My 40th

What a fantastic birthday I've had - I can't imagine it being any better. Firstly I'd like to say a big thank you to everyone who has been involved and been so generous; I have really been made to feel special for the last few days and I've loved every minute of it. And of course most of this would never have been possible without the time and effort Lisa has devoted in organising everything; a heartfelt thank you and I don't think I have the vocablary to describe how wonderful she is. (Can't forget to say how well behaved William has been especially as we left him to his own devices while we rushed around organising, tidying and preparing the house for the party yesterday.)

My 40th birthday was on Thursday and we decided to have a quiet one and open my cards & presents over a curry in the evening. The weather was perfect and we sat outside on the candle lit deck under a clear sky with the stars munching nan and sweating away to a Korma & Tikka Masala. A day to recover before Saturday and my big fancy dress party.

It was on Lisa's advice that I didn't go Mountain Biking as normal on Saturday morning as she had organised a surprise for me, so we headed down towards the Gold Coast. And as we neared the destination I had to put on a mask (thankfully I wasn't driving!) to keep the suspense going. On arriving, totally disorientated I was still none the wiser even in the carpark. Though it slowly became clear, on the horizon in the distance 2 big balls - Zorbing. Cool!

The first was a strapped in ride... no trouble.



And the second, the full Wash Cycle, a free ride with the toilet water.

We rushed home to prepare everything for this evenings party. Luckily we were reasonably organised as there were a few mishaps in the preparation. Firstly the meat from the butchers didn't fit on our rotisserie and we had to use garden string to re-tie it into some usable shape. Next the gas ran out on the barbie after only an hour or so of cooking (3.5 hrs left to go) and then finally as we were changing into our costumes, the first guests began to arrive.

After a Jim Beam or two everything was fine and we relaxed. Everyone arrived and most of them in costume. The food was going well, the meat looked and smelt great. From this point on I can't remember too much except the food was delicious and plentyful, my wonderful birthday cake was a surprise and the evening was great fun especially when all the boys started playing bowls on the Wii late into the night. Drunken games are always fun.

I'll let the pictures below tell the story...

Friendly Encounter

The other night we heard a thunderous screechy noise outside so we went out to investigate. Purdey turned up looking sheepish so we chucked her inside thinking she was chasing a bat or something. Look what turned up. He was a prime specimen, I think he's a Green Tree Frog.

Bad Hair Days

Just don't know what to do with it these days.

Christmas Day

What a fantastic day, what a long day. It started early with William opening a few of his presents from Santa's stocking in our room. His 'Ho Ho Ho's changed to 'Wow Wow Wow's and just didn't stop. His smile and excitement was just so wonderful and genuine.
William would only open a single present at a time (though a good thing) and then go off and play with it, it has left plenty of gifts still wrapped under the tree for another day. We'll get back to those soon.
We had a couple of hours to cook puddings & desserts ready for our trip over the road to the neighbours for Christmas lunch. I can't remember how many dishes Lisa prepared but I cooked a lemon meringue using mum's old recipe. I couldn't wait for food now, and it didn't disappoint, we just ate and ate and ate even more.

Cranberry chutney on Brie on toast, or Oysters as a starter followed by the aussie traditional prawns and Moreton Bay bugs. The roast was followed by home made Irish Cream, more alcohol and then our puddings, and they were good even if I do say so myself.

We may have been exhausted and feeling like a lay down by late afternoon but William was still going for it like a little energiser bunny. The children were on overdrive and loving every minute.

I'm sure Lisa will have plenty more to write once she's sober.

The Christmas Street Party

Only two more sleeps till Christmas and we still have presents to wrap! It's been a busy party season, ending this week with our Christmas Street party. There was far too much food as normal, everything from rum balls to trifle and of course the traditional sausages on the barbie. William managed to keep up with the older kids, trying out their scooters and skateboards with alarming success and almost making it up the precariously placed jump ramp (eek!). The annual awards were presented - Andrew won the "Mad Dogs & Englishmen" prize for going out cycling in a storm when everyone else was running for cover. I won the Peter Brock Memorial prize for the fastest driving up the street (well we have got a big hill to get up!). It was a great night though, which saw William collapsing into bed at 9.30pm (closely followed by mummy and daddy!).
We're now undoubtedly full of festive spirit and wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year - we'll be seeing you on the webcam!

Weather

Its begining to feel at lot warmer now. Even though the temperature has dropped a little to the high 20's, the humidity is making it feel like living in a sauna. I think its going to be tough this Summer and the air conditioning's going to take a hammering as the Brisbane weather cycles back to normality; hot sticky days and storms in the afternoon that clear the air.

And this was just a little storm, 9000 lightening strikes in 2 hours and 25mm of rain in 30 minutes.

The Cleanup

This weekend has been spent still cleaning up the garden following the storm a couple of weeks ago. We've had more rain since, so the ground hasn't dried out much (neither has our artificial grass which now has weeds growing in it as its so full of soil!). It's been a boiling hot day today - William decided to go skinny-dipping at 7.30 this morning and we were all in by midday. The rest of our street has already got all their Christmas lights up, so we'll be following suit sometime this week - looking forward to William's reaction to the Christmas Tree!