dampsponge
soaking it all up
Ava’s 4th Birthday
May 17, 2009
We started celebrating Ava’s birthday on Thursday (the day before) and ended on Saturday (the day after) - what a great 4th birthday it was, officially on May 15th.
Thursday was the first cake time at kinder - Ava loved wearing the birthday hat and sitting in the special birthday chair. The children also said goodbye to their baby chickens which they’d watch hatch from eggs in an incubator over the past few weeks which was very exciting.
Friday morning was a bright and early wake up with mum & dad to open presents - Ava had asked for a scooter which she rode up and down the hallway immediately. Other presents were gumboots, pj’s, jackets, fairies dvd, puzzles & clothes. Off to childcare with a freddo icecream cake in tow and then lunch with our family and some more pressies including the Beatrice Potter collection, dress & drawing things. The day finished with dinner at home with Marjy, Aunty Jen, Nanny & Pa and yes, more cake.
Saturday morning Caz & Sienna took Ava to calisthenics whilst mum & dad worked on the “ladybird” masterpiece! A party with 11 of her little friends at the Lego centre and then afternoon tea and a big play in Queens Park followed. She had so much fun that she refused to open any presents at the park, only wanting to run around with all her friends. 
Again very spoilt with presents including snow white & nurses costumes, board games, tea set, vouchers and a kiddies magazine subscription. A sleep over at pa & nanny’s house and McDonalds as a special treat for dinner topped off a wonderful birthday.
Today Gran & Rocky returned from their MG rally with another lot of goodies - kangaroos plate/bowl/cup, bus-stop game, footy cards and her suitcase (which we already had for our Sydney trip a few weekends ago).
Thank you to everyone for their beautiful gifts - Ava loved them all and is very happy to finally be a “big girl”.
Thursday @ Kinder
Friday - Ava turns 4
Saturday - Party Time
Our weekend in sunny Sydney
May 4, 2009
With Ad up in Sydney for work, we took advantage of the fare sales and spent a long weekend up there which was great fun. We had lovely sunny weather to get out & about each day - Friday was spent at Darling Harbour playing in the park and checking out the surrounds, Saturday a big walk thru Hyde Park to the Opera House, around to Circular Quay for a ferry ride to Darling Harbour and the monorail back to our hotel, and Sunday a day at Luna Park. We also had a few swims in our hotel pool/spa, enjoyed the big buffet breakies each morning, watched Kung Fu Panda in bed on Saturday night and found the yummiest italian restaurant in the world!!!
All tired & walked out we were glad to head back home yesterday but had a fantastic time away together. Next cheap weekend stopover… Adelaide or Tassie??!!
View from our room - Marriott on Hyde Park
Ava on the rooftop - ready for a swim in the pool
Harbour cruise
The people you meet at Circular Quay
Luna Park - spot the biggest face
The Rooster Vs The Horse Race
Beautiful Ava with her new “birthday” suitcase heading home
Easter 09
April 16, 2009
Marn, Ava & Nero headed down the highway to Bellbrae early Thursday afternoon for a fun Easter break. Great weather, a very generous bunny and lots of activities meant that we all had a ball however, the time seemed to slip away very quickly. Rocky had the MG cars in town so Ava helped him get the “fastest red MG” on the road and racing. She loved it. A visit to the Pt Lonsdale fete, birthday celebrations, a trip up to the MCG to watch the bombers for Adam, a swim in the Torquay beach and Ava & Gran’s train ride to Melbourne were just some of the things we got up to. Next year we’ll have to take a few extra days to enjoy it all.
Bright & early after the Easter egg hunt
Peas in a pod
Happy houndy
Princess Ava
April 5, 2009
The last day of kinder term was dress up so Ava wore her favourite Tinkerbell dress, crown & high heels. It was very cute to see all the costumes although before too long they were covered in paste & paint so no special care was taken by the kids.
We took Ava to see the Scooby Doo show at the Princess Theatre yesterday - her first live show. Whilst she sat still and watched intently, the storyline was a bit old for her and all she really recalls was the dog and the scary man.
Happy 1st birthday to Leila & Amelie!! x
Reporting in
March 15, 2009
Report for the weekend.
After picking up Marn from work Friday and then letting her out of the car to rejoin friends for drinks before we’d hit the other side of the city. I headed south to pick up Ava form Parpie’s and Nanny Gappy’s. Marn was home soon after and we enjoyed some local Thai before sitting down to watch the NAB Cup Grand Final. I love Friday nights.
