What a sh*t week!

School holidays are crap! I think they should be abolished. All they are good for is catching up on illness, lurgies and lie ins (OK, there is ONE good thing then!).
It’s been a really cr*p week here; we’ve just stumbled from one disaster to another! We always row in the school holidays as it’s hard enough trying to run a business when the kids are at school from 9 – 3, let alone when they’re running round the house, screaming and arguing all blooming day!

...........before.........

A week ago last Sunday, Darcie slammed her finger in the door. It was nasty, but we bandaged it and she seemed OK. It did bleed an awful lot and she cried a little (although not a lot for Darcie who has ‘officially’ THE lowest pain threshold in the Southern Hemisphere).

I went to change the dressing on Monday morning before she was going out to play again and it just looked yuk. It was still bleeding a lot and the cut looked really deep. ‘Right’, says Paul, ‘a trip to A&E, I think’. ARGH! Four hours later, the Dr had assessed Darcie. She’d had an X-ray and she’s broken the very tip off the top of the bone of her middle finger on her left hand. The nail bed is pretty damaged too. The Dr was toying with the idea of giving her a few stitches, however, once I explained that she needed ketamine (it’s a horse sedative!) to knock her out completely when she had to have the backs of her ear-rings removed, he changed his mind and said ‘let’s bandage, give her some antibiotics and we’ll re-assess in a few days’. Coward! The x-ray was really cool – Darcie’s got wicked fingers underneath that skin!

..........after........... Felicity in action.

The Dr bandaged her finger and it’s HUGE! It’s not the neatest of dressings and we have giggled about it (she is now ‘Felicity Fat Finger’) She certainly calmed down when she realized she wouldn’t need stitches; she had a mini-breakdown prior to hearing this in the X-ray room! Sam, of course, had the major grumps as he had to spend a lot of time in the hospital hanging around. I’m just grateful that Adam was at daycare, otherwise it would have been a major family outing!

Obviously, the dog was a little put out with Darcie getting all the attention, so on Tuesday, he decided to eat an entire tub of mouse killer that Paul had ‘hidden’ in the garage. Bugger! Another trip to the vets and Pentley was kept in all day and made to vomit (probably given alcopops and made to mix his drinks!). That cost us over $200!

Wednesday, Paul took the kids to watch the new Harry Potter film and Sam got a migraine and spent the rest of the evening in bed (after moaning like he was dying for at least two hours).

Thursday, we got a speeding fine in the post from MARCH (haven’t even told Paul about this one yet!). Couple that with a few massive rows and general ‘grumpiness’ within the family and woohoo – there is our week.

Go Dockers!

On a happier note: Paul and Sam went to the Fremantle Dockers on Sunday with the footie club. They were supposed to parade around the Oval with the players, but for some reason, the local council cancelled it! No reasons given. They just did! Still, they seemed to have a good time. The trip on the coach is exciting enough in itself! Paul treated Sam to a baseball cap and all was at peace with the world (for an afternoon at least!).

Action shot

Monday was a quiet day; then Tuesday we took a hookie day from work and went to the Pinnacles. I quote from the tourist blurb: ‘Nambung National Park is home to the Pinnacles Desert, a series of eerie limestone formations sporadically scattered over vast yellow, rippled sand dunes. Just 245km or three hours drive from the center of Perth city, the Pinnacles make for a comfortable day trip where visitors can walk amongst these spooky stones and visit the nearby fishing village of Cervantes.’

Paul had already got his oar in to state that he hoped it wasn’t another ‘tree top walk’ i.e. a 7 hour drive for sod all. This was also his disclaimer as it wasn’t his idea! So we tootled off; with the dog on board. Stopping frequently for Paul to make phone calls without the kids (and dog) whining in the background and also to periodically squeeze Pentley so he didn’t piddle in the car. It was a good four hour drive from our house, so you can imagine how much we laughed when we arrived at the nature reserve to be met with a large sign saying ‘no dogs’. Fan-flipping-fastic! So, it was like mission impossible trying to get Pentley smuggled into the nature reserve. I did think about putting a headscarf on him and a car blanket over his ‘knees’ and keep asking, ‘are you alright in the back there, Mum!’

My Grandma…… what a big nose you have!

Luckily for us, Pentley behaved for once in his flea-bitten life and kept his hooter down in the back and stayed schtum whilst we paid our $10 to enter the park.

