A weekend of Family Outings...

And NO photos...

As listed in amoung our family resolutions for 2009... was 'at least ONE' family outing per weekend... well this weekend was a bit of a whirlwind... Saturday afternoon at the beach with Renee, Jimmy and the kids... and then Sunday we did the LOOONNNGGG drive from Coogee to Camden for Jared's Birthday party out at Renees' mum's house... The drive from Georges Hall to Camden was a 'no worries' drive... but from Coogee that extra distance seems and is enormous... but we did it, and it was a lovely afternoon and the boys especially LOVED the BIG under ground tunnel...

And on neither occasion I took any photos... amazing especially considering we hadn't seen Renee and family for about 3 years!!

But our big news for this first week in March 2009 is that Aidan learnt to ride his bike with no training wheels... yay Aidan!! Aidan went out determined to learn and in order to get him to pedal fast enough we told him to 'Make Daddy Run!!' and sure enough he quickly picked it up and off we went...

Mathew and Ella (before she took off down the stairs to help Aidan?) up on the balcony watching Aidan master the art of riding a bike... with NO training wheels...

Joshie and Mathew.... hanging out in Kitchen!!!

Joshie's 3rd Birthday weekend!!

Saturday, 14th February... Joshwa's Birthday DAy.... Joshie had been waiting patiently since Aidan's Birthday in January for his in February... we had told him on 'many' occasion that he would have his birthday once were were settled in Sydney... so finally his 'Sydney Birthday' day arrived.. and my second baby turned 3, he is growing up so fast...
So to celebrate and to make sure that he was fussed over we arranged for Mum and DAd.. (aka.. Nan and Poppy Chook) to fly down from the Sunshine Coast with our baby girl Ella... They (after airline and weather dramas!!) arrived in Sydney the night before to surprise him the following morning (his birthday), and to our delight Todd, Emma and the kids drove down from Nelsons Bay for the day to celebrate the 3rd Birthday of the Joshwa... The 6 grandkids... Mathew, Kaitlyn, Joshie, Eli, Teddy & Aidan


Sunday, 15th February.... The Unitt's visit...
Unable to make the party day on the Saturday, our great friends the Unitt's visited on Sunday for an afternoon of backyard fun, Pizza and McDonalds... we hadn't seen them for years.. and in actual fact they hadn't seen Joshie or Mathew ever.. and we hadn't seen their babe Bailey who was now 2 herself... so it was a long overdue catchup.

Settling in ... in Sydney

Can you believe it.. We have been South Coogee residents for a month now!!! That is amazing.. how time flies... and surprisingly we aren't hating Sydney ... we have landed ourselves the best location to live in Sydney... and are currently enjoying ourselves.

After a bit of a rocky start (Aidan was rather unsettled for a couple of weeks.. and suffered frequent meltdowns)... we have established a pretty hectic weekly routine...

*Justin has started his new job... and has once again inherited a shit fight... and is busy sorting that all out ... from the point of furnishing his office to rewriting the course!! Good luck... and has started playing tennis at 'Aidan's tennis club'...

*Aidan is at school full time now from 9-3pm and has tennis lessons Monday afternoon after school. (ohhhh!!!... right now I wish he started at 8am.. filling in that extra hour somedays is torture after starting school at 8am we are all ready and waiting to do the school run by 7.30am!!! ... but come winter when we dont want to get out of bed ... I am sure I will be thankful for that extra hour!!! LOL)

*Joshie has started daycare two days a week now and after initial apprehension on the mornings that he attends he comes home happy.

* Mathew and I .. well we are SOOOO busy.. school runs, looking after baby... I intend and would like to get back to teaching sometime this year but right now I have no idea where I would find the time... luckily.. Mathew cant start at daycare until he is 6 months... so I have another 3 months to work out where in the day I would fit 'work'!!! hahaha...

Our $$million dollar house!!! You could rent our house apparently for $800+ per week.. and after our spacious house in Port Kennedy that price certainly raises eyebrows!! It is certainly all about LOCATION LOCATION!!! Our house is small compared to what we are use too.. but after putting 1/2 our stuff into storage we have made the house ours.. and now realise how much stuff we actually have and probably dont need???

