Christmas Day 2007

What a wonderful day! Unlike Claire and Rob we didn't get an 8.30 sleep in, try 0448! First visit was from an excited Caitlin, who mean Mummy sent back to bed, followed by Ryan about 5.10, who mean Daddy sent back to bed, followed by Caitlin at about 5.25 at which time we thought oh well, who's going to sleep anyway, so off to the Santa sacks we all head ........ Santa sacks opened and it's still only 6 oclock. It was a long wait (only an hour) until Grandma and Grandad arrived then we had to have breakfast before the kids were allowed to open anymore presents. Man, parents are so unfair!

Shane and Sandra arrived around 11, we had lots of fun, laughter and chatter, not to mention food, food and food, along with wine. champagne and whiskey. And of course lots of playing especially lego!

The kids were amazing with getting up so early they didn't go to bed until 7pm and were amazing. There were no sleeps had by any and very minimal tears or arguments, a perfect day.

For some reason the photos wouldn't upload so I will try again later.

Merry Christmas to all.

Christmas Eve

This year Christmas is at our house, we will have the four of us and Uncle Rog and Jake staying the night, with Grandma, Grandad and our wonderful friends Shane and Sandra for the day.

So Chrismas Eve the three kids piled under the tree Santa sacks in hand along with a Christmas mince pie and apple crumble for Santa along with an apple for the kangaroo, yes according to the preschool teachers Australia is a bit hot for the reindeer and so there are some special kangaroos that help Santa here - they eat apples!

Caitlin and Ryan went down really well but Jake couldn't sleep because he kept looking out the window for reindeer and a sleigh!

Christmas Preparations

Well it's taken a while but ....... here it is, some Christmas blogging. As traditional our Chrismas tree went up on the first weekend of December (thankfully the 1st this year). Sheryl's parents came over and we had a wonderful morning decorating and having fun, complete with Christmas carols! Here are a few pics from the morning.

End of an Era

Wow our little giirl is growing up, on Friday the 21st she had her last day at preschool. Kind of weird to think she'll be off to school next year, and how fast the first five years has gone. Caitlin was so excited to have her last day at preschool and not because she didn't enjoy it but because she is excited to be off to big school. She still has another 4 weeks until she starts though! The last day was strange for me, it took me ages to pick her up, partly because it was the last preschool day before Christmas, partly because she didn't get there until lunch time (opthamology appt - not a lazy morning!) but mostly because it was her last day and I wanted her to savour every last moment.

A few highlights for her this year were her two excursions to Underwater World and Australia Zoo enhanced by the bus ride, helping out in the babies room instead of having a rest, watching eggs hatch into baby chicks (her class adopted them for a fortnight), but mostly just achieving a lot in her learning and feeling proud of herself.

Ryan, Jaffa and the Marble Run

Ahhhh the joy of laughter, Ryan was in hysterics when Jaffa joined in playing with him, swiping the marbles. As soon as we drop Caitlin at preschool all he wants to do is come home and play with Jaffa, I guess it's nice for him to have her all to himself and not compete for attention / playtime. So a few pics of them together.

Movember update

All going well so far.






Just hoping for a bit more thickness, although a Tom Selleck seems to be out of my league this year.

Kids not sure of the Mo - Caitlin doesn't like it and Ryan says its prickly !

One day they will understand ...

Our Newest Adition

Well after a long wait for events to come and go, we have finally settled down enough to add a little kitten to our family. Jaffa is 6 weeks old and joined us over the weekend. She is very well suited to being in a family with kids, phewww! And so relaxed she even fell asleep on the journey home! Caitlin and Ryan are both in her face and don't give her much peace but funnily enough if they are off doing their own things Jaffa will follow to be with them.

Jaffa is similar colours to Tuppy which is kind of nice, with a little more black and white and a little less sable.

Anyway a few pictures of her ............

Movember

Welcome to Movember !

Gary here, posting for the first time. This month has now officially been renamed Movember, a whole month dedicated to getting men to look after themselves and take a bit more care with their health.

The idea is to grow a mo for the whole month, use it as a talking point with your mates (or, in my case, customers as well) and raise awareness of some of the important health issues affecting men. For more information and the opportunity to take part go to http://www.movember.com/ .

The main health issues being publicised are prostate cancer and male depression. If you are a man over 50 talk to your doctor about getting your prostate checked - it could save your life.

For men of all ages depression is a major issue that affects something like 1 in 5 of us. If you think you may be experiencing depression PLEASE talk to someone about it - wife, girlfriend, mates, doctor,boyfriend - doesn't matter who, just talk. For some inspiration check out this link http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10412742

I'm having a go a growin' a Mo - and I'll post a photo for you all to laugh at very soon...

Ahhhhh The Whitsundays!

Well after a busy and rather stressful few months we have been on a well deserved week away to the Whitsundays. We were supposed to be heading off with Gary's parents and this was to be the big trip within a trip but unfortunately their trip has had to be delayed so at last minute we headed off with my parents.

The week was a mixture of swimming, swimming and swimming, accompanied with a jumping pillow (huge bouncy castle - without the castle!), playgrounds, minigolf, food and wine. All of which was at the camping ground, ohh forgot to mention the waterslides there - the kids (especially Ryan) are now water slide junkies. The kids would stay in the water as long as possible - until their lips turned blue, and the thermometer registered "LO". Hmmmm bit of a concern.

We did on occassions leave the campsite, venturing over to daydream island for a half day and visiting Airlie Beach. Gary and I even managed to go for dinner and cocktails one evening, beautiful! What a treat!

Can't wait to our return trip with Gary's parents, early next year.




Airlie Beach, not the most beautiful beach but it is the gateway to the beautiful white sandy beached islands.


The lagoon, or as Caitlin called it "the galoon". This is down at Airlie Beach and is used by anyone and everyone, part of the community and is a free-bee, we spent a wonderful morning down here enjoying the sun and swimming.

Grandad and Catilin at the Galoon!

Ryan and Gary on the boat to Daydream Island. The kids were go, go, go and you can really see the tiredness in poor Ryans eyes.

I did upload more photos but they didn't upload properly so will try it again.

Little Treasures from Caitlin and Ryan

I'm 4 and 4 kilos's (meaning 4 and 3 quarters)

Rain, rain go away, old man wants to snore all day. Caitlin altered the original in the car the other day, so now her latest is altering "come again another day" to as many different lines as possible.

Straw Berries Farm (ok maybe not so funny but the way Ryan's says it is just gorgeous and yes it is said as three words not two)

Ahhh the great Bathurst rivalry of Ford and Holden. Caitlin yells "Go Holden" followed by a louder Ryan "Go Ford" We're with Caitlin on this one but I guess Ryan wins on the final outcome - this year.

After Grandma yawns - "What's all that jewellery in your mouth Grandma"

Caitlin and I were talking about crockery. C "I've got a glass dish" M "It's called china" C "It's painted glass" M "similar but it's China" and finally it was left at C "Chinese Glass", I just smiled and left it at that!

There's lots more but my mind has drawn a blank so I will edit at a later stage.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAMIE!

Hello Jamie, a big happy birthday to the big 5 year old. Looking forward to seeing the pictures of your fairy cake and hearing all about your party. Have fun at school on Monday.

Caitlin misses you and Max.

Latest Happenings

We are now nicely settled into our new home, it was as stress free as moving is. We can now get one car in the garage so that's progress. It's really nice being back in our own home and this time not having any DIY to go along with it, makes it that much more pleasurable.

We've had a lovely weekend, it was Gary's three day weekend so we got to pack more into it. Saturday we headed off to the annual kite festival on the beach, the beach was packed with a range of observers and flyers, some amazing kites. The kids got to make their own kites, face painting, helium balloons that made their way to the sky (luckily we were able to go back for a second balloon each) and a picnic on the beach.

We were supposed to be meeting a few friends at the beach on Sunday but the weather wasn't very predictable so that has been postponed, so we headed off to the movies to watch Ratatoullie. This was the first time we have done the cinema with Caitlin and Ryan and it was heaps of fun. Ryan was a little fidgety but pretty good and Caitlin was transfixed. I love how Caitlin will spontaneously laugh at funny scenes.

Lunar Eclipse

A few photos of last night's nature show. Wonderful education session for Caitlin who had great excitment yesterday talking about seeing the moon turn red. We do have more photos but they didn't look so good when uploaded.

Weather Contrasts

Wow, what amazing weather we've had here. It all started for us on the Gold Coast but a little later on the Sunshine Coast. Tuesday was beautiful blue sky with not much wind but a forecast of a major storm, one would say 'yeah right' but sure enough the meteorologists know what they are talking about. About 7pm the wind whipped up to that equivelent of a grade 2 cyclone, not much rain but a disturbed night with a certain little Caitlin being a bit freaked by the noises, so Gary headed off to her bed and Caitlin bunked down with me. (Better than three in one bed or continual disturbances!). Then the rain started ............. some parts of the Sunshine Coast recorded over 1000mm's in 24hrs! It's quite a contrast for us when we're enjoying the Sunshine Coast winter weather and yet we need to be excited about the rain filling the dams, yes we were happy to see the rain but now we've had some it's nice to see the sun again.

A little tid-bit of Ryan's thoughts on weather.
I went in to get him up a few weeks ago, he looked out the window with a confused look on his face and said "sun gone" with the question tone in his voice, now he's got used to not seeing the sun in the morning he just says "sun gone bed" but it was qute telling about how quickly he has got used to seeing the sun in the morning.

Gold Coast Weekend

We are now back from our wonderful but wet weekend away. It's really good for the Gold Coast to have the rain but it would have been nicer if it was the following weekend!

The highlights of our trip were having breakfast with our wonderful friends Joanna, Nigel and Tessa, and fun family time which included a bus/boat ride, ten pin bowling, dining out in the evening and walking around Surfers in the dark. I also got to drive past the house we used to live in and show it to Gary, Caitlin and Ryan. Isn't it funny how different things are to how you remember them. Although I guess things do change over time - it has been over 17 years. I think what was so different is it looked quite dark, but it was a grey old day and the trees were a lot bigger, it would be nice to see it on a blue sky day.

For those of you with preschoolers who haven't tried ten pin bowling, give it a go. We had so much fun and yes even Ryan played. They have ramps for the kids so they set the balls at the top and push them down the ramp to get the speed and when it was Caitlin or Ryan's turn gutter rails came up so they always hit some pins. By the end of it Caitlin even had "the stance", hand on hip, one knee bent watching until the pins got bowled, she didn't have the steering with her head movement, maybe next time! Caitlin and Ryan both enjoyed the good old high five after their bowls.

Another highlight for the kids was going on the amphibious bus/boat painted as a duck. They both were able to have a go driving the boat part of the ride. Ryan would have kept driving if he could have.

For Gary and I it was really nice catching up with Joanna, Nigel and Tessa. It's really nice to have friendships that can be picked up from the last time we caught up. Thanks guys for a really wonderful few hours

So after a lovely weekend away we are back home to pack more boxes for our big move on Monday week. We also get to catch up with Ang and Paul this coming Monday, looking forward to it!

The latest happenings ......

Well it's been a while since I last blogged so thought I should add a word or two. The last three weeks we've been busy searching the real estate websites and spending the Saturdays Gary wasn't working looking at houses. And yes we have found one! It's in a new subdivision in Caloundra (southern end of the Sunshine Coast), has four bedrooms and two living areas with a park just around the corner. We move on the 3rd of Sept so the boxes will be out again for our final move for a long time. Kathy and Trev, we've been thinking of you while we've been looking at houses, it is so much more family and lifestyle friendly here there is hardly any open homes on a Sunday, I think most agents reserve the day for themselves, I guess it works as the majority follow suit.

