WOW! Where do I start then? I’m sorry it’s been a while.
Mum’s on the plane on the way home :o(

I HATE goodbyes. We’ve had a lovely time, but the goodbyes are just bloody awful :o( As they say: better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all. I’m missing her already (as my facebook says – lol).

Anyhow: let’s start with the happy stuff! Singapore was FAN-BLOOMING-TASTIC!!! Four nights of fantastic! The flight going out (for me) was fab. I got a spare seat next to me (thank you to the seat guru website and the on-line check in with Singapore Air. I picked the seat right at the arse-end of the plane and provided it didn’t reverse into a mountain (ha ha), I should be OK! I tell you, it’s how air travel should be! No ‘how much longer’s?’, no drinks spilled in my lap, no smelly passenger hogging the arm rest. It was heaven! The only stress was what should I do? Watch the ‘Sex in the City’ movie again, read my book UNINTERRUPTED (which I had taken out a small mortgage for – considering the amount of trees in Australia, books are phenomenally expensive!), or listen to my iPod with my own, carefully chosen selection of ‘naff-middle-aged-Mum’ tunes. So I did all three simultaneously whilst scoffing Airline food. I am turning into my Aunty Eileen though, so I was glad of the near by toilet :o)

The flight was good; no turbulence (unlike the Qantas flight that came into Perth a few weeks after my flight where everyone was made airborne WITHIN the cabin :o( and I arrived safe and sound in Singapore.

I got a taxi to the hotel and checked in. The hotel had upgraded us to a harbour view room and although small, the room was lovely.

The bathroom was all marble and the staff were just lovely! From our room we had a view of the Singapore Flyer (like the London Eye) and the harbour as well as the hotel pool. I grabbed a bar snack before going back to meet mum at the airport that evening. I was SO pleased to see her and very proud of us for managing to circumnavigate the globe for our ‘stolen few days’. I know millions of people do it every day – but they’re not us and we were brave!!!

We whizzed back to the hotel and off loaded the bags before doing a little shopping in the mall directly next to the hotel. The shop staff were lovely; following us about with baskets for us to place our choices in. We had a quick wander about and then retired to the hotel bar for our first (of MANY!) Singapore Slings. They are gin based and delicious!!!!

The next morning, we hit the M&S trail. Do you know there are 7 Marks and Spencers in Singapore?

Bet you didn’t – well, I did my research!! We managed to squeeze most of them in and some of them even had food – the kids LOVED the Percy Pigs :o) Unfortunately, no prawn and mayo sandwiches – never mind – can’t win them all, eh? I did pur-chase in M&S. A few of the shopping malls were running promotions where you were awarded 20% off for being a tourist with a few Singapore dollars in your pocket :o) We had breakfast in a ‘greasy spoon’ café and were fuelled for a day’s shopping. We had an afternoon tea booked at the Regent Hotel in the afternoon. After an initial confusion with the booking and five minutes on the ‘naughty chair’ as mum called it, we were seated and helped ourselves to the all you can eat buffet which looked like it came from ‘lilliput’. You have never seen such small desserts; all beautiful and equally delicious. We eventually waddled out a few hours later to return our shopping to the hotel :o)

I think we did more shopping in the afternoon, guess what? Finished off with a Singapore Sling in the bar. Oh yes. It had to be done. It was the LAW!

The following day (Monday), I had a meeting with a guy about business. I scooted off in a taxi to meet him whilst Mum enjoyed the freebies at the pool (sorbet, drinks, fresh towels :o) In the afternoon, we had tea booked at Raffles, so we went to do the Singapore Flyer first. I took some fabby photos (but lost my memory card D’OH – so no photos of that I’m afraid. It was the build up to the Singapore Grand Prix, so when we first checked in at the hotel, we were given some passes that without which, our taxi driver wouldn’t be allowed back into the circuit area to bring us back home.

As (believe it or not), our hotel was smack bang in the middle of the circuit. Singapore was the first grand prix to be run at night, on a road circuit, so you can imagine the preparation that went into getting everything ready in time in a city that really is busy, busy, busy before hand! We would have had a FANTASTIC view from the hotel bar. As it was, we sat in there every night watching all the labourers working frantically to get everything ready in time.

Raffles, although beautiful, was very disappointing in terms of service and food. The staff weren’t overly attentive and the food choice wasn’t anywhere near as good as the previous days at the Regent.