The funniest thing was when I got out of the car to take the kids to see an interesting stone, Pentley started barking. In a completely feeble attempt to disguise his bark, Paul coughed. A very feeble, wheezy cough that was supposed to cover up the deep, loud woof of a semi-adult 25kg dog! I did laugh!

Me, laughing hysterically at Paul covering up Pentley's 'WOOF'

We’d ‘done’ the Pinnacles in half an hour! It was like a McDonalds attraction, in that you stayed in the car and drove through the rocks.

See what I mean - it's a drive through!

There was a little trail (like playing ‘in and out the dusty bluebells’) and we swerved and dodged, visited the toilet and we were done! (it was one of the ‘drop’ toilets too; the ones with no water in them, but a very deep hole where you can see everyone else’s ablutions who’s gone before). Anyhow…… here are the majorly exciting photos!

After a while, we were spotting the ones that looked like Willies :o)

Another item ticked off the WA ‘to do’ list that turns out to be a little underwhelming! Yeah, it was pretty. They were rocks sticking out of the sand for Pete’s sake; what sort of excitement where we expecting exactly? Sam thought some had been transported there and concreted in.

Would you drive for 8 hours to see them?

We thought it was strange how there were little ‘baby’ rocks on the outside of the roads that marked the way – how convenient! Darcie believed us when we told her they were new ones just planted. Muppet!

On the way home, we got caught for speeding by a patrol car. They were on the opposite site of the road, traveling towards us. They switched on the blues and twos, turned their car round and proceeded to pull us over. They’d clocked us ‘doing’ 126kph, which I don’t think we were doing anywhere near. But what can you say, other than, ‘yes, Officer. Thank you, Officer’. The more fuss you make and argue it, the more hassle you’ll get. It didn’t help when Pentley started barking and I commented ‘he doesn’t like Police or tax men’. Paul banged his eyes at that point!

Not bad weather for a Winter's day though.

Adam’s completed ‘school’ with Sam and Darcie being at home. He’s complained non-stop all day, every day about it. Most children bring home paintings, or drawings with them from school; not Adam. Every week he seems to bring home with him a new and exciting lurgy. This week, we’ve got a very high temperature and a runny nose. I’m sure he thinks the more he does it, the more we’ll stop him going. Er, no chance mate. I’m starting to rely on those few hours he in ‘school’ to stop me going clinically insane. 37 times tonight he asked for more medicine…. Non-stop. Thank the lord for alcohol.

Arthur - sick of it now. Should have it's tiles fitted on Monday. Bored!

Another busy week as the school term winds down for a two week break (horray!). Last Friday the kids had a mini-olympics at school; each class represented a country. Darcie was ‘Japan’ and dressed in her oriental dress bought in Hong Kong. Sam’s class was ‘New Zealand’ and one of the Kiwi Mums came in and taught them the Haka. They had a good day (in and out of the showers) and Sam was very excited as he got to meet a real Olympian! A local lady who competed in the track and field for Australia came along and signed autographs and spent some time with the kids. They even had their own Olympic torch that did a lap of the oval and everyone got to hold it.

School reports come out this week, so we should have some interesting reading material for the holidays! We’ve nicknamed Sam’s teacher Mrs DB (no, not David Beckham – Dragon Breath) as she can be a little fiery! Sam’s been known to return home on more than one occasion with scorched eyebrows where he’s had the wrath of Mrs DB. (Un)fortunately, she leaves at the end of this week to take a placement on an African safari adventure thingy where she lives in a Reserve and counts animals for a few months. So Sam gets rid of her for the remainder of the year. I just hope the Zebras get their homework in on time, or they’ll end up endangered (not to mention barbequed!). Mind you, it should be OK for the sausage sizzle on Friday; if the BBQ breaks down, she can cook the snags with her breath!

We’re half way through the school year and you lot are breaking up for the summer hols! Still doesn’t seem right; just something else, along with hot Christmases I suppose I’ll never accept. The July HUGE toy sales start this Thursday. Basically everyone does their Christmas shopping and puts everything on lay-by until a few days before Xmas. The stores guarantee to price match everything and it’s a way of being able to pay things off a little at a time and also not have to worry about storing everything with prying eyes. You just have to remember (a) where the receipts are and (b) not to let nosey kids rummage in your handbag! Last year we bought our 10 ft swimming pool (complete with pump) for $80, I think (less than £40). Who knows what goodies will await us this year? Although I’ve no idea what’s left to buy the kids. They have more electrical gadgets than Dixons and I can only hope that Darcie’s ‘My Little Pony’s’ don’t start breeding or they’ll be threatening for world domination. I’m sure they’ll find something they want to pester us for for the remaining 6 months of the year. I think Sam already has his eye on the ‘Night at the Museum’ DVD and this year’s Guinness Book of Records. My god, what an annoying book that is! If I’m made to heave one more time over the picture of the world’s ugliest dog……. It’ll be a heave too far.

