Best Wishes for 2009!!!

Hope you have all had a lovely Christmas xx

The past few weeks have been quite hectic with build up to Christmas and I have not had chance to update on here for a while. We have been socialising alot with various work do's and Christmas drinks...it has been lovely. Last minute plans are taking us away for New Year, so I will do a massive update with all the photos when we get back. It really is a rush, leaving in the morning and still got to pack!

We hope you all have fantastic New Year's Eve celebrations and wish all our family and friends the very best for 2009!

xxxxx

The last couple of weeks...

The past few weeks have been the usual routine of work, playgroups and going to the beach where possible :-) Wes decided to bring the garden spade to the beach to see how big he could build a sandcastle for George. I wouldn't have called it a sandcastle....more a heap of sand...but George had a great time climbing over it.

Last week, I took George to see The Wiggles with Kate, Emily, Luke and some friends. A friend booked the tickets back in June, the time has flown by. The Wiggles are huge over here, they are the four campest guys who sing songs, joke about and are probably the four richest men in Australia. The look on George's face was a picture in itself. He was full of smiles and managed to wander up the aisle right to the front of the stage, so he had the best view. He was also lucky enough to meet one of The Wiggles as he walked passed us.

We put our pool up at the weekend. It is only an inflatable, but still bigger than the paddling pool we used to have for George. It is 10 foot wide and just under 3 foot deep, so George is confident being in there. In between water balloon fights and playing in the pool, we are making full use of the garden and nice weather.

Christmas holidays are soon approaching and George's playgroups are coming to an end until February! This week we went to a lovely park for Tuesday's playgroup, it had a volcano in the centre of it that the kids could around and up to the steam coming out, water features and loads more. Wednesday playgroup, was George's Christmas party so he had party food and brought home all the Christmas goodies he has been making. Wes is in Sydney this week and has taken the camera with him, so am trying to get photos from the others mums from the party.

Wes is back on Friday and then family start to arrive for Christmas, which will be nice. It probably comes as no surprise to many of you, but we hope to spend at least some of Christmas Day down the beach! It is unsual for us to get any post here, unless it is a bill, but the postman has been busy, so thank you to those who have sent letters, cards and presents already xxx

Meet Harry!

This was our first encounter with a huntsman spider....my skin is still crawling! Luckily, it was on the outside of the bathroom window this morning, but there was no way I could just leave it there. Wes was no help!!! So I (being petrified of spiders!) got my flip flop and a can of bug spray, gave it a whack (couldn't hit it to hard or I might have broken the window!) it dropped to the floor and I used half a can of spray on it, then continued to whack it about another 15 times! I think it's dead!!

Recent Photos

We tend to take the camera with us everywhere, so here are some photos from the past couple of weeks.

Melbourne Cup Day

I never realised what a big thing the Melbourne Cup is over here. Both Wes and I had a busy Tuesday....

Wes worked the morning, but that is a much as he did! Everyone went back to the office to have a few beers and watch the race. Wes was expecting pizza and chips, so was rather surprised when he saw a carvery laid on for them and the chef carving his meat for him! They did a sweep stake in work and generally not much work got done that afternoon, other than chatting and eating cake!

My day started out with George's playgroup as per the norm, but we had been invited to a friends to celebrate Melbourne Cup. I did not quite know what to expect, but Meagan laid on a gorgeous spread and I spent the afternoon sipping champagne cocktails and fruit punch. There were eight of us mums and about 12 kids. We were lucky with the weather so they were able to roam in and out of the garden. We also did a sweep stake, my horse was nowhere to be found, but nonetheless we had a very nice afternoon.

Red Bull Air Race Weekend

Last weekend was another sociable one for us. Saturday morning, we went to one of Wes' work friends for a couple of hours. They, like us have only been here a short while and have a son who is a little younger than George, so it was nice for us to have a chat and for the boys to play. From there, we drove to the river to catch a glimpse of the Red Bull Air Race. It was qualifying day, so maybe not as busy as race day, but there were still loads of people at the waters edge watching the planes. A purpose built runway was made at the side of the river especially for the race, it was quite mad watching them take off and fly up. We watched for a short while and I managed to catch a clip of one plane, (mini clip below) it was amazing how low they were flying. After seeing the planes, we headed to Lardi and Bec's house as we had been invited to a BBQ. These were the friends we met last week at the park and got on really well with. George was really excited to meet them again and spent most of the afternoon and evening following Lardi around.

