Critters, critters and more critters

So many critters abound here in The Alice. Check out the bearded dragon in our back yard (I named him Darel - which means 'blue sky'):

That's not my hand, but it helps give perspective so you can see how big he is

I like the beardies and the lizards - they are good to have in your yard because they eat the bad things.

We discovered another toilet frog in our powder room the day before we hosted our first big dinner. We debated whether or not to leave him in there and see who would notice ... but decided it would be best to transfer him outside where he could be with his friends.

He's so cute! But does not belong in our toilet.

I didn't stop to take a picture of this other beauty that made its appearance in our living room one evening. Greg 'took care of it.' I didn't ask any questions. It was about 3-4 centimeters long and looked like this:

NOT CUTE

Spiders are plentiful and I'm not generally too freaked out by them. That said, I hope to never see a Huntsman, but a number of people here have had them in and around their houses. It's so big, it looks like a crab. Supposedly harmless to humans.

Not my hand! Also NOT CUTE.

Enough of the creatures! Onto more hiking. Last weekend we ventured a bit outside of town to Simpsons Gap and Standley Chasm.

Water! Haven't seen this in a while.

Greg is such a rebel!

We also saw a great concert at Desert Park.

Such a pretty setting for an outdoor concert!

We hosted our first dinner party last weekend and more than 26 people came! The weather was beautiful so everyone hung out on our patio. I was too busy to take pictures! Greg made his crowd pleasing beer/garlic chicken. I made a big bowl of cabbage/ramen noodle slaw, doctored up baked beans in the crock pot, as well as homemade blondies.

Evidence that I'm still cooking!