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9 Months

James - 9 Months oldOur little boy is now 9 months old and is quite the terror.  Well … no he is just ‘Mr Explorer’ at the moment.

Long gone are the days where he would just lay on his mat and be happy to ogle at the reflections on the ceiling.  ‘Big Bob’ is now off exploring the house including all of the out-of-bounds places like the fireplace, the kitchen pantry and the stairs.  He is also pulling up on anything and everything resulting in quite a few tumbles and bruises to his head!

I found him yesterday ‘in’ the fireplace eating coal, with blackened hands and face.  Our little coal miner has two bottom teeth with more on the way.  Oh my, how quickly time flies.

James - 9 Months old

James - 9 Months old

James

Here is Poppy at the same age:

Poppy - 9 Months Old

Poppy - 9 Months old

Monday, 28 April 2014 0 Comments Short URL, , Poppy : James

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Lest We Forget

Poppy Illustration

Friday, 25 April 2014 0 Comments Short URL, Uncategorized

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Birthday Boating Bonanza

Spellbound

Maisy

We have had a lovely time away on the boat for Easter.  We went to Norfolk Bay this year, where we hunkered down in little Monk Bay and had a lovely time with our friends.  We were fortunate to be able to use Nick’s folks boat “Spellbound” (or “Schoolbell” as Poppy calls it) which provided us with more room for the four of us, plus Maisy.

BBQ’s on the beach, a birthday party, rafting up, champagne, pikelets, easter eggs and early nights … the five days soon drifted by and I cherished the moments spent together as a family and with our friends in a beautiful place.

Norfolk Bay

Wild and woolley

Spellbound

Pops, Mum and James

Our little Poppet turned three on Saturday and we had a party for her on the beach where she was surrounded by all of her ‘boat’ friends, gifts, toasted marshmallows, musk sticks, birthday cake and everything and anything pink.

Poppy’s cake wasn’t one of my greatest achievements but when you start making it at 8:30 the night before you go away for five days, you aren’t going to get the results that you had hoped for.  It did make the journey on the boat and Poppy seemed to be happy when she saw it.  She did however say to me later that she would have liked a Ballerina cake instead!?

Poppy

3rd Birthday

Birthday Girl

On Sunday we visited the Coal Mines Historic Site and stretched our legs around the ruins.

Me and James

On Monday morning we rafted up with Brett and Jacinta on “Mistraal” and hosted a morning tea for ‘everybody’.  Kids were hopping between boats, James was crawling all over the place, I was cooking pikelets and Maisy retreated to a lone dinghy … so the girls popped a bottle of bubbly and relaxed in the sun.

Morning bubbles? Jacinta, Kate & Leesa

Dinghys

Mistraal's mast

We were planning on returning home on Monday, but we decided to stay another night and cruised around to Bruny Island.  We planned our departure beautifully as both Poppy and James slept for the whole two hours of travelling.  Toilet paper, water and bread were running low but we managed and it was worth it to stay away another night.  We enjoyed a lovely roast meal with the Cooper’s and Poppy was in heaven playing with her ‘big’ girlfriends … loom bands, hair clips and television galore.

Mistraal

Poppy

Thursday, 24 April 2014 0 Comments Short URL, , , , Boating

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Easter ♥

Happy Easter

To all you little bunnies out there – I hope you have a Happy Easter.

We are heading away on the boat this morning for four fabulous days.  Our little bunny Poppy, will be turning three tomorrow!  Full report on Tuesday’s blog post.  Xx

OYOY

Friday, 18 April 2014 1 Comment Short URL, Today I Am Loving

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Sneaky Peek : Blood Moon

Lunar Eclipse

After Poppy’s bath last night we turned off the lights in her bedroom, opened the curtains and watched the Lunar Eclipse rise over a twinkling Derwent River.  It was indeed a beautiful view and one that Poppy was quite captivated by.

It made me realise that I’ve become an ‘indoors dweller’ and have been missing out on the encore of nature’s light shows.  For years I spent numerous seasons working in the outdoors and witnessed many auroras whilst sleeping in a bivvy bag, under a blanket of stars.  I felt in tune with the seasons and knew exactly when the full moon was, the solstice and the equinox.  I liked the feeling of being in rhythm with nature.

