it, it's a place that makes the scrummiest ice-creams with WHATEVER combo of things you want in it! Ohhh yes, not the place for those who don't make decisions well!!!
I would have to say that I'm a little like that and after 5 taste tests I decided on Hazelnut/chocolate ice cream and one of my personal fav's lemon sorbet! YUMMO!!! Inside I had mixed in Brownie Fudge squares and Nutella!!!
Oh my mouth is getting all watery just typing this...... The children had the best time choosing and then eating their special treats, it was such a glorious and very FUN day!!!Smiles The Torrents's
p.s Esther did get some too, she shared ours!!
Friday, September 23, 2011
We'll always remember that day!
Isn't it always the way that when bad things happen you can later look back and, well make a good story of it!!This is what happened on this particular day! We had packed up and left Burrum River ready for a 2 hr drive North. We were only 10 minutes down the road when all of a sudden a loud screech sounded, followed with a bang and the caravan dragging behind us! We quickly started to pull over!!!
Allan looked somewhat worried once checking out the revision mirror but I tried to keep everyone calm (the children mostly) and said
"It's only a flat/blown tyre everyone, it's ok!!"
Little did I know that the tire had actually, in the words of my husband in telling this story (now a good few times...) "GONE BUSH!"
It was completely ripped off the studs! Ouch, this wasn't good!I have to say though, that on this day we know FOR SURE just how much GOD was looking after us and providing for us! A lovely man stopped and then People whom we met at the caravan park and got friendly with also stopped to help. Iit was amazing!! They took Allan into the nearest town, got supplies, bought lunch and drove him back. We (the children and I) filled in 5 hours on the side of the road, playing games of counting the number of Red, yellow, blue (whatever other colour that was driving past) cars and working out what colour was the most popular. Which is WHITE by the way!!! Very closely followed by SILVER! Some eating of yummy chips that were brought back, T.V, and the occasional checking on Daddy seeing if he needed help, reading and just simply doing nothing while waiting.... Allan had fixed the issue and we were off again, not only with a fixed van but a very good story, and a day that we'd always remember!
Smiles The Torrents's
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
My dream came true {too}
One of the most amazing animals that GOd has made would have to be the Whale!!!! Ohhhh it's my absolute favourite!!! You know when you're a little girl .... one of your favourite things is usually horses and dolphins, well not ME!!! I LOVE WHALES!!!!
When we realised that during the months of Aug and Nov Humpback whales play around in the warmer waters of Hervey Bay QLD, it became a MUST DO!!!!! I'd been saving all my workshop money and had exactly $300 to do the cruise. After many a phone call to all the local cruise companies, this lovely group Tasman Venture gave us this SUPER deal and by God's awesome blessing said it would be only $300!!! You can imagine just how excited I was!!!! Let me say that all my family, (well both my brother and sister) have seen whales..... and their not even their favourite...... finally it was my TURN to see these magnificent mammals!!!!! YAY! YAY! YAY!!!!
The day was amazing, still calm waters, the most stunning clouds you've ever seen, (another one of my favourite things God's made... the sky, especially clouds) my very special family to share this memory with and wonderful staff to chat too! What more could you ask for....... well perhaps a whale?!?!?!
Spot the seal in the background here with Zeke
After some time we spotted a New Zealand Fur seal, all by it's lonesome, just hanging out looking for a friend. The guides said that they're spotted only once every 2-3 years and is usually because they've got lost along the way!!! Dear little fellow, he looked pretty happy though!
Next we saw 2 dolphins playing around and joining us at the front of the boat. They looked sooo amazing, and the speed they were swimming was unbelievable!!!! This was all very nice but I was really WANTING TO SEE A WHALE!!!!!
Finally in the distance there was one, just playing in the water, slapping his PECK (well so they say) and diving in with his tail in the air...... it even breached, so this now was beginning to be something. Before long the whale saw the dolphins and decided to come over and play! This was very cool, it was right up at the boat!!!!! Then after some more chatting (splashing and diving) a smaller whale came over and decided to check us out too! I can honestly say I was speechless, trying sooo hard to take photo's all the while trying to take in everything I was seeing! There they were the 2 of them just bobbing up and down, blowing in rhythm with each other.... right next to US! The boat was rocking sooo much from the sheer power of them "treading water!" Allan said at one point, "I think the whales are here to see us, not us seeing them!!!"
I loved it all soooooooo much and am soooo thankful for such an amazing opportunity!!!! You couldn't wipe the smile off my face, AMAZING, SUPER, FANTASTIC, REMARKABLE, MIGHTY, BEAUTIFUL creatures of the sea!!!
I know for sure that next time (which there will be!!!) We'll leave it a later in Aug as it's been said that there could be up to 100 whales in the bay at one time...... of course I was happy for our 2 that day and am sooo grateful for what was truly a DREAM COME TRUE!
Smiles The Torrents's :)
When we realised that during the months of Aug and Nov Humpback whales play around in the warmer waters of Hervey Bay QLD, it became a MUST DO!!!!! I'd been saving all my workshop money and had exactly $300 to do the cruise. After many a phone call to all the local cruise companies, this lovely group Tasman Venture gave us this SUPER deal and by God's awesome blessing said it would be only $300!!! You can imagine just how excited I was!!!! Let me say that all my family, (well both my brother and sister) have seen whales..... and their not even their favourite...... finally it was my TURN to see these magnificent mammals!!!!! YAY! YAY! YAY!!!!The day was amazing, still calm waters, the most stunning clouds you've ever seen, (another one of my favourite things God's made... the sky, especially clouds) my very special family to share this memory with and wonderful staff to chat too! What more could you ask for....... well perhaps a whale?!?!?!
Spot the seal in the background here with Zeke
Next we saw 2 dolphins playing around and joining us at the front of the boat. They looked sooo amazing, and the speed they were swimming was unbelievable!!!! This was all very nice but I was really WANTING TO SEE A WHALE!!!!!
Finally in the distance there was one, just playing in the water, slapping his PECK (well so they say) and diving in with his tail in the air...... it even breached, so this now was beginning to be something. Before long the whale saw the dolphins and decided to come over and play! This was very cool, it was right up at the boat!!!!! Then after some more chatting (splashing and diving) a smaller whale came over and decided to check us out too! I can honestly say I was speechless, trying sooo hard to take photo's all the while trying to take in everything I was seeing! There they were the 2 of them just bobbing up and down, blowing in rhythm with each other.... right next to US! The boat was rocking sooo much from the sheer power of them "treading water!" Allan said at one point, "I think the whales are here to see us, not us seeing them!!!"
I loved it all soooooooo much and am soooo thankful for such an amazing opportunity!!!! You couldn't wipe the smile off my face, AMAZING, SUPER, FANTASTIC, REMARKABLE, MIGHTY, BEAUTIFUL creatures of the sea!!!
I know for sure that next time (which there will be!!!) We'll leave it a later in Aug as it's been said that there could be up to 100 whales in the bay at one time...... of course I was happy for our 2 that day and am sooo grateful for what was truly a DREAM COME TRUE!Smiles The Torrents's :)
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