Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Well Santa is loading up his sleigh ready to embark on his world tour and the boys couldn't be more excited. My cousin gave Ryan a Thomas the Tank Christmas book last night and he decided that 1am would be a great time to get up and read it and play with his trains...I think we will keep Christmas eve low key to ensure we all get a good nights sleep!! He is still hyper this morning and was about to go and wake Liam up to play...

With 2010 fast approaching I thought I would reflect on 2009.

January was an exciting time for us as we could finally share the news we were expecting baby number two. It would also be our last summer living near the beach.

February was a very emotional month, the decision for Lou to take the CAT redundancy and for us to up and move states didn't come easy. The absolute best part about moving to the US and Tassie were the friends we made, and although we are all very busy with our own hectic lives it's great to keep in touch every now and then, and to think of each other with fond memories.

March was another emotional month (hey, I was pregnant) Lou's mum was diagnosed with bowel cancer and has recovered well, and we were living in limbo waiting for our house to be vacant.

April arrived, we FINALLY moved in and Lou started a new job...big changes. He also started the never ending job of house renovations.

In May we celebrated Ryan's 3rd birthday, where has that time gone. We continued to unpack boxes.

June was the highlight of the year, baby Liam arrived safe and sound and is growing up so fast, 6 months old next week and crawling already. He is an active, happy little boy.

July, August, September all a bit of a blur...Having fun with our gorgeous boys and getting over winter bugs.

October and November. Lou is working on the front fence and the weather has gone from wet and cold to heatwaves, poor Sophie dog is malting one minute, freezing the next.

December is here and I have finished all my shopping. Need to wrap a couple of things and then get organised as we are going to my sisters on Christmas day, then down to visit Naomi, Jim and the boys.

It has been a wonderful year catching up with friends, looking forward to doing it all again next year. I hope you all have a fabulous chrissy and new year. To my UK and US friends, I hope the snow and BA strike don't throw your travel plans into chaos...

Black Saturday; Eight Months On

A couple of weeks ago, we went down to visit my sister in Healesville. We decided to go the back way, down country roads and through small towns (it looked shorter on the map, but took us twice as long....whole other story) It turned out to be a tour of the devastating Black Saturday fires that raged in February. Our home town was hit hard, sixty homes and countless more buildings burnt to the ground, and one tragic loss of life. The fire was about two kilometres away from our house, it burnt into suburbia, randomly choosing one house while the next escaped, it's unbelievable more homes weren't lost. It burnt right up to the Hospital where Liam was born, can you imagine the job they had evacuating patients that day...
We drove down through Redesdale, Kilmore and district, more burnt out homes and property, but after some good winter rain green grass and new shoots from the trees had appeared. Then we continued on through Whittlesea to Kinglake, oh my god, black mountains as far as the eye could see, no green tinges. Driving through the small town brought tears to our eyes, the loss of life was devastating, and that's all I could think about. Australians aren't overly patriotic, but every house, those still standing and those burnt to the ground, all had an Aussie flag hanging. Everywhere you look, hundreds of kilometres of new fencing, new sign posts, dangerous trees along roads being cut down. They still have a big job to do, and the next fire season is only a month away. When we arrived at Leah's, to look at the blacken hills surrounding them makes you realise how close it was, too close.

More Visitors

Last weekend our friends Mick and Bev came up from the "big smoke" to visit, it was so lovely to see them both. Bev had lots of cuddles of Liam, Ryan was a bit harder to cuddle, it's that three year old attitude (who says it's terrible two's) Fortunately Liam didn't throw up, unlike Ryan who drenched poor Mick when he was about 10 days old. Sorry about that Mick. Looking forward to catching up again soon!!

Tassie Visitors

At the start of September, my friend Helen and her little girl Scarlett came over from Tasmania to visit us, and meet little Liam. Ryan and Scarlett hadn't seen each other since February, but you wouldn't know it, they played together so well, it was like we had never left. We had such a lovely day, it's easy to forget we live so far apart now. Pictured is Helen, Scarlett and Liam, Ryan wouldn't co-operate that day...

