One of my American friends from Louisiana emailed today and reminded me to keep them updated with the blog. I realised that it had been some time since I had done an update, however I was shocked to read my last entry was before Christmas last year! So here I am in catch up mode...
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| L-R: Aunty Dympna, Benn, Daina, Kim, Murray, Trish and Ret |
What an exciting Christmas we had with lots of family around. Benn and Daina were both over from Japan, and Kim bought 3 of her Danish friends over from Copenhagen to share their first Aussie Christmas with us. In the photo at left Kim's Danish friends Sara, Adam and Sine are with Kim and Murray on our back patio. We shared a few of our Christmas traditions with them (lighting of the plum pudding) and they shared theirs with us (home-made paper decorations). In the photo below you can see most of the 21 family (includes 3 Danes) at our Christmas feast.
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| Christmas feast - missed my youngest son Mark |
In the second week of March, Ret and I flew to Sydney to look after two of her grandsons for a few days while their mum and dad took a break. While the boys were at school/day care, we took a bus and met some friends for lunch at Sydney Harbour, but mainly just enjoyed our time with her grandsons Jethro and Noah. If all kids were as well behaved as these two, parents would be a lot less stressed!
Later in March we got to catch up with dear friends from our Air Force days, Toni and Ron Cox. They have a 'summer' property not too far away from us in Ballina, and hopefully we will get to catch up with them a bit more frequently.
Time stands still for no man, and before we knew it, Easter had arrived. Murray flew to Melbourne to spend time with his kids and grandsons and I drove up to the Gold Coast for a family lunch at Ret and Pete's, followed by an overnighter at Tony, Yudian and Jackson's. The next morning Ret and I joined Tony and Jackson for their usual Surfers Paradise early morning walk - well, 6.30am is early for me!!
The big family event for us so far this year has been my brother Tony's 70th birthday in April. The revolving restaurant in Surfers Paradise is the ideal location for a celebration and 18 of us enjoyed the function. Tony's eldest son Nicholas was the birthday surprise - his mum Bronwyn flew him over from Canada as her gift to Tony, and Nicholas's presence was the icing on the cake for all of us! Tony had his 4 children there - Nicholas from Canada, Kate from Brisbane, Anna from Darwin, and Jackson (RIP Rebecca).
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| Yudian, Tony, Kate, Anna, Nicholas, Bron |
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| Siblings: Ret, Trish, Rose, Tony, Gemma, Tracy (Missing Peter RIP, Chris in Japan) |
We last saw Benn and Daina at Christmas, but had the opportunity to catch up again recently. They had taken 7 days to complete the epic 9 day Kokoda Trail in Papua New Guinea, which they followed by a few days deep sea diving and paddle boarding. They were flying back to work in Japan with a planned overnight stop in Brisbane. We knew they would be exhausted, but as they weren't likely to get back to Australia before the end of the year, I wanted to see them (if only briefly), before their flight the next morning. We arranged to pick them up from the airport and have a quiet dinner with them. Benn hadn't seen his cousin Nicholas for some time as he lives in Canada, so he joined us as well. We picked Nick up from Tony's en route, and I took the opportunity for a cuddle with Jackson. The quiet dinner catchup in Brisbane was just what the doctor ordered, and after too many yawns to ignore, we let Benn and Daina hit the hay.
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| Daina, Benn, Trish, Nick (Murray took the photo) |
Only days before we are due to fly to Dubai and Europe for a 2.5 month trip, I spent a delightful two days sharing a resort apartment with my Aunt Dympna in the seaside town of Yamba. Located less than 1.5 hours drive from home, Yamba has only one quarter the population of Ballina and is a popular holiday destination. Staying in another apartment in the same resort were my sister Ret, her husband Peter, Ret's son Peter and his 3 sons. It was a nice battery charge for me before the final packing for, and rigours of our upcoming travel...
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| Jethro, Noah and Ret |
What an exciting Christmas we had with lots of family around. Benn and Daina were both over from Japan, and Kim bought 3 of her Danish friends over from Copenhagen to share their first Aussie Christmas with us. In the photo at left Kim's Danish friends Sara, Adam and Sine are with Kim and Murray on our back patio. We shared a few of our Christmas traditions with them (lighting of the plum pudding) and they shared theirs with us (home-made paper decorations). In the photo below you can see most of the 21 family (includes 3 Danes) at our Christmas feast. 
In the second week of March, Ret and I flew to Sydney to look after two of her grandsons for a few days while their mum and dad took a break. While the boys were at school/day care, we took a bus and met some friends for lunch at Sydney Harbour, but mainly just enjoyed our time with her grandsons Jethro and Noah. If all kids were as well behaved as these two, parents would be a lot less stressed!
Time stands still for no man, and before we knew it, Easter had arrived. Murray flew to Melbourne to spend time with his kids and grandsons and I drove up to the Gold Coast for a family lunch at Ret and Pete's, followed by an overnighter at Tony, Yudian and Jackson's. The next morning Ret and I joined Tony and Jackson for their usual Surfers Paradise early morning walk - well, 6.30am is early for me!! 
The big family event for us so far this year has been my brother Tony's 70th birthday in April. The revolving restaurant in Surfers Paradise is the ideal location for a celebration and 18 of us enjoyed the function. Tony's eldest son Nicholas was the birthday surprise - his mum Bronwyn flew him over from Canada as her gift to Tony, and Nicholas's presence was the icing on the cake for all of us! Tony had his 4 children there - Nicholas from Canada, Kate from Brisbane, Anna from Darwin, and Jackson (RIP Rebecca). 
We last saw Benn and Daina at Christmas, but had the opportunity to catch up again recently. They had taken 7 days to complete the epic 9 day Kokoda Trail in Papua New Guinea, which they followed by a few days deep sea diving and paddle boarding. They were flying back to work in Japan with a planned overnight stop in Brisbane. We knew they would be exhausted, but as they weren't likely to get back to Australia before the end of the year, I wanted to see them (if only briefly), before their flight the next morning. We arranged to pick them up from the airport and have a quiet dinner with them. Benn hadn't seen his cousin Nicholas for some time as he lives in Canada, so he joined us as well. We picked Nick up from Tony's en route, and I took the opportunity for a cuddle with Jackson. The quiet dinner catchup in Brisbane was just what the doctor ordered, and after too many yawns to ignore, we let Benn and Daina hit the hay. 
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