Birthday blog!

Hi guys. We’ve all aged since the last blog entry – well, Sam has! My ickle baby is now 9! Scary stuff. Can’t imagine what I’ll feel like when he’s in his twenties and rolling home from the pub (who said ‘more wrinkly???’ Own up!). He thoroughly enjoyed his day. It’s the last week at school before a well earned two week break, and they really made a fuss of him. He got badges and sung to and was allowed to pick something out of the teacher’s birthday box (oooo eeerrr!).

Thank you for his presents and cards. Actually, he didn’t get presents; he got gadgets! A mobile phone, an iPod shuffle, a watch, a new battery for his PSP…….. a teenager would have been impressed with Sam’s haul, let me tell you!

The birthday fairy came up trumps again!

Sam really liked borrowing my iPod – not to listen to my dodgy taste in 80’s power ballads, but I download a lot of podcasts from a London talk radio station that I grew really fond of before we moved. Anyhow, Sam’s grown to really like listening too, so he has not only songs on his iPod (the Darkness, Buggles and Steps – a very eclectic mix!), but mostly has podcasts of LBC! He loves listening to them every night. I must admit it’s sad, but I think it’s really helped me not to be too homesick. Sam also got an ant farm for his birthday and collected about four ants this afternoon and he’s named them after the LBC presenters! Weird child, eh? Must take after his Father!

He is chuffed with his mobile phone that Nanny B bought him. He’s fantastic with it! When he used to go to the deli or the skate park with his friends, I used to make him take my mobile, just in case. He always phoned when he was told to and was very mature with it. If it means that we can give him a little more freedom to explore Secret Harbour, but can call him when we need him, or when he needs us, I don’t think it’s a bad thing! He’s already had a trans-atlantic call from Nanny B; how exciting! I’ve got a feeling that all his birthday money from Nanny D will be spent on ‘top ups!’ I’m not even going to show him how to send a text message ;-)

So, after school, we took Sam out for a nice meal in Mandurah. He really enjoyed it and they did the candle thing with the cake that I’d bought (sorry – made). The cake was fab (and huge!) and Sam was chuffed. Hoorah!

Whoa! Another year and he'll be setting off the sprinkler system!

I was explaining to Sam that he was born at 12.14 lunchtime. ‘that’s when you popped out of my tummy!’ I told him. ‘Did I really?’ he asked. ‘Actually, no’, I said, ‘you came out of my (front) bottom’. ‘Yeuch’ says Sam, ‘couldn’t you have found me a cleaner exit??’ I ASK YOU????

So, last week was the school Sports Carnival. Good grief, it was nothing like a Templewood Sports Day and I was really unprepared! It literally lasts all day because the school is so big and there are so many kids! There were Mums and Dads there who did the whole works and came with cool boxes and chairs and….. well, half their houses, really. I thought we’d done really well be remembering to take two deckchairs! Darcie was up first as they ran the events in age order. She was in the 50m flat race. She was very determined – all straight hands and gritted teeth for better aerodynamics. Paul tried very hard not to laugh as she did comedy running; running along looking at Paul, smiling, rather than the finish line….. but it worked, because…….

SHE WON!!!
Darcie’s teacher, Mrs Singleton is at the front in the scarf BTW.

Sam did very well in his flat race too, finishing 4th. Then in the afternoon they had team games and events. The whole thing was run like a military operation (but when there are 800 kids, I suppose it has to be!).The school is split into four factions: Dune (yellow), Ocean (blue), Tuart (green) and Sunset (red). Sam and Darcie are both in Ocean. The day was good and the kids worked really hard to do their best. It was cloudy though and quite windy, so you can imagine my horror, when I removed my sunglasses at the end of the day and I looked like I’d spent all day on the piste skiing!! I was SO sunburnt. I looked like a comedy sketch where they paint round your sunglasses – how embarrassing! However, enough about me…. back to the important stuff….

The children all rallied really hard to win faction points for their team. Lots of the kids even sprayed their hair in their faction colours and had team ribbons and everything. I’ll know for next year and I’ll make more of an effort next year, I promise ;-) The prizes were announced at the end of the day with individual trophies for each child who won the most points for each year of the school. Overall, the winning faction was….. OCEAN!!!

So, enough of the events, on to the house! They are coming on, but it’s still a couple of weeks away from the next staged payment and the first floor slab I think. So when the Supervisor said three weeks ago that they only had a ‘week/ten days tops’, he was obviously speaking Australian, which we should have translated to mean ‘two to three weeks, weather permitting!’. Never mind, better the money’s in our account than spent on 20 tonnes of concrete! Not a very environmentally friendly house ours; especially not when you add all the electricity usage, the chemicals for the pool (maybe) and the fossil fuels to be used on heating the water. Perhaps our next house should be an Indian TeePee.

We went to our new neighbours for a BBQ on Sunday and met all our neighbours-to-be from all sides. It was a nice evening and they all seem friendly enough. Our neighbours to the back have a daughter in Sam’s class (much to his disgust; he only ‘does’ certain girls!) and she does tend to stalk him whenever we’re on site! The only slightly uncomfortable part about the evening was when this one neighbour mentioned about losing her view of the sea because of our house. Once would have been OK, but she must have said about it at least 5 times! Sorry, but if they were that concerned, they should have bought our plot! I wouldn’t mind, but they camped out to buy their plot of land. They could have bought ours, but it was slightly more expensive. So how can they then moan that our house will block their view???? They even asked where we would be putting the fence as at the moment, they have a lovely view (yes, you would, because our house hasn’t been built! Wait until our monster’s up and all you’ll see is a brick wall! J Don’t mean to sound hard, but you can’t buy a cheaper plot and want the dearer plot’s views, can you? I just hope it doesn’t get awkward.

Anyhow, build a bridge – get over it! The house is coming on very well. We now have a downstairs loo, walk in pantry, home cinema, HUGE en-suite and a very vivid imagination to be able to visualize what it will all look like once finished! We keep visiting the site and arguing over what’s going where, then we have to come home and study the plans to see who was right. It’s our new party game. I’m winning 2:1 at the moment. It’s looking good, although already we’re looking at things, thinking; ‘why on earth did we want that to go there?’ Goodness only knows what we’ll be like when they put all the electric points in; probably won’t have any in the practical places. I won’t be surprised though. When it came to the electrical plans, we just went a bit mad with a magic marker!

So, this week marks the end of Term Three at school and I can’t wait! The kids are knackered and rude; well, Sam and Darcie are, don’t know about the rest of the school. The Company has sponsored the school newsletter for 10,000 copies as the school wanted the newsletter to go colour. I’ve put a link to it here: school newsletter but the funny thing is, it isn’t in the same format on the website! It looks much better than this one, but at least you get the idea and get to read the jist of it! It’s also funny that the school proof read it and signed off the print run, and only noticed on the first edition that they’ve got 10,000 copies of the Secret HABOUR News. They are currently being reprinted – D’OH!

Monday is a public holiday, so everyone has a day of rest. It’s in honour of the Queen’s birthday (I don’t know, before you ask!). The

.......... and here is the news..............

The house is coming on nicely. We had a site meeting with the Supervisor this week who (although only appeared to be in his late 20's) had everything in hand and seemed to be on the ball with the trades and the schedule of works. He thought that the brickwork for first floor level would be finished in less than two weeks - we were godsmacked at that, but then the next day, the brickies completed an entire outside wall of the house. So it looks like they will meet that schedule. Then we have to pay the biggest staged payment of them all (gulp!) and the scaffolding arrives and they go up further. I asked him what stage we'd be at by Xmas, and he said it we didn't have the roof on, it would be imminent.

This is a picture of Paul's office (well, will be!).
See, I am spoiling him with a golf course view!

Although, there could be a problem coming up with the build, as the last few blokes on the site have looked a bit dodgy!

They look like a right shower, don't they?

They were a special delivery from Nanny B. Poor old Adam had all the trucks from Bob, but they don't sell the people (doesn't make any sense at all really, does it? Welcome to Australia!!!). So SuperNan came to the rescue again and packaged over a complete set of the characters for him. He loves them - as the picture below shows his glee when he unwrapped them, but the trouble is, he insists on taking them to the building site with him. We then spend twenty minutes looking at what the builders have done and another forty minutes trying to find the characters that Adam has buried in the sand! I nearly gave up and abandoned Spud today; he was only saved by a last minute ferret about with my foot!