However, whilst we were waiting for our ‘Tiffin’, we (OK – MUM) purchased something from the Louis Vuitton shop. Seeing as she spent over a tenner (ha ha) and it’s the 150th anniversary of Raffles, they were offering a free afternoon tea in the Billiard Room.

We did try and take it in place of the one we had booked for that day, but they were in different venues, so we had no other choice than to return to Raffles the following day for a ‘free’ scoff – the most expensive ‘free’ scoff we’ve ever had :o)

The following morning (B.R. – that’s before Raffles!), we went to Sentosa Island on the cable car. I was very brave and it was on the ‘must do’ list. We even paid extra for a glass-bottom carriage, but as soon as the little pod left the safety of the station at the bottom, I crapped it!!!

There was one HUGE concrete pillar in the middle of the cable car route that you appeared to hurtle towards and then you were ‘dropped’ off the other side to slide down to the other station.

I was SO glad we’d bought a return ticket! Suddenly, the monorail looked very appealing!!

The building work going on on Sentosa is amazing. I have NO idea what they’re building (a whole new city I think!), but it’s massive. We went up the Merlion which stands guard over Singapore.

It’s a mixture of the Asia’s lions head and the mermaid’s tail which represents the water surrounding the busy port.

This is the amazing water feature at the base of the Merlion.

We stopped for a Tiger Beer:

before scooting back to Raffles and coffee in the evening at our favourite café on Orchard Road before a nightcap sling in the hotel bar. We became quite regulars at the bar – sitting at our familiar table, staring out at the preparations for the Grand Prix.

At Raffles, we had a Singapore Sling int he Long Bar. This is where the drink was invented and on every table is a container of monkey nuts where it's traditional to eat them and throw the shells ont he floor.

You can imagine the mess by the end of the day. Mum decided she didn't like the nuts, but was scrunching the shells in her hands and throwing them at me instead! I was picking shells out of my bra for ages!

I have never seen so many super cars in any one place. The Ferraris, Porsche and Maserattis were everywhere. Our mode of transport was Taxi and we planted our bums in a fair few over the four days. When it came to our return trip to the airport, we had to pre-book one of the hotel’s Mercedes limos as no taxis could get into the hotel grounds because of the Grand Prix lock down. You can see from the photos that we really couldn’t have gotten a great deal closer to the track if we’d have tried! It was a lovely atmosphere though and fantastic to watch the grand prix on the TV, especially as we could see our hotel as the cars whizzed around the circuit.

Singapore truly was wonderful. The place is awe inspiring, the people are SO friendly and welcoming and the four days spent with Mum were amazing; memories that we’ll both keep for ever.

It was just the BEST time. Thank you Mum for meeting me and thanks to Paul for letting me go and coping with everything for the time I was away. And thank you for brining Louis into my life. I shall love him like a 4th child and nurture him with love and used tissues. I shall think of you Mum whenever I am putting my Tar-gey receipt in him :o) Who knows where we’ll decide to meet next time? Dubai perhaps? It’ll take me a lot of brownie points to swing that one with the family! I can try and be a good girl :o)

So, as much as we were looking forward to coming ‘home’ it was with sadness that we left Singapore. I would definitely recommend it as a place to visit and I really think Mum enjoyed it too. She didn’t really know what to expect, but I think she was very pleasantly surprised!

We did have to return for Sam’s birthday however! Luckily, the birthday fairy can always be relied upon to carry out preparation and everything was set for Sam’s birthday the day after we arrived home. He had to go to school on his birthday, but afterwards, we went for dinner at the Hogs Breath to celebrate. I find it really hard to comprehend that Sam’s as old as he is. I don’t know why as we’ve watched him grow and develop, but I still find it hard to believe that he’s now 11. He wanted money for his birthday as he wanted to buy clothes and a pair of skate shoes (a type of trainer (in the loosest term of the word)). He’s bought one of these caps with a flat peak.

Paul HATES it with a passion, but I try to explain that this is probably the same distaste that his parents viewed Dutch pockets or platform shoes, but he still thought they were cool at the time!

