Be Present in the Moment

Last month, Michael, myself and 3 of our adult daughters (still living at home), went on a week long holiday to Burleigh Heads on Queensland's Gold Coast. We had planned this "family" holiday over a year ago; everyone would contribute an equal share of the accommodation costs, food, etc. It was a much awaited and anticipated holiday; we were all looking forward to walks along the beach and headland, coffee dates, lunches of Acai bowls, Fathers Day celebrations on the Sunday with as many of our combined 9 children as possible, Michael's birthday celebrations, reading books, board games, and a well earned week-long rest and recharge for all who live at number 11!

The view from our 6th floor apartment.

Quite accidentally, we came up with a catch phrase for our time away:
"Be Present in the Moment".
This became a daily reminder that it was important as a family to 'be present' when we spend time together; Michael & I gave the girls the challenge to avoid using their mobile phones unless they were taking photos. This allowed us all to focus on the beauty of our surroundings, enjoy one another's company, engage fully in conversations and use our time at night to read books and play word games, rather than scroll through social media.

Headland walks around sunset provided the opportunity to soak in the beauty of God's creation while exercising together as a family.

The Burleigh Headland walk takes you all the way around to Tallebudgera Creek, with views out west to the mountains of the Tweed Range, part of the Great Dividing Range.

 A fun day out whale watching with a photographer friend, in not-so-perfect conditions.

I'm not a morning person at all but I did manage a couple of sunrises.

Linking up with these memes:

                        

Focusing On Life: Quality Time, Creating Memories

Late last year, my parents flew up to Brisbane to visit us as well as spending a week at Noosa on the Sunshine Coast. Michael & I stayed with them for 4 days. It was a welcome break away for us all, and the weather was perfect!

On the Monday, while Dad & Michael went ocean fishing, Mum & I took a walk along the boardwalk on Noosa's main beach and enjoyed some mother-daughter time...

I am incredibly grateful for the time away that we had with Mum and Dad. We don't see them often as almost 2000 km separates us, and I miss them terribly. Although they are both in their 80's now, they are still healthy and still working!!
I value highly my time with my parents once or twice a year... I wish it could be longer and more often. Quality time & creating memories is what I love about time spent with family.



Linking up with these memes:

                    

Urangan Pier, Hervey Bay, QLD

Urangan Pier is a historic pier in Urangan, Hervey Bay, Queensland, Australia. It is one of the longest in Australia and stretches for almost one kilometre into the ocean.

It is a former deep-water, cargo-handling facility originally built to facilitate the export of sugar, timber and coal. The pier, served by the extension of the railway line from Pialba, was used for the transfer of cargo between rail and ships. It was built between 1913 and 1917, originally to a length of 1107 metres (1.1 kilometres).

The pier was closed in 1985, and 239 metres of it was demolished. However, due to public outcry, 868 metres of the pier was left, and the land was handed to the Hervey Bay City Council.

By 2009 the last 220-metre section of the pier had been fully restored, and the original timber pylons had been replaced with steel pylons with a plastic covering.

Sharing with these memes:

                        

            

Seattle, Washington, USA

After our week long Alaska cruise, we docked in Seattle relatively early in the morning on Saturday 9th May. We were so exhausted from a very late night in Victoria BC that we didn't even feel the ship docking. We had requested the 9am disembark time to avoid mad the rush.

We dropped our luggage at our hotel, The Westin, and took the local monorail to the Space Needle which is 520 ft high and has spectacular 360 degree views all over Seattle and the waterways. 

After taking many photos, we lunched on hot dogs and Dr Pepper, like true Americans, before returning to the monorail, and passing via See's Candies en route to the hotel.

The Westin has views over Puget Sound and we watched the MS Westerdam as she sailed away at 6pm on her next Alaskan cruise.

Before sunset we took a taxi to Kerry Park, which is on a high point overlooking downtown Seattle, with snow topped Mount Rainier as a backdrop. I joined dozens of photographers with their tripods set up waiting for sunset & blue hour. It was extremely cold, and my parents and aunt patiently waited while I did what any good photographer does and captured images until the end of blue hour. I was relatively happy with the results considering it was quite overcast and Mount Rainier wasn't visible at all (however, that part was disappointing). 

We then took a taxi back to the Space Needle (this is where the young hang out at night) for some night shots before returning to the Hotel, frozen and starving, at about 11pm. I rather liked this bokeh shot of the city lights...

The next morning was my Mum's birthday (as well as Australian Mother's Day) and we had a complimentary  breakfast before heading off to explore more of the city . 

Seattle's Great Wheel is identical to Brisbane's Wheel. We managed to get some great views from our little gondola.

The Seattle Aquarium is a public aquarium which opened in 1977 and is located on Pier 59 on the Elliott Bay waterfront.

Police boat putting on a show...

Linking up with these memes: