Holidays January 2008

Our annual Boere holiday started on 7th Jan with one week of camping at Old Barand then a week at Loes' farm. Old Bar was an ok place although the beach was a bit stoney and windy and the caravan park was a bit lacking in facilities. But we really had a good time.

Camping is a time for relaxing,

Enjoying the beach,

Playing with cousins

Reading trashy novels

Being silly

Eating junk food

Playing with water

Swapping toys

Riding trailbikes and watching sunrises

Making dodgy movies and playing in the pool.

Family Tragedy

A sad blog today... :(

Our beautiful, crazy dog Kissah died suddenly last Sunday night. We took him to Paul's sister's place so he could share our holiday with us. We thought he would be SOOOOOO happy on a farm for two weeks. I drove him up there and he was such a good boy in the car and on our break. Wim was there too so Kissah had someone familiar to follow around for the first week while we went camping. We had to get him a tick collar and some flea stuff so he didn't get sick up there....

On the Saturday Paul went up for the day while I did some shopping in Forster with the girlies. When he got there Kissah was shaking and Paul noticed straight away. Then he noticed that he was bleeding from behind and he was also throwing up. I can't believe noone noticed anything was wrong with him before this! Anyway, he took him to th evt who didn't really know the cause of all this. He gave him some tablets and told Paul to watch him overnight but he said Kissah was a healthy young dog and he would be ok. He died peacefully during the night while Wim was watching him.

It's all a big mystery what happened to him. We thought it may be a snake bite, but the vet didn't think so. He suggested maybe ratsak, but we don't use it and Loes and Wim said they didn't have any there either. It's very frustrating not knowing what happened to him and we can't help blaming ourselves for taking him there in the first place. We should have left him at home. It was sad to come home today and see his kennel here and no crazy happy dog waiting for us. We'll have to get a puppy soon.

Hannah doesn't quite understand what has happened, she knows he was sick and went to hospital. She knows he died and went to heaven and he is with "Puppy" the Ferret. It's also sad cause Marc and Evelyn's dog Zeus died a couple of months ago too, he ate some snail pellets. So we haven't had the best luck with pets lately in the family.

Wim buried Kissah on the farm down near the dam and we planted some trees there yesterday.

We'll miss that crazy dog!

:(

Paul's Been Busy

Well it's been about 6 weeks since Paul resigned and the project management is going well. he he he. So far he has acheived A LOT! His first job was the retaining walls around the place. He built three in total, the front, the west fence, and the east side of the house. He also made a slab for the air conditioning unit.

Next he worked on the Built-In wardrobe in Hannah's room and finishing the architraves off.

He added an extractor fan in our laundry.

We FINALLY got a screen door for the front. Paul fitted it and I stained it. I LOVE it!

In between all these renovations he has been busy building "Hannah's" Go cart. It's pretty cool. He has made it Electric with a remote control so that the little kids can have a go and they just need to steer. And he has also made it so that it can run off a petrol motor off a little mini motor bike he bought off a friend. It goes pretty fast and he's excited about taking it to Loesje's place on holidays. He still has some tweaking to do as he's not entirely happy with it's performance.

Finally he has just started working on the main bathroom. He done the screeding yesterday and it will be ready for tiling tomorrow or the next day. Cannot WAIT!

X-Mas 2007

X-mas 2007! Can't believe the year has flown by so quickly! Here are the girls all dressed up for their santa photo. We had it done at Myer this year and there was no crying, although Hannah was very serious and a bit scared of Santa. She didn't utter a single word no matter how hard Santa tried to make her talk.

It was Ailey's first Christmas but of course she is still to little to know what's going on, although she LOVES her exersaucer present as you can see by the huge smile on her face!

We spent the 25th at mum's place and then had lunch at our place on Boxing Day with Paul's family.

Hannah and Gabriel loved playing with Hannah's new microwave and dinner set.

The pile of presents keeps getting bigger every year!

