Life in November 2006



After a noticeable absence from blogging. Finally, here's something - a snapshot - U2!

May in pictures

Yay! We celebrate Peter's 40th -41st birthday at Ripples...then we're off to Luna Park.

Linda the mad driver.

Tanya turns 32! BBQ, cake, candles and kids at our house.

Ben's Guitar

Ben started learning the guitar this year. At first I wondered why we bothered as he never wanted to practice, and if Ben doesn't want to do something he can be quite difficult to convince. But this term he's been more willing (upon threat of forfeiting his lessons), and has learned his first two chords today - G and D7. Up till now he's been finger picking - and doing well.

Ben says, "guitar lessons are fun and very easy". As you can clearly see, he has no problem with confidence.

Kerey comes to town

After counting down the weeks till Kerey arrived, the day finally came. And what was a fairly low key school holiday suddenly became fun and exhausting for all. It was great that Brent had a week off work - so every day became an adventure.

Day 1

We go to a hungi at the Tongias and then onto Shelly Beach for a dip - but the camera runs out of juice. On the way home from the beach we go to see 'The fastest Indian' at the Orpheum Theatre.

Day 2

It's Brent's 41st birthday! After church in the morning we go to Yum Cha and then go back to church for the evening. We bolt out of church to get ready for an impromptu party for Brent and Dave...batteries still dead on the camera!

Day 3

Brent takes Kerey to DFO and Kerey makes a purchase!

We then go Luna Park - Coney Island first and then it's 2 rides each.


Sarah and Kerey like the chunder machines. Heather was silly enough to go with them on one topsy turvy ride - what a foolish decision!

Brent and Ben play it safe on the dogems.

Day 4

It's ANZAC Day! We catch the Rivercat from Meadowbank to Circular Quay

We go walkabout - Sydney Opera House - Gardens

And through the city (Martin Pace) where the ANZAC service took place

To the Queen Victoria Building and Darling Harbour, then to the Aquarium.

Fish can be interesting! A big day on foot.

Day 5

Brent and Kerey go for a bike ride - Brent falls off his bike - and then we're off to the zoo.

We're impressed by the the new exhibitions and enjoy the bird show.

Day 6

Off to Darling Harbour again, but this time we go further than the Aquarium. Ben was sick in the carpark at Star City, but comes right for the rest of the day - we're proud of our little trooper.

We head towards Paddy's Market and amble through Chinatown taking it fairly easy for Ben's sake.

We go home via the Macquaire Centre Greater Union Cinema to see 'Shaggy Dog'. It was fun -"woof woof".

Day 7

A big day out to the Blue Mountains. We stop at Katoomba and walk down to the 'Three Sisters', then go to Scenic World.

At Scenic World we go down one of the steepest railways in the world - take a stroll on the boardwalk through the forest - and ascend on the Sceniscender, a large cable car, back to the top.

We race to the Janeolan Caves and make it within minutes of the start of the tour through the Lucas Caves.

The caves are pretty magnificent. The tour through the Lucas Caves show the largest caverns at Janeolan - it was well worth the dash.

Day 8

We walk across the Sydney Harbour Bridge - a standard for all our visitors at some point in the stay. We take Kerey on the traditional browse through the Rocks Markets - this time we make a purchase at the space painting stand.

We get corn, delectables from the French Patisserie, and jump onto the Manly Ferry.

The kids go swimming - boy that's keen for the end of April!

Dinner at Leichhardt - The Italian Forum for Pasta, and Bar Italia for gelato! At last.

January till April Catch Up

Well I've finally downloaded the rest of the photos off the camera since January, so here's a very quick diary of events. The only problem is that I didn't always have the camera with me.

January

Sarah and Ben have a 4 day swimming intensive at Kirsten and Tom's Swim school. Sarah learns bi-lateral breathing!




Pepa the cat gets neutered but then on Australia Day is sadly taken from us after an unfortunate mishap with the car.

February




The kids have a great start to the year with a party at Kids Church.




Elly Field and
Oliver Pocknall - looking cute.

School starts back - and it's Ben's first year.

After a few weeks they are straight into the swimming carnival.

Vanessa's face says it all.

March

Lyn and Kepu's buddle of joy Kara is dedicated - she is so cute!

And she sleeps through the whole thing

Ben gets his first guitar

We take our friends the Navarretes, McLeods and Maddens on a Wishart tradition - a walk across the harbour bridge.

April

Sarah's dance group from school performs at the Easter Outreach at Martin Place in the city - they are brilliant! (Sorry photos to come)

Northcross School had it's cross country event - Sarah and Ben have been in training doing laps around Wood Street.

That's Ben running towards the finish line - he was actually sick at the time.

They made a splendid effort on the day - it was a scorcher!

We go to the Royal Easter Show along with 10s of thousands of others.

We hold our breath while in the animal exhibitions.

Highlights of the day: Having a family outing; watching the ducklings going down the slide; the candy floss and pluto pup (hot dog on a stick); fun rides; and the show bags.

Yes Ben finishes it all!

It's great having Monday off over Easter - it's like a bonus prize. We start the day with a huge breakfast feast at Sean and Vanessa's.

And then we try to burn off the bacon with a walk from Bronte to Bondi. It was the best day for a walk and it was great to share it with our friends.

It was beautiful walking along the coastline...and then we saw Bondi not too far away. So after a quick icecream we head back again.