We had our patio thingy fixed to the house last week and it’s done nothing but rain, howl and blow a gale ever since. It’ll be lovely in the summer though to sit in the garden for more than fifteen minutes without hearing the ‘bing’ telling everyone you’re cooked. Summer seems a very long way off at the moment though. When winter hits, it certainly hits. There have been floods and severe weather warnings all over Aus this past month. At least though we know it’s only for a few months (at the most) of the year and we are guaranteed a summer - makes the winter bearable.

Pentley’s back and he’s a changed dog. It’s like he’s been to a detention camp; realised the error of his ways (and what side his bread’s buttered) and come back a changed man. He asks when he needs to go out. He’s not pebble dashing the patio at any given opportunity and he’s being a generally nice chap. We were expecting to pick up the Billy Bunter of the dog world after the breeder accused me of starving him (well, not that bad, but she did comment he was too thin!), but he was just thicker around the girth. Paul texted me in a panic when I went to collect him; ‘how big IS he?’ ‘MAAAHHHOOOSSIVE’ was my reply – I had to use a tub of Vaseline and a crow bar, just to get him in the car!

Adam is settling down at the child care centre for his two days a week incarceration (I’m sorry, I mean; love, nurturing and learning). I’m thinking of changing his name by deed poll to Paris Hilton – ha ha. He almost didn’t cry today when I dropped him off, but lost it at the last minute and clung to my leg like a koala. He is getting much better and I can already see the benefits of a few days independence a week; he now talks to anyone and everyone who’ll listen. He has Pauls Dad’s trait of talking to me, but looking at a stranger to get their attention. Actually, all the boys do it. It used to drive Paul mad when his Dad did it, but now he’s equally guilty of doing it too! I think Sam’s possibly the worst (or best) at it and never fails to get a response from a passing member of the public. Perhaps he should put this skill to good use and go canvassing for the local electorate.
Sam’s got a few cool things coming up with the Footie club; a trip to watch the Fremantle Dockers in action and then a planned sleep over at Secret Harbour Surf Lifesaving Club. Must remember to breathe into my little brown paper bag; the thought of a night without Samuel makes me hyperventilate with excitement! Good grief he’s a handful. I think I’ll be bald by the time he hits his teenage years. At least I’m hoping he’ll sleep more, which theoretically means he’ll spend less time arguing and being a generally stroppy little g*t!

Darcie is still Miss Perfect Parcel. She takes everything in her stride and is teacher’s pet - we even got a note in her communication book that the teacher was glad to have her back! Keep her then – we don’t mind :o) She had a fairy party at the weekend to attend; which was fab. I am quite taken aback with her confidence. She’ll go to the canteen on her own with her money in her hand, buy her pikelets, or half an icy pole (whatever foodstuff she can secure for her investment), then she’ll trot off round the school oval looking for Sam and his mates to give them grief. Her class hold ‘3C’ meetings every now and then; this stands for ‘concerns, criticism and communication’. The kids get to discuss anything that’s getting them down or share any ‘big’ news they may have with the rest of the class. Concerns include feeling sad or left out :o( They have ‘recess buddies’ where they have to play with certain people during their break so that nobody gets ignored; like the ‘lonely log’ at Templewood, I guess.

Speaking of lonely logs, I may well get one for myself :o( My BF is moving to Sydney and I’m really going to miss her. She’s been a tower of strength to us since we’ve been here, not to mention a good mate that’s always there for a night out, or a good giggle. I really feel for her as she’s been as stressed moving inter-state as I was emigrating. It really brought it all back and I can’t say I envy her one little bit. It’s bloody hard doing such a big move; don’t know if I could do it again. It’s not only the stress associated with organising the move, but the feelings of the kids and all those around you. Horrible time.

I’ll really miss her and will have to place and advertisement for a new friend.

WANTED

New best friend for whinging POM

Must enjoy cheap wine, nights out without children, husbands or dependant animals; theatre, cinema and the Arts – oh who am I kidding, a night in a pub with no kids – ANYTHING!

