Packing...

We dumped, wrapped and boxed our office yesterday. We cleaned out the filing cabinet, uncluttered the shelving unit, removed all unwanted debris, cleared the wardrobe and stacked everything that remained in the lounge room. The office now contains neatly stacked boxes, and a slot car set.

There was four in the bed and the little one said....

Azariah has rolled over for the first time today! He rolled from his belly to his back twice but each time we were not looking.

Seven years and counting...

For our anniversary this year, we went to Port Macquarie for a weekend away. We stayed at the Flynns Beach Resort and enjoyed it very much. On the Sabbath, we went for a walk at 'Sea Acres Rainforest' and swam in the afternoon at the resort's heated pool. Zem had his first close up look at water dragon lizards and was happy to watch them for almost as long as they were happy to watch him. There were also ducks and a brush turkey. We took a lot of photos, but here are some of the best:

This is Sharlene with her 'Angelina Jolie' look.

Zem walked for most of the way along the boardwalk.

But when he became tired, it was time to sit down and toss leaves over the edge.

A cicada shell provided a lot of interest at a safe distance, but a lot of angst when up close and personal.

The walk through the understory was picturesque.

Some of the epiphytes were fantastic! Here, a crows nest.

Here, an Elkhorn.

This King Parrot was spotted by Sharlene through the trees.

Back at the resort, Sharlene and Azariah enjoy a moment together.

While Zem gives his attention to one of the ducks resting nearby.

Around the resort were scores of water dragons. Some Americans were there doing their Ph D. about the lizards. They were all numbered and we saw the students walking around marking their positions on maps of the resort.

This is a view from the top of the cliffs of the beach near where we stayed.

We left early on Sunday, but we decided to visit the 'Billabong Koala Sanctuary'. It was a good choice. Zemmy spend most of his time wandering after the wallabies. (Who, incidentally, spent most of their time wandering away from Zemmy). He loved it! It makes me think that whenever he's bored of his toys in the house, all I need to do is put half a dozen wallabies on an acre of ground, give the boy a cup of cracked corn and we won't hear from him for the rest of the day.

Does anyone else notice that his finger is inside the wallaby's mouth?

Dad....can I keep him?

We also tried getting some photos of the koalas. Some were cooperative.

Others weren't.

After a presentation, we had a good photo opportunity. Zem just wanted to hug the koala (which was a no-no). 

Anyway, we all had a lot of fun except for Azariah who was overheating in the 42 degree weather. 

Both boys slept a lot on the way home, so we thought better of stopping off at Taree again (sorry Omi).

Four months as a family of 4...

...and here is the cute little fella who came most recently on his 4th lunaversary.

 

Sharlene's Reunion

This is the final installment to catch up on all that happened last month. 

Sharlene took the boys with her when she went to Mackay to attend her high school's 10 year reunion. I followed a day later on Friday. Sabbath was a lovely day, Steve Kane preached at Central and Zemiel became a tourist attraction. From what we heard that sabbath, next year's North Australia Conference Big Camp should be a blast. Some of the names dropped was Darren Pratt, Herb Larson, and John Hammond. I'm already looking forward to it. 

Sabbath afternoon, I took Joshua and Zemiel to the local park and spent an easy hour watching them have a fantastic time on the climbing, sliding, swinging and spinning equipment.

That evening we headed off to the reunion. There wasn't a whole lot organised for the evening. One game, some raffle prizes and a few awards given out. The balcony was well used by the smokers and the tab at the bar was well received and exploited. We met Debbie who now manages a lingerie shop, and Kylie who's had a very rough few years. We stayed until the awards were given out and Sharlene won an award! It was the Oprah Winfrey Award - for Service to the Community. (For teaching sign language to deaf children and giving Bible studies). Sharlene looked a bit bashful when she received the award but secretly I think she is pretty proud of it. We left not long afterwards.

Sunday evening, Brian and Patti had their house-warming. Quite a few people ended up being there, and some we hadn't seen for a long time. Some had grown so much they were hard to recognise. Once again, Zemiel turned on the charm and begged food and drink until he was compelled to go to bed about 9 o'clock. Azariah slept through most of the night but he did make some short appearances. Brian and Patti's famous, large, black-light pictures were a hit and we all ate barbeque and pavlova beyond what we thought prudent. The locals thought it a cool night, though us southerners felt pretty good.

Also, while we were there, Patti bought some strawberries. "So what?" You say. Well lets just say that the punnet was FILLED by 4 of them. One of them in particular was especially impressive. Even though there were some that would have liked to eat it....

(Sorry Patti, I couldn't resist.)

