Trinity

Well, you all know we had Trinity Baptised last weekend. We got lots of photos, and I have some of the photos Dayna took as well. Fiona got some but I have to catch up with her to see what she has.
I thought I would also let you all know that Trinity has been trying to stand up by herself. At Jared's school production she sat up the front with Carolynn on some mats. She pushed up onto her hands and feet, and balanced herself to stand up for a few seconds before letting herself down. She did this a couple of times, it was a bit sad that Adam wasn't there (he didn't feel well that night)
But she did it again at Carole's on Saturday night, it was so cute. She did it a few times, like, oh, that was fun, see if I can do it again! The other thing she has started this week is climbing up on the couch! Such a clever little girl! She will be walking by Christmas I'm sure :)
I'm having trouble uploading photos, so I will do that later.

Car shopping

Cheryl and I are in the market for a car. It's part of a longer term plan to buy a house, possibly next year. We've got three cars in mind which we've heard good things about - the Holden Barina, the Ford Laser and the Toyota Camry. Based on the amount of money we have, something in the range of 1995 and up for a year.
We're going to have a look at a 1997 laser this weekend, but based on last weekend I wont hold my breath. We'll let you know how we go with it all.. it's possible that if we come back for christmas we might even be driving :)
What have you guys been doing? And have you heard anything good or bad about the cars we're looking at?

And the birthday wishes continue..

Happy Birthday Glenn!

I hope you've had or are having a good day. What did you get up to to celebrate?

the internet is not a series of tubes. it's a sack of presents!

Hi all,

Just a gift update. Mum and Dad, the book is still on order in the US, so the current approximate delivery is the end of November.. but it's going to depend on when they get the book, and then about three weeks after that for postage. It's being posted straight to your house though.

Glenn, happy birthday for Saturday! We've ordered you a gift from your wishlist online, so don't go buying anything off there. If it's not at your house already, it can't be far off.. and sorry if i've ruined the surprise ;)

Thank you Mr. Internets.

Happy Birthday Dad!

Just what the title says, Happy Birthday Dad. I hope you're having a relaxing day :)

How good in your hearing?

Apparently there's a sound which no "adult" can hear. Kids in the UK have been using it as a ringtone, so they can recieve calls in school and their teacher wont know.

It's based on the fact that your hearing degrades over time, although I can hear it and so can Cheryl (and technically we're too old) .. so i'm interested to see if you guys can too.

Click here to listen to a wav of the file. Then let us all know if you hear anything.

Happy Boys-day

Happy Birthday Damien!

I hope you're having/had (I can never remember the international time ... I think it's now the day after the day before, er, you know what I mean, or if you don't then, well maybe you're me) a brilliant day and enjoy all your gifts and (more importantly?) the attention *wink*. Did you enjoy (wait, that is definitely NOT the right word!) appreciate "An Inconvenient Truth"? We're going to look out for it in the local Indy (that's Indy-speak for "Independent", Mum and Dad *even cheekier wink*) cinema.

How old are you now, little brother? Twenty-six or something equally ridiculous, no? I can still remember all our childish misbehaviour -- He-man vs the Ninja Turtles, battling it out in either Castle Grayskull, the TMNT Sewers or that place where Hordak and his goons hung out, what was it called? I remember painting Superman black to make him an evil Superman (your Batman toy had so much more anghst, dang!), and how the Transformers could kick butt over regular Matchbox Cars every single time, despite Matchbox's superior numbers. Ah, good times.

And that was just last week on your podcast. (Hey, there's a topic for next week!)

Anyway, Cheryl said you got your pressie, and so did you from work the other day, so enjoy! Thinking of you tonight as I have 一献 of sake. Mmmm, sake. Tell me again when you heading to Japan? How many bottles of delicious rice-wine are you allowed to smuggle bring back completely legitemitely? (Yes, I just found the strikethough button in this editor. It's cool!)

In other news: today, whilst looking for some gym shoes, I got Dee a guitar.

It's nice, too -- a black acoustic Fender, sweet tones, came in a beginners pack which included a tuner, set of strings and DVD. I also got a stand for it, so it can sit out in our lounge-room and tempt us to play, or at least attempt to play.

We've watched the first lesson on the DVD, and have been practising E5 and A5. I'm sure all the guitaristas out there are probably laughing, but it's a start for us -- I can't wait to get some tablature and have a good ol' jam some time in (probably) a couple of months. Maybe she'll even go for an open mic night somewhere? I'd be in for that, provided I could do vocals ... and got plenty of time to practise!

As I say, it's some time away. Not maybe places, even in Edinburgh, will let you play a gig when you only know two chords. Well, maybe Bannerman's Bar, but that's a student haunt I think (put enough beer in students, or "suits" for that matter, they will clap anything ... as any purveyor of open mic knows all too well).

I didn't find my gym shoes of course. It's always the same -- you go looking for a particular something, guaranteed you will find something else equally compelling.

Parlez-vous Français? Nope, not yet.

We're just home from our first French lesson!