The builders need all the help that can get to have the house finished on time, so Bob and Wendy are reporting to site first thing on Monday morning to help; although Bob might melt a bit in his donkey jacket! We showed some Aussie friends and they did comment that Bob should really be wearing shorts, a singlet and thongs ;-)

He looks very pleased with himself, doesn't he?

So apart from the 'norm', it's been quite an uneventful week. Sam fell base over apex on his way home from school on Wednesday and has scraped all the skin off his chin. From a distance, it looks as though he is sporting a little goatee beard! Sam also got a certificate for doing really well in Indonesian class this week! He's done well as the other kids have been learning Indonesian for a few years now, so he's a star to even understand what they are saying! The school photos went well, apparently; we shall see what the pictures end up like! Good job they were last week, before the chin incident!

Darcie's class made vegetable soup this week (for the letter of the week 'V'). Next week it's whale sandwiches ;-) They have both been practising hard for next weeks athletics carnival. The weather's been quite nice this week and we've had to resort to sun tan lotion for the first time in months (although the weekend has taken a bit of a turn for the worse - must know we wanted to go out in the boat!).

Paul, Sam and Adam all went for a haircut today. Adam looks about 5, Sam had a crew cut and looks like a teenager and Paul looks like a newborn (in as much as he's got that much hair now!).

And whilst we were out....... well, see for yourslef what Darcie had done! She was VERY brave!

What a lovely weekend we had!

We picked the kids up early from school and pootled off on our drive down south. I slightly mis-calculated, and our 1½ hour journey was suddenly calculated by the Sat Nav as 4½!! Bugger! Never mind….. I packed the back of the car with as much stuff as I could empty out of the house (or at least, that’s how it felt ;-) and we trundled on our merry way. I think we’d got about half an hour down the road when we stopped at the Miami Bakery. It’s an award winning bakery that sells…. wait for it…… gourmet pies! Well, you know how the Aussies love their pies. I swear if you wrapped a piece of road kill Roo in pastry, they’d eat it! They even did a ‘garlic prawn pie’ but Paul was saddened that they’d sold out – yeuch!

Anyhow, the family were re-fuelled and we got to Dunsborough at about 5.15pm – not bad really as I don’t think we actually left ‘til gone one and we did stop a few times. The holiday let was lovely! It was a two storey – felt SO weird to have stairs again! It came with a BBQ (too cold and too much work to clean; see I am turning into a lazy Australian!), dishwasher (heaven!), two TV’s and a DVD player (so that Adam could have Pingu wherever he goes!) and the best….. wait for it………a SPA BATH!!! Yes, a bath big enough to actually cover your knees with water! Fan-bloody-tastic! So we unloaded the car (I unpacked – Paul moans that I’m REALLY anal, but I have to unpack before anything!!) and then went for a walk up to the boat ramp – about 1km. There was a tarmaced cycle track though, so the kids took their scooters and were happy. The boat ramp was like rush hour at Piccadily Circus! There was just boat after boat. They were all going crabbing. They had lights and drop nets and metal crab scoops. There were signs near the sea telling what was an acceptable size for keeping and advising everyone on the maximum catch numbers per day – all very strict. We stood watching and it started to rain. Then we saw something neither Paul or I have ever seen in our lives…. we actually SAW the end of a rainbow! It came arching over from forest behind us and dropped into the sea about 200 metres in front of us – amazing! I think the gold must have sunk though as it wasn't floating on the water.

Is it only me, or does anyone else have the urge to deposit Adam in the wheely bin? NO? Just me then!

So we had a big bowl of spaghetti that I’d cooked the night before and packed (it was nice, but next time, I won’t pack it with the clothes – only joking!), then we all fell into bed; as Peter Kay says, the sea air makes you sleep…. Not before we’d all had a go in the spa bath though! Individually, that is! Adam laughed a bit too much for my liking once the jets were turned on – it was tickling his ‘bits’ apparently! Perhaps that’s why Sam had more baths in two days than he’s had since he’s been in Oz??? Note to self: don't let Sam use our Spa bath in the new house!

The morning came and I had a strict itinerary for everyone with things that were to be enjoyed! That’s an order! We left the cottage and went to Cape Naturaliste where (if you’re VERY lucky), you can see whales on their migratory journey. I was so hopeful and we stood and we stared at every white cap, every sea bird, every current…. Until…… WE SAW THEM!!! They were quite a way out to sea and my camera wouldn’t focus very well, but if you double click on this picture, it will enlarge and you can see………. A WHALE FLIPPER! I was SSOOO pleased! It completed made my trip – didn’t care what else happened – I’d seen a whale in the wild!

Double click - it's Free Willy! No, Mum - not THAT sort!

After this excitement, we visited Nigli caves – only about a ten minute hop in the car. This too was fab. There was a guided introduction where they told you all about the man who found the caves in Victorian times, and how they used huge, great whicker baskets to ferry all the Victorian tourists down into the cave with the help of pulleys and a donkey! The kids loved it – Adam especially loved all the nooks and crannies (much to Paul’s disgust – he was a man stressed to the limit with too many stairs, too many black holes to disappear into and not enough light!). They even had a slide that the kids loved that went through the cave – a real adventure and they spent a good half an hour on that alone! It was a very enjoyable trip, but 701 steps later, we needed refreshment and visited The Caves Hotel for lunch – yum!

Going down....... menswear, hoisery and intimate apparell!

After a re-fuel, we headed into the Margaret River – the wine capital for Western Australia - and let the kids run loose in the Candy Cow where they hand make sweets. Darcie was in piggy heaven! She bought a gob stopper that’s almost a big as her head! I tried to encourage Sam to buy one, but he’s no sucker (geddit?). After this, we popped in to a local grocery store and stocked up on a few provisions and headed back. It’s amazing the amount of ‘better’ food you can buy there. All gourmet and hand made, with cheeses from local dairy farms and olives from local growers. Delicious, but made us realise what we are missing; namely Tesco’s finest!

The next morning, I was slightly less strict with my itinerary – I didn’t even put my Sergeant Major’s cap on! Sam had another spa bath ;-) and we headed off the Margaret River again.

On the way, we stopped off at a Venison farm. The kids played with a friendly ‘PR’ dog on the porch and we shopped, buying some venison sausages, ham and steaks. Sam and Darcie tucked in to a venison sausage, thoroughly enjoying it until Paul pointed out what it was ‘made’ from! Sam’s little face dropped. ‘It’s funny Dad,’ Sam said, ‘but sometimes, you don’t enjoy stuff as much when you know what it’s made of!’ How true. Tonight, I’ve made Toad win the Hole with the venison sausages – kind of like Bambi in Batter (goes nicely with my Kangaroo Lasagne; or Kanga/Sangne.

Beautiful view, isn't it?

I’d booked Paul in to the Voyager Estate Vineyard for Father’s Day lunch. It’s a beautiful place – very much similar to Brocket Hall in Welwyn. The menu was fantastic and the kids meals were huge and didn’t come with chips which is always a bonus in my book! We had a fabby scoff and a glass of wine that was recommended by the Vineyard to be taken with each main course. It was the best dining experience that we’ve had since we’ve been here.

Darcie does a posh lunch - good job you can't see Adam to the side, drinking his melted ice cream through a straw! Class, eh?

My favourite photo of Adam from the weekend. I really think I've captured him here!

Even the kids ice creams for dessert came with a designer chocolate sauce and decoration. It was great value for money and Paul was given a waiter’s corkscrew as a FD present. Oh, I forgot to tell you what the kids made him…. Sam’s class made Rocky Road (like Debbie’s flapjack, but not as nice) and Sam made him a lovely card. Darcie decorated a stubby holder (a polystyrene device to pop your beer into and keep it cold) and made a great card. She also made wrapping paper and bought Paul a West Coast Eagles (AFL team) cup – Sam was disgusted; he’s a Docker’s supporter! Adam gave him nothing – apart from a few more grey hairs a another wrinkle over the course of the weekend ;-)

So all in all, a fabby time was had. Sam didn’t want to come home he was enjoying it so much. He made us agree to return in the summer holidays.

