Sunday, December 30, 2012
The rare African Trampoline Lion attacks!
Well, heading says it all, really. That, and this video...
Out with the old...
So, among many other cool and awesome presents that Santa dropped off for us in Wodonga, it appears that he still had one thing left over to surprise us with when we got back home.
Uh-oh, what's this? Three enormous (and quite heavy) boxes? It turns out that Santa had noticed that our old trampoline, which was OK for when the kids were six and three, wasn't really cutting the mustard for today's modern eight-and-five-year-old lifestyles. So, he replaced our eight footer with a twelve footer instead!
It's a pity that Santa didn't assemble the darn thing while he was there, but I guess delivery is his specialty, and the elves aren't really comfortable with any assembly work outside the North Pole. So, after a bit of disassembly, disposal, sorting, inventory, and finally assembly (interspersed with the odd bit of sotto-voce cursing), here we are with a brand new, monster trampoline hulking in (and pretty much dominating) our front yard!
Uh-oh, what's this? Three enormous (and quite heavy) boxes? It turns out that Santa had noticed that our old trampoline, which was OK for when the kids were six and three, wasn't really cutting the mustard for today's modern eight-and-five-year-old lifestyles. So, he replaced our eight footer with a twelve footer instead!
It's a pity that Santa didn't assemble the darn thing while he was there, but I guess delivery is his specialty, and the elves aren't really comfortable with any assembly work outside the North Pole. So, after a bit of disassembly, disposal, sorting, inventory, and finally assembly (interspersed with the odd bit of sotto-voce cursing), here we are with a brand new, monster trampoline hulking in (and pretty much dominating) our front yard!
Saturday, December 29, 2012
Christmas in Wodonga
This year the Bird family popped up to Wodonga for a nice quiet Christmas break. We celebrated the occasion with Phyllis, John, Fiona, and her boys Seth and Ty.
Some highlights of the day included: Alicia's lion costume and Lucas getting inundated with LEGO (again), but nonetheless managing to build it all in the one day! A personal highlight for Dad was locating a quiet, shady spot outside, grabbing a book, beer and bowl of chips, and having some quality "reflection" time.
Also, Lucas finally got a copy of the Skylanders game, so now he actually has a use for the figurine that he bought weeks ago. Many thanks to the Hohwy-Barclay boys for providing us with their unwanted Wii (plus a bucket-load of games) at a bargain price, so that Lucas has a platform he can play the game ON. (Playstation 2's are so last decade, after all...)
Anyway, after Christmas, we stayed there for a few days, hanging around and taking it easy. We went swimming (more than once), paddling at the weir, and just generally taking it easy. A marvellous time all up, and thanks once more to the Matthews clan for having us over!
Some highlights of the day included: Alicia's lion costume and Lucas getting inundated with LEGO (again), but nonetheless managing to build it all in the one day! A personal highlight for Dad was locating a quiet, shady spot outside, grabbing a book, beer and bowl of chips, and having some quality "reflection" time.
Also, Lucas finally got a copy of the Skylanders game, so now he actually has a use for the figurine that he bought weeks ago. Many thanks to the Hohwy-Barclay boys for providing us with their unwanted Wii (plus a bucket-load of games) at a bargain price, so that Lucas has a platform he can play the game ON. (Playstation 2's are so last decade, after all...)
Anyway, after Christmas, we stayed there for a few days, hanging around and taking it easy. We went swimming (more than once), paddling at the weir, and just generally taking it easy. A marvellous time all up, and thanks once more to the Matthews clan for having us over!
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
40th birthday party
Some of the more palatable photos from my 40th birthday party last weekend. Many thanks to Jules, whose tireless efforts made all this possible; to Mum, who stepped in and relieved me of cooking duties on the night so that I could resume drinking and chatting to the guests instead; and to Dad, who had the presence of mind to actually take these photos in the first place!
Saturday, November 17, 2012
A very important delivery
Nanna arrived last Thursday, to a great deal of excitement. Aside from the usual excitement that a visit from Nanna normally entails, this time she was bringing something of significant importance to Lucas.