ONE BUSY MONTH ... SO MUCH TO RECORD....

Aaaahhh it is so cold.. in Darwin it rains and is still warm!! ahhh how it seems so nice now???

Well too bad... hahaha... Just under a month ago the removalist trucks arrived at our house in Darwin to pack us up and move us out!!!

After we had been packed up we had a day for rest and relaxation at the City Garden Apartmenst in town... and our friends who came to visit and swim...

Then we spent a fabulous 'busy' two weeks in Rockingham with our friends while our furniture was enroute to Sydney...

Mathew and Bronte's Christening

So after a fun filled... wonderful two weeks.. we got on another plane.. and headed to Sydney... ... Upon arrival we lived in our "hotel home" (as Aidan called it!!) and spent a few days

"Discovering Sydney..."

Moments after this photo was taken... Joshies hat blew off his head and fell over board.. however after a full harbour trip from Darling Harbour around to Circular Quay we managed to get it off the ledge at the back of the boat where it had been riding the waves... thanks to a one legged man with a walking stick... thanks!!!

Fun and Laughter at the end of a busy day of sightseeing...
.... one well travelled New Born....

Well now we are in Sydney and after a few nights in our 'hotel home' we have moved in and are quickly getting into a routine. Aidan has started school, Joshie starts Daycare in a few days , Justin has started his new job and Mummy and Mathew will hopefully have time to "scrap" hahahahaha

Mathew's 1st Swim

This afternoon was hot... again... and Mathew after a long afternoon nap was hot and bothered, so I decided it was time that the little fella took his first dip in the pool... after a few minutes he was floating on his back, kicking his legs (assisted of course!!) and not concerned at all about the water being splashed on his face by his big brothers...

Family Outing Number 1...

Howard Springs

Well, it was almost a complete fizzer....

Initially we were not intending on going to Howard Springs.. we were going to go to the Crocodile Farm... on their website it said 'croc feeding - 2pm' however the Crocodile Park at Noonamah is now closed (when I called up the following day to see whether they were in fact closed, or we just went to the wrong gate... the receptionist said they had been closed since 'April'... however they had forgotten to update their website) so with a car full of unhappy disappointed boys.. we HAD to come up with an alternative 'quickly'....

So a trip to Howard Springs became our alternative.... so with ONE packet of Rice crackers... we went for a 'picnic' at Howard Springs. And it was lovely... there was only a few people there and NO mozzies, which made it very sad that it more than likely will be our last trip down to that lovely place... especially for Justin who once swam here with the Barra's, turtles and bacteria as a kid! (swimming is no longer allowed due to the bacteria present in the water!! but that wasn't a concern 20+ years ago...)

Happy New Year...

2009... here already... I hardly feel as though I experienced 2008... and it is over!!! GoNe... Well I guess welcome 2009... We now only have 15 days remaining here in the Top End before we are packed up and sent packing down south... To Sydney.. so i thought it fitting that I put up the awesome fireworks from Sydney... so new city... new beginnings... new fun... or something like that!!! hahaha

So this year, to go with our new 'beginnings'... Justin and I decided to set ourselves a few New Years Resolutions, and to see how 'resolute' we are we have decided to make a hard copy of our ideas here and check back in 365 days to see how good we were... hahahaha

1. Loose weight/ get fit (yes most people have this one... I have baby fat to loose... Justin has a beer gut)
2. To take 'at least' 3 short getaways to somewhere we haven't been before... (if we manage more than 3 all the better... I say)
3. To do one family outing (minimum) every weekend... this could mean going to the beach... to a friends house... a game of tennis.. whatever.. but after a year when it was more than often TOO hot to do much, especially during the day... we are desperately wanting to get out and about...
4. Justin... only indulge in liquor drinking on Friday and Saturday... and perhaps Sunday afternoons...
5. Jodi... to submit my scrapping 'finally' and try and get published.

Well those should keep us busy this year... so welcome 2009... I hope it is a great year.