Sunday, we headed up north again, to Butler, this is about as far as you can go before you reach the national park and bushland. We met up with Steve, Amanda and their girls (who previously lived 5 minutes from us in the UK, but we did not meet them until we got here). Their rental is lovely and you seem to get more for your money where they are. Although we both loved the area, we found it to be a little too far north for us to consider in the future. There was a fete going on in their local area, so we spent a couple of hours enjoying the stalls and rides. It was a beautiful day, but the flies were out in force and were quite annoying at times. We were lucky with the weather this weekend, because it has been raining on and off since!

Red Bull Air Race

The last few weeks...

It has been a busy few weeks in more ways than one over here. Wes Mum arrived a couple of weeks ago for a flying visit, but is hopefully back out at Christmas for a longer break. I am now doing some data entry work from home, which works well for us as I am working it around George. The schools went back after the mid term break, so playgroups and swimming are all back to normal. George has moved up a group in his swimming and is adjusting well. Hopefully, I should be out of the water in a few weeks time. We are getting there with George using the toilet, the reward chart we are using is really helping.

The weekends have been busy meeting friends for BBQ's and socialising with some of Wes' friends from work. There always seems to be people in a similar situation to us, recently moved here, either from abroad or just another part of Australia, so it is nice to share experiences and start to build friendships. Western Australia is trialling daylight savings, (this is the last of a 3 year trial), so we are now 9 hours ahead of the UK.

Giggles at lunch

Wes and the kids were all doing fake laughs, then George comes out with...'it's not funny'....that made them all laugh even more....and so it went on!

A quiet week...

It has been the school holidays here this past week and everything stops, so no playgroup or swimming lessons for George. Taking full advantage of not having much on for a fortnight, I decided to try and get George out of nappies. To say it has been a challenge would be an understatement, but we are getting there and have even started to venture out of the house again! We took George swimming on Saturday and he enjoyed the slides. He really is improving and is moving up a group next term, which will hopefully see me getting out of the water and him being more confident on his own. Lew and Kate popped round on Sunday and we offered to have the kids for a bit. They had a really giggly lunch (mini clip above) and just enjoyed playing together.

It is really strange here at the moment, it seems that the whole of Perth has turned into a tip! Kerb side collections start this week and it appears that mostly everyone has had a clear out over the weekend and just dumped there stuff on their front lawns. If you had no idea what was going on, it is quite strange to see all this rubbish appear overnight. The funny thing about it, is that you can just go and help yourself to other people's rubbish! I have seen cars driving round and pulling up next to piles of rubbish having a good route through them. We had a wander around our estate the other night to see if we could pick up any garden toys for George but were unlucky :-(

Bank Holiday Weekend

Last weekend was a bank holiday here and lucky for us the weather was lovely. On Sunday, George had his first party invite to a friend's 1st birthday. We got together with everyone at Woodman Point, where the kids could run around and play and we could have a drink and chat. George loved playing with his cousins and spent a lot of time rolling down the slopes with Luke.

Monday, the Queen's Birthday...(not quite sure which one, but Wes was off work)...so we went to the Perth Royal Show. This is a yearly event that takes place here in Perth for just over a week. There is loads going on everyday, with displays on the main showground, plus cattle/sheep judging, wood chopping competitions, animals to pet/ride, various promotions, food halls with freebies.....who needed lunch.....we tried popcorn, milk, mashed potato, sausages, milk shakes, apple juice and collected loads more along the way. We met up with Lew and co for a bit, then went our separate ways. They had done this all last year, but as it was all new to us so we walked around most of the show.

One of the main things about the show is the show bags. There are stalls full of bags with goodies, mainly for the kids. It was quite funny to watch, but people must go just for the bags, some people had armfuls of them. I did manage to get the 'mammoth' bag for Wes which included a boogie board that he cannot wait to try out. We got George a Disney Cars bag and a Bob the Builder bag, but have put some of the goodies inside away for stocking fillers for Christmas. He had a great day, driving the boats, flying in the helicopters, bouncing down the slides, winning on the side stalls, petting a pig and riding a camel with daddy. We thoroughly enjoyed the day and would recommend it.

http://www.perthroyalshow.com.au/

King's Park and Whiteman Park

Last weekend was like two extremes, Saturday was so hot, the suntan lotion was on and we caught the sun, but Sunday was gale force winds.......and we were out in it!

We spent Saturday afternoon at King's Park, packed a picnic and enjoyed the sun. George was learning how to throw a frisbee and it always seemed to go in the opposite direction, but he had a great time playing.