Previous applicants need not apply; I obviously didn’t like you!

Please respond with a recent photo and your qualifications for the job to:

Mrs Delaney-Sadgit
Lonely Street
Heartbreak Hotel


Darcie gave me tips round the supermarket today. ‘It’s easy to make friends, Mummy. Just smile, tell them your name and ask them home for a play’. How simple! Why didn’t I try that earlier? I’d try it at the school gates tomorrow, although I run the risk of being carted off as a nutter! Also need to watch who I ask; some of the Dads might be more keen to accept my offer than the Mums!

I know I should be on a high, returning from our hols, everything going OK at home, lovely new boat in a shiny new pen, but I feel really blue. I think it’s a combination of exhaustion (11 week school term, packing and organising 5 people for a fortnight – and now a dog), trying to plate spin the house, kids and work…… ARGH! Plus with my friend moving, it’s just all getting too much for me. I think I’ll have to take up a hobby to vent my stress like world championship knitting, or synchronised cycling; something challenging.

The weather’s so pants they can’t do anything on Arfur. We’ve got glass in the upstairs windows, but it’s been so windy that I think two of them have smashed this week.

View from the corner

View from the front with the wood for the roof.

The roof carpenters are supposed to be on site next week to get the structure of the first floor roof on, but unless the wind drops, I can’t see it happening. Never mind, if it’s not built, we ain’t paying…..

A close up.....

The weekend we returned from our hols, Harvey Norman (or Hardly Normal as we call them), were holding their huge annual electrical clearance at the Perth Convention Centre. Paul saw an ad for a plasma at ‘silly money’ that caught his eye, so we trundled off. Unfortunately, they’d sold all their floor stock :o( but they were taking orders for more :o) So, Paul went ahead and bought a 50” plasma for about a grand UK! Great, but this means that we are now going to have a 42” plasma in the bedroom. Well, at least it’ll give us something to do in the bedroom other than crochet ;o) Mind you, as soon as the kids see it, the whole family will be in there huddled together watching Noddy, no doubt!

Hope everything’s OK with you all. Speak soon when I’ve recovered from the Winter Blues and given myself a stiff talking to!

Home again, home again, jiggerty jig.

We are all holiday-ed out and back home after our trip to Queensland. We had a good time; spent loads, did loads and argued in different surroundings (well, that’s what you do on holiday, isn’t it?) We ran the business in between theme parks and picked up emails via the lap top in the hotel room. We did turn the advertising off, but were still busy, so, although it was a pain in the ass, at least we could justify the money we were spending :o) We just had to apologise a few times for the background noise of screaming kids on fairground rides whilst we phoned customers back.

As usual, any trip of ours was not totally without disaster……. We flew on 9th June – the day before our Wedding Anniversary. We’d all checked in and were about to board the plane when I looked down and noticed that the diamond from my engagement ring had gone! We had a quick hunt round and reported it to the lost property department (ha! As if!), and then I sobbed my way onto the plane and cried half way to Sydney. Talk about pants timing! Luckily, though we’d had the rings separately valued for the insurance and they have been quick to send over a form to get the ball rolling in getting it replaced, but it’s never going to be the same, is it? :o( We weren’t off to a good start.

The kids get a lot of attention, dragging their co-ordinated luggage through the airports!

That aside, the flights weren’t too bad. Qantas were miles better than Virgin Blue. Even though the air hostesses were older than Joan Rivers, they were really friendly towards the kids and fed us like there was no tomorrow. We had cornettos after our lunch on the way to Sydney! Yum! It was really quick getting in to Sydney – only took us about three hours (it’s five coming back though. How does that happen? Do they move it once we’re there?). We had a few hours in Sydney airport before an hour and a half flight to the Gold Coast. Coolangatta airport was tiny, so we rushed through, collected our luggage and picked up the hire car.

The car hire company really did think of everything!

The hotel was ‘tired’. It had a large billboard at the front announcing that it had won ‘Australia’s Best Family Resort’. However, no date was mentioned and I did ask Paul what decade he thought this was from! It was only after chatting to a Real Estate guy later in the week that we found out that the hotel has been ear marked for demolition and a new twin towers resort is due to be built in it’s place. It offered good kids club facilities though and we were able to leave them all for a few hours and go out for a meal ‘alone’. Something we haven’t done in a long time! It was much too similar to Butlins for Paul’s liking, but it kept the kids happy for a few hours. Sam and Darcie even went to the weekend disco and were entertained and looked after until 10.30pm! Woo Hoo!