At the end of September we went to the Melbourne Zoo. When we drove out of our driveway Ryan said "I can't see any animals anywhere". Lou and I looked at each other and thought this is going to be a long drive to Melbourne. Then he said he wanted to see a horse, a cow and a chook..maybe we will go to his cousins farm next time. We caught up with Anis, Jeff, Adam and Safa, more good friends from Burnie. Anis and Jeff lived in Peoria when we were there, but only met when they moved to Burnie as we both knew Jo.This is a photo of Anis with Liam, I tried to get a photo of Ryan, Adam and Safa but they were going in all directions at the playground....

Growing Up Fast..

Liam is 3 months old already, where does the time go!He is such a happy, content little boy. He has been sleeping through at night, sometimes he wakes up once and has a quick feed and back to sleep again. You think I would be feeling fantastic, but I keep waking up listening for him!!! Ryan adores Liam, and Liam adores Ryan, it is so cute.

June News - Baby Liam!!!

Our beautiful baby boy is here. We have officially joined the "two boy club" with Liam Edward arriving safely on June 30. He is feeding and sleeping well and putting on lots of weight, I just want to cuddle him all the time. I was a bit worried about having a little baby again, wondering if I remember what to do, but as people say, it all comes back to you. I look at Ryan now and he just seems so big. He is being a great big brother, very gentle and loving so far of his "baby Liam". Still haven't managed to get a good photo of them together though...will get there soon I hope.

June News - Home Improvements...

At long last the painting has finished....for now. Lou had been flat chat since April painting over these green walls, with a little help from Ryan. It looks so much better and brighter now. We don't want to go overboard with the renovations as we don't plan to stay in this house, but we still want to make it nice while we are here. I have made a list for Lou of all the jobs to be done and he is getting through them, next on the list is a new picket fence, looks like I will have to get out my paint clothes and paint pickets...

May News - Wiggles Concert

At the end of May we were lucky enough to have the Wiggles in Bendigo. It's been years since they have toured the regional cities and it was so easy driving 5 minutes to the concert rather than a big trip to Melbourne. I bought the tickets about three weeks after they went on sale, so we sat in the very back row, a bit different than the front row seats I had with Jo and the boys in Peoria! Ryan loved every minute of it. We tried to get him to stand on the seat to watch, but as he is not allowed to stand on the furniture at home he was a little confused, lucky Daddy was there to stand on! The one bonus of sitting in the back row was that Jeff and Sam (purple and yellow Wiggles) walked around and Jeff gave Ryan a "Hi 5". Ryan hasn't taken his Captain Feathersword hat off since...

May News - Ryan's Birthday

Ryan turned 3, and being the huge Thomas the Tank Engine fan he is, we celebrated by taking a steam train ride from Castlemaine to Maldon. It was a gorgeous day and it was so pretty looking over Castlemaine with all the autumn leaves. Ryan enjoyed every second of the ride, I was a little concerned I might go into labour as the seats were VERY bouncy!! We had planned to go to the park afterwards and have a big play, but the train had a problem when we got to Maldon and we were about 45 minutes late getting back, so we went straight to Nanny and Pa's and had birthday cake with the family.

Visiting friends

On Friday, Ryan and I drove down to visit Naomi, Tom and Angus for the day. After living in this apartment for a month it was so great to get out and visit, have a cup of tea (or two) and a big chat. Ryan was so excited to see the boys, and all their toys.. I'm sure it took Nai hours to pack it all up.

The red wagon is still a hit, although it was hard work dragging these two "big" boys around.

Looking forward to catching up again soon....

On a brighter note

While Victoria was savaged by heat, wind and fire, we were making the most of Tasmania's cooler weather.