Sunday was such a contrast, but we headed of to Whiteman Park to see 'The Friends of Thomas'. The weather was not too bad when we left, but after our first train ride, it was so windy and pouring. We were so cold and almost gave up on the day, but decided to eat our picnic in the car....well Wes and George were in the boot! Luckily, it stopped and the sun came out, so it was back on the trains and off to see the animals, fire engines and bounce on the bouncy castle. Despite the bad start, we were glad we stayed to enjoy the day.

http://www.whitemanpark.com.au/park/map.asp

No wonder the car needed a wash!!

Off roading and some serious mud!!

Last Sunday Wes and George revisited the Mundaring off road track we did a couple of weeks ago, but this time there had been a lot of rain so the puddles were huge and Wes took our car. I was cringing thinking it was going to come back trashed.....it did come back but absolutely filthy! Pictures at the end and also Wes and George cleaning it! They had a good day, met up with some people Lew had arranged to meet, so there were plenty of them to help rescue if required. Luckily this time, Wes did not get stuck! George had a great day and now any time we drive on what might not be the main road......he screams 'bumpy road, bumpy road.'

Fathers Day - Sunday 7th September

Wes missed Fathers Day in the UK this year and had to wait until September over here. It always falls on the first Sunday of the month. The weather was the hottest it had been for a while so after a massive breakfast, we headed for the river. It was so calm compared to the beach and was busy but not over bearing, still plenty of space. A lot of people had the same idea and were having picnics and barbies. It was very relaxing just watching people set off in their boats across the water or just being buried in the sand!

Song time at playgroup

George shakes his wiggles out, nods his naughties out, claps his crazies out and jumps his jiggles out......this is the funniest thing to watch but he noticed I was filming. Check out how he moves his whole body to nod his head!

George gets nodding

Playgroup and sunset

I finally remembered to bring the camera to George's Playgroup. He goes to this on a Wednesday morning and loves it.....calls it 'big playgroup'......mainly because of the space. It is based in a primary school and there are 2 sand pits, a climbing frame, swings, loads of apparatus to play with or climb on, but mainly George finds a truck or digger to push around! Inside there are various tables set up for painting, play dough, sticking etc. When the bell rings, George knows it is time to rush in for song time, followed by fruit, then a bit more playing before the bell rings again for goodbye songs. He really enjoys going and for just $2 (about £1) he has the best 2 hours of the week.

This week, we used one of the free bbqs at the beach, just hot dogs and jacket potatoes before we got attacked by sea gulls and mossies. Made a nice change though, then wandered down the beach to watch the sunset and dig!

Bouncing on the bumpy roads!

Off Roading and Cottesloe Beach

A Dam packed weekend!

Last Saturday we ventured in land a little, the wind dropped and the sun was beating as we headed to Churchman Brook Dam. As we got closer, the drive reminded me of the last stretch to Alton Towers, lots of hilly winding roads though the trees. The views were amazing, we could see the water, it was so turquoise in colour and very inviting. There were picnic areas and, of course, George discovered the play area within minutes. We took a walk across the dam and then settled for some lunch, it was very picturesque. George played with his new rocket and Wes had a nap (still on Sydney time.)

Late afternoon, we decided to make a move and thought lets go find another dam! Next stop, Wungong Dam. Again, the drive down through the fields was beautiful, but the picnic area was not as nice. We pulled over into the car park and found the place crawling with giant ants....(my skin is crawling just typing this!) We moved the car and headed up the steep hill to the top of the dam. George decided he wanted to be carried, so poor Wes was very hot by the time we got to the top! The views from the dam were amazing and it was so peaceful.

Sunday, we decided to travel south, about 40 minutes to Mandurah. Before we came over, it always appealed to us, but having been there, we were disappointed. This would be the first time, we both said we would not want to stay here. It is very commercialised and busy, very different from where we are now. The city centre is based around the river, with cafes and bars, lots of play areas, but it was heaving and we are still not in summer! We went to a fun fair, George played for a bit and really enjoyed the trampolining.

It was a nice weekend, we are enjoying exploring, finding out what we like and dislike. Wes was in Sydney last week, he said it was so busy, the airport was more like Heathrow, roads were bumper to bumper, so many skyscrapers. He made friends with an Argentinian guy on his course, they muddled through together and had a laugh. He is out on the road this week on his own, so hopefully, it will be OK. So far so good!

Last couple of weeks...