We were about an hours drive from Brisbane, so we had a few trips in to the city to have a look about. We took a City Cat cruise on the Sunday. Very reasonable at less than a tenner for all of us.

The river looked really brown and murky compared to WA's waterways.

However the staff were a little grumpy; Adam got told off three times in the space of an hour. Twice because he wouldn’t sit nicely on his bottom ‘facing forward’ and another because he’d picked up two sticks from the park and was happily banging them together. ‘Could you stop doing that? We don’t want to make a hole in the seat, do we?’ For heaven’s sake, he’s hanging them together, not trying to discover fire or sharpen them into a spear! Other than the staff having PMT, the river trip was fun. The water was a terrible murky brown colour compared to Perth’s Swan River and they are suffering from terrible water restrictions currently. There are notices in every toilet about the water crisis. Water parks have been affected, fountains have been switched off and swimming pools cannot be filled at all! All toilets in Oz have a half flush setting anyway, but the lack of water was even more prevalent over East.

We were staying in the famous Surfers Paradise. It was pants! A cross between Blackpool and Benidorm; just not our cup of tea at all. The surrounding area was quite pretty with lots of water ways and houses backing on to the river with their jetties, but with the drought, the jetties were getting further and further into the centre of the river to be able to have enough water to function! We did a little shopping over the next few days; they have STARBUCKS!! And I managed to squeeze in five during the holiday! The shopping was better than WA. We managed to buy a little Polo Ralph Lauren jumper for Mr Cheese for $40!

Adam on the beach at the famous 'Surfer's Paradise'

Wednesday was our first major adventure; Steve Irwin’s Australia Zoo. It was a little further than we thought and an hour’s drive turned into a 2½ hour drive! But we got there in the end, met with crowds and helicopters. Apparently, the Dali Lama was there giving a speech to a specially invited crowd. He nipped in and nipped out, although there were lots of his followers around the place for the day. Adam was really looking forward to seeing the Kangaroos – his favourite. I kept saying I preferred the Koalas, but he was really shouting at me that kangaroos were much better.

Adam with his finger up the 'Be-Alla's' bum.

The Zoo was cool. Bindi, Terri and Bob were there to meet the Dali, but they didn’t hang around to say hi to us – obviously didn’t get the message we were coming (o: Steve’s picture was everywhere around the place and all the info boxes in front of the animals were written ‘Steve style’. Lots of ‘crikeys!’ and ‘look at this little beaut’.

On the snakey ride at the Zoo.

I’m really glad we went. We had a great day, but I wouldn’t rush back if it was on my doorstep. Again, it boiled down to their staff and they were a little sniffy and didn’t go the ‘extra mile’ to make you enjoy your day just that little bit more. The crocoseum was cool and we watched the croc show which was awesome. We saw Acco, who is the biggest croc at the Zoo, he’s a legend.

....................and BITE!!!

The funniest part of the whole day was when Adam got to see his beloved Kangaroo. He got a little too close to one in particular and it gave him a left hook in the mush! He looked at me, cried and demanded to be taken to see the Be-Allas’ instead! I did tell him they were much nicer (o:

The world-famous croc show at the 'Crocoseum'

Darcie and Addy feed an Elephant.

We had Thursday off for some R&R and then tackled Dreamworld on Friday. It was very quiet for a theme park and we just ran from one ride to another! Sam had a fab day and did all the big rides. If Paul or I didn’t fancy them, he took himself off on his own! He went on one called the Claw which swung very high and rotated. I just stood underneath it with my eyes shut and my fingers crossed. Should have had a little fishing net and caught all the loose change that fell out of everyone’s pockets!

Paul and Sam locked in on the Wipeout ride. It was my intention to get some cool, upside down shots, but Adam needed a wee and I missed the ride totally!

Adam isn’t good with the rides. He gets on quite happily and moans all the way through them ‘I want to go home Mummy!’

..................BEFORE............. in the queue for the log flume

He did an upside down rollercoaster and all the log flumes though, so he did well.

.........................AFTER............................ Unfortunately, the unsuspecting Mr Cheese 'picked' the wettest seat on the log (ha ha!).

Unfortunately for Darcie, she was just a little too short for the bigger rides, so missed out on some of the faster rollercoasters. She was a little miffed as she loves anything like that. She took it well though and escorted Mr Cheese on some of the smaller stuff.