Back to reality when we got home and it’s been a busy ‘ole week! Business has been quite busy with lots of enquiries, which is nice. We are sponsoring the school newsletter too, so that’s all in the pipeline at the moment. The school want to go full colour with the newsletter, so we’ve agreed to pay for the printing of the template. It looks fab! More on that when it gets finalised, although it’s nice to support the school….. Speaking of school, Darcie received a merit certificate in assembly today for ‘always being polite and helping other members of her class. You are a star, Darcie!’ Hoorah!! We got a note from her teacher yesterday to say that she’d be receiving her certificate, but Darcie didn’t know, so she was very pleased. We asked her tonight how she felt about receiving it and she said ‘very proud’. Bless!

Sam and Darcie both have their school photos this week. Again, it’s all different to Templewood. You get sent home the info with all the packs available and they offer different themes and frames as well. What concerns me though is that I’ll pay out for their photos and then get a really crappy picture back of a gimpy looking child. Of course, I’ll have no grounds for complaint as they’ll simply reply: ‘but Madam….. that is what Sam looks like!!!’ Argh! Sam has told me that he’s taking hair gel in for ‘proper preparation!’ I’m more concerned that his photo will be taken after lunch – forget the face, everyone will be concentrating on what he’s dropped down his t-shirt! Think I’ll give him a pot noodle for lunch tomorrow!

On a positive note, also, although Paul’s operation was postponed until the end of October, his bloods came back today and his cholesterol has dropped dramatically – so happy days!

Oh - and we have brickwork on the house! We have a kitchen wall and a window. I'm getting on the phone tomorrow to a blind company for an in-home measure and quote! The house is starting to look a bit bigger now - I suppose walls will have that effect. I'll post some more photos of the house when I download them from the camera, although how exciting CAN a wall be??? As a reminder, click on 'My Photo Album' to the top right hand side and I'll put some more pictures here that don't feature on the blog.

Take care guys - and Happy Birthday to Abi Fraser and Abi Wright. Both birthday girls today!

Kinda goes without saying really,
HAPPY BIRTHDAY MUM!
Love ya loads and loads - can't wait until November!

Just in case you missed it the first time!

Ah bless, the kids have a sleep over in Adam's room. Aren't they lovely when they're like this? For the other 23 hours in the day they're a bag of monkeys!!

As a final picture for this post (we're taking Paul away for a couple of nights as it's Father's Day here on Sunday - I'll update some more when we get back).......



WE HAVE BRICKS!! AND DOOR FRAMES!

If they don't start work by Wednesday, I'll send Sam down to site - it's amazing what he can build with lego....... it's NOT that different, surely! Sorry - promise not to call you Shirley anymore! Have a great weekend ;-)

We have a portaloo!!! I am SO excited!!

I shall be popping down every morning from now on with fresh (scented) toilet paper, finest cotton hand towels and Molton Brown handwash! Ours will be the poshest po on the block! I may even get the local Estate Agents round to give us a valuation!

It rains.......... and the slab gets poured!

Of all the days to pick to pour the slab, they chose Saturday and the day it's rained most all week! We drove via the site on our way to the boat show today - not expecting anything to be going on following yesterday's flurry of activity, and there were three guys trying to level off wet concrete in the pouring rain!

This is the base for the house - Aussie equivalent of foundations.

View from the front door (........one day!).

Where the slab drops down will be our en suite. It has to be lower to allow for waterproofing and the thickness of the tiles.

So, we don't expect there to be a huge amount of activity on the site now for a new weeks. What tends to happen is the slab gets poured, then left to settle and dry out for a few days. Then it gets smoothed and buffed with a power mop thingy before another bit of drying out and the brickies arrive. In between this however, the bricks and window frames normally get delivered to site and sit there looking useless for a few weeks.

So that's the excitement on the house - sorry if I bored you with the pictures of wet concrete, but for us, it's kinda exciting! To think that each one of those pipes will be a drain, sink, bath or toilet....... OK! I'm sad!

The boat show was OK. Didn't buy anything (hoorah!). We saw lots of gorgeous boats, but for us to upgrade, we'd probably want one that we could sleep in and because we have an abnormally large family ;-) it would involve another $100,000!!!! So, we shall dream on and save our shipping expeditions to swimming pool companies and landscapers for the time being.

You’ll be pleased to know there are lots of pictures this week – in the way that Sam chooses his library books!! Well, what a week it’s been. We’ve been up….. we’ve been down – and thank heavens it’s Friday!!

Tuesday was D-Day – that’s D for disaster AND Darcie! We went for a haircut as she wanted her hair to look nice for assembly. I thought I’d booked a respectable hairdressers on a friend’s recommendation, but no – it was a franchise of “Sweeney Todds”. She looked in the mirror and told me she looked ‘hideous’. She’s five, for goodness sakes! She also got very upset when the lady had finished and asked why she had made her look ‘like a boy’. My god, it’s short! Like Victoria Wood’s hairstyle during her ‘unflattering’ period. Never mind – I just hope it grows in time for the school photos in three weeks!

The ‘peak of the week’ was Wednesday and Darcie’s Assembly. The whole class did brilliantly! Everyone who wanted a speaking part did it well and nobody got their lines wrong! Darcie was SO excited and even the Principal made a fuss of her afterwards and came into their classroom afterwards to high-five them all! They were the best cheeky monkeys the school had ever seen!

The star says her lines perfectly in front of 200 pairs of eyes!

The monkeys all sit quietly and wait for their cue.....

There had also been some movement on the site today. They had cleared it all and levelled it and the pegs had been re-marked. Not a lot of excitement – it’s like half a day on and four days off, but I’m sure progress will be made slowly.

Before you ask, NO I didn't flatten it with my bum!

Thursday we had some good news about Paul’s medical tests. He went to the Doc’s for a routine blood test and the Receptionist told him that his results were in…… He’d been last week for an ‘all singing, all dancing’ check on his heart. He has always had chest pains and what with one thing and another decided to get it all fully checked out. He opened the envelope fearing the worst, but it was great news! He’s perfectly fine and fully functioning (well, his heart is, anyhow!).

This is Paul's heart! How amazing is this picture!

To all of those who accused him of being a heartless bas*ard, here's the proof that he actually has one! Funny looking, isn't it? Clever how they get the images though - looks like they've wrenched it from his chest and then shoved it back in again - in reality, he just went through a mini-MRI type machine that whizzed round him. You had to be careful about any metal objects though - apparently if you had any type of metal plpates or screws within your body, they were liable to be whipped out by the magnets! How would that work with a woman with a coil - one minute it was in, the next stuck to an MRI machine - not a good look!

Work has been a bit pants this week and a big deal we were told was ours has fallen at the final fence, however, health is far more important than anything as trivial as the business or where we end up living at the end of the day! You can’t live ANYWHERE if you’re dead, can you? That made no sense whatsoever, but I know what I meant!

Friday they really did get a move on with the site. We now know the name of our site manager and we have the client liaison contact now, so hopefully things will start to pan out. The slab should be going down on Wednesday (give or take 72 hours!!!) and now we have footings (of sorts!). The quote came through for the swimming pool – too expensive to start, but we paced it out on the site today and it’s massive (probably too big, I think – although Paul thinks a pool is preferable to grass as it doesn’t need mowing!). We’ll have to see about the pool….. time and budgets will tell. We also went to see about getting some prices for window treatments and finally got the carpet samples we’ve chased four times!

We have concrete..... we have pipes sticking up..... we have a rates bill for $540!!

It’s been a funny old week what with one thing and another. It’s been lovely to hear from a few mates back in England though, so thank you for making the effort ;-)

Will keep you all updated and post anything hugely exciting – right now after the week we’ve had, I’m going for a lie down in a darkened room with a VERY large gin and tonic!! See you when I sober up..... if that ever happens!

This is a very exciting post - in more ways than one!

This week we should have movement on the house! There are still a few loose ends to tie up with the builders, but this Wednesday, they are due to go to site and re-peg. Then Friday they are due to carry out site works (running the plumbing lines etc, I suppose) then next Wednesday (16th – also Darcie’s class assembly day), they are due to pour the slab!!!!

The Delaney Family on the site of their 'house' It'll be interesting to see how much the kids have grown by the time the house is finished and we can move in!

A final view from the back of our garden looking towards the golf course.

They don’t have foundations like the UK. The whole house is built on a concrete slab. All will become clear once we post the pictures (clear as mud!). This last week we have ordered and paid a deposit for the floor tiles in the house – this is because we want them to match what is going in the en-suite and if we don’t order them at the same time that the builder will, we’ll be unable to match them in 18 month’s time – also theoretically, they should be cheaper too! We have also done the same with the carpet. Ridiculous really when you consider that we haven’t even got any foundations, but we’ve paid a deposit on carpet! Everything is going through such price hikes at the moment, if we can pay a 10% deposit to secure the price, it’s worth doing.