The past couple of weeks have probably been the quietest since we arrived. The weather as been amazing and not a drop of rain since Rod and Josh left (sorry you 2.) Wes started his new job and his brain has been aching from all the reading he has had to do. It is going well so far and he has flown to Sydney today for a weeks training, leaving George and I to fend for ourselves. Our week is fairly busy already, with playgroup Tuesday and Wednesday mornings, followed by swimming lessons on a Friday morning. I have uploaded some photos from the past couple of weekends, mainly at the beach or park. We have been here 3 months this week, not sure where the time has gone but it is flying!

Happy Birthday to Grandad and Rod, hope you both are having a lovely day xxx

Thank you....

Just a note to say thank you to anyone that sent cards, presents, flowers, emails and messages for my birthday. It was very nice to be remembered all the way over here.

As Wes started his new job this week, George and I had a very lazy morning. After lunch we went to the park near the beach and although the sun wasn't out, we walked out across the jetty, so still made it to the beach on my birthday!

Thanks again and love to everyone, Jo xxxxx

The sound of the waves....

For all those who want to hear the sound of the waves lapping, you'll need to turn the volume up to hear them, I probably stood a bit to far away.

The Sun Chaser in action....

Our time with Rod and Josh

Rod and Josh landed just over 3 weeks ago and they have left already. It was great to see them and will miss them heaps. There are A LOT of photos to get through, but we had a lot of laughs taking them. We had a hectic time, which included them helping us move into our new house, (really could not have done it without them) and then they came and made themselves at home after living the first couple of weeks at Lew's.

The weather has been shocking, the wettest winter Perth has had in a while, so that wasn't much fun. Josh really wanted to get a tan, so my car became known as the B.R.U - Beach Response Unit! I promised Josh as soon as the sun came out, we would hit the beach and sure enough one afternoon, we had some blue sky and drove straight to Woodman Point - our closest beach, about 10 minutes drive. It was a bit windy but Josh was there, laying out his towel and when the sun went behind the clouds, he ran down the beach chasing after it......from then on , he was known as the Sun Chaser!

Wes finished working at Armadale Council last week, so he had some days off and knowing Rod and Josh had brought their flight forward (mainly because of the weather), we tried to pack as much in as possible. We managed to go to King's Park, Rockingham Beach, Perth Zoo, Fremantle Prison, Reptile Centre, took the train to the city, play tennis and the sun came out for 2 days at the beach.

We were lucky enough to stumble on some footie teams training at our local pitches, so Wes spoke to the manager and he said Josh could come along and train with them twice a week whilst he was here. When he left, the manager said he would be more than welcome to come back again, when (and if) he comes out at Christmas.

Wes started his new job for Fuji Xerox yesterday, he has a couple of weeks here, before he flies to Sydney for further training. It seems he is mainly going to be based south of the river, as all the other engineers are up north. He picks his station wagon up when he gets back from Sydney and then he is out on road. The first couple of days have been OK so far, fingers crossed it will work out.

It has been a pleasure having Rod and Josh here and we will miss them loads. Now it is time for us to really make a go of our life here and knuckle down. Will keep you all posted xx

George and his train

We finally got to set up George's track and train under the al fresco area. He did not let us charge the train up enough (it does go faster), however, he has great fun going round and round............and round the house too!

Our new home

We finally made it into our own place and are settling well. We are renting a 4 bedroom house, probably more room than we need, but plenty of room for guests! George picked his blue room and is sleeping better than ever. He loves playing outside on his slide or scooting round the house. Our house is situated on the corner, with bushland to our left and the rest of the cul-de-sac to our right. The local park is less than 100 metres away and if thats no good, then we have the community playing fields, which is about a 5 minute walk. The area is very peaceful....apart from the bin lorry that arrives VERY early on a tuesday morning, about 6AM! Other than that, we are very happy and have committed ourselves to the next 12 months at least.

Birthday Wishes xxx

George gets scooting

Sunday at Rockingham

As the sun was shining today, we took a picnic and headed back to Rockingham. We bought George a scooter and he spent the day scooting along the beach front, in between jumping off to go on the swings or slide. The sun was hot, but it was still a bit chilly to paddle so we sat on the beach whilst George dug for treasure.....a coin that Wes had buried and I wrote messages in the sand (all in pics above!)

We have got a busy week ahead, Rod and Josh arrive in the early hours for a month long trip. On Tuesday we pick up the keys to our rental and are allowed to move in as of Wednesday. It will be nice to finally get settled in our own place. We will take some photos of the new place once sorted but might not be able to post updates for while until we get the Internet sorted so watch this space!