We treated ourselves to breaky on Saturday morning at the South Melbourne market. (A cafe across the road) A very relaxing trip even though we were on a tight scheduled to get Ava back to dancing in Kingsville by 9:30am. I guess you tend to have a bit of time up your sleve when you are up and about around 6:30ish.
Ava has been waking up at all hours. Friday Ava was awake at 5am. Getting herself dressed and heading down to the lounge room. She’s found her independence and realised she can get up and close the lounge room door and not come up and bother us. Although when she heads out of bed for the toilet and turns all the lights on it is hard to miss that Ava is awake.
The market was nice as we had not been there for a while. This year Ava has started swimming lessons on Thursday mornings locally instead of Saturdays at Albert Park. We don’t really have reason to head over the Westgate to South Melbourne. Breakfast was nice. I had some corn cakes (pretty much all corn) and orange juice. Marn and Ava had some eggs and bacon.
Ava asked Marnie to remove the green specs on her poached egg. Just a garnish but Pickle would not have it. She’s not keen on mushrooms either. I must admit I wasn’t that keen on them when I was young. That has changed though.
Ava then looked at a lady on a table next to us and said “Why is she Fat?”, or words to that effect. Arrrhhhh, no political correctness has entered her thinking as of yet. Hopefully she can hold some of that without being so confronting.
Marnie let Ava know “you can’t say that” while I kept reading the paper. (Cats flogged Pies in the NAB Cup grandfinal…a collingwood defeat by 70 odd points is always hard to peel your eyes away from) We ventured back to the market for some fruit and meat (Ava picked snags as the dinner to serve up to Shane and Nicole). A ride on her favorite “round the world” ride…some belly laughs and we took turns kissing her on the way around. Oh how small things can amuse a child. And how the parent is subsequently amused by that naive laughter. We then headed to dancing. Listening to ABBA in the car. Ava has started liking ABBA and Marn and I are not averse to the easy tunes. It does beat the Play School songs when you’ve heard them 10 thousand times.
Rain was in the air. It hasn’t been of late. It is actually nice to have some damp weather. We really could do with a wet, wet winter this year. With water storages heading below 30% for the state we need to get back some balance.
After dropping Ava off at dancing on our way back to home there was this amazing weather front heading over from the west. When I got home I took some pictures but they did not do it justice. It was just startling. There was a clear divide between the current conditions and those coming at us. It litterally looked like a was in the sky ready to crash down. Check out the photos below.
Storm rolls in
Good to get some rain
A cleaning afternoon before Shane and Nicole came for bangers and mash for din dins. A late night for Ava but she does love having people to entertain. Marn headed out for Nadine’s birthday drinks and I watch a documentary called Man on Wire. A story of a tight rope walker from France. Quite interesting. It was beautiful and scary. Even looking down from the twin towers on our TV was frightening. Obviously it was in his blood to be able to do what he did. I’m not sure how he made his living though?
Sunday, Marn slept in while Ava and I headed to Coles for our usual pickup of the paper and “crossies”. We have fun just talking in the car and making our plans for the day. Making sure we try not to wake mum up. We also bought pinnochio on DVD. I enjoy this little ritual with Ava. A nice movie for little girl to watch. When we got back home she watched a fair chunk of it. Jimminy Cricket, Gipetto?
Midday we headed to Scienceworks to meet the Burgo’s for some running around inside with the inclement weather. All the girls had have. 2 hours there and you feel like you’ve been there for four. There is soon to be a Star Wars exhibition on there. We’ll be back for that one.
Houndy needed to see his little mate Kosta so a trip for Marn and Ava down to Willy and then Chicken roast for dinner. He did pump out 4 .5 Km last week on a run with Marn. I do also think he may need some puppy prozac.
Hound after his 4k run
Marn after her 4k run
A restful weekend.
coldplay
March 3, 2009
wow. lucky enough to get to see coldplay tonight at rod laver. think it was their first concert in aus this tour. viva la vida was amazing. i wasnt pumped to see them but after the concert i was happy that i did. gee live music is great. music reaally must be a bigger part of my life.
Golly and Friends
February 9, 2009
Move over Brangelina - we’ve got a new addition too…
Golly, Ava & great grandmother Margy
Nanny Gappy, Ava, Chez, Margy & Golly
Ava, Golly & Pa - nice earrings!!
Calisthenics 2009
February 7, 2009
Ava & Sienna had their first class at calisthenics this morning. A nice surprise to see them both paying attention and doing lots of stretches, skipping and running around. They both loved it although they couldn’t understand why there was no makeup or wiglets today! A couple of photos of the girls for the dancing album!!!