Can you see something?

That's better - looks like a digger to me!!

We went back to see the guy at the show home today that we dealt with when choosing the house and he said the price rises are amazing. Last month alone, one model increased by $40,000!! They up the specification of the house by $20,000 and then increase the price by $40k, so you feel like you’re getting something ‘extra’. Hummmmm! Glad we ordered ours when we did. He also said (on a VERY positive note), that the current build time seems to have dropped to 15 months – rather than the predicted 18! Fifteen months would be excellent and mean we would be in for November 2007, which is well under the two year ‘signing contract to moving in’ time frame we were originally quoted. Fingers crossed, eh? We’re just going to pickle the tradesmen to get them to want to work on our site; the slab goes down – we do a beer run for the lads. The brickies come in – we do a beer run for the lads…. get the picture? If it costs us a few hundred dollars but gets the tradies doing little extras for us, or working weekends, it’ll all be worth it.

I’m going to have to start a separate section of the blog for ‘house updates’ I think. I appreciate for anyone else, twenty photos of our drainage system from every angle may begin to grow tiresome, so I might see if I can restrict it to its own section! I think we’ve got so caught up with the house that we don’t realise how big it’s going to be. It’s not until things like the man in the carpet shop tells us that he could get his whole house in our bedroom and kitchen that it hits home that this is going to be one big house! Paul reckons our old house would fit into it about 3 times!!! Wow! Bring it on!

We’ve got a busy couple of weeks coming up. We’ve got a lunch meeting in Perth on Wednesday with the guy from ADT (sorry Addy – off to day care!). Then the end of the week should be a hive of activity on the plot. Paul’s got a medical appointment on Thursday, so me and Mr Cheese will go into Perth with him for that. Next week is Darcie’s long awaited class assembly. They have been practicising for weeks and have made Monkey masks and maracas shaped like coconuts (they are amazing! They’ve papier mached balls with bits of pasta in, so they make a lovely noise when you shake them, then they have painted them brown and rolled them in brown sawdust, so they REALLY look like coconuts!). They are also going to be sporting monkey tails. I can’t wait to see them. It’s very daunting for them though to be standing in front of four year groups, introducing the Principal and singing and dancing. We’ll see how they all get on.

Last Friday Darcie’s class had a party and invited all the parents to attend. This was because we’d reached the letter ‘P’ in the alphabet, and P was for PARTY! It was cute and we all took along some food and shared it with the kids. They all wore party clothes and spent the whole afternoon playing in the playground as a treat!

We’ve still got lots on our plates with getting another bank account organised with another bank so that we are able to take credit cards. Once again, the Australians seemed to take a very simple task and escalate it into a mammoth job, which takes days to resolve and more people end up getting involved than the entire cast of Ben Hur! Never mind, eh? To be as laid back as the Aussies……. will we ever get there I wonder? They just accept bad service as the norm and appear grateful!

Sam had his annual ‘Lapathon’ at school today. This is to raise funds for the school, by sponsoring the kids to do laps of the Oval (or school field). He was limited to ten laps (thankfully!), otherwise, I think he’d still be there going round and round in a bid to raise more funds for the school and to simultaneously bankrupt Paul and I! Not too difficult as task as Sam seems already to be well on the way to mastering that one!!!

Darcie has another birthday party to attend on Friday, so she’s been with me today to the shop to choose pressie, card and wrapping paper. It’s Ashley’s party, so she wanted to get him something ‘special’ ???

Sam’s starting his birthday countdown soon. He doesn’t really believe in the Birthday Fairy and is convinced that it’s me doing all the donkey work; however, just to hedge his bets, he’s still prepared to have his opinions changed! On his list for this year is a battery for his PSP (he fried the last one!), a new PSP game, a mobile phone, an electric guitar (although I have it on good authority that the birthday fairies wings may not be strong enough to carry this one and she may leave it for Santa to deliver with the use of his sleigh!), a few books and some colouring pencils. On the whole, not a BAD list, considering Sam has usually spent £500 with one page of the Argos catalogue! The trampoline has been a huge hit again and every day the kids enjoy playing on it. I looked out the window one day whilst Sam and Darcie were at school and Adam had pulled his ride-on bike up to the edge of the bounce-aline (as he calls it) and hoisted himself up and was bouncing happily away wearing a t-shirt, a pair of wellies and an exposed bottom – potty training, don’t you know! He was as happy as larry with the wind blowing round his nether regions. I however, got slightly concerned with a circling gang of cockatoos and ushered him back inside quickly. Could have looked like a juicy lunch from a distance and I would like grandchildren one day!

I think that’s all our news for the moment, apart from to say that

MUMS BOOKED HER FLIGHT FOR XMAS!!!

Not that I’m excited or anything!! We haven’t told the kids yet, although I’ve got a feeling I won’t be able to keep it a secret until November, but I’ll give it a damn good go, just to see the looks on their faces. Darcie was speaking to Mum on the phone the other night and asked her when she was coming over? Mum said she would once it started to get a little bit warmer. Darcie went on to tell her in great detail about flying via Hong Kong with Cathay Macific (as she calls them) and warned Mum to take someone with her if she needed the toilet as the loos on a plane are very noisy and scary. ‘You won’t actually get sucked out of the plane’ Darcie told Mum, ‘but it’s very scary, so get one of the Air Hostages to hold your hand!’ Can you imagine???? Probably best not to! As I said before, it’s a very scary place in between Darcie’s ears!

Goodbye xx

Are Rainbows lucky?

We’ve seen two whole rainbows today – not for us these half-arsed efforts that disappear behind trees, oh no! We’ve seen two huge ones today that stretch all the way over the horizon in a beautiful semi circle. Which (for the quick amongst you), also means that we’ve had some rain……. Lots of it! I think we’ve had the entire winter’s quota in the last two days and there is lots more forecast for the next fortnight! Good job Oz is an Island already, otherwise I think we would have broken our tether and would now be headed for New Zealand! The boat’s sat on the drive collecting water like a very expensive washing up bowl! It’ll take us a day to dry it out after all this rain. It feels nice though. I get a strange happiness now from a day’s rain – in a similar way I suppose that we all used to feel happier after a day of sunshine in the UK. It’s lovely to hear the sound of the rain hammering on the roof tiles (lucky we haven’t got a rental house with a tin roof! Can you imagine the noise that would make?).

Well, the kids are now back at school. First week of the UK holidays and my lot are back with their noses to the grindstone! It feels as though they haven’t had long enough off though. We’ve done quite a lot with them I suppose, with days out and trips here and there, and we’re more knackered than Sam and Darcie are! The thought of back to the routine of shouting at them in the mornings to get their teeth washed and their faces brushed doesn’t fill me with glee – especially when Paul can’t get his carcass out of bed until 8.20am!! [:-(

We are now on ‘Fish Watch – Week 3’. One of Darcie’s beloved, best friends in the whole world, her bestest ever birthday present (her fish), has travelled to meet his maker on the porcelain pathway three weeks ago now – and Darcie hasn’t even noticed! She’s fed them (very occasionally), stared at them and poked her finger in the water, but she’s still yet to notice that one’s gone AWOL! And we thought about getting a dog? Good grief, none of us would remember to feed it in a fortnight and sit talking about how thin it’s looking. Perhaps we should know our limits and realise that we’re not good with children and animals!

So for the last week of the school holidays we visited Burswood Casino and treated the kids to a huge buffet lunch. You can eat as much as you like and after Sam’s fourth plate of pasta and lasagne, he reluctantly moved on to pudding – only to declare the savoury stuff much nicer and finish his meal with another slice of freshly cooked pizza! They had a pizza oven in the middle of the restaurant, so you can’t get much fresher than that! Darcie loved it too as they had a chocolate fountain in the middle of the restaurant! You got little wooden skewers that you could stick marshmallows on and then dunk them in the melted choc……..yum! Adam looked like we had held him by the legs and dunked HIM in the chocolate by the time he was finished – he is quite a messy eater! He’s also like Darcie and has a sweet tooth.The funniest thing was, as we came out of the restaurant, there was Santa Claus in full dress handing our sweets to the older people that had been there for the ‘Christmas in July’ celebrations! Darcie just ran towards Santa as fast as her legs would carry her! Santa smiled and posed for a photo and dished out the chocolates meant for the old folk to us! Paul joked however, that they were all the hard centres and we should check for denture marks before we ate them! I would love to show you the photo that I took of Darcie and FC, but I only had my mobile and don’t know how to download the pictures – doh! We also went to Kings Park so the kids could have a play for a while. It's beautiful there - over so many acres it's unreal and there are about 4 different kids parks - as well as a scary looking tree top walk that we haven't managed to persuade Paul to do yet!