The heavens themselves run continually round, the sun riseth and sets, the moon increaseth, stars and planets keep their constant motions, the air is still tossed by the winds, the waters ebb and flow, to their conservation no doubt, to teach us that we should ever be in motion

Robert Burton – The Songlines

I need to turn Peppa Pig off and get Poppy outside – light a little campfire in the backyard and show her the wonders of nature.  It isn’t all bad – as we came down the stairs this morning, there was condensation on our window and Poppy said:

Mummy, it is very frisky outside this morning!

Frosty perhaps darling?

Definitely not as cold as the morning below, overlooking Barn Bluff on one of my trips through the Overland Track in 2007.

Overland Track

Wednesday, 16 April 2014 1 Comment Short URL, , , Sneaky Peek

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Upright

James Upright

Crawling one week – cruising upright the next.  Wooah!  Slow down baby … you’re growing up too fast!

Upright

Upright

Here is a photo of Poppy at the same stage:

Poppy

Tuesday, 15 April 2014 2 Comments Short URLUncategorized

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An Italian Invitation

Poppy ScootingWhat we thought would be a quick walk to the beach yesterday afternoon, turned out to be an extended cultural expedition!

After popping a roast chicken in the oven as my sister was coming around for dinner, we grabbed the kids, the dog, the scooter and wandered down to Longpoint Beach to stretch our legs before dinner.

All was going well with Poppy scooting beautifully, James enjoying his pram ride and Maisy sniffing lots of dogs until we turned into our street and ran into local identity, MARIO and his dog Bridget.

Poppy used to cry every time she saw Mario and I was never quite sure if it was his thick Italian accent (despite him living in Australia for nearly 50 years), his pimped Gucci sunglasses that he wears regularly or his attempts to kiss her on both cheeks.  Over the past six months she has slowly warmed to him and yesterday greeted him like a long-lost friend with a big smile and a thumbs up.  🙂

Mario invited us in to meet his wife and without looking at my watch and thinking about the chicken in the oven at home, we agreed and accepted his kind invitation.  We were ushered into their beautiful home where I felt I had stepped into an Italian villa.  Out came the chocolates for Poppy and the whiskey for us.  I politely declined, mumbling something about having to feed James but Nick embraced the hospitality with gusto.

Their generous hospitality ensued and Poppy was on her second Lindt ball and Nick his second Glenfiddich.  James was in his element gooing and gaaing, looking around at all the amazing photos on the wall and before you knew it, it was nearly 6:00 pm.  I got the giggles as usually I run a tight ship during witching hour each day but we had abandoned ship tonight!

With another round about to be poured we both politely insisted that we would have to call it a night and get the children home.  After lots of double kisses goodbye Nick ran ahead to rescue the poor chicken in the oven and to greet my sister.

A classic spur of the moment where you accept an invitation and reap the benefits!  Cath had let herself in and the chicken was perfect.  Xx

 

Beach Walk

Beach Walk

Scoot

James

James

Beach

Uggies

Lipscombe Larder

Tickle Monster

James

Monday, 14 April 2014 2 Comments Short URL, , , Poppy : James

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Nature’s Heart

John Muir

I don’t usually post on a Saturday, but I found this photo from my 2005 ski trip to British Columbia in Canada and couldn’t resist.  This was taken at Red Mountain Resort – one of my favourite interior ski resorts.

As John Muir has so beautifully stated in this quote, I feel like doing just that today.  My spirit needs washing clean. It’s a dowdy day in Hobart, we have both of the peeps on antibiotics for colds and ear infections, the house is starting to get cold and winter is barking at my heels.  Oh how I would love to ski down this slope right now!

Saturday, 12 April 2014 0 Comments Short URL, Uncategorized

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VOGUE Baby

VOGUE

James has taken quite the fancy to my VOGUE magazine.  The young man is learning about style already plus the inner workings of a bike wheel. That’s my boy!

Bike

Friday, 11 April 2014 0 Comments Short URL, , Poppy : James

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Sneaky Peek : Crawl Baby Crawl

James is now on the MOVE with his first coordinated crawl taking place last Friday.

Time to drag out those stair gates again, batten down the hatches and remove all the temptations at floor level (ie: Portuguese millipedes; cords and choking hazards).

James Crawling

James Crawling

Portuguese MillipedesP
Portuguese Millipedes

Wednesday, 9 April 2014 0 Comments Short URL, Sneaky Peek

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