I think he had a good birthday. We also got him a little battery powered scooter that pulls him round the pool. He’s had a lot of fun with that as we also got him a big ‘joey’ chair for the pool that he can put his drink in and he can lay back and glide round the pool like Torvill and Dean (without the lycra or the ice – obviously! :o)

We didn’t have a madly busy schedule with Mum and to be honest, it was lovely. We had lots of lunches out and coffees here, there and everywhere. We had some days out with the kids – the Perth Royal Show was one adventure!

But we won’t be rushing to repeat it next year as it costs an ABSOLUTE fortune! Seeing as our aged benefactor (yes, Mum, that’s you!) probably won’t be holidaying with us at the same time next year, the kids will have to make do with glimpses of it on the TV! It was $10 each for a ride! Even for Mr Cheese.

And then there’s the showbags. These are bags of crap that are work $20 that they sell for $15; full of sweets (lollies), games, toys and plastic crap. I succumbed this year, but wouldn’t do it again.

We took Mum out on the boat which she seemed to enjoy. It’s a little more laid back and relaxed that the previous one. The Mandurah boat show was on whilst Mum was over and a group of friends came with us; the girlies sat on the boat and drank wine and gossiped and the buoys (see what I did there!) had a wander round the show. Paul only bought a fish finder so next time we go out, we should have no excuse for not landing moby dick (wonder if we could do that in a ‘boil in the bag’ style?)

We’ve also organized a few nights out and are going to see Bjorn Again in Kings Park at the end of November. I saw the Abba tribute band when I went to see the Spice Girls and they were better than the SG’s!

Whilst Mum was over, I also had my birthday. Gail and Paul came over in the evening for a few drinkies and I got some lovely pressies. Gail photoshopped (at least I HOPE she photoshopped!) a photo of the two of us – good god we look like a couple of day-release patients! She didn’t know what to get me, so thought I could look at that and laugh on the stressful days at work. It was very thoughtful and does the trick brilliantly. I would post a copy on here, but I’m sure it breaches ugly copyright, or something :o)

Paul excelled himself this year. I got a fabby disco ball that floats in the pool and tickets to go and see Delta Goodrem in Kings Park in January. Margaret sent me over a cardy exactly like one hat I’d bought in Singapore in a different colour, so I was chuffed with that too.

Paul and I also had a night away whilst Mum was over. We stayed up in Perth and went to the casino for a flutter. We bet $50 – Paul started off on a winning streak which eventually cooled and then I placed a chip on the roulette table on number 17 (for Darcie’s birthday) and for a $5 stake, we pocketed $200! A few more flutters later and we left with $100 in our pocket in profit after the initial stake. Not bad. The place was absolutely heaving though!! It took us an hour to get anywhere near any of the tables to be able to place a bet. All sorts of people and all different ages. I don’t say I would rush back, but it certainly was an experience!!

Oh, and in other news, Paul finally bought his drum set that he’s been coveting for so long.

All the kids have a guitar (in various sizes) and we have our very own band.

I’m saving up for a triangle – even then, I’d hit it at the inappropriate moment!

Oh and STOP PRESS: Adam has swimming lessons once a week – actually, he does. He has ‘let’s stand in the water with a face like a smacked arse and whine’ lessons. Six weeks he has been going and he hasn’t cracked once with a hint of co-operation with the teacher. Well, tonight, I let Darcie and Mr Cheese have a quick half hour in the pool (as it was so warm) and within seconds, Ads stripped to his pants, was in the water, down to the third step; kicking his legs and blowing bubbles and (get this!) TWICE he put his face under! He assures me that he will show Jo (his swimming teacher) this week. Somehow, I think he may have changed his mind between now and then. The promise of a treat may work though. What a difference a few days make. Perhaps he thinks if he tries hard, he can swim over and visit Nanny B. Adam was a complete sweetheart with Mum. He was funny and affectionate and a real little character. He truly is a cutie and I bet Mum will miss not having her eardrums bashed this week. Never mind, eh? That’s what telephones are for.

Well, this will be the last blog update before Singapore.

Sorry that I haven't posted a great deal lately, but to be honest - not a lot has been happening. The weather is slowly improving and we've had a few days out on the boat, but it's still pretty changable. I looked on the monthly forecast on the weather channel and was disappointed to see quite a few rain clouds in the month for Mum's visit. Never mind - when you're feeding your face in a restaurant, it doesn't matter what the weather's like outside :o) The sun always shine in McDonalds.

