Happy Australia Day!

It was Australia Day yesterday. We went to see the fireworks by the Yarra River.





We had fantastic weather, and the best seats in the house!




Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the colorful display, including Keira at her first fireworks!! She was gorgeous, and said "wow" at all the right places! Not only was she not afraid, halfway through the fireworks she went over to Finlay and patted on his head, as if to check if HE was okay!!



Afterwards we went over to Carlton Gardens to feed the rats.... I mean possums. Jake was particularly brave, but you'll have to ask his Dad for the photos.

Mum's last day in Melbourne

Mum came to stay with us for a couple of days before leaving for Thailand last Sunday.
When we asked her what she wanted to do in her final day in Melbourne......... she said she wanted to learn how to bake!!

So her very obliging son-in-law showed her some of the basics: scones, and pastry.

With the pastry, Mum made a quiche, and a rustic apple pie with sultanas and cinnamon.

Mum was completely chuffed, and couldn't stop saying how tasty they were : )

The Mother of all Clean-ups

Mum Lau and Honoria did a wonderful job cleaning up the house. Here they can be seen playing 3D Tetris, fitting in all of the furniture into the study. There were many many readjustments.... but finally they manage to fit everything in.




The house is normally big, so can't believe how much bigger it looked after everything was cleared!

Eoin

Eoin is really long/tall and had already grown out of his 0000 clothes by about the third week. Here he's getting a cuddle from Uncle Derek (his favourite uncle).... Eoin likes to be held upright, so he can peer over the shoulder and check out what's going on around him?

UK visitors

We had some guests on Wednesday. Andrew and Amanda were in town with Jake, Eoin, as well as Amanda's sister's family (Catherine, Rob, Finlay and Keira). They had been to the Aquarium earlier that day, and had dropped by to say hello.
The kids were gorgeous, very curious and not at all shy. Finlay was fascinated by the "gooddies" and "baddies" of the chess set. He was equally chuffed about Sally's bean bag, deciding to challenge it to a game of wrestle, with Jake's help.





Meanwhile Keira decided to check out Sally's doll collections, and was quite taken by the tiara which normally sits on Garfield. Rob also seemed quite partial to the tiara, but unfortunately we weren't quick enough to get that photo on camera.

After all the fun and games we went out for dinner on Lygon Street

Happy Birthday Damien

Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday to Damiennnnnnnnnn
happy birthday to you

Not long now til they leave for Japan.

Congratulations to Honoria

Congratulations to Honoria who found out that she has successfully passed her examinations for her second year studies at Moore Theological College. Well done, Hon!

BBQ by the Yarra River

We met up with friends last week to have a BBQ by the Yarra River. It was even better given that the cool change had just arrived, and we were enjoying some sub-30C weather for the first time in days. The food, prepared by Janette and Asrar, was very yummy.

Mum - counting down

It's not long now til Mum leaves and joins Dad in Thailand. Last week the piano people came and took the grand piano to Sophia's house. Mum has done an amazing job, supported mainly by Honoria, and tidied, cleaned, painted, and packed the 6 bedroom house. She is renting the property out while she's away.

Happy New Year!!!

Happy New Year to everyone!

We hope that 2008 is a fantastic year for you. For NYE we celebrated with a small group of friends at our place and then walked down to see the fireworks by the river for the count-down.
Melbourne has been experiencing its hottest days in years, and the temperature didn't really go below 38C for most of the day.

p.s. photo is from The Age newspaper (www.theage.com.au).