The time between pages just keeps getting longer, I find so little time these days. Christmas 2005 saw us go upto Geraldton to see Rosie’s parents. We did this before Christmas so that we would have more time to see everyone.
Liam enjoyed going on his cousin Paul’s crayfish boat. Uncle John took the boys for a look around and also took them for a ride in his vintage car and then on the trucks.
The trip was very enjoyable, getting to see Betty and Ron again and catching up with all the relatives.
We came home in time to have Christmas with my parents at our house. Daen and Alana also joined us for lunch. Liam received a large trampoline for xmas this year. It took us a couple of hours to put it together but it was well worth it.
Liam plays on it every day and even Bruce gets a bit of exercise on it (Liam likes the extra bounce that someone of Dad’s weight can create.)
We have placed the trampoline over near Liam’s cubby and have created a nice area now that is easily access since we shifted the fence line to go around the play area. I am planting a bit of lawn there now and hopefully over the next couple of years it should have a nice cover for most of the year.
Early in the year Rosie started on her bathroom renovation. She took all the tiles off the floor, knocked down half the shower recess wall. Took out the toilet and vanity cupboards. She then used the angle grinder to take all the paint of the walls so that they could be rendered ready for the tiler.
All this went well but unfortunately the tiler was very elusive and the job took 6 months before it was finally completed. It looks fantastic now.
As soon as ours was finished she pulled the second bathroom to pieces and again it took for ever to get a tiler to come in and redo the tiles. The house was in a mess for about 9 months.
We now have two great looking bathrooms with glass shower recesses and full width mirrors with down lights. While waiting for all this to be finished, Rosie painted the interior of the house so the only things left now is fixing the slate and carpet in our bedroom.
Easter came along during all these renovations and as usual Liam received massive numbers of eggs and a few gifts. He loves the idea and still enjoys the egg hunt while tracking the bunny prints.
Liam had a good year at school (Grade 2 in 2006). His reading continues to go very well and his teacher Mrs Murphy was so pleased with his effort that he was awarded a merit certificate. He is still best mates with Jamie, which encouraged him to join AFL football this year. He has never touched a football in his life, yet when he went to watch the first game, the coach put a jumper on him and put him on the field. Liam ran all over the place but didn’t touch the ball. He had an absolute ball and raced off to training every week and thoroughly enjoyed every game. Bruce took on the job of determining the best players each week, which was good except Liam couldn’t work out why he didn’t always get the prize.
As is usual, in July 2006 we went skiing. Liam, Tom and the whole school group were there as usual. This year we had Tom stay with us and David stayed with the men. The boys had a great time together and got extremely good at skiing. They can now both race down the mountain, doing little jumps and lots of turns.
We all went over together this year, so that meant we all went to the MCG to watch the football. Rosie thought the limo was her transport up the mountain. There was so little snow this year that it would have made it to the hotel.
All the usual suspects came along this year (Alan, Gavan, David, Wayne, Merv and Rosie) with the inclusion of Robyn for the first time. Merv told me he wouldn’t be coming next year since he and Robyn were planning another trip. By Wednesday, Robyn had decided that the ski trip was too much fun and they would have to postpone their holiday next year so that they could come skiing again.
We had a little hiccup at the end when the Hilton had booked for the wrong night, but apart from this the trip went well and I have already got the next trip planned and booked.
In September, Liam’s class ran the assembley and had a space theme. Liam had to give a little speech on “Black Holes”. He has really started to change recently and has lost the baby shape is looking and behaving like a real little man.
September also saw the end of the football season and on the last day they had a round robin competition against all the other teams. In the last game, Liam positioned himself well at the back of the pack and when the ball came over the pack he grabbed it and kicked his first goal. What an achievement given his starting point. At the end of the game all players received a team photo and a participation trophy. I loved the football, it was all about having fun and participation. There was no real competition just a group of kids developing skills and enjoying themselves.
In October, we completed the subdivision of our property so that we now have three 1 hectare blocks instead of one block. The process required us to put in underground power which required us to relocate the overhead wires underground around our property which was a very expensive exercise. We also had to connect to scheme water. Once connected to water, Liam and I put in reticulation so that we could maintain a lawn during summer and water the gardens.
Bruce spent most of the October holidays digging trenches and laying pipes and wires. He now has the main house and Studio reticulated and the lawns fertilized and sanded, it is starting to look really good. The cottage will come next winter.
The day after the reticulation was set up, we had a massive hail storm which covered everything in ice. We were able to make snow balls out of it. Liam turned 8 in October and we had another great kids party. This time we had a treasure hunt in the paddock and the kids are still talking about it.
Unfortunately we lost Rio this year, she was 14. The consequence of this is that we are now in the midst of a rabbit plague. There are so many around that I was able to catch one of the babies (named Jack). We let him go after a couple of weeks.
Christmas, 2006, was held and Kim and Karen’s in Mandurah. For the first time in a long time we had everyone there. Phillip and Kathleen came across from Kalgoorlie with Matthew and Johnathon. We all sat outside Christmas eve and waited for Santa to drive past and throw out lollies. The boys all got dressed for the occasion.
New Year’s was held at Merv and Robyn’s which was very pleasant, Liam had a bit of fun in the spa. David and Barbara came over as well. We all sat outside New Year’s eve and had a nice dinner and a few bottles of wine.
Early in the New Year, Liam and his mate decided to burn out a bull ant nest and succeeded in burning down the paddock. The forest in the middle sent flames soring into the sky and smoke blanketted everything. 4 fire engines and about twenty firemen turned up to put it out before it escaped the paddock, but it was touch and go for a while. The police, shire officer and firemen all had a good chat to the boys. Also around this time, we had a lightning strike which destroyed the ethernet port on my computer. This was quite fortuitous in the end since I got a new computer through insurance, but didn’t lose any of the data on the old computer.
I have been so busy lately that I have decided to take 2007 off work to relax a little and sort out where we are going. The first decision is to sell the Beach House so that we can get rid of debt and also remove the large cleaning load that the house presents. This is turning out very well since I can now help Rosie with cleaning and I also get a bit of time to myself.
Apart from going out to lunch with Rosie and playing with Liam more after school, we also now have the chance to take little holidays. The first of these was in mid-February when we booked to go see “Walking with Dinosaurs” at the Burswood Superdome.
The life size Dinosaurs walking around the stage (using state of the art animatronics) was fantastic and really scary for the kids. Liam loved it, but spent a lot of time with his hands over his ears, especially when the mother Tyranasaurus Rex came on stage to protect its baby.
We were lucky to be offered an industry deal to stay at the Burswood Hotel, so this meant we didn’t have to find parking to go to the show and only had to walk across the road. The deal also included a 5 minute scenic helicopter ride around Perth which was a fantastics experience for both Liam and Bruce.
It also happened to be Chinese New Year so we got to see a Dragon Dance in the casino complex while we were having dinner. Liam and Bruce went swimming every day in the pool and on the Sunday we all went out to play a round of golf.
It was a great weekend and the best part was not having to race back to work afterwards. Our next holiday is the ski trip in July and then maybe a trip to Disneyland.
