Tuesday, April 27, 2010

A Day at the Beach

I finally took Alex for a play at the beach the other day, which was quite overdue, considering we live an easy ten minute drive from some spectacular beaches. He quite enjoyed playing (and eating) in the sand, and enjoyed playing in the water's edge until he looked up and saw big scary waves crashing. And I enjoyed taking some photos. Although Alex refuses to look up at the camera anymore, so I have a lot of lovely photos of Alex looking down...





Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Easter Family Fun

Easter just passed, and we spent the long weekend down in Canberra, with what turned out to be a bit of a family reunion. It feels weird to say reunion, because it doesn't feel as though it's that long in between the times we get together with the family, but the older we get, the harder it is. Growing up, we saw our aunts, uncles, cousins and Mum's parents (Nanna & Poppa) quite often, particularly after we moved within a 2 hour radius of them. As we got older, we saw them less, and now our much younger cousins are getting older, it's even less. I sometimes only see them twice a year at present, which I find quite sad.

Regardless, we all congregated in Canberra on the weekend for my little niece Madeleine's Naming Ceremony, for which I am her Godmother, along with Kel and my brother-in-law's sister. It was also my gorgeous Nanna's 87th birthday, so we had a little celebration for that too. We all had such a fantastic time together, and my dear old Nanna was so touched that we took the time to celebrate with her. Her memory is not what it was, and she did actually think it was her birthday the next day, but that's okay. My uncle made a comment at one point that it's pretty rare that you can get 35 or so family members together who can have a drink and a meal and get along like a house on fire, which made me realise how lucky I am to have a great extended family. I feel a bit sad for John that almost his entire family is in Korea, and he missed out growing up with cousins and the like.

It makes me feel quite determined to ensure we spend more time with Alex's cousins, so he doesn't miss out on what I have.

One amusing incident for the weekend has nothing to do with family, but my darling husband taking Alex for breakfast so I could catch up with my sister Kel (we hadn't seen each other for five months). His only fear was an exploding poo issue. And sure enough, it happened. He took him to the Parents' Room to change him, but it was apparently so disgusting, John actually threw up in the sink, as well as ending up with poo on his shirt. He ended up having to go and buy a new shirt to wear... He always said poos make him feel sick, now I believe him.

So here are a few photos I took on the weekend, which I think are particularly lovely. There are more to "develop", but John's in his "busy work week" this week, so it could take a while...

Me and my big sisters, Kel and Dell (with Madeleine in the Sleepy Wrap)

My Nanna and Uncle Nigel, during his birthday speech to her.

Madeleine

Alex, looking a little soft-focussy

One of my beautiful nieces, Erin

Two of my cousins, Lisa & Lizzy