back home, in our own beds.

We're home now. Arrived late last night, around 11pm. Two kids who were quite wired and chatty on the plane ride, then became super sleepy on the drive home and slept all night back in their beds until 7.30am. There really is nothing like being in your own bed is there. Even if you know that the next morning means unpacking all your junk, and washing clothes and sorting everything out (and paying late phone bills, and mowing the overgrown yard - it's rained the whole time we've been away, and we now have a jungle outside).

It's raining here, in Brisbane.  Cold, compared to the skin-burning sun of Cairns (on the days it wasn't raining there as well).

I'm mentally writing my to-do list for today, and the coming weeks. There's a lot.lot.lot.lot happening over the next 2 - 3 weeks (and continuing after that as well). 

{Birthday parties - means tidy house, and organising those 'necessary' party bags and food and games and entertainment for the whole swarm of school people.

{Screen printing workshops - I have two in one weekend, need to finalise some details and things I need to get for that.

{Big design market coming up in 2.5 weeks. Lots of stuff to get finished before then - some stuff to get started...... But, thankfully at the moment I'm still feeling under control and excited, rather than stressed, by it all. 

Here's some photos from our day at Green Island, about an hour by big boat from Cairns. What a glorious day it was; despite the fact that it was overcast and not nice and sunny beach weather. The glass bottom boat was quite amazing - seeing the reef, corals and fishes - as well as a turtle - up close. (Though the pictures aren't really that good, as they're all taken through greenish glass).

Walking in the forest was probably one of the best times of the holiday {next holiday, we're just going camping!}. Stopping and looking at all the little seedpods, leaf skeletons, discarded eggshells,  forest snail shells, mushrooms, tangles of tree branches, and listening to the doves coo.coo.cooing to each other the whole time. 

Then stepping out of the forest onto the beach. And exploring washed-up coral and seashells and wind worn dead branches.

Two moments in the cold of the water, then the feel of the rain coming down, meant we didn't have a proper swim, but we felt the sand under our feet and that was lovely enough.