Last weekend was Father's Day on Sunday.

This was Adam's card for Daddy:

And it opens up to reveal..... Mr Cheese!

We did manage a few hours on the boat on Saturday, then on Sunday, Paul was treated to breakfast in bed, a few pressies and we whisked him off to Kings Park for a picnic. Kings Park had a Fathers Day celebration as part of their Spring festival. There was loads of free entertainment and music and the weather held, so it was lovely just to sit a chill for a few hours in the sunshine.

We even bumped in to the Perth celebrity that is 'Fat Cat'. The WA version of Pudsey Bear as he's the Telethon mascot - the scariest looking cuddly character I've ever seen!! Why on earth would you want to buy one!?!

Paul had a kick about with the kids for a while after and the park was heaving with people. Was a lovely day though. Kings Park always reminds us how lucky we are to live in Perth. It truly is a beautiful place to spend a few hours.

After the picnic we drove round the park to see the Boab tree. Now this tree has an amazing story and whilst it's not particularly impressive to look at; the story behind it being in Kings Park is pretty cool. You can read about it here: [URL]http://www.bgpa.wa.gov.au/o/content/view/458/42/[/URL] but basically, the tree was in the path of a road, so it was dug up and the 750 year old tree was transported thousands of kilometres to its new home. I remember the story on the nightly news where this massive tree was squeezed through the streets of Subiaco on the way to its new home. I think the idea is to cultivate loads more boabs from this tree and give them back to the area where this one came from. Pretty amazing story really. Most people would have just bulldozed it down and built the road. I just hope it can survive in Perth's conditions. I should imagine its quite a bit cooler than where the trees come from. Wouldn't look good to bring it all this way at vast expense and then it dies, would it? Never mind - think of the coasters you could produce.

Last week Darcie had her school excursion to Scitech which she enjoyed and Adam went to one of his school mates farm where they grow cucumbers. Well, Adam may not have been thrilled, but I thought it was fantastic! Seeing all the effort thats put into growing these plants was fantastic. They are so fragile; the slightest change in conditions can ruin the whole crop. In the peak of summer, the plants can grow about 6 inches per day. We got a few mis-shapes to bring home and they were lovely; really sweet, and I'm glad I went - I learnt a lot :o)

Today was the Sports Carnival (sports day). The weather rained on and off all day, which is a shame as the other years, they have been lucky. Darcie and Sam both did really well in their races with Sam finishing first in a couple. Their Faction 'Ocean' won overall and they were thrilled as I think last year, they lost by only a couple of points.

So this week Darcie starts swimming with the school - every day for two weeks. Hopefully Mum will be able to come and watch her for the last couple of days. Adam also had his first swimming lesson on Friday - although technically it was a 'stand in the water and look sorry for yourself' lesson. He wouldn't even get into the pool until he was prized off me and I was escorted to the coffee machine. He's still a little cling-on when it comes to new situations. He's still my baby really.

Darcie had a party at the weekend at the Fun Factr'y. The other two kids wanted to go, so Paul got the absolute pleasure of sitting in a building with all the acoustics of a aircraft hanger whilst several hundred kids scream at the top of their voices and a couple shit themselves for general 'ambience' and are left to sit in it for an hour whilst their Mums have a latte and deny all sense of smell. It's pay back for all the years that I've done it - ha ha. We went to Gail's for dinner afterwards; stew and dumplings (Gail's got lovely dumplings!) and Paul fell asleep. Must have been the excitement!

So with five sleeps to go, I'm starting to get nervous. Looking forward to seeing Mum and having a few days of R&R, but nervous about flying alone and finding her at the airport. I'm sure it'll be fine and we'll have a whale of a time - I look forward to reporting in at a later date. Can't imagine what I'm going to do on a flight alone for 5 hours!! I'm so used to waking Paul up when he snores too loudly, or cleaning Adam up when he drops his drink in his lap, or holding Darcie's pens until she asks for the colours, or adjudicating Sam's scores on who's the 'hottest' cabin attendent! The thought of just being able to listen to MY ipod, or read a book without a 'MUM???' or a 'JU?' in five hours? Heaven!!

See you on the other side.

A month today and Mum will be boarding the flight to Singapore.

