Everybody was Kung Fu Fighting ...

It's the holidays, its raining, Beth is in bed sick and the kids have cabin fever... lets get out ... somewhere ... anywhere!

In my desperation we end up at the shopping centre. A luck would have it Kung Fu Panda is in town ... time for the boys to let off some steam with some Kung u Fighting. I think they enjoyed it... what do you think?

Backyardigans ...

Plans are afoot in the back garden to make use of the space down in the far corner. Its all gone a bit crazy down there in the spot where a plastic potting greenhouse once proudly stood. More recently its become a dumping ground for pruned ferns, trees and piles of leaves ... well its time to take control.

We'll post some pictures (if) when we make progress.

Welcome Home ...

While Team Reece were relaxing in Sydney (...delivering Lily! ;0) ) House Reece was having a delivery of its own ... all their household belongs returned home.

Amy and Mitch have been away in Armadale for a year which is about a four and half hour drive (nine hours if I'm driving!) away. We were brave enough to do the trip once ... that put us off trying again!

It will certainly be good to have them back across the road although things will have changed just a little bit ... currently by about 1.6kg!

Welcome to the World: Lily Jane Reece

Please welcome the beautiful Lily Jane Reece...

She was born 25th September, and arrived little earlier than planned after Amy suffered from Pre-eclampsia. Measuring in at 1.519kgs and 42.5cm she fighting fit just needing little assistance to breath.

Lily is a symbol for purity, innocence, beauty and strength.... looks like she got the right name. Our thoughts and congratulations go out to Amy, Mitch and Lily for the next few weeks... we hope to have them all home from Sydney as soon as they are good and ready!

School Holidays ...

In the absence of anything more blog worthy here's a picture of Alfie snapped at school. You have to say its a lot better than I used to get at school ... where is the fake cloud background for goodness sake.

It captures Alfie's personality who incidentally has changed the well known parental phrase "What on Earth are you doing?" to "What are you doing on Earth?" which is far more profound. ;0)

Nice one Alfie ...

Any parent knows that when your kids are quiet they're up to something. So when my phone gets an email I read it and I see eBay "Congratulations you've won a bagless vacuum cleaner!" I'm like "Beth"... and she's like "ALFIE!"

Alfie will be making good use of his new "toy" in coming months!

Happy Birthday Mum ...

With everyone back at work this morning Sunday provided the perfect opportunity to celebrate Beth's birthday in the Sunshine. It was up and out in the morning as we went to the local indoor play centre for a leisurely breakfast with friends.

Later it was over to the Murdoch's house for some slip and slide action and a bite to eat in the evening. A great day...

Beach Life ...

Taken with Instagram @ Dudley Beach. Winter 2011.

Swimming ...

Alfie has made quite a bit of progress with his swimming - from clingy crying kid who would make himself sick before swimming to proud Graduate of Red Group! Here's a clip of him diving (falling with style!) into the pool and swimming a width.

Think 2012 selection is out of the question although by Rio 2016 he might be ready for selection or have actually completed his width! ;0)

Veggies...

The Summer veggies are in ...

... here's to a bumper crop! Head Gardeners to arrive end of November!!

Firemen ...

Here's a picture of Alfie and his Pre-School buddy at our school book week parade. Each week we dress as our favourite book characters and parade for the rest of the school, and this year the Pre-Schoolers got to come along and watch.

It was quite strange sitting their as a teacher watching Alfie at school, he is growing up so fast and it was quite strange. The good thing was that Beth was there working on the same day so mum and dad were both there working!

He'll have another year at Pre-School next year and will start Kindergarten in January 2013. He can go next year but we've decided to hold off for another year. Its quite a decision to make for parents with mid year birthday children, Alfie's not ready for 2012 in many ways but its horses for courses.

Brotherly Love ...

Ahhh brotherly love ...

... at least I think its a cuddle!

Alfie and Charlie in a rare moment of non Tom and Jerry-esque chasing where one of them (... normally Alfie!) ends up getting flogged with a plastic golf club!

What do you need an umbrella for in Australia?

... to keep the sprinkler drops off that's what!

Seriously though we are looking forward to the Summer having emerged from the depths of Winter. You might laugh but the weather isn't always the blue skies and sunshine that this blog might suggest. The fact that we've not been out and about much taking snaps for you guys is a good indication.

The Youth of Today ...

Much was made here in Australia of the riots in England last month. Most people asked me about it mostly because they were bemused by the whole thing. The "people" (can't think of a better word to describe these people!) that got news airtime to explain their reasons for destroying their neighbourhood could barely string a sentence together!

What for Alfie and Charlie's generation?!? These caught in the act shots from a recent birthday party are a cause for concern as they all made a beeline for the beers...

Lucy goes for an apple juice... fermented!?!

Jasper - "Do you really need to see my ID?"

Lucy comes back for another ... Charlie a victim of peer pressure!

Who wants to tell Daniel he can't have another? ... Thomas Burberry shirt!