Ooohhh, also had a very strange experience in a shop last week! Over here they offer something called a 'lay by' where you can get the store to keep the item for a few weeks/months whilst you pay for it in installments. Sometimes they charge you a few dollars for this service, but it's a good idea to start buying for birthdays - plus you don't have to worry about storing the stuff. Well, last week, Target had a HUGE toy sale and were offering free lay by until Christmas Eve. Well, we went in there at 10am on the day it started and it was like the opening ten minutes of the Harrods sale! It was complete bedlam! There were hundreds of hormonal women with shopping trolleys piled as high as they could get them with every possible toy imaginable - they were ALL doing their Christmas shopping - IN JULY! They must have taken a fortune that day and all the Mums left the store happy in the knowledge that they had broken the back of the Christmas shopping, could pay for it in installments between now and Xmas and collect it all on Christmas Eve if they wanted to. Mad? ........or a good idea? We bought a ten foot swimming pool with pump for less than £35!! That'll keep them cool in the summer (if I can be bothered to fill it up; although, yes - we don't pay for the water here, the landlord does, and he wouldn't let us have a dog in his poxy palace, so I may well fill one for the neighbours as well from our outside tap ;-)

Paul was very chilled out last week. Monday afternoon we even took the boat out when he should have been working! – although a bit of a hairy moment when his mobile rang with an important customer on the phone and he left Sam to almost steer us into a bridge! All adds to the fun, I guess! We saw more dol-chins. Perhaps they were looking after us, like the Mermaids used to try and lull to sailors onto the rocks, perhaps the dolphins were trying to save us from the bridge and tow us out of the way of the oncoming concrete!

We also managed to fit in a trip to Perth museum. Sam was desperate to show us where he went with school and it was a good day. It’s like the Natural History, but about 1/50th of the size. Sam’s favourite part was the ‘poo draw’ where you can see samples of different animal’s poo! Very informative. Although the Curator didn’t seem that keep on Sam’s offer to add a new exhibit to that particular draw! It would be even better if Adam did it – all the spiders would use one of their eight legs to pinch their nose; I don’t know what happens to Adam’s food whilst it’s being processed, but I tell you, it smells BAD!! There was lots at the museum about how life used to be for the first settlers and covered everything from aboriginals, wildlife, through to the three fences the length of Oz built to keep the rabbits out! (I kid you not!). It was an enjoyable few hours away from the rain, and the best bit was, you only had to make a donation to get in. Paul and I shoved some coins in the box; Darcie put in a sweet wrapper, Adam tried to shove a train in and Sam attempted to withdraw some money as if it were a cashpoint!

Paul having an 'off' day!

Call that a snake? THIS is a snake!

We still haven’t completely finished the paperwork for the house…… they keep forgetting to cost for things that we thought had all been resolved, but then turn up to bite us in the a**e. They did it as we chose the more expensive kitchen doors, but on our pre-start they forgot to cost for them; that was another $2500. Today they phoned to say they’d forgotten to cost for the upgraded cabinet doors in the kid’s bathroom! We’ve already signed everything off, and it’s like accepting a tender to have a job done, only for the contractor to say….’sorry mate – I know we quoted you to lay a patio, but we forgot to include the cost of the slabs in the price……’ Stupid! So needless to say, we are in dispute with the builders already! They are being reasonable though and the Contracts Manager was VERY embarrassed when we spoke to her this afternoon. We’ve put a lot of pressure on the builder to get the site though as we had to have permission from the Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) to purchase land in the first place as we are not permanent residents and as part of this grant, we had to start continuous building within the year. This didn’t happen and they gave us an extension until the end of August, but they must start building by this date…..tick, tock, tick, tock………. Mind you, they couldn’t do anything if they went to site at the moment with the weather being as pants as it is! No – I don’t want to hear about how lovely and hot it is in Blighty, thanks all the same.

I think that’s about all our news for now. The kids have done a week back at school now and are tired out, but happy. Darcie’s class assembly is on 16th August and they are rehearsing now (the theme is something to do with monkeys – very appropriate, I’d say!). Sam’s had his mate Chad over a couple of times this week and they jumped on their bikes and went to the deli, bought a bag of chips and met up with some girls from their class. How mature! God knows what he’ll be like at 9 – shaving, no doubt! Darcie’s got a little fan club going at school and everyone seems pleased to see her in the morning and a few of them compete to get her to sit next to them. She also has a bit of a love interest (well, rivalry actually), in the forms of Ashley and Sean. Both of them have proposed and Darcie is a bit spoilt for choice! Sean never stops; he’s like a little ‘Billy the Whizz’. I think I’d personally go for Ashley – I’d be exhausted trying to keep up with Sean after a week!!

Oh look, it's Mum and Dad.

Adam’s fine – talking more and more every day and he’s becoming a lot easier to understand. His new favourite saying is ‘YES SIR’. I ask him to get his socks; ‘Yes Sir’. ‘Adam, put your coat on!’ ‘Yes Sir’ ‘Adam, finish your breakfast.’ ‘Yes Sir’. I don’t know where he gets it from. Perhaps I’ll have to stop him watching ‘Soldier Soldier’ before bedtime. He’s pineing a bit for Sam and Darcie now they’re back at school and we do the register for them and their friend’s about 100 times a day. It goes like this…….

‘Mum? Where’s Darcie?’

‘At school darling’

‘Mum? Where’s Sam?’

‘He’s at school too’

‘Mum? Where’s Sean?’

‘At school.’‘

Mum? Where’s Amy?’

‘Ummm, at SCHOOL!’

‘Mum? Where’s Chuck?’ (Sam’s friend Chad – Adam can’t say his name, so it's a cross between Chad and Jack, hence Chuck!)

‘At school, honey’

‘Mum? Where’s Tick-la?’ (Sean’s sister Nicola)

‘FOR PETE’S SAKE ADAM – THEY ARE ALL AT SCHOOL. NOW BE QUIET!’

‘Yes Sir!’

Tries the patience of a saint, my son! Bye for now x

P.S I've organised a telephone number that you can dial from the UK which is just like a UK number and the calls are only 3p per minute. If anyone's interested in giving us a call, email me or post a comment on here and I'll let you have the number, Thanks!

Well, we are starting to get a little social life between us, you know and it’s rather nice! Last weekend we took a drive up into the Perth Hills. It’s very beautiful up there and the houses are large and sprawling. It reminded us of Tewin Wood. Apparently though it gets VERY hot in the summer there as they don’t benefit from the sea breeze that we get every afternoon. We came across a track with a car park and rest facilities and took some pictures of the kids at a view point. The view was fantastic and at points very similar to UK woodland. The best bit there was an open fire that you could build yourself with a hot plate over where you could heat your own coffee in a billy can, or cook eggs and bacon over a real fire. There was a family there that we got chatting to and they just take a saw with them, gather some wood, get the fire going and in no time at all, they’ve got coffee and lunch. It looked great fun and we’re definitely going back one day to try it for ourselves.

Delaney kids 'go bush'

They also had some very strange toilets! They were just like any other public toilets; in a little cubical, very clean. But when you looked down the toilet, there was no water and you could see down about 5 metres to all the ‘waste’ at the bottom! It was an environmental/biological toilet. Frightened the pants off of Darcie, who desperately needed a wee, but didn’t fancy falling down into the black hole of crap! I had to hang onto her for dear life (like in aeroplane toilets, when she is convinced she is going to be sucked from the aircraft with every noisy, super-suction flush!) while she watered the compost! They tell everyone that was the highlight of their day – the ‘funny’ toilet. It really didn’t smell though – very clever!