Well winter seems to have finished here, very quick and yes we were cold for a bit. Today's forcast was for 28 deg, not sure that it quite got there but the jeans are definitely back in the cupboard along with jumpers.

We have a busy few months ahead of us, along with packing and moving we get to catch up with lots of wonderful and special friends. Starting with a weekend on the Gold Coast so we can catch up with Joanna, Nigel and Tessa for breakfast (they have a whirlwind visit of just over 24hrs in the country), followed by Ang and Paul the following week, and then a few weeks later with Adrienne and Murray for a long weekend. Looking forward to lots of talk over coffees and hot chocolates.

The Morning Walk

Was so nice to get out again and go for my morning walk. Christchurch was a little drizzly and a tad cold so it just didn't happen. So when Ryan woke at 6.30 him and I were off, partly for Gary to get a sleep in as he'd worked an 11 hour day on Thursday but mostly just because I like to take the opportunity of going just pushing the buggy and not directing Caitlin on her bike. We have some awesome walkways right around the island and here are a few pics along the way. Looks nice and warm but I was still wearing a hat and scalf at that time of morning!



This part of the walk is behind the houses aross the road from our house and is often where we see the kangaroos.

A Week of Special Friends

Caitlin and I have just spent a week in Christchurch with some very special friends. When I was there I thought about the people we were catching up with and realised how extra special these friends are.

Firstly there was Amanda and Abby who we were staying with. Amanda has been a very wonderful friend of mine for about 17 years now, she's not only special to me but is also one of those friends who is also important to my parents and brother with so many shared times over the years. Abby is her 8 year old daughter who was the cute little flower girl at our wedding. Although Amanda and I have known each other for so long we haven't actually seen each other in 4 and a half years due to the distance between Auckland and Christchurch. Thank goodness for phones and email.

The four of us girls had a lot of fun and special times over the week the highlights for me were spending the afternoon at the snow, this was Caitlin's first snow experience and she loved it! Hanging out at the cafe and just spending time chatting.

This was the first time Abby and Caitlin had met, Caitlin adored having Abby around, poor Abby didn't get much of a break from Caitlin but they have a really lovely kind of sisterly friendship.

Thank you Amanda and Abby for such a wonderful and precious time we had with you both.

The cold was a bit of a novelty for Caitlin and I, it was quite fun dressing up in all those layers, scalves and mittens / gloves, trampling on crunchy grass, having windows frozen shut and seeing the dogs water in the morning with 2cm of ice on top. How warm the Sunshine Coast feels today in comparison despite having a much colder than average winter!

The next very special friend we caught up with was Nikki. I have known Nikki even longer with a total of probably ooooh 24 years! Nikki and I were best friends in the Taupo years and lived across the road from each other. Since leaving Taupo in 1986 we have caught up 5 times, 4 of those being in the last 10 years. Nikki, Caitlin and I spent our afternoon hanging out in a cafe, visiting Nikki's parents and husband, and finally chatting over pizza and a glass of wine after Caitlin had gone to bed, what a lovely time - thank you Nikki!

I share with both Amanda and Nikki a friendship that we can pick up where we left off and the times between catching up just doesn't matter, you guys are both awesome friends.

The third extra special friend we have only known for 2 years but another special bond. This is a little friend of Caitlin's called Grace. Grace and Caitlin went to kindy together in Auckland and right from Grace's first day a wonderful friendship developed. An added bonus of our Christchurch trip was that it was Gracies 4th birthday - how perfect and completely unplanned. Like it is with my friends and me, so it was with Caitlin and Grace and they picked up from where they left off last September. While I got to catch up with Grace's parents, Grandmother and meet her little brother.

Ahhh the beauty of friendships is a wonderful thing! And to end a few pics from our flight out of Christchurch.