We had a BBQ with all my friends from my mothers group. The kids had a great time as Jodi's house is set up with everything they could wish for. It's hard for us all to get together with people working, so we made the most of it and had a great time.

Here is a photo of Ryan and his little friends.

Fires cont...

Meanwhile, the area just north of them, the towns of Kinglake, Kinglake West, Marysville and so on have disintegrated...the loss of life is devastating, they didn't have a chance and you wonder how they will ever get over it....I don't have any words to explain the grief we all feel.
Another fire at Bendigo threatened many of my friends and relatives, and tragically locals lost their lives there too. Bendigo is a large regional city, this fire swept in and destroyed homes only a few k/m's from the city centre...how does this happen.
Many more large fires around the state have claimed so many lives, and continue to burn. We can only pray for rain, but I think Victorians have forgotten what rain is...
Leah, my cousins in the north east of the state and my brother-in-law's family in central Victoria are still on alert, as things can change fast with wind direction.
I experienced the Ash Wednesday Fires in 1983 ( I was a little kid) and still remember the blackened sky, smoke and death toll....never thought I would see it again in my lifetime...

Victorian Fire Tragedy

I write this with a heavy heart. I'm supposed to be doing a million things this morning while Ryan is at Childcare, but find myself glued to the TV and internet keeping tabs on these raging infernos, crying and wondering what I can do to help. My biggest concern is my sister Leah, as the small town of Healesville she lives in is not out of danger. It all started Saturday, the government, fire authorities and media had warned it was going to be a day from hell. After a few weeks of record heat, most days in the 40c plus and the ground and trees shrivelling up, and no water supplies due to the ongoing drought, the state of Victoria recorded it's hottest temperatures ever, 47.9c at Avalon which is not far from Naomi, although Dad said it was 48c at their house in Castlemaine. Most fires started later in the day. I got a call from Leah, her husband Cam had left to fight a fire at the winery he works at in Yarra Glen. They did what they could, but had to flee to an adjoining winery and sat and watched the fire engulf the vines and equipment shed. When they returned later, unbelievably the cellar door and winery buildings were saved, everything around them blackened. Meanwhile, Leah was at home packing the car with photos and a few important items as embers flew over the house. But with the100k/m winds, a large tree fell over the driveway and she couldn't leave, so she sat out a very nervous few hours with Viv and Eliza. They were lucky, many of their friends have lost homes.

Super Bowl XLIII

Well I'm not sure if it's the pregnancy hormones, but when Jennifer Hudson sang the national anthem I was absolutely bawling my eyes out.... no, I haven't become a patriotic American, but to belt out a tune like that on the biggest sporting stage in America after having your mother, brother and gorgeous little nephew murdered just tore at my heart strings.
I watched the game whilst doing the housework, mainly because aussie Ben Graham, an ex-Australian Rules footballer was playing for Arizona. I have to admit, I really do love watching sport, but I still don't understand this game...and I just can't get past those tight Lycra pants...

Cruising the seas

I have been to the shops this morning and noticed there is another cruise ship in today. Just imagine...boarding a cruise ship in New Zealand or Tahiti....sailing into beautiful Sydney harbour, then onto Melbourne and your next stop is Burnie Tasmania...Well, over the summer about 24 cruise ships arrive in this little place as it has one of the deepest ports. The local mayor dresses in his mayoral robes and formally welcomes all the visitors, the local highland pipe band plays a tune or two and hundreds of local volunteers are tour guides for the day (including Kaye)

Thousands of tourists pile onto buses and venture off to visit all the tourist attractions of the North West of Tasmania, hoping to spot a Tassie Devil. They also bombard the city centre, spending all their hard earned cash and giving the local economy a real boost.....

You will also notice the large pile of wood chips, they export these all over the world. Tasmania has a large forestry industry which I'm okay with if they harvest plantations, but I'm totally against logging old growth forest, although I'm not about to grow dreadlocks and live in a tree for months on end...just try to be a better recycler and limit paper use..