It was, of course, his first quilt! Nanna absolutely outdid herself on it, and we couldn't be happier with the final result. But why read these boring words, when you can judge for yourself. Observe:
For those not in the know, Wizard 101 is currently Lucas' favourite computer game. The picture is of Headmaster Ambrose, who heads up the school in Wizard City, and his pet owl, Gamma.
It was, of course, his first quilt! Nanna absolutely outdid herself on it, and we couldn't be happier with the final result. But why read these boring words, when you can judge for yourself. Observe:
For those not in the know, Wizard 101 is currently Lucas' favourite computer game. The picture is of Headmaster Ambrose, who heads up the school in Wizard City, and his pet owl, Gamma.
Monday, October 8, 2012
From Swamp to Garden in two gruelling weekends
Whoops - forgot to add the "after" pictures!
After all that hard work clearing out the swamp and shovelling a truckload of dirt into it, all that remained was to head to the garden shop and grab some nice plants.
A little bit of planning and careful shovelling later, and voilà, we have our garden:
Much nicer too look at, and nowhere near as many mosquitoes!
After all that hard work clearing out the swamp and shovelling a truckload of dirt into it, all that remained was to head to the garden shop and grab some nice plants.
A little bit of planning and careful shovelling later, and voilà, we have our garden:
Much nicer too look at, and nowhere near as many mosquitoes!
Sunday, October 7, 2012
Bittersweet memories
Some photos of Uncle Pat visiting. Happy times, before that terrible, fateful day...
Saturday, September 22, 2012
One and a half cubic metres of dirt
Anyone who has been to our house and been out back cannot failed to have noticed what we've fondly dubbed "the swamp" - a long, defunct water feature added by a past owner, long since dried up and no longer functional. The main purpose it served these days was to catch and hold foetid water whenever it rained, and act as a top-notch breeding ground for mosquitoes in the summer and spring.
Last week, we finally bit the bullet, and started making arrangements to rectify this eye-sore. All the plastic lining was cut up and removed, not to mention the decrepit machinery and tubing that was rotting at the bottom. The idea was that we would fill it up with soil, and establish a nice garden bed in its place. For that though, we needed to ensure that we had adequate drainage, otherwise it would quickly become a marsh rather than the garden we wanted. And alas, we came to a bit of a road block at that point, in the form of a layer of bricks covered with a sandy top layer.
So this week, aided by my beautiful assistant, we attacked the layer of sand and bricks with a shovel and crow-bar respectively, and managed to get them all removed by lunchtime. And underneath? Plain, old fashioned dirt (as opposed to the bed of mortar that we were fearing) - hooray!
So all was fine to start dumping in some extra soil to top it up. Which was great, because as it happened, a nice man from the soil and brick store had been over that morning and dumped a massive pile of earth on our driveway!
At that point, the beautiful assistant declared that she'd become quite tired with all of her helping, leaving me the relatively minor task of shifting 1.5 m3 of soil from the front yard to the back. And in the grand scale of things, it didn't really take all that long either!
But we're done for this weekend, and I gotta say, the beer I awarded myself at the end of the day never tasted so good!
PS. Go Hawks!!!
Last week, we finally bit the bullet, and started making arrangements to rectify this eye-sore. All the plastic lining was cut up and removed, not to mention the decrepit machinery and tubing that was rotting at the bottom. The idea was that we would fill it up with soil, and establish a nice garden bed in its place. For that though, we needed to ensure that we had adequate drainage, otherwise it would quickly become a marsh rather than the garden we wanted. And alas, we came to a bit of a road block at that point, in the form of a layer of bricks covered with a sandy top layer.
So this week, aided by my beautiful assistant, we attacked the layer of sand and bricks with a shovel and crow-bar respectively, and managed to get them all removed by lunchtime. And underneath? Plain, old fashioned dirt (as opposed to the bed of mortar that we were fearing) - hooray!
So all was fine to start dumping in some extra soil to top it up. Which was great, because as it happened, a nice man from the soil and brick store had been over that morning and dumped a massive pile of earth on our driveway!
At that point, the beautiful assistant declared that she'd become quite tired with all of her helping, leaving me the relatively minor task of shifting 1.5 m3 of soil from the front yard to the back. And in the grand scale of things, it didn't really take all that long either!