To say I can’t wait is a slight understatement :o) I cleared out the wardrobe for her last weekend, so she will have somewhere to hang her (enormous) knickers. I think I’m going to put Mum in Darcie’s room and let Miss P sleep on the sofa bed in the activity room. It will give Mum a bit more room that way (for her knickers). I don’t think I told you (avid reader) that the other weekend, we could see kangaroos from our bedroom window. They were boinging across the golf course. Darcie saw one this afternoon whilst we were on the way to the shops – squashed by the side of the road. She asked if it was sleeping? Yes, darling….. it was bouncing its way home like tigger and all of a sudden came over very sleepy and stopped for a snooze at the side of the road. IT'S DEAD!!!!) I

We also cleared out the garage and (shock, horror, feint!) we actually have two cars parked in it! Anyone who knows us will realize that this is a complete fluke. We have NEVER lasted more than two weeks putting a car away in the garage at night. Mind you….. it’s a real squeeze getting the two in there. Wouldn’t want any bigger cars, that’s for sure! So sorry, Paul, the Hummer will have to wait. We had to move the cars inside as we live near a high school and the little sh*t bags were scraping them everyday on their way to and from school. We went to see the Deputy Principal last week as the little gits saw it hilarious to play ‘knock down ginger’ on our front door every morning at 8.30 and afternoon at 3.00pm! A verbal confrontation with one group and Sam on dawn patrol with the camera and hopefully, we can put this little episode behind us!

Ooohhhh – I am famous this week! You know how I drivel on here about listening to LBC and the podcasts? Well the other week, I emailed Simon Calder, the travel writer with a question about Singapore. Well, he read out my question! I asked about ‘must do’s’ and told him I was meeting Mum there for a few days before traveling on ‘home’ He was chuffed to think he had a listener in Australia and got quite excited reading out my question. Unfortunately, he didn’t really answer me at all! Got nothing specific for an answer other than you ‘must see the museum at Raffles’. Well we’ll be in there for an afternoon’s tiffin and then an early evening of getting plastered on Singapore Slings, with a little browsing round the V expensive designer shops in the Raffles complex. Don’t know if I’ll have time to fit in any historical artifacts (other than Mum, of course!) ha ha.

We have bought another boat. I know, I know. It’s extravagant. It’s a waste. We already have one. But the children SO wanted one of their own…….


Well – what did you expect? Do you know how much the insurance is on one of these babies?

We had a lovely day out on the boat on Sunday. The weather was a little ‘lumpy’ but we headed out for the open ocean and did some fishing. Darcie and I won – the girls catching 3 fish, the boys only managing 1. They were tiny though and wouldn’t have fitted in an individual tin of tuna! It was funny though as the pelicans came circling like the grim reaper as soon as they realized we had something wiggling on the end of our lines. You can see here how close they came in to the boat.

Well, the first fish we caught was small and it had taken the hook down a long way. Paul tried and tried to remove it as best he could and in the end, managed to get the hook out of the fish’s mouth. He threw the fish over the side, but mis-judged the distance, causing the fish to bash into the transom on the back of the boat. It did flip off (with minor brain damage) and slip back into the water. Hoorah, we thought. Only the have Paul say very sternly a few moments later ‘err……. Kids? I think you should just all pop downstairs for a moment’. ‘Why, Dad?’ was the universal cry, before Sam realized that our fishy friend had gone belly up and Mr Pel-i-CAN was moving in for an instant meal for one. One snap of his beak and nemo was gone :o(

Oh well….. circle of life and all that.

We had two pelicans after that and half a dozen sea gulls as our audience. It felt like they were watching and criticizing our every move. How the Olympians cope performing under such scrutiny and pressure, I’ll never know! We did manage to keep the rest of the days catch away from the pelican’s jaws. I don’t know what fish they were that we caught, but they were very pretty.

Darcie was thrilled at catching her first fish. Sam was a consummate bad loser. He whined, he whinged, he complained and then…….he sulked. L-to the-O- to the S-E-R = LOSER!

The kids have got a busy few weeks coming up at school again now. They all have excursions to look forward to. Sam is going to the Zoo (we think), Darcie’s going to the SciTech exhibition in Perth and Adam (wait for it!) is going on a visit to a cucumber farm! Hope they have electric fences to keep all the wayward vegetables under control – I mean the cucumbers – not the grandparents that might be taking them!!! Adam has school photos on Thursday. This will be a huge test for him. I’ve lost count of the amount of times I’ve completed the envelope with my money in, only to have the teacher return it at the end of the day because Adam refused point blank to have his picture taken. Sam was exactly the same in pre-nursery. Cried and cried. His photo looks like that famous painting of the boy with the tears rolling down his cheeks.

