FFFN, Warren & Helen's lunch, Much Ado about Nothing

For FFFN we went to the beach - haven't been up to Sunshine for a couple of months so it was especially gorgeous. We were late getting there on Friday night - and Alec drove up himself even later. Had Fish and Chips for dinner - greasy and awful so we'll try somewhere new next time. Bought the traditional Coco Pops for breakfast the next day, had milkshakes for dessert - since this is also a Friday night tradition thanks to Max, again - and went to bed early.

Headed in to Noosa Saturday morning - checked out all our favourite spots - Little Cove, Main Beach (which Max declared too crowded - even though there was hardly anyone there) and the mouth of the River (also known as the calm beach).

Decided on Main Beach and had a quick swim. Always refreshing and invigorating even if it is quick.

There was a huge jellyfish on the beach which Louisa and Max delighted in throwing at each other.

After a quick shower - well not really quick - there were still 7 of us - we went to Warren and Helen's new house at Kureelpa (between Nambour and Mapleton). The occasion was Craig and Ally being there with their kids - also Joan rang Warren and asked where the lunch was! W & H's friend Helen was there also. Paul managed a short break from work to come too.

Poor Peet had been sick since the morning - and had even thrown up at the unit - we think it was the awful fish and chips - so he was pretty much a zombie the whole time we were there and slept on the grass or on the bed. Louisa and Max on the other hand were delighted - the first thing they saw was the neighbours horse - Helen has a fridge with carrots and apples especially to feed to - so they fed it and patted it.

The house is just fabulous and we were all thinking of moving - momentarily of course - huge trees, green as can be, gorgeous outlook over neighbouring dams and rolling hills.

Warren had cooked a leg of lamb in the weber - there were veges to go with it, pizza, chook, and bread rolls - and then Warren told Helen there wasn't enough food so she made spag bog as well - there was oceans of food. Joan took a chocolate cake as well.

Craig and Ally's little kids were too cute. Josh is nearly 4, Ella is two and Zoe is 6 months. Ella was so talkative. In the car on the way home Lee said he couldn't understand what she was saying but she said a lot. Jesse could tell him exactly what Ella said - since it was the same thing over and over - 'my name is Ella, I've got a brother, he's not my sister, his name is Josh, my baby's name is Zoepus' - repeated. The kids here (including Jesse and Alec) are still talking about her.

Max and Josh hit it off, of course - we have found that Max is very popular with little kids - he looks small - so they think he is their age - but he plays older and compensates for younger kids since he knows they are younger than him - so it all works. Lots of tree climbing, and playing in the yard.

Warren got out the trolley's for the 'kids' to roll down the hill - and had a go himself, as did a couple of other grown ups.

Then out came the piece de resistance - the WW2 Willies Jeep - so cool. They had one when Warren & Joan were kids - and Lee remembered having one too. Apparently he and Wayne had to stand on the front bumper to add weight so that it wouldn't tip over on the hills in Canada. They were about 8 or 10 at the time - so they couldn't have added that much weight - but apparently it was enough.

Lee, Craig and Warren drove - then Joan had a drive too - which was a load of laughs in itself.

Poor Peet just watched - he was too sick to even care. Roger took the kids home, stopping on the way to pick up some free pool fencing that will be used for the goat pen. Alec stayed at the unit for the weekend.

Jesse and I went home with Joan and Lee since we were going to a production of Much Ado About Nothing that night. There really was much ado involved in getting there - but it was so great. Only $25 dollars a ticket and we loved it. It was at the Albert St Amphitheatre - and they had set up scaffolding seating on the stage - leaving just about half the stage for the performance - the costumes were 1940's war time - so the soldiers still made sense - everything else as per Shakespeare. It was lovely to be out in the night air - curlews calling and so on - seats were hard - but we will keep an eye on that production company and go to more of their work. I think Roger would have loved it and was sorry I didn't take him.

While waiting for Lee to pick us up when it all finished we were cornered by an old fairly drunk aboriginal fellow - it was actually really sad - he gave us a bit of an earful about how long his people had been here, and how it was his country etc. Sad because it must be such an awful life for him.

Roger and the kids didn't get home till after 7 that night - lucky there were meat pies for dinner - Peet was still sick so they put mattresses in the lounge room and stayed up late to watch Australia lose in the quarter final of the World Cup.

Video of Warren on the trolley: