Are you dancin'

It's dancing time again. We put on the glad rags and razled dazzled our little hearts out at the annual Connell Wagner dinner dance. Ably assisited by some wonderful friends who had T and D for a sleepover we had a great time and got home far too late for sensible parent type people. This time we were older and wiser and took the photo before we went out rather than when we got back!
 

Thanks Lizzie

You gotta be rapt that we get a day off for Lizzie's Birthday. Good old Queenie. So it was head to the Dandenongs for a little mountain air and good old family time. You know the thing, kids screaming in the car all the way there, starts to rain just when you're about to arrive, spend ages driving past various tea shops trying to decide which one looks worth spending all day in! Bit like a holiday in Wales really.

Now living in Aus you tend to notice the little differences such as the more informal approach to life here - so you end up with roads with evocative names such as, 'Bonza View'. To be fair, once the mist had cleared a little to an almost penetrable haze there was the vague impression of a fine view.

But the weather did dry off for the afternoon and we made it around William Ricketts Sanctuary and the unusual selection of sculpture in amongst the ferns depicting aboriginal spirituality with a generous helping of eastern mysticism stirred in for good measure.

 
 
 
 

Busy busy world

It's busy being 4. For a start there's all the groups and activities to get to. Then there's the parties. So when Abi and Lia sent out invites for parties on the same day it was just as well that Abi was a doing a brunch party at the playground and that Lia was doing a craft making thing in the afternoon. How much refined sugar can a small person consume? Quite a lot apparenty.

 
 
 
 

Thanks Grandma

We love the new jumpers Grandma

 

New house, new challenges

Well after a flutter of frantic house hunting we moved into a new gaff in Clifton Hill. Certain compromises had to be made. First was the space, we're now down to 2 bedrooms, and second was amenities, there's no bath. Still who needs a bath when there's a utility room sink. Still a bath on your own is no fun so we got ... tuff tubs. A huge hit from the first night on, the tuff tub is deep, warm and endlessly enjoyable.
 
 
 

Ree Bear's Visit

Thea's kinder has a very special member. His name is Ree bear and he is friend to all. Ree bear has a tough gig, he goes from house to house to stay for a couple of days at a time and gets thoroughly pampered and treated like the super star that he is. Ree bear's stay with Thea was no exception. A full weekend of activity was planned complete with breakfast out and trips to the park, pool and kid's church. Of course being a star his every move is covered by the paparazi (Dad) and journos write up larger than life accounts of his very move (Mum) to be read out at kinder on his return. But Mum didn't just write up a good yarn. Oh no, Mum illustrated it, created a book and crafted Ree Bear's very own book bag to take to kinder too. If you don't belive me, see the photo below! It's rumoured that one Dad even brought in his data projector to do a powerpoint show of Ree bear's weekend - but that must be kinder folk lore. Surely?
 
 
 
 

Sunday pm

A warm autumn Sunday afternoon hanging out at the cafe at Collingwood Children's farm.
 
 
 

We apologise for the break in transmission

Oh dear, what a shocker - last post in April!!

Ok, here come the excuses: just after we got back from Byron Bay we found out that our landlords were selling our house and that we would have to find somewhere else to live. This meant a lot of time dragging the kids round potential houses (Thea, having a tantrum: "But I don't want to live in a house with no furniture!") and we kept running into the issue that letting agents expect you to sign a 12 month lease - impossible for us as we intend to be back in Blighty before this time next year. To cut a long story short, we ended up finding somewhere through a personal contact in the next suburb and so got round the 12 month contract issue. But it has meant we've had to leave Kew, where we felt very much at home, and come 10 mins by car nearer to city to Clifton Hill. Our new house is lovely, brand new, but not as big as the old one so things are a little bit tighter. As we don't think it's worth moving the kids into more local kinders, etc, we are doing quite a lot of driving back and forth at the mo.

So we've been without the internet & email but now are finally back on line, which is a bit of a relief. Things are just starting to settle down a little bit and we're looking forward to making a few plans for holidays etc to really make the most of the rest of the time we're here. It's getting quite wintry now!

I'll get Will to put up some pics soon; he's started downloading them onto a different computer now so it's not so straightforward to bung them on.