Anyway, hope everyone had a great day with family and loved ones. It's definitely more exciting with the kids around. We had a lot of fun putting out carrots and milk and oats for the reindeer and a cup of tea for Santa. Hannah's face was priceless in the morning when she saw that the carrots and oats had been eaten and milk and tea drunk. It won't be long before we won't be able to trick her anymore. We had to convince her that Kissah wouldn't bark at the reindeer and scare them away. She thinks way too much.

Mum's 60th

Mum turned 60 on the 8th December. We went down to the Gong and had a nice lunch at Wests Illawarra - woohoo :) It's changed a lot since I went there last. We got mum a new Camera which she is very excited about and so keen to learn how to use a digital camera. Here are some shots from her camera.

Holiday to Smith's Lake and Nelson Bay

We recently went up to Smith's Lake near Forster for a couple of nights and stayed in a holiday house with Desie and Tim, Lauren and Aidan. It was such a nice place - except for some HUGE cocaroaches!! The lake was perfect for the girls to swim in, and the boys tried some fishing. Paul caught a small flathead which he cooked up on the BBQ.


I love that Hannah gets on so well with Lauren. They never fight and play so well together. Hannah was so looking forward to seeing Lauren, it's a shame we don't get to see each other more often.









There was a fruit bat colony behind the holiday houses and at dusk they went out on the hunt and it was amazing to watch them flying over the house... a bit spooky though, and stinky.




After Smith's Lake we stayed at Loesje's for one night and then went on to stay at the Colonial Ridge Resort at Salamander Bay in Port Stephens. It was a pretty nice cabin and we were right next to the pool so that was handy. The girls were very good and settled easily into their new room.



















We spent a day at the marina in Nelson Bay. It was a nice spot and the little beaches there are perfect for little kids.















There was a massive storm brewing and we headed back to the resort early.


Paul tried some more fishing off a jetty but no luck :(


All in all it was a nice relaxing stay and we really enjoyed and needed it.















We went back to Loesje's for another couple of nights to keep her company and to help out a bit. I finished off the mowing which was a workout and a half! She's doing it tough with the three kids and trying to maintain the property and the household. I don't think I could cope on my own. The kids had fun although Hannah and Annaleah don't play so well together. I don't know what it is with those two, they just constantly clashed and one or the other ended up crying. It was a bit annoying.



Elijah is obsessed with eagles at the moment and I still have to finish drawing his Red Kite for him... sorry it's taking so long 'Lij. Korey is such a thoughtful little boy. He is always picking flowers for me and on the last day he drew a beautiful picture of a flower for me to take home. He's a sweety. Annaleah has really come out of her shell and is a little chatterbox. They were all very interested in Ailey and loved entertaining her when she was on the floor, so hopefully they will be helpful with that part when the new baby arrives.





Kissah was very very excited to see us when we finally got home. Wim was feeding and walking him everday but he must get soooo lonely when we are gone. Poor thing. Hopefully we can bring him with us next time we go up to Loo's. Our grass was so long!!! All the rain. Anyway, it's good to be home.... ahhhhhhh.









:)

Ailey's Christening 25th Nov

Ailey Luisa Beatriz was Christened as St Finbar's Glenbrook on 25th Nov 2007.

Her Godparents are Eric and Bernadette.


We had some nice sunny weather which was a nice break from the week of rain before and after the day. :)








The ceremony went very smoothly with Ailey sleeping through the whole thing... perfect. And even Hannah was a very good girl sitting quietly with daddy despite the very tempting dancing on the altar steps with her cousins.























Afterwards we headed back to our place for some traditional face stuffing. My mum made lots of goodies as usual and we had some BBQ chicken and salads. Nidia and Jorge made a gorgeous cake and everyone enjoyed this part.






Thanks to all who came along or sent lovely gifts. Ailey received some beautiful and thoughtful presents that she will be able to treasure for ever.









Welcome to God's Family little Princess.