Next up on the task list is to get some fertilizer and mulch, and choose some suitable plants to put in our nice new mini-garden bed!
But we're done for this weekend, and I gotta say, the beer I awarded myself at the end of the day never tasted so good!
PS. Go Hawks!!!
Sunday, September 16, 2012
Holiday in paradise (a.k.a. Fiji)
We have just come home from the most wonderful time of our lives! For years, we'd been talking about maybe heading off to Fiji for a holiday, and after much deliberating, we finally decided that life was too short, so we booked it in, and headed off! Jules' brother Steve joined us for the trip, and was most welcome!
Our overseas journey started (as they all do) on the plane - the kids were very excited, and despite the 11:30pm departure time, both of them vowed to stay awake the whole way there. Ah, the follies of youth... :)
Due to a slight schedule adjustment by Pacific Air, we actually arrived a day earlier than originally planned, so they very generously put us up at the Raffles Gateway hotel, which was just over the road from the airport. As in, literally, you just had to cross the road. A van came and picked us up, packed our luggage, and then we drove for five seconds to get to the hotel. Very amusing. After a short enforced nap to allow the grown-ups time to catch up on some needed sleep, we hit the swimming pool for a leisurely afternoon swim.
It was only a 3.5 star resort, but that was fine by us, as it had a fantastic pool and water slide. Aside from the almost constant use of said slide, the kids also took the opportunity to get in some snorkelling practice.
And, after all that, what better way to wind down the afternoon than a quick dip in the spa pool?
It was a huge day of swimming, and by dinner time, both kids were more than a little exhausted, and pretty much fell asleep in their food.
The next day saw us on the ferry, heading off to our principal destination: Mana Island!
We got there a little early to check in, so we simply sat down at a convenient sheltered bar, and admired the scenery. No sooner had we done this, than a friendly local came up and got us some drinks: coffee for the adults, lemonade for Lucas, and some manner of blue sugary chemicals for Alicia. Oh, dear. For Alicia, this was the first of many techni-colour smiles that she was to sport whilst on Mana Island!
Eventually our room was ready, so we checked in, and settled in for some serious leisure time. There was dancing and party games in the evenings:
More snorkelling, both practising in the pool (again), as well as for real at the beach. And not to mention just wearing you flippers and chilling out on the couch!
Food was cheap enough at the resort, but we discovered a cheap and cheerful restaurant at the Backpacker's and local village that saw our custom for the majority of our lunches on the island (and even a breakfast or two).
The days passed leisurely by in a pleasant blur of totally stress-free activities. We spent most of our time on the beach, sometimes snorkelling and observing the magnificent coral bommies and the gorgeously colourful fish that populated them, sometimes just swimming for fun, sometimes just chilling out and reading!
There were some canoes available for complimentary use of the guests, and we'd often take advantage of these from time to time. Lucas became quite a proficient paddler towards the end.
And of course, there was always the obligatory "happy hour", where drinks went from being cheap to being even cheaper. Cocktails and beer for the adults, and sugar for the kids - it was win-win!
Alicia was also quite keen to get her hair braided, so we visited the local village and had it done. Two hours in total, and she was very patient, and also very pleased with the result!
It was all good. Mostly sunny days, and even the rainy days were still quite bearable. Fiji just doesn't seem to be able to muster the gloom that Melbourne is famous for, or maybe it was just the laid-back and relaxed attitude of all on the island.
Although it was pleasantly slow in coming, we eventually got to our last day, and were crooned off the island by two very talented and cheerful minstrels. We all vowed to come back someday to this little piece of paradise.
So, having "roughed it" out on the island, we checked in for four final days of five-star luxury at the Radisson Blu resort on Denarau. It had a truly enormous swimming pool (with swim-up bar), another awesome waterslide (which is where Lucas spent the majority of his time), fancy restaurants and all the mod-cons you'd come to expect from this kind of place.
Truth to tell, we much preferred the pristine beaches and gorgeous waters of the island to the chlorinated pools and luxury trappings of the Radisson, but nonetheless we still had a fun and very relaxing time here.