Posing with Wags the Dog from the Wiggles.

The parks have really short opening hours (by theme park standards; 10am to 5pm, and it’s not like Disney where you can then wander round the shops for another hour. The park closes at 5pm and everyone’s out and the doors are locked by 5.20pm!

Say Aaaaarrrrgggghhhhhh

Saturday we visited Pacific Fair; a huge shopping center. We had a few IT problems and weren’t able to access the emails, so we had to sort that out with Telstra, then we all went to watch Shrek 3. McDonalds are selling the Shrek toys this month, so I keep going in to buy the toys. So far I have (yes, I – not the kids), Shrek, Puss in Boots, Fiona (or Be-owna as Adam calls her), and a baby donkon. The film was fab although Paul fell asleep twice!

Sunday we went back into Brisbane and met up with Campbell, Sandra and their two girls. They have recently migrated to Brissie from Scotland and we spent a lovely day sharing concerns and frustrations whilst the kids played in the stream and on the man made beach next to the river. It was a good giggle and we didn’t leave them until 9.30. I felt a bit guilty as their girls had to be up for school in the morning.

As it was another late night for the kids, we bummed around and did some more shopping at the outlet center on Monday, before hitting SeaWorld on Tuesday. Sea World was FANTASTIC and absolutely my favourite-ist park. The dolphin show was brilliant.

How fab is that?

Now we know what they are capable of, I shall be training them harder back home when we go out on the boat, let me tell you! They must have jumped about 5 meters into the air. Paul got some brill photos. They look more like birds than dolphins. I had tears in my eyes whilst I watched them. Marvellous! The rest of the day was fab too. The kids ran from one ride to the next; there were hardly any queues. Sam took me on the corkscrew four times and he and Darcie almost took root on the Pirate ship.

You can call me 'Sir'.

Not really native, but they looked quite at home.

So, after Sea World, Movieworld had a lot to live up to….. and it didn’t really.

Scooby Dooby Don't

It had two really scary thrill rides which Sam tackled completely unflustered! He took me on the Lethal Weapon ride (made me do it twice as I couldn’t quite believe how bad it was the first time!) where we dangled our feet and got propelled upside down and round and round more times than I could count. I screamed like a fishwife; Sam just smiled.

Sam and I are in the last two seats, going over the top. Can you hear my scream?

He then took Paul on the Superman ride where you are propelled to 100kph in something ridiculous like 5 seconds. Again, Sam completely loved it – Paul looked like he poohed himself when he walked off.

Willy Wonka (quite scary!)

Darcie went on the Scooby Doo rollercoaster five times which was pretty hairy as most of it was in the dark and it dropped you backwards at one point which was completely unexpected!

Sam and Darcie pose with their namesakes.

It didn’t help that it was particularly cold though on the day we did Movieworld. Another storm front was moving in over NSW and QLD and they were warning of floods and hurricane force winds.

Adam practises his driving skills - he drives like Darcie steers the boat (badly!)

We managed to squeeze in a whale watching trip too after someone on the Expats had been and posted some fantastic photos. Unfortunately for us, it was SO cold and miserable that even the whales were reluctant to poke their heads out from above the warmth of the water. We managed to get a few photos, then they’d disappear into the water for 10 minutes at a time. The first ones we saw had an armed escort of dolphins in front of them – probably shielding them from the paparazzi. Paul and I were convinced that the whales caught sight of the Japanese tourists in the boat and scarpered. Can’t say I blame them really, can you?

So, the pictures aren't very exciting, but you can see the whale, OK!

Two whales with Surfers in the background.

Who says Australia doesn't have seasons? The beautiful scenery at Mount Tamborine.

Miss Parcel on Mount Tamborine.

On that note, I shall bid you farewell. There's loads more to tell, but it's 11.30pm and I've had a shi*t day, so I shall save all the other news for a better frame of mind. TTFN :o)

By the way, I've uploaded a few more photos on Flickr, so click on that to the right. More to be added when I've got some more space next month. Bye!

Busy week again….

So, we had our second UK visitor this weekend. Paul, curry club member and jolly nice chap came for a flying (literally) visit on route home from Sydily. We got our dates slightly wrong and he was here for 24 hours less than we thought, so we eased off on the itinerary a little. Paul picked him up from the airport on Thursday and I took the kids swimming for an hour, so he had a chance to acclimatise and didn’t need to crack open the noise cancelling headphones (just yet!). We had a curry for dinner in celebration.

