Happy Birthday Alicia (part I)

We had a little restaurant celebration this weekend as part of Alicia's "birthday week". We went to The Parlor, a fairly new little restaurant/cafe tucked away between the plethora of golf courses within Cheltenham, with the Hohwy-Barclay family. A marvellous little place, with very yummy gourmet food. Alas, Alicia has yet to evolve her restaurant palate above the "pasta carbonara" level, so the more finer-dining menu choices were little lost on her. Still, they were very accommodating, and whipped her up a lovely pasta carbonara.

In addition, Daddy went to a fairly big effort, and baked a chocolate cake for his little girl, using a time-honoured recipe handed down from parent to child, and conveniently located on a random website on the internet via google. Turned out pretty good, too. Sadly Daddy forgot to bring the candles to the restaurant, so we had to make do with a sparkle generously provided to us by our hosts.

Of course, when we got home, we simply had to plunk the forgotten candles into the decimated remains of the cake, and do it all over again!

All this effort, and we haven't actually gotten to the birthday yet! Stay tuned...

Those crazy kids...

Nothing terribly profound to report to date, so here are some random shots of the Bird kids...

Apprentice chef

Tonight for dinner, we are having Spaghetti Bolognese. Lucas has been promoted to head chef, and Daddy has taken a back seat as sous chef and chief adviser (and photographer). So far so good (i.e. no cut/shredded fingers). The sauce is done, and is on to simmer. Only the pasta to go now, and then we'll dish it up and let the rest of the family try it out and decide on how good it is!

Student of the week!

A happy day for Alicia, as she brings home her very first "Student of the Week" award from school. This sort of stuff is, of course, old hat to her brother, who has brought home his fair share of them over the years, and is now becoming a bit jaded by the whole process.

However, for the moment at least, Alicia couldn't be happier. Ah, the innocence of youth...

A-camping we will go...

The Bird family has just come back from spending the Victorian Labour Day long weekend up in Bright. Fancy, quaint little B&B, you ask? Perhaps a five-star bush resort? Hardly - this time around we decided to rough it and go camping at the Bright Holiday Park! "Rough it", of course, being a relative term, as the camp site was equipped with an excellent barbecue area (complete with communal fridge!), a toilet and shower block, and communal garbage and recycling bins. Still, we were required to bring along and construct our own shelter, which we managed without too much hassle. Quite an advancement on the old 3-pole A-frame numbers I grew up with as a lad!

Camping in and of itself is a great little getaway for any family, but it's made infinitely better if you add company! We and a group of families that have gotten to know each other quite well ever since Lucas started Prep at Sandy East all booked a bunch of adjacent camping sites, and had a whole heap of fun together. The kids were happy to ride bikes, swim and paddle in the river and generally run around, while the adults were more than happy to mostly just sit in the river and partake of refreshments!

The sun was a bit relentless over the period (still is, actually, as I type this), but down by the river was like a cool slice of paradise, and that's where we ended up spending most of our time. There is a lot to do and see around Bright, but at camp, and especially by the river, all sense of urgency and planning just evaporated away, leaving you to simply enjoy the moment, and the company of the people you were with.

 

We were a bit late arriving on the Friday, so the McConkeys very generously fed us that night with some of their spare (absolutely delicious) spaghetti bolognese - thank you! After that, we had a big barbecue the next night, and dinner at the Bright Pub on the Sunday. And many snacks and refreshments in between those meals...

We had an absolutely marvellous time, so much so that we've already made a pact to re-book the exact same place for next year's holiday.

My first chilli pizza

I currently have a nice little chilli plant growing outside, and it has just produced its first batch of chilli! Despite my protestations, Lucas was keen to try some on a pizza. So, with just a bit of reluctance, I added some to a single slice of his pizza tonight.

Witness the results...

PS. From Lucas: IT WAS REALLY HOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

First day at school!

Wow, Alicia is growing up so fast. She's very excited about going off to school. Alas, her brother does not quite have the same enthusiasm...