It was cool, and scary too.  It's at L'Institut Français d'Écosse, not too far from our place but about half an hour from my work (which gives me just enough time to make it after work).  2 hour lessons, once a week for fifteen weeks.  Of course, we'll be going to Paris one of those weeks, but I think a week of culture-immersion should make up for missing the lesson *wink*!!

They're small classes, but the teacher seems nice.  It's weird to listen to a French person with a Scottish accent when they speak English (she lived in Inverness for a couple of years I think).  She's also said that she won't be speaking much English from here on in -- we got a basic guide to, "watch, listen, repeat, sit, stand".  If all else fails, I'm just going to copy the rest of the class!

We're very excited to have Dayna with us!!  It's going to be very much fun --  we'll have Christmas together, maybe we can set up the video conferencing for Christmas dinner (I know, I've said that before, but how about this year?!).  Some yummy roast veggies ... actually, that reminds me, we've already got some in our 'fridge I really should cook up.  Mmmm, roasty.

KI photos

We've put some photos from the trip up here.. Enjoy :)

I'm going to the UK!!!

Well, you all know already - but thought I'd put it in the blog!

Yesterday I got a new copy of my birth certificate (I think it was left somewhere unpleasant), so today I went out to the British High Consulate (near the airport) and applied for my UK Ancestry visa. It looks like it'll be ready to pick up next week! yay!

I've also got my ticket all good to go - I leave from Melbourne on the 15th November.. When I was talking to Mum and Dad last week, I said I might come to Bendigo just before I go.. but on further thinking, it will be better for me to come to Bendigo for Trin's christening (and take some time off work so I can spend time with everyone). I'll leave the car in Bendigo at that point, and head to Melbourne for meetings (for work) on the Monday. From there I'll head to WA for work, then back home in time to pack up my final things, get furniture sent away, and do my final clean and get my house sorted out..

I'm not sure whether I'll get to visit Damien and Cheryl before I go (sorry guys) but I'll work on it. :)

Anyway, hope you're all good!

*hugz*

Kangaroo Island

Here's a photo of the four of us and our new friend at the Remarkable Rocks on Kangaroo Island.

Trinity's Baptism

Just thought I would post this here, but we will be sending out invites to everyone in the next week or so. So, Trinity's Baptism, or Christening, whatever you prefer, is going to be - Sunday, October 22nd at St Peter's Eaglehawk at 10.15am (normal service time) And thank you mum and dad for letting us have a light lunch at their house afterward. Hopefully it will be a nice day and we can all enjoy the patio area!

Contact Details

I thought i'd add a post which I can then bookmark for everyone to put in their contact details. So yeah, add a comment with your address and phone numbers in it.

All Quiet on the Bandwagon Front

So, school holidays are nearly here, and I am looking forward to them! Today was the Battle for Australia ceremony at school, so I was there all day. We made sandwiches (10 loaves of bread!) and supplied cake, bikkies, tea, and coffee. We thought all was going well, then the big urn wasn't working so we swapped it for the small one, then it was leaking, and then we realised neither urn (ours or the hired one) were boiling, turned out the power point wasn't working so off I went to get extension cords... anyway, at the end of the day it was still successful, although we had planned on having 2 urns because last year it was hard with one, then because of the power we had to send everyone to use our little leaky one because it was the hottest :P

Trinity's Baptism... no date yet, Stephen is back tomorrow and will hopefully get back to us.

Jared went to the Jockey Club with the lion team for a performance. He got to be the clown/monk/teaser, which is what he preferred to being in the lion. I was told he'd never had a bigger smile on his face! I couldn't go this time, so a couple of the other parents kept an eye on him :) The "little" boys stuck together, I was told wherever one was they all were - 5 of them in total, 2 lions and the monk :) The next performance is "moon festival" which is the 8th of October, so I better check the time... might not have Trinity's Baptism that weekend.

Carolynn has a calisthenics comp this Friday night in Melbourne... will get her to post results on the weekend... if she is allowed on the computer. Technically she is banned until she cleans up her room!

Finally, Adam has been working on the BendigoGuide so go and have a look -http://www.bendigoguide.com.au/

busy busy

hi there family,

it's been a little while since i've posted.. i'd like to say that it's because i've been doing lots of fun things, but really it's just because i've been busy with boring stuff like work!

i've started looking for jobs in the UK (which is where I took the photo of my hand on a heat-sensitive panel). i've decided that it's time to have some adventures (i'm really not enjoying work and the Director said "if you're not enjoying what you're doing, don't do it!"). i'm not absolutely sure of when i'll head off yet.. but it'll probably be round the end of the year, maybe before christmas, not sure yet.. it kinda depends on when i get work.. and kinda doesn't...

glenn and dee, any hints and tips ??? :) ooh, and can i say i'm going to come and live with you? (for the ancestry visa application..)

anyway.. i'm not planning on going away forever - but i certainly feel that it's time for me to go. it was always in my plan to head to the UK for 2007.. i've even got an email from early last year that says that! if i don't go now, when will i? it's not like i've got to wait for someone else now.

ooh, and while i'm thinking of people who shall remain nameless.. he should have put my power-drill in the post (registered mail) on the weekend. mum and dad, i asked him to send it to you - so please let me know if it turns up.

anyway, i've got some applications to write..

*grin*