Seagulls and Surfers

We had an amazing day with the girls' cousins and some friends down at Broken Head. So gorgeous. Sun, rain, bbq and a lot of incredible surf (go, Tone, go!). We taped a plastic bag around Tara's leg and she played on the beach (and in a clay cave - VERY messy!) with the other kids like there was no tomorrow. The day ended with this beautiful one-legged seagull tottering around in front of us - and the sun setting behind us. Just lovely and kinda poignant.

The drive home was really funny coz Jadie's developed a similar ticklish toe syndrome to Tara - and just like Tara, she can't satisfy the itch - so it drives her insane (the tickle is somewhere IN her foot where she can't reach). Quite interesting. They're not identical twins (at all!) - but there've been quite a few similar incidents...really sweet.

The twins had a friend's birthday party on Saturday - and the lovely mum told us that she's gonna raise money for the Royal Brisbane Children's Hospital in her next marathon (because Alex had told her about Tara's experience - where there were days when no food arrived, machines didn't work, wards were full etc.). So that's fantastic! It's kinda like the NHS here - a service that's soooo needed and yet not well supported. And yikes - would be awful to turn into America's health system!

Another kind mum approached us and offered up her husband if ever we needed his services (I don't know if she's told him!). And a very brave mother invited all 3 girls for a sleepover on Saturday night! They LOVED it - were totally spoilt (altho' Jadie did predictably cry a little at night coz she missed us - but Tara comforted her).

Tone and I had a fab stroll to Surfer's - fastest one we've done forever (sans kids makes a difference!). Had Nando's for old time's sake and then watched Sean Penn's Into the Wild - which happened to be the book Paul was reading when he died. So it was interesting. Heartbreaking.

Not sure if it's Tara's op, pressure of tryna work when there's so much other stuff to do, or just genes - but Tone's blood pressure's a little on the high side...so we're tryna get him to chill, chill, chill! Thanks to everyone for their support - especially YiaYia and Bapou! Thank you.