Friday we let the kids have a hooky day off of school (unless you’re the Principal, in which case, the kids had a very bad tummy bug (o: ). We took the boat out for a few hours, stopped for a BBQ upstream and then chased a few dolphins home. Paul managed to get some cool photos of the dolphins (although NOT as good as mine :o/ ). Afterwards we went down to Mandurah foreshore for an ice cream and a little sightseeing. The two Paul’s went out for dinner at Little Creatures in Freo and rolled back in at gone 10pm!!! Unheard of! I thought they couldn’t drive home as they’d turned into pumpkins, but they did roll in eventually. They had a good time and I was pleased of the opportunity to indulge in a Lemsip and scream at the kids. Adam had only managed two days in childcare last week and by way of Karma had brought home a cold to treat us all too. His way of punishing us for sending him, I guess.

Saturday was spent watching Sam play footie, then a trip to Freo to pick up some souvenir tat. Then a trip north to Mullaloo for another BBQ and then coffee and ice cream in Hillarys. Very nice. Saturday night we were knackered and full of cold. The kids went to bed and we ended up watching Shrek and eating Tim Tams – burnt themselves out the night before; I knew they shouldn’t have stayed out till gone 10.

When did my daughter gow up so much?

Then Sunday was here and it was back to the airport. :o( Darcie cried until 1pm! ‘Little D’ missed her pal. Paul treated them to a Maccie D’s brekkie and then we took Pentley to the beach and the boys did a little fishing.

Pentley helps himself to Cuttlefish from the 'beach buffet'

Didn’t catch anything – Paul moaned about the waves – dur! It’s a beach!

Sam has a Reginald Perrin moment.

Then yesterday (a public holiday) we took the boat out again and saw more dolphins. The dolphins were going a little mad yesterday.

The dolphins aren't shy and come very close to the boats.

We came to the conclusion that they were having ‘ladies and gentlemen’ as they were really thrashing about and were in groups. When we came home, it was on the TV that a shark had been filmed bothering some fishermen off the coast of Mandurah and they’d obviously filmed the shark on their mobiles and you could visibly see this bleeding great, scary monster circling their boat. Made us look at some of the photos of fins in a different light.

What do you reckon, dolphin or not dolphin?

We’re getting better at it now although it is a little bigger than our old boat….. oh yes, forgot to say, we did get the new boat. It worked out really well. We took delivery of the new one on Wednesday and the new owner collected our old boat Tuesday night! He only lives round the corner and saw the ‘For Sale’ sign we had propped on it.

Our new baby. We're going to have it named 'Jibber Jabber'. That's all the kids do... all the time and we thought it was a good name!

We had a couple of hours coaching on the new boat on Wednesday with a professional. He taught us how to moor and drop the anchor – all important stuff that we’d ‘winged’ previously. We’re having another couple of hours with him again this week as I made a complete pigs ear of getting the boat back into the pen on Monday and if Paul hadn’t of taken over, I think I’d still be there, going round again for another go!

Sam - armed and dangerous!

Got lots to do now this week to get ready for our hols on Saturday. Don’t think you’ve gone deaf – I might not be able to update the blog on dial up! I’ve got a pile of ironing Sherpa Tensing would like to have a crack at climbing and a million and one things to do between now and then. I know, I know, stop writing this drivel and get on with it! I will…… Toodle pip! (Or a place where they dump dogs: Poodle Tip!)

Do you realise, this is the 60th blog entry I've made? Yes, the 60th lot of drivel, ranting and photos since we moved 'overseas'. Wow! That's alot, isn't it?

So, last week, Darcie performed her assembly item. It was a star spangled version of 'There's a hole in my bucket'.

She'd only practised it about 4,000 times, so she was wordperfect (just! That must be one of the most annoying songs ever - second only to Joe Pasquale's 'I know a song that'll get on your nerves'). She was very excited and made sure she was at school extra early - she would have left home at 7am if she could. It was good though and everyone enjoyed it.


Even Sam enjoyed the chinese water tortune..... I'm sorry, I meant the lovely singing (o:

Pentley has left the building....



He is now allowed out to terrorise the public. We took him to the beach on Sunday and he did really well.

He sniffed a few other dogs, but always came back when called (o: He got to grips with the sand between his paws, but gave the water a bit of a wide berth!