No real children were harmed, drank beer or ate late night Kebabs in the making of this post!

Month by Month update...

Okay okay ... so you're laughing because I should have titled this post "Season by Season!" Yes its been a while but here's to some more frequent posting in coming weeks. To wet your appetite here are some reccent pictures of the boys...

Alfie Jack...



Charlie James...

Instagram...

Mid year break here and some much needed time with the family. The photo folders on our computers have been a little empty of late... a sure fire sign that things have been busy. I have managed to capture some shots on the phone while we've been out and about using Instagram. Its a great little iPhone app that lets you take a picture and then fiddle about with some filters for all kinds of different effects.

I particularly like the ones that make everything retro orange, like back in the seventies when everything was orange ... but all photographs seemed to end up with the retro orange tinge!Hope you like them ... they're a good indication of what we've been up to lately...

Time for some much needed guitar practice under the palm tree!

The last leaves of Autumn cling to the tree in the garden.

Entrance to Nobbies Beach on a Winters day.

Rugged up against the wind and rain.

Another coal ship slides into port.

A Winters Day at Bar Beach... our favourite!

Charlie takes a dip...

Alfie gets some sand out of his ear!

Winter Down Under ...

It's well and truly Winter here in the Land Down Under! To be honest it doesn't get that cold although I think that the longer I'm away from the UK the softer I'm getting! The problem is that strangely older houses in Australia don't cope well with the heat or the cold... we live in what basically amounts to a big wooden shed so it gets pretty cold at night and in the mornings so its UGG boots on, plenty of jumpers and the air conditioning switched around to heat!

We get of lot of clear and cold weather which is great as you can rug up and get out there. We recently had a very wet spell as a big East Coast low hung around for about a week giving us about 400mm of rain in about three days. We were starting to think back to the last big storm we had in June a few years ago .. thankfully it didn't get quite that bad. At the moment its about 17 degrees during the day and about 5 degrees at night... so can't really complain. Leaves are off the trees in the garden and continually being raked up ... it won't be too long before the green shoots of Spring will be back and we'll be back on the beach wearing less than we are in the photo above. Everything crossed here for an English Summer worthy of the name for you guys! ;0)

Super Party ...

We had a Super Day for Alfie's birthday party way back in May. There were about twenty super heroes running around and one Super Woman/Mum! Unfortunately Dad's super hero costume didn't arrive until the day after! ... I'm keen to hear of anyone having a Superhero costume so I can wear it...

Charlie (aka SuperBoy) found a balloon and occupied himself for hours. We sometimes question why we buy him anything other than a dustpan and brush and a bag of balloons.

To the (roof of) the Bat Cave! Batman and Robin invite Superman around for a well deserved rest after party games and fighting crime.

Pass the parcel was a hit... amazingly everyone won a prize ... not in my day! While we're on the subject of new innovations at birthdays Alfie also had a pinata which was hung from a tree. The Superhero's then took it in turns with a cricket stump to smash it so that the sweets came out. Amazingly nobody lost an eye and after a few swings each everyone was on the floor gathering the lollies!

Then it was birthday cake for everyone... you know the type that harbors almost every germ know to man as twenty pre schoolers blow all over it taking turns to blow the candles out! ;0)

Meanwhile back in the ball pool SuperBoy ditched the balloons for well you can see!.... ;0)

Month by Month: May Update...

Yup I know we're well into June but you've guessed it we've been very busy. I've been wearing another hat at school this term being Head of Stage for Years Three and Four as well as all my other hats. Beth has also been picking up some casual teaching work so it's been warp factor nine for about nine weeks or so ... only five days of term to go and then three weeks holiday! Before I get lynched by non teaching readers I'll move on to the monthly updates for Alfie and Charlie...

Charlington



Alfred

Easter Down on the Farm ...

We've certainly developed a taste for country life over the last few months and racked up some km's in the pursuit of something new. It really brings it home to you when you drive non stop for five hours and don't even get close to leaving New South Wales! We loaded the car again to return to about 70km of where we had visited the zoo only five days earlier!

This time we'd been invited to our friend Matt's parents farm. It is 3000 acres of cattle farming land near Wellington. His parents were the perfect hosts and most welcoming of the six children (all four or under!) and the six adults that descended on them for the Easter Weekend. It really was a magical time with our friends and their family. In fact we were having so much fun that we didn't leave the farm once during our stay. Away from the computers, televisions and the other distractions of modern day life there wasn't much more to do than enjoy the weather, the country each others company and do the odd job or two around the place.



There were lots of cups of tea, farmhouse baked cakes to eat, the cattle to watch, tennis to play, tea to drink, dog to pat, grass to roll on, swings to swing on, tea to drink, wine to drink, utes to ride in, fires to start, stones to skim, food to eat, books to read at and tea to drink! It really was a special weekend with lots of laughs and memories. There were also many firsts with my first ride on a motorbike and the opportunity to climb a grain silo to secure the hatch on the top.