...we saved it up for Zem.

On Monday I took Zem down to the park again before packing and being taken to the airport. I reached home just after 8 at night. Just in time to go to sleep and work the next day, feeling like I needed a holiday to get over the weekend.

Uncle Trev and Auntie Roni's Visit

Before we left for Mackay, Trev and Roni visited us on their way down to Albury. I had to keep working so Sharlene acted the hostess and showed them to our local tourist attractions...like the pool. Ben and Bec joined them for the afternoon and I came after school. 


When we arrived back home, Zem had two presents waiting for him. One from Grandma - a pillow case with vintage steam engines on it. I can't imagine Zem wanting to sleep on anything else now. He also received a battery operated train that runs along a train track and does he love that! The batteries that we originally put in it ran out of juice 2 days ago and he was inconsolable! Sharlene wasn't allowed to touch it, even to try and fix it! 

Azariah loved all the attention that he was given. We've started to call him Bubbles. Sharlene calls him that mainly because of the copious amounts of drool that oozes continuously from his face and the many bubbles he is able to create. I am tending to call him bubbles for other reasons...most notably, it sounds like jetstream of bubbles in a mudpit when he soils his nappy. (Which, by the way, happened to Trevor while he was visiting). 


Here's Trev, just moments after some 'bubbles'...

And now, some pictures of Trev and Roni with the boys. Hope to see you soon and we hope New Zealand is kind to you both.

Zucchinis and Japanese Tourists

It has been such a hectic month or so, filled with many funny stories. Here are a few of my favourite.
When we went to camp, our zucchinis had just started to fruit and we had instructed our neighbour to pick any that were ready while we were away. Anyway, when we came back we discovered the largest zucchini I have ever seen, still on the bush. We immediately picked it and its slightly smaller, but still huge in comparison to the shops zucchinis, and took some photos. The irony is that Zem and Daniel don't really like eating zucchini and so I have been very creative in cooking this past few weeks.

After only a few days home, it was time to head up north to visit my mum and dad (and go to my 10 year school reunion). Zemiel, Azariah and myself left on the Thursday - with Daniel waking up at 2:30 am to drive us to Gosford, for me and the little ones to catch a train to the airport. It was a huge undertaking - two little boys for 2 hours on the train was the easy bit. When we got to the airport we had to wait in line to check in baggage for about 1 hour. Then the ladies at the desk had to double check that Zem's batteries were allowed to travel on the plane and by this time Az had worked up a hunger and was crying. I hurriedly cut in line to go through security as we were running a little late. At security Zem was not allowed to pass through the metal detector as it could damage his processors, but Az, the pram and myself had to go through. Security commandeered a lovely business man who was standing just in front of me to walk through security and duck back and grab Zem to take him around the detector to be patted down while the pram and Az and me were cleared. Poor Zem was a little frightened as he couldn't see me and had all these strangers touching him but finally I got to him, put him in our pram and strove off to find our boarding gate.


Feeling a little frazzled and with more than a few quick prayers, we found our gate and was told the plane had not yet arrived. Time to feed Azariah. Just as Az started to feed, Zem spotted a Japanese tourist standing nearby eating an apple. Zem asked me for one but I couldn't reach our apples while feeding, so I told Zem he had to wait. Zem persisted in asking and the lovely tourist handed him one of her apples. He smiled and proceeded to eat it. By the time it came to boarding we had about 7 Japanese tourists surrounding my son, taking photos and giving him food and drink. Over a small period of time he received (and devoured) 2 apples, 2 yoghurt topped muesli bars and a bottle of orange juice. The tourists couldn't speak much English but they smiled and gestured that they wanted him to have the food (I think they liked looking at him eat - he is so cute) and they took so many photos - even picking him up so that they were in the photos with him. The rest of the trip was filled with much answered prayer and more stories but that is it for now.

Azariah's first Beach Experience

Of course, who could go and camp at the beach for a week without actually going to the beach? So, while were up at Yarrahappini, we took the boys to the sand and waves. Zemmy is beginning to enjoy waves a lot more. He was once quite scared of them. Azariah was quickly whisked away from us by friends and had an excellent introduction to beach sand.


Do my shoes match my outfit?

Jared was a fantastic help and playmate for Zem all week. I think Zemiel would love an iphone for his next birthday...any volunteers?

Zemmy with his beachy curls.

Zem and Az together.

All of us together.

4 weeks to go and still looking great! 

Love this picture of Azariah. Might be worth comparing with a similar one we took of Zem. Check the link.

Good memories. Thanks to everyone who helped make them!