I took him with Adam to meet the kids from school today too. He's doing very well and was a hit with the other kids. Darcie's face was a picture when she came running out of school shouting 'Pentley...........'

He's already lost his bottom two puppy teeth. The tooth fairy won't be visiting him though as I fear they were washed down with his gravy for dinner. Just as well though really as if she has to visit our house any more, she'll be getting her post redirected. Darcie has four wobbly teeth. Two of them being her top two front teeth. Although I have warned her that she is not to lose them under pain of death until after our holiday. I'll be buggered if we're spending all that money for me to be left with photos of a daughter looking like Goofy! Sam will always look like Mickey Mouse, that's a given with his ears, absolutely nothing I can do about it, but if Darcie loses either of those teeth, I am super gluing them back in until after our holiday!


Sam has also had a visit from the TF this week. He lost his second double tooth this week. He said it came out naturally, although later I was led to believe that it may have been given a 'helping hand' due to the pressure of increasing his holiday money fund. You can imagine his disappointment the first night though when the tooth fairy failed to visit. I reasoned with him that even fairies have the odd night off (PMT, hangover, duvet day....) or perhaps she was frightened by Pentley, snoring at the bottom of his bed. Either way, a quick irate phone call and the wanded one did the business the night after (and gave double bubble for the disappointment - I'll teach her for letting my child down = gulp).

Paul set up the projector for the kids on Saturday night. He runs the DVD through the projector and the whole wall is filled with the characters of Madagascar. Fabby. Hot dog and a film = happy children. Looks cool, eh?


We had our boat serviced this week. We started the week very happy with our boat and ended the week having bought another!!! How does this happen to us? We've had our offer accepted on a larger vessel (makes it sound like the Queen Mary, doesn't it?). It's only about 4 foot longer than ours, but it has a 'downstairs' and we would be able to sleep on it if push came to shove. We're also investing in a 'pen' to keep in in the water at all times. It can be quite stressfull hooking the boat up to the trailer; if it doesn't go right first time, there can be tension for the whole trip and then getting it in and out of the water is an ordeal too.



We're hoping that if it's there in the water waiting for us, we can just pop down after work and go for a little pootle out to sea or to the estuary for a blam.


It's got a little kitchen, too with a gas ring, fridge, microwave and little fridge (essential for keeping the wine cool!). So we MUST do our skippers ticket now. If we can't get it booked in before our hols, we'll definately do it ASAP when we get back. At least it means that we don't have to do 'launch and retreival' when the boat's got a pen! One less thing to worry about (o:

- Just been told off by Paul for posting about the boat. Apparently, it's not a 'done deal' yet. Which is true. We have to have a 'sea trial' which will be a laugh with us; we're frightened of going out to sea. We might just have a 'river ride'. We also have to have the engine checked over to make sure it's not a lemon. But apart from that....... it's almost a done deal (o: Anyhow the picture above shows what the kids might look like on it.... if we do take possession. Kind if like an artists impression :o)

Here are some pictures of Mandurah - around and about the marina where the boat will be moored (maybe..... ). There is a lovely little assortment of cafes, restaurants and shops. Lovely, isn't it?

There's even a little playpark over the bridge that the kids can use when they get a little stir crazy!


I, on the other hand, can visit the pub when I get stir crazy, which I enviasge will happen regularly!





Speaking of hols, we've only go three weeks to go. Very excited!

The house is rendered now at the top in it's proper colour. On the first day, it looked really light, but it's dried a darker, coffee colour. I quite like it...... I think. This week we've got the painter coming in to paint the ceiling and the coving. Then I think it's glazing to the upstairs before they move the scaffolding and concentrate on the bottom level. We're still at loggerheads with the builder at the moment though after something that they're sayings not included when we were told that it was )o: Wouldn't be us without someone to battle with, would it?




Paul's Mum and bro have finally booked their tickets and will be heading over in January next year. Better get planning - lots to fit in before Michael has to return to work. Margaret gets to stay a little longer, so her itinerary won't be quite so harsh and I might even treat her to the odd 'rest day' (o:

The new Wembley stadium looked very posh on the TV. Unfortunately, we only stayed awake for the first half. Mum kindly gave away the score on her email by asking - 'did you watch the football? I'm really glad Chelsea won, aren't you?' Thanks, Mum. Actually we'd recorded the second half for later enjoyment; when we were able to keep our eyes open. Never mind, there's always next year!