Actually, this has been a little bone of contention all week - the similarity between Sam and Adam. Darcie was doing a project for school and was looking for a photo of her as a baby and going through all the albums. Well, Adam was having a good look too and became increasingly annoyed that all the boys in the photos were Sam. The trouble is, if I didn’t know any better, I’d get the two of them confused. They look identical at the same age – both were blonde with big blue eyes.

Sam or Adam?

Adam or Sam?

Unfortunately, the attitude develops soon after!

Work is going well and we’ve now welcomed a new member into the fold! Sue started with us last week and is settling in well (apart from blooming IT gremlins that are making life twice as hard – NEVER, ever move your computer. They don’t like it and show off!). We’ve got lots going on and it’s an exciting (if not busy!) time. Hopefully, we’ll be able to share it all with you in future months :o)

On that note, I shall tootle off to bed and have sweet dreams about Singapore Slings and Mum’s big knickers!

Una Paloma Blanca……

Yes, it may be holiday time for you, but it’s still Winter here for us. Never mind. Less than a month to go now and we’ll be into Spring (and you’ll be headed for Autumn – ha ha, so make the most of your sunny days now!).

Our garden is finished!!! We have a beautiful garden – honestly, it looks like Chelsea! We are SO proud of it; the landscapers have worked really hard. We gave them a drink each at the end of the job and they were really thrilled , (seeing as they usually work for builders and councils, they get nothing), but we were so pleased with it, we got the two young lads a case of beer and the boss a nice bottle of red. See for yourself; what do you think?

The grass arrives at 7.00am!

View from the pool to the 'grown ups' area

This will be the kid's area of the garden.

Last minute.com water feature!

The grown ups area.

The front garden.

We have since got some 12v outdoor lighting to illuminate our (last minute) water feature. The pool is STILL full of sand, but hopefully, this will now be the last time that we have this problem with it. A few days hard work getting rid of the sand and we should be all set for the coming summer months (fingers crossed!).

From the front..........

From the side...........

The view of the garden from our bedroom.

and finally......... at night :o)

We had a BBQ tonight – it’s still very cold, but we had the music on outside (Paul was in charge of Sonos, so we had TV theme tunes playing in a ‘Name that Tune’ quiz show stylee), a bottle (or two) of cheap sparkling white and all felt good. Sometimes it feels like we are in a dream here (other times; it’s a nightmare!) Tonight felt like the good version!

Last weekend we managed two days out! Unheard of lately as the weather’s been so crap. On Saturday, we went up to the Dam to see how high the water levels were and to have a BBQ. We took Pentley for a ride and in time honoured fashion (as per the fated Pinnacles trip) as soon as we pulled up at the picnic area we were met with ‘Dogs Prohibited’ signs everywhere! We stuck on the headscarf again though and went through the ‘my Grandmamma, what a big nose you have!’ routine and managed to get away with it (if you know of any Grandma that drinks out of a stainless steel water bowl!)’. As we arrived, a couple warned us of the Kookaburras. The like to swoop down on the children apparently – especially when you have food. Well. We did OK until right at the end of our picnic and Adam took his burger with him to play football. One eyed him up and took the last bite of burger right out of his hand (along with a slice of thumb for good measure!). Adam wasn’t too chuffed, let me tell you. I don’t know what upset him more; the loss of the burger or the injury to his thumb.

Mr Kook-a-burra

They are quite scary looking birds. Especially when they laugh at you – all the boys check their fly and the girls look to make sure they haven’t tucked their skirt in their knickers! Remind me of being in the Brownies, when we had to sing the ‘Kookaburra’ song. Never imagined I’d be able to see them in close proximity and we’d be fighting them off our youngest like an Alfred Hitchcock movie. Strange how life pans out, isn’t it??

Then last Sunday we managed to get out on the boat. The weather was nice, but the swell on the ocean was still quite big, so we kept to the estuary. Sam Skippered us all the way from our pen, to the petrol pump, to the fish and chip restaurant (where we moored for a scoff) and then took us all the way to the estuary.

