A Perfect Weekend.....

We've just had a really lovely weekend. Yesterday (Sat) we had some aussie friends round for a balti in the evening and then today we had a drive across to Ocean Grove. We'd never been there before, it only took about 30mins and is a gorgeous place. We had a long walk on the beach with Banjo, took loads of photos and then had coffee in a beach side restaurant.

Lewis found a large natural sponge and I've got to say thats the nearest he's come to a sponge all year!!

We then went back to Barwon Heads for lunch before going home.

Make-over

Make-over...................

No, not for me, for Banjo. The poor thing, because he doesn't shead, around his ears had become quite tangled and 'felt-like' so we knew it was time to get him professionally groomed. So, I dropped him at the vets at 9am and collected him at 3.30 - except we didn't reconise him when we went to fetch him, I had to check his name on his collar to check it was him!! So, he has gone from being very shaggy and fluffy to skinny and strangely long! He has also changed from black to silver! Yes, he is the right dog, although he does answer to the name 'Mango' now as well as 'Banjo' !! Anyway, needless to say he wasn't very happy when he came home, he looked so miserable and wouldn't sit on the tiles anymore cos his bum was cold!

Here's the BEFORE pic................



And AFTER...................



I suppose it could have been worse he could have come back like this..................................

Rock Climbing

Just a few photos of James and the boys indoor rock climbing yesterday.

Yorkshire or Oz?

The boys in Colac.


New Car


The boys on Torquay Beach today.


Me and Elliot on Torquay Beach today.


The boys are on their 2 week school holiday, they all brought home very good reports so all seems to be going very well at school. It's hard to believe that they are already halfway through the year. Jake goes up to senior school (the same school Elliots at) in January.

We bought a new car last week - a silver Holden Zaphira - a slightly better model than the one we left in the UK. It's ace and certainly makes life easier when we have visitors or the boys want to take friends out with us. It's an automatic though and I'd never driven one before, it turns out it's just like driving a 'bumper car', although James said he would prefer it if I thought 'dodgem' rather than bumper!

We've had a new super duper double oven and hob as well. And the best thing about it is that it's clean! Wonder how long that'll last.

The weather has been a bit mixed, cool and showerey so we have spent most of last week dodging showers in the park or going to the indoor swimming pool. Elliot has got together with several of his friends this holiday and Jake has a friend coming for the day on Thursday.

On Saturday we had a drive down to Colac. It's just about 40min from our house. The countryside looked so much like Yorkshire though, at least it does at the moment, I suspect in the summer it'll be completely dry and shrivelled up again. Colac was a fairly big town with a huge lake, surronded by bog land and there is a botanical garden there as well but the boys weren't interested in going in there. That'll be somewhere else to visit when the rellies come.

We've been down to Torquay again today, the weather was perfect. We had a good long walk on the beach with Banjo, followed by ice-cream and then lunch. We met up with some friends this afternoon, so all in all a good day.

James and the boys are going indoor rockwall climbing tomorrow and before you ask, no I'm not going. I don't have to climb stairs anymore so I'm definately not climbing up a wall!

It's been a while........

It's been a while...................

Blimey, it's been so long there's tumble weed rolling through here. So here is a bit of a catch up with whats been going on here.

Elliot turned 15 a few weeks ago, we ate out and went to see 'Night at the Museum 2' at the cinema, he seemed to enjoy the day inspite of James being away. He had money from rellies in the UK and an i-pod from us.

Elliot has now completed a semester at school so he now has a change in timetable and will be doing lessons in History, Marine Biology and Ceramics to name a few but it's quite nice that they seem to keep lessons varied.

Jake and Lewis are both doing fine at school too but are looking forward to the end of Term 2 in 10days time.

James returned from Kuwait and Kuala Lumpar safe and sound. He arrived home with Tequila in one hand and a kilo of 'real' Galaxy chocolate in the other, my kind of guy! I say 'real' Galaxy because the chocolate they have here that is supposed to be Galaxy is called Dove and tastes more like soap than chocolate!! I have, of course, done extensive research into chocolate here and have yet to find anything that is as good as British chocolate.

The weather here has been pretty cold for a good 10days in a row. Some rain, grey skies and flippin' freezing. Now the cold wouldn't be a problem if the houses here had heating in them but they don't so it has felt very cold and damp. It did go as low as 8degrees but fortunately it is now back up to 16degrees or so during the day and the sun is shining again. I did go out and buy us all electric blankets though - we've gone soft, haven't we!

Last Sunday the new Geelong Ring Road opened, the end section of which is literally just down the road from us. This ring road means you can get up to Melbourne much more quickly and will be excellant for people who travel up to the city for work every day. To mark the completion of the road there was an opening ceremony and you could walk a 1.5 km loop of the road before traffic was allowed on it. There were bouncy castles, a bbq, face painting and balloons etc, all provided for free. The press were out in force as the Victorian Premier (John Brumby) was there and we were on the telly. Now don't get too excited it only featured our legs but Banjo was very prominent. At the end there is a brief glimpse of Jake, Lew and Elliot. If you want to take a look Elliot has put the footage on his website, the link is here look for 'Us on TV'. There are all his other little animation films and a 'Mission Impossible' style film featuring Banjo on there as well, take a look and leave him a comment if you want.

Right, thats all for now, I'll try not to leave it as long next time!

Great British Classic

Great British Classic.....

What would you consider typical, traditional british food? I thought Roast beef and yorkshire pudding, fish and chips maybe - but according to a local supermarket that are promoting good old fashioned british classics this week, we are a nation known for our McVities Hob Nobs (ok), hoarseradish sauce (ok), Marmite (fab) and of course that great british classic the.................................................................................................

wait for it......












The Sherbet Fountain, yes the sherbet fountain - I kid you not!!!!! Apparantly, we all walk around talking like Del-boy and knocking back sherbet fountains!!!!!! Having said all that when I told Elliot about it he said "ooooooh, I've not had a sherbet fountain in years, get us some would you Mom". I am now slightly worried that when buying these I am just re-affirming what aussies think us brits eat.

The marmite is called 'our mate' for some reason but it is the genuine article, I know because I paid for 1 jar, got through the till area and opened it up and tried it, then went back in for more!

I resisted the temptation to say "lovely jubbly" when I paid for my goodies though!

A Few Updates

A Few Updates.......

First of all, my mom is out of hospital and recovering very well at home. I have spoken to her several times and she sounds as chirpy as ever and is very definately still coming to visit us in October.

James arrived in Kuwait without any problems and has now completed his first week there. He had to be tested for swine flu (he hasn't got it) or face 4 months in jail! The place sounds quite basic and he will be glad to get his work done and get back to Kuala Lumpur for a few weeks, not to mention a few beers.

Not much to report from here this week. Jake was involved in a science expo at school on Thursday. He decided to demonstrate how yeast works in the bread making process. This is in front of parents and other school kids and his teacher. The teacher doesn't have any input in these expos and it's all down to each individual child to come up with the experiment and document it all and organise everything that is needed. He did very well and produced a cracking loaf of bread that everyone got to try.

When I went to let Banjo into the garden after tea I was greeted with an enourmous spider waiting for me on the step. Well okay, it doesn't look that big, but it was very black and I swear it shouted 'boo' when I opened the door! Anyway, after having its photo taken and letting each of the boys have a poke at it, it decided to go back into the garden, a good choice I think because it wouldn't have lasted 5 minutes had it come in the house.

The other photo is from the swimming pool this afternoon.