Adam and Darcie enjoy the view in a headlock

We also stopped off at a Vineyard and did a very small amount of wine tasting. We’d love to do it in the summer on a guided tour, where you just hop off and on the minibus that takes you round all the vineyards, getting more and more sloshed and poorer as you go. We bought a really lovely bottle of sparkly white from a local grower/fermenter/bottler for less than a tenner. Although I must admit you do feel pressurised to buy a little when it looks as though the lady manning the ‘shed’ hasn’t seen hide nor hair of another person for three weeks. What can you do? Have a slurp and then say ‘no thanks – not for me’. I don’t think I could stand the look of disappointment on her face. We weren’t however THAT bothered as we only bought the one bottle! Plus, you do feel a little begrudging as you can buy really great wine from the drive through bottle shop for about 4 quid! We can’t buy alcohol in the supermarkets. We have to go to a bottle shop, although you can just do a drive through where you wind down you car window, slur at them what you want, pop the boot and copious amounts of booze are then shoved into the car to be transported home. Good idea, but less hassle just to pop a bottle into your trolley whilst at the supermarket.

This week it’s been the first week of the school hols and on Monday I took the kids to a shopping centre as recommended by a friend. How fab! It was like a proper shopping centre! If you squinted and spun round a bit, it could almost have been the Harlequin in Watford, or part of Milton Keynes! It was great and the kids enjoyed spending some of the holiday money that Nanny B had sent them over for being good and working so hard during the term. Sam bought and devoured a foot long roll from Subway. He ordered it all himself and the guy behind the counter was chatting away. He said to Sam, ‘is this all for you mate, you’ll never manage all this’. Quick as a flash, Sam’s index finger shot up into the air (the same way my Dad used to try and grab a waiter’s attention ‘…….I say……..’) and said to all the people behind the counter, ‘you obviously don’t know me very well, do you?’ Err, no. How could they? They work at Subway and have never met you before and therefore could have no inclination that you are a champion muncher who could give Mr Greedy a run for his money! For the record, Sam ate his foot long meatball sub with extra sauce (and FWIW said he was still a little hungry and could have eaten seconds!)

Adam is now completely obsessed by Bob the Builder characters, so his money went on Scoop, Muck, Roley and Lofty! He takes them everywhere with him……along with Thomas, Henry, Percy et al! He’s going to need one of those shopping bags on wheels soon, just to carry all his essentials round with him when he goes out! He’s such a little old man! He’s really chatty now though and really competes with the older kids. We play a game in the car where we ask questions and have to ‘buzz’ in with our own buzzer sound when you know the answer - kind of like 'Ask the Family' for a dysfunctional family! Today, Adam buzzed in! He didn’t have the answer, but made something up, or repeated Darcie’s last answer, but he knew to buzz in at the right time! Whenever Sam goes to do something now, Adam shouts out ‘ME TOO!’ He’s very funny.

Adam and his mates!

Tuesday was a quiet day and the weather was a bit pants and Paul had to go into Perth, so we just bummed around the house and watched some DVDs.

Wednesday there was a little get together for the kids in Darcie’s class at a local park. The kids all took bikes and scooters and they had a little picnic whilst the Mums had a chance to natter, it was fun, if somewhat cold.

Thursday we went to a local wildlife park with Darcie’s best mate Amy and some friends. The kids loved it. There were lots of beautiful parrots and other animals they could get very close to. There was a fab park there too which I think the kids spent almost as long on. Darcie went back to play at Amy’s and ended up sleeping the night – her second sleepover!!! I handled it a lot better this time. I found it was better if I didn’t look in her room and see her little empty bed – that really upset me last time! Paul took the opportunity to do something fun with the ‘boys’, so they did home-made pizzas – yummy!

Friday morning I went for coffee and cake with a nutty mate round the corner. She’s off ‘down south’ on holiday for a week with her family next week to visit the Albany Whaling Station. Boy, she’s so excited - NOT! I asked her to bring me back something in ‘keeping’, so I’ll probably get a bar of Blubber soap or a take away Whale Blubber soup. Yum, can't wait for that one! Sam had a friend in and out to play in the afternoon and then we went off to another friends for drinkies in the evening. They are over on the same visa and have bought a BEAUTIFUL house in the northern suburbs. The kids were fantastic and played brilliantly all evening (Addy didn’t give up until he fell into the car at 11.30pm and he was still really happy and full of beans!). It was a little disheartening for us as they have bought a gorgeous house and are already settled, whereas we are going through the stress of building and won’t have a ‘home’ for at least 18 months, but it’ll all be worth it in the end. We made our decision to buy land and build and I’m sure it’ll work out for us. There were three other families there too all on the same types of visa, so we swapped stories and tales of woe and had a laugh and let our hair down. It was just what the doctor ordered and was great. Nicola and I spent most of the evening trying to persuade Paul to let us have a dog! Nicola was doing a really great job and I thought we were making headway, until Paul woke up this morning with his ‘Practical’ head back on (he’s a bit like Worzel Gummidge – changes his head with the weather!).

Darcie sporting mascara and earrings for a night out - whatever next?

We went out today to look at bedroom suites. We want to get something nice to go in our room where the kids can't wreck it and cover it in chocolate Tim Tam. We saw some really lovely ones, but had an indecisive moment and didn’t buy anything. Paul and Sam stopped off in a music shop and Sam asked about a guitar (that’s number one on his birthday list at the moment; electric guitar and amp!). The guy in the shop gave Sam a ‘Darkness’ poster and he’s rushed home and blue-tacked it to his wall. I ask you – 8 years old and music posters on his wall already (and 'rock' bands as well!! I'm sure Darcie is going to be one of his 'rock chick groupies' too as she came home from Amy's with felt-tip 'tattoos' all over her back and arms and is already pestering to have her ears pierced - as long as that's all she's getting pierced, thank you! She kept on and on at Paul about having her ears pierced and kept questioning me as to whether or not it would hurt! I said yes, it does hurt, but not for long. Eventually Paul was worn down and said 'come on them, in the car now. Let's go and get your ears pierced. Darcie winced and decided to wait until she's more mature - six, she said..... at least :-) Sam’s already informed me that if I don’t let him have a guitar and lessons, I’m ‘hampering his career prospects’ (I kid you not – he used those words!), as he is destined to be a rock star. Failing that, he’ll be (in order), an F1 driver, Premiership footballer or a builder. He asked me if I thought he’d achieve any of those………. I said absolutely (luckily he didn’t ask which one I thought!) How much would Adam love him though if he became the latter? Can he fix it? Yes he can!!

We had a BBQ tonight in the dark (again, adds to the adventure). It was lovely and we ate together and the kids watched a nice film on the TV. I installed the kids electric blankets that we bought for them from 'The Good Guys' - an electrical retailer where you pay less when you pay cash. Also had to buy a new washing machine as my one decided that it enjoyed it's trip in the container - quite liked the sun on it's back in the laundry for a few months, but has now decided Australia isn't for him, thanks very much! So glad I bothered bringing it halfway across the bloody world to break down!!! Mind you, with all his health issues, the washing machine's probably been watching Paul and sees this as 'normal' :-) :-)

We haven’t got as much excitement planned for next week, but Sam wants us all to go to the museum and I’m sure we’ll have a few days out. Oh, P.S if you have a look at the 'Links' to the right hand side and click on 'our Photo Album' I will be updating the pictures there rather than posting individual ones on here. There is a monthly limit on what I can upload, so keep checking back for more pictures of sunny weather (we hope!).

I’m warning you now; this entry is in total praise of my children….. I don’t normally praise them up too much – it makes them too easy a target to get criticised by others, and I’m the first to acknowledge their short-comings. They are not MENSA kids and heaven knows they are cheekier than most - however I am so proud of them this week, I just have to mention it.

This week was their last week of term and they received their school reports. Sam’s is great, with every aspect saying he ‘consistently applies effort’; the highest of the achievement level’s available. His teacher wrote at the bottom of his report ‘As Sam has not only had a change of school, but also country, he seems to have coped extremely well. He has settled into his class work and friendship groups easily and is always one of the first to be organised between lessons. Fantastic effort, Sam!’ I am just so pleased that his teacher has acknowledged what a huge upheaval he has experienced and coped so brilliantly.

And to top that, on Wednesday in assembly, Sam received a Merit Certificate! He had to go up in front of the whole assembly and get presented with his certificate and shake hands with the Principal. He got the award for joining in consistently and his ‘fantastic listening skills’. WooHoo!