He then supervised Darcie and Adam having a drive before he took us back to the marina and EVEN PARKED THE BOAT IN THE PEN! All on his own! GO SAM!!! I’m sure he could pass his skippers ticket now. He’s very sensible and controls the boat better than I can. Shame he has to wait until he’s 14 until he can even take it. Heaven help us then though; he’ll want his own boat (and you KNOW he won’t want a small little tinnie; he aims high – like his Father).

The weather this weekend’s been quite nice too, but we’ve been on ‘home duties’. You know our lovely clothes line that we were so proud of? Well it fell off the wall and snapped, so we had to take that back for a refund. They said in the shop that they’d never had one returned in 10 years (well, they’d never had one installed the way we’d installed it in 10 years!!). We’ll see if we can do a little better with number 2 :o( The new tumble dryer’s working very well though. With that and the new iron, I might take in laundry for the neighbours – it’s not as it I’ve got much on my plate now!

We’ve been scooping all the sand up that’s been left in the garden by the wind and scattered it all over the lawn for ‘top dressing’. Hopefully, one last clean and the pool should be sand free and we should be able to use it in the not too distant future. Can’t imagine the kids hopping in and out of it and really enjoying it; it’s been sat there like a big white elephant for so long, just gathering sand, creepy crawlies and muck! The dog’s got the most use out of It so far, by accidentally plopping in it from time to time.

We took the dog for a walk on the beach today. We tried a new dog beach in Port Kennedy (next to the nudist beach – YES MUM, I said nudist beach – I promise I’ll take you there for a sausage sizzle if the weather’s warm enough whilst you’re here! :o) It’s a lovely sheltered bay in PK – much different to the surf waves on Secret Harbour beach. I don’t suppose the nudists like it rough; perhaps you get too much sand in your nether regions!

This is for Mum’s benefit also: thought you’d like to see a comparison in the sizes of the knickers that you sent over for Darcie. I wet myself laughing when I unpacked the ‘larger size’ initially. How much DO you think she’s grown since you saw her last? As you say; plenty of room for growth :o)

Small ones are more juicy!

And......... Mr Cheese's snazzy Thomas Jamas:

I've noticed recently that the kids are really getting Aussie accents! If Darcie's voice goes any higher at the end of a sentence, only Pentley will be able to hear her - and Sam's not a lot better! It's becoming really noticable! Paul does little 'Australianisms' too - like not being able to say 'Route' as we would normally pronouce it. 'Root' here means to 'shag' so we can't have a root round the shops! We have to 'row-te'. It's 'dar-ta' as well, rather than 'day-ta'. Lots of little things that you lot would take the piss out of!

Also, in community news:

Congratulations to Siobhan, Alex, Freyja and Anya on the arrival of a long awaited baby boy! Little Harry Alexander entered the world last weekend and I just want to wish them all very many congratulations and lots of love :o)

6 weeks to Sing-a-pore. Can’t blooming wait!!!! I have fallen in love with a Prada handbag, so I shall be combing the stalls for a good knock-off version :o) Wonder how much wages I can earn between now and then? Perhaps if I offer the boss sexual favours? Well it worked for me at Grattes! (Please God, that was a joke!). Start taking your multi-vitamins Mum (and bulk buying Nurofen for the stress headaches that the kids will give you – ha ha ). I’m really looking forward to showing you how far we’ve come since you were last here (about half a kilometer as the crow flies – lol :o) I'm thinking of having our 'house warming; whilst Mum if here. The weather will be warmer and she can get pissed and throw up on a Yukka (or something), in keeping with 'tradition'. I shall think about it further and let you all know - you are all invited, by the way...... start packing!

On a scale of 1 – 10, how sick are you of the Olympics already? Darcie is bereft as they have cancelled ‘Home and Away’ for two weeks; her absolute, all time favourite (by the way, we can be ‘bribed’ for insider tips and future story lines, should you feel the need!). I like the more obscure items like the dressage and the diving. If Sam was to find something he was good at, he could be in London for 2012 if the British diver is anything to go by. Unfortunately, Sam has no co-ordination and is crap at sport, so unless they make ‘moaning and groaning’ an Olympic sport, I guess we’re stuck in Oz! On that note; I shall leave you to the sport and bid you a fond farewell.

Take care you ‘orrible lot!