Parties, parties and more parties...

Another weekend of parties.

Saturday, Margot and Karen went to a bowling party for Monique who turned six.

There were lots of girls.

Saturday night, we went over to Mario (plays soccer with Fergus), Vic (Karen knows from playgroup), Katerina (she's in Margot's class) and Nicolas house for dinner.  It was great night and the kids fell asleep on the couch watching High School Musical.  It was close to midnight by the time we got home!  It was an impromptu dinner and Mario came to get us at about 6pm.  We got a cab home to our house without too much trouble.

We all awoke feeling a bit nasty but we went to another party in our neighbourhood in the arvo.  It was for Amy who was turning seven.  It was a great old fashion kid's birthday party with lots of races and games.  The kookaburras even turned up in their backyard for a feeding!!

We are EXHAUSTED!!!!!  

To the city without children....

Fiona, a Mom from playgroup, and I went to the city on Friday.  Fiona has two kids, Charlie (he is in Margot's class) and Bridget (she is in Fiona's preschool class).  She is a trained midwife and teaches prenatal classes to new parents.  She is a hoot!  We took the express bus into town and enjoyed being childless, we gabbed non-stop, drank coffees, shopped, wandered around the CBD, had take-out sushi.

We're going to plan some other mummy daytrips into town; perhaps a trip to the art gallery next time.  

Tragic local event....

This week has been uneventful apart from Margot being sick for two of the school days.

But on the news front, a 16 year old boy stabbed his father to death and stabbed his mother putting her in critical condition at the hospital.   Luckily she was able to call the police before the boy left the house.  The police found him in the driveway with his backpack and in his school uniform.  It would appear that he was on his way to school....Fergus' school!!!!!  

The boy is a student at Fergus' elite catholic school.  Apparently the boy also had a list of individuals that he wanted to 'do in'.  Fergus did not know the boy. 

 

What horrendous news, huh?!  The boy, who was an only child, was described as being a loner, a little odd, etc. and the other kids bullied and teased him a fair bit.  Since last year, he had being openly telling everyone 'his plan'.  What was going through his head that Tuesday morning?  Frantically stab his father to death, stab his mother, shower and dress in his uniform and go merrily on to school.  Why didn't anyone see the signs or intervene?  The community is grieving and in shock and trying to figure out the answers.

Rest of long weekend...

On Sunday evening, we went to Parramatta and saw "Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who" and we all loved it!!  I can't believe the book was written over 50 years ago in 1954!  What a genius!

Fall has arrived in Sydney.  The air is cooler and the leaves are starting to fall off the gum trees.

Today we took a trip to Surry Hills, an eastern suburb of Sydney.  Lots of cafes, bars, restaurants, trendy 2nd hand shops and interior design stores.  We had a beautiful pavlova with yogurt cream and strawberries at Bills'.  Bill Granger is a renowned chef in the city and we thought we'd give his restaurant a go.  The menu was limited and because we were there in the middle of the afternoon, we didn't get to try any of the mains.  Will have to return.

South Coast - Shoalhaven

Easter Long Weekend:

We stuffed and packed our car after school/work on Thursday and headed down the south coast towards Jervis Bay - 170 km, 2.5 hr drive from the city.  The drive out of the city was pretty smooth, the traffic was light, we didn't get lost and got on the Princes Highway with little trouble.  The drive was pretty with green rolling hills on one side and the coast line on the other side.  When we got to Nowra, we realized the rest of Sydney also decided to go down South for the weekend.  We were crawling at 5km/hr in a 100km/hr zone for more than an hour!  We finally found our unit in Vincentia by 9pm - 5 hours later!!

The weather forecast was poor for the weekend and unfortunately it held true.  There was lightening and thunder for most of Thursday night. The self-contained unit we rented was a 2 bedroom part of a duplex, just 50m from Collingwood Beach.  On a sunny weekend, we would have had a very different experience.  It was nice to get away nonetheless. 

On Friday, we went on an 1.5 hr dolphin cruise in Huskinsson.  It was freezing and wet but we loved it.  We saw countless numbers of bottlenose dolphins swimming right under the bow of our boat.  The girls loved it!!  We also met another couple Anne, Matt and their three year old Tess smartly dressed for the weather with their gore tex jackets and boots (unlike us in our flip flops!!) because they were camping for the weekend.   We got off the boat and had fish and chips with them.  They are a couple of chiropractors living about 45 minutes away from us in

 Richmond.  They have horses and have invited us to stop by another weekend. 

In the afternoon, we spent an hour or two at Hyams Beach.  It has been declared the whitest sand in the world by the Guinness book of records.  There has been much dispute as to whether it is truly the whitest silica sand but for now Hyams beach has been promoted as that.  We went there to see for ourselves but unfortunately it was a cloudy overcast day so the sand was not as 'white' as it probably would have been on a clear sunny day.  Nonetheless it was pretty darn white and fine!  Margot and Karen went for a walk while Fergus and Fiona stayed and drew on the sand.  Fergus put the girls in the naughty circle!

Saturday morning at 10:30 we had to check out of the apartment and we headed out of the Jervis Bay area, but only after a short pit stop at the local bakery for chocolate croissants and coffees.  The south coast seems a little different than the north (i.e. Nelson Bay area) in that there are more cafes, restaurants, nice shops, and a more diverse crowd.

On Saturday on our way home, we made stops at Berry and Kiama.

Berry is a quaint little inland town lined with turn of the century buildings, trees, gardens, antique shops, more shops, cafes and restaurants.  The town was bustling on S

aturday due to the rain.  We wandered for an hour or so and particularly liked the Cuckoo Corner shop and Sew and Tell (Mom  & Sharon, you would have loved it, there were lots of Amy Butler items).

Kiama is famous for its' blowhole.  Kiama is derived from an aboriginal word "where the sea makes noise".  The blowhole was first discovered by George Bass in 1797 and has been a major tourist attraction since.  The blowhole can spray water up to 25 metres in the air but these days the spray is minimum.  The coast line scenery is very beautiful with rocky cliffs, sandy beaches, and pine trees.  We stayed for a few hours and had fish and chips with the pelicans.

We got home by dinner but poor Margot got sick in the car an hour and half away from the house.  She often complains of stomach aches in the car on long drives.  We'll have to figure out a better way for road travel with her!!

Easter Celebrations...

Highlights of the week - 

1.  Margot's school had an Easter Lithurgy on Tuesday where they created the story of Easter.  It was a packed house and I was impressed by how well the kids behaved.  The 'performance' was straight forward and unlike the grande shows produced by Nootka.

2.  Fiona's preschool had an Easter hat parade and picnic.  Unfortunately Fiona came out crying - fear of all the parents and their cameras and missing her friend Bridget who was home sick.  

She completed the parade in tears but was happy again after she found her golden egg in the egghunt.  We had a picnic on the preschool grounds, which by the way is splendid - lots of space and outdoor activities which we are very happy with (especially since Fiona is such a physical child - loves to climb, jump, and run).  Some of the other preschools in the area are just concrete buildings with NO outdoor space at all.  Parents also brought a plate to share and the table was COMPLETELY filled with anything sweet.  Fairy bread is basically bread with sprinkles!!  

A BIG happy...

birthday to Auntie Ilona, Cousin Joe and Cousin Hamish!!

Hope you have a great year!!

Lots of love,

Ferg, Karen, Margot and Fiona

xxxx

Good weekend...

The weekend was pretty busy as usual.

Friday night, we had our neighbours over for dinner - Tony, Egidia, Mariah, Sammy and Adam.  I will post some photos of them soon.  They've been a great addition to our life here in Australia.  The kids get on great, the parents get on great.  It's all good.

Saturday, Margot had yet another birthday party.  This time it was a dual pool party for Michael and Andrew out in Bella Vista.  We took it easy later in the afternoon and the evening.

Sunday, Fergus played his first full soccer game in 2008.  Their team lost and were beaten 3 - 1.  He played centre mid-field.  After lunch, we decided to head out to the St. Patrick's Day parade in Hyde Park.  We drove to Parramatta and spent ages finding parking.  We finally parked in the mall.  Although it cost a fortune it was better than nothing.   We took the train into the Town Hall.  

Where there are Irish, there is a party.  There was live music, bouncy castles, bad food, lots of guiness and beer, Irish hounds, happy drunks clad in green.  We had a good time in the crowds.  The girls liked watching the Dandy Lionz - 'the best rock band for kids'.    We took a jaunt to chinatown and had dinner at BBQ King.  I still can't get over how much certain things cost here....$35 for a plate of bbq pork/bbq duck!   At least it was good and we have lots of leftovers  for dinner tomorrow.  The girls are in bed early tonight.

It feels good to get out in the city.  When  I'm in the city, I actually feel like I'm living in Sydney, unlike where we live.  Have to get out there more!!

"May you live as long as you want, and never want as long as you live."

Happy St. Patricks Day!!