Diver (and Pilot) Dan

Lucas is currently on school holidays, and spending today with his cousins and uncle. We've heard from Uncle Jakob that today will be a day of "fun and experiments". We have just received these photos from him, so now we're a little worried about the nature of these experiments. Hopefully we'll get our son back alive, in one piece, and with no shark-bites!

Renovations!

Well, it's been seven long weeks, but finally our renovations are complete! Our builder has really come through for us, and completed the job in record time (yes, unlike other branches of the Bird family, who will remain nameless, we fully and happily admit to being absolute renovation Gumbies, who are more than happy to sit back and let someone else do the job). They cost a pretty penny, but we couldn't be happier with the results, and they were done far better and faster than we could ever have done ourselves. Just take a look for yourself.

Looking east from the lounge room wall - old and new:


Looking north into the kitchen - old and new:


Looking north-east from the entry hall into the lounge - old and new (note the new location of the bathroom!):


And, last but not least, our new deck. Silly me, I neglected to take "old" shots of the outside to compare it with, but trust me, there's no comparison!


We're just waiting on the splashback for the kitchen to arrive, and the painter needs to put a final coat on a few spots, but other than that, we're done and dusted. And I do mean "dusted"!

Quality time under duress

Uncle Pat came and visited us while we were living in exile awaiting our renovations to complete. He came to compete in the Australian rowing championships, sadly he didn't do as well as when he competed in the Masters a few months ago.

In any case, he was consoling himself with a beer from my fridge that evening, when Alicia toddled over to him and asked if he would like to read her a story. Uncle Pat shook his head sadly, and gently explained to Alicia that whilst spending quality time with his niece was something that he could partake in pretty much any time he felt like it, watching the television and drinking beer was something that he rarely ever got a chance to do, so could she please get out of the way of Law and Order: North Dakota undercover farming task force.

Unfortunately for him, Alicia is not the kind of person who takes no for an answer: she pretty much slammed a pile of books on his lap, and placed her cute, bulbous head directly in his line-of-sight to the telly. After that, he had no choice but to read to her (and White Teddy). Good for her!

Superheroes

Lucas and Alicia always have fun when they go to visit their cousins, and more often that not they end up digging around in Cousin Lewie's costume bag in order to play dress-ups. Cousin Lewie has a fantastic array of costumes to dress up in, so much so that the Bird kids often complain about the fact that they themselves have none.

"Nonsense," I would often protest, "what about that pathetic, last-minute joke of a bat costume that your mother and I spent all of twenty minutes on the other month, the one with the bat-ears that flop down and look like a broken mortar-board cap?" To which Lucas would just give me The Look.

So, I eventually caved in and got Alicia and him a couple of half-decent (and not particularly inexpensive!) costumes straight from K-mart. Now, at least, they're a little happier - behold: Super Girl, and Racer X!

Crazy hair day

Well, it's hard to believe, but School Term 1 has already been and gone. A lot has happened in this time (like, maybe a renovation or two), but nonetheless the time has flown. Lucas is having a lot of fun at his new school, and has settled in really well. Here is a photo of Lucas about to attend "Crazy hair day". Don't ask what Daddy was forced to use on his hair - suffice to say it was something not too dissimilar to hair gel.