And, not to be left out, Darcie also got her report this week. Hers was fab as well and her teacher commented; ‘Darcie has settled quickly into the pre-primary routine and socialises well with her peers. She is a well mannered student who completes her work quickly, quietly and neatly. Darcie always enjoys spending time in the home corner and writing table. Fantastic start to the year, Darcie!’

See? I think I have a right to be slightly boastful this week. When you think that the kids have left a school that they loved and left all their friends and family behind, yet have taken to Secret Harbour Primary like they have never been anywhere else! They really love school. Sam today declared he had the best day that he’d ever had at school. His teacher brought her 14 year old son in with her and he interacted with all the kids and Sam now has learnt to compile his own powerpoint presentations. I’m not even going to guess what he’ll be doing next – probably our VAT returns, they’re all greek to me!

Darcie in full 'clown' mode

To celebrate the end of term, the school held another ‘sausage sizzle’ and the kids enjoyed that. Pre-primary also held a clown day where all the students (and the teachers :-) dressed up in clown outfits and played games and had party food. Darcie was SO excited and she had the best day! Here are a few pictures of Darcie in her outfit and the papier mache clown that she crafted (Mum – NO comments about the nose, please!). They’ve had such a good week, but they are really ready for a few weeks off. We’ve got a few things planned; Sam wants to go back to the Perth Museum, we’ve got a zoo trip planned with Darcie’s best mate, Amy and we’ll probably do the pictures and nice lunches. Some of the parents are getting together for a picnic every Wednesday, so that will be nice to break the week up for them. The weather’s still nice (low to mid 20’s during the day) although it is forecast to rain in the early part of next week – typical, school holiday weather!

Close up of Miss Pie-Flinger

Mr Clown - all Darcie's own work; just don't mention the nose!!

Adam is continuing to make progress with his potty training (if somewhat slowly!). He has become fixated with Bob the Builder toys and when I presented him with a scale model of Scoop (or Doop as he calls him…) I thought he was going to blast into the atmosphere with glee! Mum sent the kids some pocket money for doing so well at school and Adam immediately reeled off the list of remaining Bob characters that he was going to treat himself to. Sam immediately told Darcie what they could buy if they clubbed their money together – strangely enough, it consisted of things on his birthday list – hum!

Everything else is pootling along nicely. We are making friends and starting to know who to avoid ;-) Business is coming together slowly and the phones are starting to get a little busier. We have loads of quotes out there – particularly for Navman, so it only takes a few of those to drop in and the pressure will have eased a little. Paul has been really chilled this week which has been lovely – don’t know how chilled he’ll be over the next fortnight with the kids off school? Hopefully I have persuaded him that we need to chill out a little bit before the business really kicks in as six months down the line, we’ll probably look back, wonder why we were so stressed about everything, and wonder why we didn’t enjoy a ‘break’ while we had a chance. It just feels like we are on the cusp of something…… fingers crossed. It can’t be through bloody lack of trying, that’s for sure!

I had a fab coffee with a mate in Mandurah this week. We were sat in the café with Mr Cheese, (we had a window seat and could look out over the marina), when all of a sudden, Adam shouted out ‘DOLCHINS’. Everyone in the café turned to look at Adam who had spotted two dolphins in the water. A bit different to the view from Costa’s window over town, I suppose :-) Everyone in the café was laughing at Adam because he was so excited. Good eyesight though! We then took a takeaway coffee over the park and Adam had a play on the swings for a while whilst we swapped notes about husbands and kids. Always good fun and we’re never short of material.

Addy and Darcie on the 'bouncy bouncy' (as Adam calls it) in the Yard.

The golf club where we used to go for a BBQ on a Friday night are now offering roast dinners for $10! That should be good fun and seeing how crap our oven is, we'll let someone else do all the donkey work, I think. We'll try it out and report back! We're going to see if we can grab a few days away over the school break. I managed to get some of Paul's medical treatment costs back from Medicare; it's money we thought had been spent/gone for ever, so we might enjoy spending it again and having a few days in a hotel or something. Paul suggested taking the kids to Kalgoorlie - the biggest mining city in WA (and Australia), until I googled it and discovered it was a 7 hour drive! 7 hours of screaming, punching, kicking and 'are we there yet's??' (and that's only me and Paul!), I don't think so, so I'll be looking for something closer to home - like New Zealand ha ha ha!

Bye for now guys - keep in touch!

They’re dropping like flies!

Just to inform you all that Darcie lost her second tooth today. It was hanging on for dear life when she came out of school, then one bite of a chocolate Tim Tam and it was gone forever! (OH MY GOD - how lovely are chocolate Tim Tams??? They are like Penguins, but more honeycombey - absolutely delish!).

She was desperate for me to tell her friends and put a picture on the blog, so here it is:


I apologise for my dreadful attempt at face painting! Darcie has a ‘clown day’ at school on Friday and I got some face paints today that she insisted on trying out immediately. She wanted to be a butterfly, but would only let me use black, orange and red – yum!

Finally, here are two photos I took on Sunday when we went to the beach - not bad weather for the middle of Winter, although there was lots of seaweed been washed up onto the beach.

We can't afford sun hats - OK?? And what do you mean it's those knees that jinxed our World Cup Campaign?

One day.... I'm going to get all of that water into my little bucket. You just see!

Blurred happiness wearing 'Nanny's Nana' that Sam used to wear.

Adam concentrates on the playstation

Can you see the bags under our eyes?

Bloody football!!! It’s great that England are doing so well (ah-hem…..), but give us a break – 11pm kick offs are the earliest! Heaven forbid we get to extra time and penalties – we’ll need to buy matchsticks in industrial quantities. I would just like to put it on the record now that the Socceroos woz robbed! Thank you, I have said it, I shall now move on…..

It’s been a busy few weeks again. I don’t know where the weeks disappear to! This week, Sam has a school trip into Perth. He is VERY excited. I however, have to compete with Mum’s trip to M&S and a bill of £30 to provide a ‘special’ packed lunch for him whenever he went on a day trip with Templewood. I’m gonna have trouble with that one! I might do him a hard boiled egg and tell him to be grateful after his antics last week!

On Friday, Sam informed me it was his ‘news’ day at school, but as he didn’t have any news exciting enough, he made up an elaborate story about Darcie falling off the trampoline and breaking her leg! ‘My whole class feel really sorry for you, Darcie’ he told her! I didn’t think much of it as Sam constantly has a pimple on his tongue from little white lies! On Saturday, we were having a girls night out and one of the Mums phoned me to see if I was still going as she didn’t realise Darcie has broken her leg!! Part of me was disgusted that he would make up such a nasty story as he didn’t have any news, and the other half was proud for his ability to think on his feet! Anyhow, at the time of this phonecall, Sam was at the skate park. I’d given him my mobile just in case I needed to call him home - he rang ME about five times!! – so the next time he phoned, Paul asked him what the Darcie/leg story was all about? Quick as a flash, Sam replied ’ah, yes…… about that……. Gotta go – sorry, bye!!’ How cheeky can you get?? Saturday Sam spent the whole day in and out of the house with friends, down to the skate park, over to the shop, into his mate’s houses….. it was a real Piccadilly circus.

I had a fab night out with some girl friends on Saturday night. We went into Mandurah, had a bottle of wine in a bar and then on to dinner in a nice restaurant. We had a real giggle and it was lovely to let our hair down and enjoy ourselves.

Sunday we braved the local pool and took the kids swimming. It’s quite cool there – they have a water slide, a beach section, lots of bubbles and one of those river things that takes you along in a current. For all of us to swim and Paul to have a sauna cost less than £7. Sam tried the water slide out, and asked the lifeguard how old you had to be to ride. He said that you had to be six – ‘no problem’, pipes up Darcie ‘I’ll just lie and tell him I’m six already!’ are you noticing a theme with my children? Darcie tried it and declared it to be ‘awesome’.

Today I helped out in Darcie’s class at school. I picked a good day as they had a travelling music group and had to do 'stuff all' other than sit on my bum and listen to four people play more instruments than I have ever seen in my life! It was excellent and the kids really enjoyed it. They sat still brilliantly for such young kids and then joined in with so much enthusiasm when they were asked. It was lovely to watch.