Alas, all good things come to an end, but we'd had a truly fantastic twelve days of fun, relaxing and enjoyment on Fiji. Absolutely number one favourite holiday to date. Don't get me wrong - we love visiting family and friends, you guys are great and all, but if it's 100% leisure and relaxation we're after, then Fiji wins hands down!
Love to all,
Andrew.
Our overseas journey started (as they all do) on the plane - the kids were very excited, and despite the 11:30pm departure time, both of them vowed to stay awake the whole way there. Ah, the follies of youth... :)
Due to a slight schedule adjustment by Pacific Air, we actually arrived a day earlier than originally planned, so they very generously put us up at the Raffles Gateway hotel, which was just over the road from the airport. As in, literally, you just had to cross the road. A van came and picked us up, packed our luggage, and then we drove for five seconds to get to the hotel. Very amusing. After a short enforced nap to allow the grown-ups time to catch up on some needed sleep, we hit the swimming pool for a leisurely afternoon swim.
It was only a 3.5 star resort, but that was fine by us, as it had a fantastic pool and water slide. Aside from the almost constant use of said slide, the kids also took the opportunity to get in some snorkelling practice.
And, after all that, what better way to wind down the afternoon than a quick dip in the spa pool?
It was a huge day of swimming, and by dinner time, both kids were more than a little exhausted, and pretty much fell asleep in their food.
The next day saw us on the ferry, heading off to our principal destination: Mana Island!
We got there a little early to check in, so we simply sat down at a convenient sheltered bar, and admired the scenery. No sooner had we done this, than a friendly local came up and got us some drinks: coffee for the adults, lemonade for Lucas, and some manner of blue sugary chemicals for Alicia. Oh, dear. For Alicia, this was the first of many techni-colour smiles that she was to sport whilst on Mana Island!
Eventually our room was ready, so we checked in, and settled in for some serious leisure time. There was dancing and party games in the evenings:
More snorkelling, both practising in the pool (again), as well as for real at the beach. And not to mention just wearing you flippers and chilling out on the couch!
Food was cheap enough at the resort, but we discovered a cheap and cheerful restaurant at the Backpacker's and local village that saw our custom for the majority of our lunches on the island (and even a breakfast or two).
The days passed leisurely by in a pleasant blur of totally stress-free activities. We spent most of our time on the beach, sometimes snorkelling and observing the magnificent coral bommies and the gorgeously colourful fish that populated them, sometimes just swimming for fun, sometimes just chilling out and reading!
There were some canoes available for complimentary use of the guests, and we'd often take advantage of these from time to time. Lucas became quite a proficient paddler towards the end.
And of course, there was always the obligatory "happy hour", where drinks went from being cheap to being even cheaper. Cocktails and beer for the adults, and sugar for the kids - it was win-win!
Alicia was also quite keen to get her hair braided, so we visited the local village and had it done. Two hours in total, and she was very patient, and also very pleased with the result!
It was all good. Mostly sunny days, and even the rainy days were still quite bearable. Fiji just doesn't seem to be able to muster the gloom that Melbourne is famous for, or maybe it was just the laid-back and relaxed attitude of all on the island.
Although it was pleasantly slow in coming, we eventually got to our last day, and were crooned off the island by two very talented and cheerful minstrels. We all vowed to come back someday to this little piece of paradise.
So, having "roughed it" out on the island, we checked in for four final days of five-star luxury at the Radisson Blu resort on Denarau. It had a truly enormous swimming pool (with swim-up bar), another awesome waterslide (which is where Lucas spent the majority of his time), fancy restaurants and all the mod-cons you'd come to expect from this kind of place.
Truth to tell, we much preferred the pristine beaches and gorgeous waters of the island to the chlorinated pools and luxury trappings of the Radisson, but nonetheless we still had a fun and very relaxing time here.
Alas, all good things come to an end, but we'd had a truly fantastic twelve days of fun, relaxing and enjoyment on Fiji. Absolutely number one favourite holiday to date. Don't get me wrong - we love visiting family and friends, you guys are great and all, but if it's 100% leisure and relaxation we're after, then Fiji wins hands down!
Love to all,
Andrew.
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