Another homesick moment

So, as I was looking for a pic of Sydney Harbour online I started to look at other pics of places in Oz and I came across this view from North Brother mountain. This is the view from the mountain that my mum's house is at the base of.



I went to primary school in the town at the bottom of the pic (Laurieton) and Ian's seafood restaurant (fantastically painted in 4 shades of blue) used to be found in the town to the left of the mouth of the river in North Haven. (It mysteriously burned down after Ian sold it and the new owners wanted to sell the land to developers!)

Cannot wait to take the girls to the beach (either side of the river mouth will do or the beach that can be found on the lake thats looks like it's just inside the headland on the right hand side. Mum's next door neighbours have an oyster farm on that lake - yummo, oysters kilpatrick and mornay - cannot wait!) In fact I am looking forward to hitting the co-op and eating as many fresh prawns, crabs and fish that I can get my little hands on! Nothing frozen for me thanks!

Homesick

So tonight as we were flicking through the tube we came across HGTV and Jamie Durie's show "The Outdoor Room". In the episode he actually went back to Australia and got some inspiration for a CA backyard project with drought tolerant plants etc. And even though I want to now plant a whole bunch of Kangaroo Paws at the front of the house (maybe with a bottlebrush or two),



the thing that really got me excited was the images of Sydney Harbour. We'll be home in less than 6 weeks (and in Sydney in 8 weeks) and I'm getting really excited!



Nothing beats Sydney Harbour on a beautiful, sunny day with a slight breeze (to take the sting out of the sun). In my opinion it really is one of the most beautiful places on Earth as it marries stunning vistas with the practicality of urban life. It just sucks that it's so expensive to live there.

Can't wait to see it face-to-face again!

Another More Movie 2

Just waiting for this to be loaded properly - stay tuned. (My techno-helper has been a little busy lately but will be on boad shortly)

More movies! Dec 09-Jan 10

Storm has been my techno-helper and put this random hodge-podge of film from our lives from December 2009 to January 2010.

What we've done (and continue to do) is just grab our camera when the girls are doing something either new or cute. So there really is no cohesiveness with the films apart from the fact that the people involved are us and it was the end of last year and the beginning of this one.

You know how everyone hates how they sound when they hear their voice on their answering machine? Well it's double when it's on film and you're actually seen as well. It's true when they say the camera adds 55lbs (yea I know it's 10lbs but I'm trying to make myself feel better.) (On a more positive note - Storm and I are making more of a concerted effort to exercise and eat better. It's getting easier now that the girls are getting older. I can't wait for them to be able to sit for longer periods of time, hold their own bottles and crawl. It'll be so exciting!)

Last day at the Mt Charleston house

It was the last day and again I was trying to take pics of the girls that required only natural light so I got Sydney before the sun hit the house and made it smoking. I really need to work on my focus skills. Maybe I need glasses?




And then showing what a bad mummy I was (too busy trying to get photos), Kendall started to fall asleep in the jumperoo. So cute though. (Note: I did get her out of there the minute that I put the camera down!)

Pics of the girls

So, the house at Mt Charleston had wonderful light coming into it so I thought that I'd try and take some pics of the girls in natural light for a change (otherwise it's always with a flash).

Kendall, my blue eyed dribble queen...


Sydney, showing off her her baby blues too...






Oops! Sydney saw the camera and I got herjust before she got the stunned mullet look that she is renowned for.


Smiling Kendall. She's such a happy girl.




Both girls with Grandma.




Reading with Grandma.

Not so snowy Mt Charleston

So I'm back posting month old stories and pictures. Sorry life is such a catch up game right now for me so until I get caught up you'll just have to live with it.

When we first arrived at the house there was a bit of snow around but not enough to satisfy Storm of course. The house was sunny and bright but not as equipped as we would have liked so it took a couple of trips up and down the mountain (poor Storm!) to make sure we had everything we needed for the week.

We relaxed and enjoyed ourselves and didn't get snowed in (much to Mum's disappointment). The girls were fantastic on their first trip away from home (well we had all the creature comforts so I don't think that it qualifies but anyway...) and the dogs had a ball!

Mum enjoying a cool bevvy after arriving...(not much to see though!)


The dogs had so much fun sniffing and imagining that they were brave, outdoor dogs instead of inside, woossey puppies! I'm telling you that if they came across a chipmunk they'd be petrified!






Oscar is such a pretty boy...


Mum and I took the dogs for a walk on one of the days we were there and the dogs had so much fun in the snow.



Rudy was so funny as he wouldn't go any further up the hill and sat there in the one spot for quite a while. It took a pine cone thrown just underneath him to get him to move. His back legs are getting worse as he gets older. Poor love.




Rudy really loves the smell of snow and gets his kicks out of digging around and really getting down deep.


Doesn't mum look like she belongs in the snow?