One thing’s for sure, we’re all looking forward to Christmas. That’s ‘Christmas in July!’ It’s a big thing here as July is the middle of winter and the closest I suppose we can come to a traditional cold UK Christmas. They have office parties, Christmas dinner/dances in restaurants and decorations. Should be interesting! I’ll keep you posted on that one. There’s even a local nature reserve which offers the following:

Santas Bibbulmun Vacation:
For the young and young at heart! An easy 5km return stroll to meet Santa and friends on holiday from the North Pole at a Bibbulmun Track timber shelter! Enjoy a BYO picnic while listening to Santas stories. Then experience a magical return by torch light following the reflective Waugal trail markers. Location advised after booking. 1 hr from Perth. Ages 3yrs and up. Includes small gift for children. Max 2 adults per child. Max 2 children per adult. Suitable for robust pushchairs.
How cool does that sound! Fancy bumping into Santa on his holidays!! Just a bugger that it’s full already for this year. I’ll have to try and remember to book it for next year – it won’t be the same in December in 40 degree heat and legions of flies.
Adam’s potty training is going from bad to worse. I’m thinking of enrolling him in puppy training classes instead. He’s a nightmare! Knows exactly what to do, just refuses to do it! He’s got a terrible habit of sleeping with his hand down the front of his nappy. No word of a lie, I got him out of bed the other morning and his hand was white and wrinkled like he’d spent all night in the bath! Nice, eh?
Stop Press: Adam has actually used his potty twice today – once as a hat and the other as a step….. only joking! HE DID IT!! We have to ‘high five’ after the event, have a huge self-congratulatory back slapping session and then do the whole ‘bye-bye wee wee’ routine where we smile, wave and wish it well on it’s travels. The joys of parenthood, eh? Not to mention the fact the he goes round all day with no pants on (one thing at a time – he can’t get to the potty AND remember to pull his pants down too), winking at us when he bends over!

We have reached a milestone within our emigration journey. Last week, Paul got a speeding ticket. To be honest, we are surprised that we’ve gone this far without one as they are really hot on it here with mobile speed cameras hidden in bushes, with Police officers that just jump out at you and blind you with a flash so bright, it’s like a shooting star two inches from your nose. I wouldn’t mind but:

(a) they tell you on the TV news the night before where the speed cameras are going to be located,

(b) I had literally 30 seconds before the flash told Paul to slow down as it was a common spot for speed cameras and then (probably MOST annoyingly),

(c) Paul did the same bloody thing two days later and another one flashed in his face at Mach 4!

He did think about contesting it using the Navman software, but thought better of it as the download showed him breaking the speed limit several more times and at a slightly faster speed than he was caught at during the same journey. It’s a huge revenue generator for the government and they will send a ticket for 3kms over the speed limit. Driving whilst drunk (or certainly over the limit) is acceptable though and most Aussies consider it to be perfectly normal!! They have a warped sense of danger when you consider that the average speed limit on a freeway is 80kph which equates to 49 miles per hour!! If and when we ever return to the UK on holiday a trip on the motorway will make me feel like Penelope Pitstop zooming along at breakneck speed (the kids are obviously the Anthill Mob – eh,eh,eh we’re all gonna die………). I’ll feel like bloody Michael Shumacher at speeds of 70MPH! I don’t think I’ll be able to handle the speed after so long of driving at a snails pace.

Just something quick that make me laugh this week..... I'd put Adam to bed and he was crying his eyes out (as ususal - he likes to enter his sleep-state through cried-out exhaustion!). I said to him 'for heaven's sake Adam, stop screaming! The neighbours will think I'm murdering you!!' Five minutes later, a very upset Miss Parcel appears in the doorway. After much coaxing, I get her to tell me what's wrong..... 'well, you just said that if Adam doesn't stop crying, the neighbours are going to come from next door and murder him!' Isn't life strange in a 5 year old's head? It's a scary place in there, and I wouldn't like to enter without a rope being tied round my middle - just in case I got caught up in her vivid imagination and was stuck there forever - and I'm NEVER playing chinese whispers with her either!

On that note I'm off to crawl to the kitchen for another G&T. Take care all xxXXxx

P.S. Would just like to say get well soon to Julia's Aunty Joyce and Paul's Aunty Mary who are both in hospital at the moment. Love to both and we hope you get better very, very soon xxXXxx

Come on the ‘Socceroos!!’ (and England too!).

Another busy couple of weeks on Planet Delaney. Last weekend we had a BBQ for England’s first match of the world cup. It was ‘live’ on the TV at 9pm which felt a little strange, but we wrapped up and had a few friends over and toasted England’s success (even if it was by default!). We did really well and managed to keep everyone awake until midnight – unheard of in Australia! Everyone likes to be tucked up in bed by 10pm, but you don’t want to know what obscene time they are up in the mornings! It was a giggle, plus the extra body heat kept the house a bit warmer.

I also took the kids and two friends to the cinema to watch ‘Cars’. It was a good film and the kids enjoyed it, although we were so high up on the back row of the cinema, I’m surprised oxygen masks didn’t fall down half way through the film. Three trips to the toilet each was quite reserved, too, don’t you think – NOT! It was strange though, being on the back row of the pictures on my Wedding Anniversary…….. with four children under 8! I can’t believe we’ve been married 11 years now. Doesn’t time fly? So much has happened in those 11 years! What will we be like on our silver anniversary, I wonder? Where will we be then? God, Sam will be 23!! Doesn’t bear thinking about really, it’s just too scary. Although I think he’s heading there fast. He won’t leave the house for school now without hair gel and Darcie came into my room on Saturday, ready for the pictures with blue eyeshadow smeared all over her face from the nostrils upwards like an accident prone lolita! She was dressed in her Snow White outfit – I think she thought she was attending the premiere, not a Saturday afternoon showing in a sleepy backwater!



The kids also had a sleepover on Friday – by this, they mean they all ‘slept over’ in Adam’s room. Darcie and Sam de-camped with duvets and pillows onto the floor in Adam’s room. Adam, however is NOT daft and crept into our bedroom about ten minutes after the others fell asleep! He obviously decided he didn’t fancy sleeping on the floor like a rug! They enjoyed themselves though and must have watched non-stop videos for three hours before they finally nodded off. They are just gutted that Adam has got the little TV in his room now. One of the kids that came over on Saturday was amazed that Adam knows how to turn the TV on, insert a video and play/rewind and fast forward as and when required. He often disappears into his room to watch the Tweenies and then when I go and check on him, he’s watching Thomas! I think I should set up another string to our visa-bow and set up a video programming business – I can send Addy round to help all the old folk in the area who can’t set the timer to record on their videos, or try and play a DVD in their microwave.

Adam was a little git today and was watching the Tigger Movie in his room. He was really quiet (for a change) and really enjoying the film, and when I went to check on him for the third time, he’d whipped his nappy off and made his own little ‘pooh’ on the carpet! Charming! It doesn’t help that the kids encourage him to get ‘nudie’ at every possible opportunity! He knew what he was doing as he’d even moved his bloody potty so he could crap whilst having a better view of the telly!

Darcie had an eventful week at school and got sent home early on Monday after she was accidentally whacked in the eye with a tennis racket by her best mate! So much for taking her to the pictures – is that the thanks we get? Tee hee! We all thought she was going to be left with a huge shiner, but luckily it hasn’t gone black – just a fetching shade of purple. It was quite appropriate as today the school was visited by a hospital familiarisation group who travel around getting kids used to hospitals just in case they ever need treatment. I had visions of picking Darcie up looking like Pudsey bear with a huge eye bandage!

We got our final costings through for the ‘additionals’ on the house today. Not too bad – a few things that we cut out that were a bit extortionate, but on the whole OK. Once we get the form signed and returned, hopefully it should be ‘all systems go’ and they should be on site by August. We have our building license sitting in our file ready, and the services have all been applied for, so come on – let’s get the damn thing built, shall we?? I shall visit the site every day with sandwiches and a thermos flask (the time of year will dictate the contents: August – November = hot soup, December - Feburary = iced tea, March – May = Pimms, June – August = neat vodka!) and make a nuisance of myself, so that the tradesmen will just want to get the house built to get rid of me. I shall devote my life into becoming their stalker – watching every brick being laid, examining every ‘noggin’. Ah, yes, I shall be a nightmare!

On a final note, the kids had their assembly today and we had to stop whilst the Deputy Principal ushered a sea gull out of the assembly hall much to Adam’s delight. All through the school song he shouted ‘sea dull’ and then wandered off behind the bird like a little Forrest Gump in a huge winter coat two sizes too big for him......... life is like a box of chocolates.......... and we've got all the hard centres at the moment!