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The Family Bandwagon

Our family is spread out across the country and across the world, and what better way to keep in touch than a collaborative digital journal?

Tuesday 30 May 2006

Shodan-ho

I forgot to mention on Sunday we recieved our local certificates for the Iaido grading.. so now i'm officially Shodan-ho, which is provisional first dan. In another year I'll go for the full Sho-dan. We'll also be getting certificates from Japan (probably in a few months) so when we do i'll take a photo and post it here.
3 more years and i should get an art-name :)

Sunday 28 May 2006

Beaches, Bands and Boot Camp

Everybody loves alliteration.

Cheryl and I have had a busy couple of weeks. Last weekend we decided to check out Brighton Beach.. Cheryl had heard it was a bit quieter than Glenelg, and had some nice cafes. I've added a couple of photos at the end of this post. Then in the evening we headed to Melbourne St, one of Adelaide's restaurant streets. There was a restaurant recommended to us, Boca, which was good. Then we went to a cafe type place called The Elephant Walk.. it was a long room partitioned up on each side by wicker dividers. Each section had a small table and one or two two-person couches.. it was very dark (lit by red lamps) and cosy. And they had nice coffees and cakes. And hot chocolate. And wooden elephants. We got here just before it opened at 8pm, but 8:10 they were turning people away. Popular place :)

On sunday.. well, i'll come back to that.

Yesterday we went to see X-Men 3, which if you were a fan of the first two is well worth seeing. Then in the evening we went to a pub to see Augie March.. they were great. The pub's function area was packed, we were expecting seats for everyone, but there was just a few booth-like couches around the edges. We got one of those and stood on the couch to watch the band over everyone's head :)

Today, as with last Sunday, I started the day by going to Iaido. Then at 4:30 we went to the Unley Oval for what I like to call Henry Gooden's Boot Camp. Henry, my boss, invited us out there.. basically we run a few laps around the oval (about half a km each) and then do some hill and stair climbs, and shuttle runs. It's about 45 minutes all up, and for me that means after the first lap, 45 minutes of trying to catch my breath doing everything else. Still, it's good, Cheryl and I both enjoy it (well.. "enjoy" probably isn't the right word) and hopefully over time we'll be able to see improvement. Yes, this is in addition to going to the gym.. but yeah, it's good to keep active, and it only hurts for a few days ;)

Well, that's been our weekends.. I think the plan for next Saturday is to have no plan :)




Friday 26 May 2006

another tooth

Yes, Trinity has cut tooth number 5! She's been a grumpy little girl this week. She also sits on the floor with her hands up in the air and bangs her feet on the floor - very cute! And she has learned the great "drop stuff" trick...people pick stuff up for you :) You can throw pacifiers, toys, mum's keys...
Jared won another encouragement award at footy, this time he gets a free 125ml Coca Cola. I think awards should have been given to everyone once before someone got two, might have to mention that to the coach?? or someone...
And next week Carolynn has music camp at Flora Hill. She has a friend who is also going so we will work something out so both lots of parents don't have to do the trip twice a day.

3 weeks until school holidays! yay!

Wednesday 24 May 2006

sights, museums and coat of arms

hello again from London,

yesterday i played tourist for a while.. got a ticket for a hop-on hop-off bus and travelled around with an Aussie i met on the plane trip over here.. it was kinda fun, and i've a got a few photos that i'll upload when i get to G&D's place.
highlights for me include:
  • the tour guide on one of the buses - he just picked on EVERYONE! first it was me and Canberra (he lived there for a little while and said that the best part of Canberra is the airport!), then it was Aussies in general (his joke [apparently told by a New Zealander]: At Customs, on the way in to Australia, the Kiwi was asked "do you have any criminal convictions?", to which the Kiwi answered "I didn't know that it was still a requirement!".)
  • passing Trafalgar Square MANY MANY MANY times...(the bus must just have looped that place or something.. hehe)
  • the initial walk from Kings Cross station to Victoria station. i had to meet JD and Erin at Victoria at 10.30am, so i left the hostel (near Kings Cross Stn) at about 8.30am.. and wandered roughly south west until i got there.. it took me about the two hours.. and because i didn't stretch properly afterwards, my legs are REALLY SORE today.. d'oh! o well.. ;)

anyway, to finish this post i was going to post a picture of the coat of arms I made at the Victoria & Albert museum today.. but i can't seem to do it (ahh, internet in the hostel) - so i'm going to send the pic to Damien and see if he can put it in this post.. *grin* i also spent a few hours at the Science Museum today - it's SO DIFFERENT to Questacon! but i guess that's to be expected. ;)

hmm.. what else..

i'll try to send some of the rain to Bendigo - there's certainly plenty of it over here! it's funny to think that it's actually spring here.. but i guess in a 'normal' year (read 'non-drought') we'd have a lot of rain around september too.. hmm..

i look forward to trin's "belated" birthday for me in august.. *grin*

hope everyone is happy and healthy.. i'd best keep moving (time limit and all that...)
*hugz*

Damien's Edit: Here's the Coat of Arms

Monday 22 May 2006

London is RAINY

it kinda reminds me of last time i was in london alone - back in 2001.. in fact, i was in a similar internet cafe too.. grey outside, sitting inside to dry off a little bit.. heheh.. ahh, joys of it all.

so.. i survived the LONG travel day[s].. after leaving for Sydney on the bus at 9am Saturday, i touched down at 8.15am on Sunday and got through Customs by 9.30am [yes, customs took ages.. and remember that the UK is 9hrs behind AEST].. so.. LONG.. i napped a bit on the 12hr leg between Singapore and London.. but not really the first leg.. so i'm not feeling too bad. it's 4.15pm now.. i've arranged my bed for the next 4 nights [*phew*] and i've been wandering around for a while.. just checking out what's going on around Covent Gardens.

unfortunately, the weather means that the track pants that i've got [that i was going to wear to bed] are wet and dirty.. so i may have to find some alternate clothes.. actually.. considering it's quarter to five.. maybe i should go and sort that out before everything shuts.. it IS a sunday afterall..

anyway.. hope all are well..

*big hugz* across the globe.. and *big hugz* across the country for Glenn and Dee.. i'll see you guys soon.
yay.

Friday 19 May 2006

on my way... almost

hi all..

it's late on friday night and i catch a bus tomorrow at 9am.. ..i've not finished packing yet, so this one will just be a quick one..

i've "shared" my calendar with everyone, so you can see where i'm going to be when.. and just in case you can't see it.. the general plan is:
  • london for a few days
  • head to doncaster to visit paul and tess (first weekend)
  • head to bath and bristol to see what's going on there
  • head up to glenn and dee (second weekend) and hang out with them for a while.. maybe have some day trips..
  • then spend the third weekend visiting steve (not sure where yet)..
  • and head back to london, possibly via warwick to visit claudia and ralf
  • and then fly to germany on the 15th june to visit bjoern and check out munich
hopefully i'll update this or livejournal every now and then.. but i'm not going to guarantee it (just in case i'm too busy doing stuff and exploring and all of that).
i'll take lots of photos, so i'll come and show you all when i get back..
..except for glenn and dee - i'll have to show you in the next few weeks!
looking forward to seeing you guys!

yay!

i fly tomorrow!!!!!! (no, it's not quite sunk in yet..)
*grin*

Thursday 18 May 2006



Thought I would post a photo of Jared in his footy gear. The top photo is him and Jamie after their first game, the second is before the game when the team was warming up.

Wednesday 17 May 2006

77% in SOSE !!!!!!

I was doing an ancient egypt assingment that had to be handed in on tusday 16th. today i found out that i got 77% which is a B .good is in it .

Tuesday 16 May 2006

GOAL!!

First of all, thanks for the well wishes...and I did have a good mother's day. Jared had a footy game at midday, and we watched him kick 5 points and A GOAL!! Yay Jared! He took a mark too :) Rhonda asked if his dad played footy...don't think so lol...or his uncles...no? I said dad played for the Borough (along with his brothers...right??) It seems our Jared has some natural footy talent lol :) The teams were more evenly matched this time, and White Hills only lost by 3 points.

Sunday 14 May 2006

One for the Mums..

Happy Mother's Day Mum! And also Lisa, and Nana, and any other mothers who happen to be reading this site. Except Shaft. He's one bad mother (shut your mouth!)

Saturday 13 May 2006

Monday 8 May 2006

footy season

yes, it's footy season, but with a difference this year...Jared has joined a footy team! yes, last Wednesday his friend Jamie came over and asked if Jared could go to practice with him - Jamie had only been to one practice with White Hills, and they needed more players in the 'under 10's'. The first game was on Sunday, so I had 2 days to register Jared with the league so he could play. Most of the kids had never played before, they were up against St Monica's, some of their players looked like they should have been in 'under 12's', and I think they had played before because they played really well as a team. White Hills lost the game, though I don't know what the final score was. Jared said his coach has told them they all played really well, and that that game was the toughest they would have to play (possibly because it was their first?) Any way, he really enjoyed himself, the day was pretty cold but the rain didn't last long. A game for under 10's is four 10 minute quarters with short breaks so all up it was a little over an hour.

In other news, Trinity has cut another 2 teeth, her top ones, so now she has 4 teeth...wow!!
And Carolynn has one of her costumes for the production "Cinderella", she is in the chorus. Mum heamed the dress up for us with the overlocker...thanks Nanny!

Wednesday 3 May 2006

My Turn

i want a turn at a header
ideas anyone
animals ???

Tuesday 2 May 2006

Hi from Jared

This is Jared Posting
:P hi i've got 2 loose teeth that i think 1 might fall out tonight
i'm having fun not having lion training for another 2 weeks

The Family Bandwagon

hi all just wanting to see what you're all up to
jared hasn't got on yet to post anything yet