Scruff turns the big 40!

On Saturday 19th July, we headed down to Batemans Bay (South Coast) to help celebrate one of our friends 40th birthday.

We meet the Field family before hand and caught up with them and chatted over lunch then we all drove to Mr Furner’s home to begin the celebrations.

It was really good to catch up with Scruff and the Furner kids. We didn’t get to spend as much time as we thought we would catching up with Scruff as he was playing “Host with the most”. Buzzing around making sure that everyone was enjoying themselves, sending around the nibbles, etc.

All the kids got along really well. They did the usual thing….all the boys played together and all the girls played together. It was good.

Other funny little things happened, but the Mr and Mrs Field will keep these things to themselves and we won’t mention the word “Toaster”! LOL! Oh Roz we have to have something laugh about!

Troy, Scruff (Brett) and Bill

Scruff and his boys Callum, Harrison, Troy and our Matthew

Brett and his girls Teagan (blue jacket) and Chloe (pink jacket), Troy and our Amy-Jane, Bill and his girlsTara (demin fluffy jacket), Matilda (dark jacket) and Grace (little pink jacket)

Note that the mummies where on camera operations!

Things happen to Good People! Why?

This is something that I am continually struggling to understand.

Whilst on holidays on the Gold Coast. It was actually within the first few days, Troy turned the television on. I was in the kitchen organising some nibbles or getting tea ready (I just can't remember) when he started telling me to come here.

So after a few seconds I rushed in and stood there watching the TV. There was a familar face! And then I listened to the news. It was someone that we invited into our life, to help. Now gone. Why!

Darrent Stratti. He had been shot because of greed, which resulted in his untimely death. What a shock! Wow! How does this type of thing happen? It is hard to comprehend to us, let alone his family and loved ones.

Darren came into our life after receiving an email from the Siberian Husky Organisation. Darren was requesting that a kind hearted person would look after his much loved Husky "Gypsy". For some reason I felt that this was something that we could do. We could help someone out, especially since we can't save the world but we could help this person out.

We love our husky "Cash" and there was just something about this email message that stood out and said that he loved his husky and wanted someone to care for her as much as he did.

Darren told us about how he wanted to travel to Tanzania with his partner Rebecka to build a village which would house Kesho Leo children's village (orphan children).

Far out, some unbelieve work. What a compasionate person. Well it was truly our way of donating to this cause by helping out Darren.

Gyspy is a beauitfully natured dog. We do miss her so much since her return to Darren's boys. And we are also truly honoured that Darrent had touched our lives in this small small way.

What a remarkable person! To have such an open and giving heart. To think how remarkable his parents are to have raised such a wonderful young man.

I still sit here asking God......Why! It just doesn't make sense. But I am just one of many people who continues to ask God this. And unfortunately like many many people I will never know the answer to this.

On Darren's blog he states "Bad things happen when good people do nothing". How true! But he made good things happen over there.

God Bless Darren and rest in peace knowing that you have made a difference in the world. Big time!

Articles about Darren can be view here at The Australian; MySpace; Food Water Shelter.

Food Water Shelter was the organisation Darren was volunteering for. If you find it in your heart or be in a position to help out please contribute to this organisation of truly wonderful and compasionate people of Australia.

Anyway all I wanted to say that we miss Gypsy greatly, but not as much as all those people out there that miss Darren. You all should be extremely thankful that he has touched your heart.

Holiday’s over, back to work!

Holidays are never long enough are they! Especially not mine! The four of us went up to the Gold Coast for two beautiful weeks.

We leased a gorgeous large house at Mermaid Waters. The house was huge. 6 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, swimming pool, jetty on the canal. It was great! We were so spoilt. We really were! I mean the ensuite was twice the size of my kitchen.

We also rented a Jeep Wrangler from a car hire company from hell! Yes it was a Red, which was all it and the company had going for it. They did business out the back of a Tarago van! We paid for what we got! But you always have to have something to talk about with holidays.

In these two weeks we did all the “Worlds”. You know Wet ‘n’ Wild, Movieworld, Seaworld, Dreamworld. We even went to the Australian Outback Spectacular, which was just fantastic.

The most memorable part of the holiday for me was that I got to swim with a dolphin named “Gemma” at Seaworld, it was a wonderful experience that I look forward to doing again. This was a treat from Troy, Matthew and Amy-Jane as they knew that I had always wanted to do this. And the other thing was going to the Outback Spectacular. Those riders were just so amazing as well as the wait staff to logistically pull off bringing all the food out all at once (and keeping it hot). It was a fantastic show and you should go if you have the opportunity.

I also was coerced into having my very first ride at Movieworld on the “Superman Escape” coaster. Far out! It was the most scariest ride I have ever been on. 0-100 in 2 seconds. 131 feet in the air, 760 meters of vertical climbs, weightless drops and giant G-force turns.

Definitely far out! I had to be helped getting out of the coaster. My throat was sore from screaming and I was still shaking half way through the day. OMG!

These crazy kids of mine! They went on every single scary ride. At Wet n Wild AJ went on the Surf Rider 14 times. Her and Matthew loved the Lethal Weapon ride at Movieworld. AJ and Troy rode the Tower of Terror at Dreamworld. Troy and Matthew managed to do The Giant Drop. And yes I actually went on the Mick Doonan Moto Coaster. The three of them went on crazy rides like the Wipe Out and The Claw at Dreamworld.

They are all crazy. I even got woozie watching them whilst I was taking photos. Crazy!

We had great weather up there all bar two days which we spent one of those days inside catching up on the DVD new releases and the other day we spent cruising around Surfer’s, checking out the sights and took the kids to the “Hard Rock Cafe” for lunch.
It was a good relaxing holiday, but all good things come to end so with much regret the four of us headed of to the Gold Coast airport after two weeks for the flight home. And yes when we go home we had to face the cold!

Brrrrrrrr!

O.K. The photos! How do you blog two weeks worth of photos!

Yes another challeneg in the day to day life. What to include, what not to include! Hummm!

I had another 12x12 layout to published but I was experiencing Photoshop Element 3 errors! Truly don't think it was the operator. Something about Scratch Disk Error! Errrr!

Here are two photos that I thought I should have on the blog. Yes it is all about me! Especially when I got to swim with Gemma the dolphin!