Who remembers "Slip n Slide"?

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Gympie

In 1867, Queensland, was facing possible bankruptcy when James Nash discovered gold near the present site of Gympie.
Today Gympie is the major provincial city and serves a population of 60 000. Gympie is located on the Mary River, 160 kilometres north of Brisbane.

Friends in Gympie invited us over for the weekend. Whhoo Haaa!! Time for some chillin' and relaxin' in the country! .

Driving there a car almost hit us trying to get into our lane. I think maybe we were in their blind spot, but it was scary none the less. Defensive tactical driving by the husband meant we swerved out of the way, but the quick swerve meant that the sleeping Miss Four bumped her head and woke up crying. 15 mins later still listening to the half sleepy crying kid, we were cursing the driver and wanting to hunt them down. "It's Ok that you almost crashed into us, but we think you should have the crying kid until she stops!" It was definately not enjoyable.


So after a Two hour drive punctuated with food stops, crying, head banging, fighting, loud music to drown them , constantly putting the dummy back in the babies mouth and wonderful family bonding time we arrived in Gympie!! YEAH!!!


It was nightime and all the kids were so excited!! With now 7 kids and 4 adults in one house it was time for a party. The four girls giggled and jumped around the room until very late at night. So excited they all woke up at the crack of dawn... can you remember how fun it was when you were a kid sleeping over at friends houses? However the adults all groaned and went back to bed. Our friends said that in the morning we would see the wonderful view from their house. I checked out the window as soon as the kids woke and it was nothing but fog everywhere. Two hours later revealed the river, golf course, trees and mountains! So pretty!


A fantastic breakfast of eggs, bacon, pancakes we head off to the local park to tire the kids out. Once at home the host children invite our children to play "Slip 'n' Slide". The have a sloped back yard.. PERFECT... for slip n slide. Our kids have never played this before so
they absolutely loved it! A plastic sheet, detergent, a slope = a whole lotta fun. It looked so good I was silently wishing I had bought my togs! (But we all know from watching Funniest Home Videos that adults should never do strenuous childrens games - and not to mention the sore ribs I would have the next day!!) So I restrained myself and just enjoyed the wonderful lunch provided by our hosts (the best salad I have ever eaten - lettuce, carrot, apple, craisens, sunflower seeds, sweet potato, tomato, cucumber, balsamic vinegar... it was soo good)


No Slip n Slide for me this time... But maybe next time.


We had a wonderful drive home with children asleep in the back.... only to have one of them vomit as soon as we get home...there goes tonights plans for mummy and daddy time, what babysitter would want vomitting children? Oh well with kids nothing is easy!!


Everytime you take time out to do things like this we wish we did it more often
Life is short and too much time passes between visits with our friends!

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Photos

Fog
This was the view at 6am in the morning

2 hours later
This was the view at 8am in the morning

Father and Daughter
Town Park centre of Gympie

Slip and Slide
so much fun with just a piece of plastic and a slight incline

Countryside
on the way home