Catching up with family and friends

It was great to have a trip to Waiheke Island in the rain and spend some time with John (Wayne's Dad). We also managed to catch up with Butlers, Tom Keven Way neighbours and the girls had a great day at the zoo with Richard and Stacey.

Giant Slugs and catch up with cuzzies

This slug fell out of Nana's worm farm. Children surveyed it with a mixture of reactions from interest through to trepidation. Stacey and Caleb were there to join in the fun.

Mum's Party

Mum's 60th was a lot of fun. It was great to catch up with everyone. The kids dressed up for the occasion.

Trip to New Zealand

Well we are here after months of anticiption and we are up to day three already. Not much sleep was had in our poky hotel room. The flight was great, Emirates gives a great service. Here are some photos of the trip over. Dad took the plane landing photos.

And then there were two (school kids)

Yesterday was the first day back at school for the girls. Emily enjoyed a great first day yesterday with her best friend Emily. She said "Bye Mum" with confidence and got through her day like she had been going to school for years. Very tired at the end of the day and happy to see her bed. She will get Wednesdays off for the month of Feb and then it's full time after that for years and years.

Holiday bumps and hairstyles

Here are some photos taken yesterday of the kids. My friend Annie plaited the girls hair and gave Rhys a haircut. Natasha and Rhys are looking a little the worse for wear. Natasha had an altercation with the corner of a speaker and Rhys crashed into a freezer doing his usual 100 miles an hour everywhere. Luckily Emily has her feet planted firmly on the ground.

Daylesford

On the way home we stopped in at Daylesford and enjoyed some time at Lake Daylesford. Wayne and Natasha hired a peddleboat for half an hour. Wayne spotted this big turtle swimming in the lake. Very nice spa town.

Point Lonsdale

A highlight of our holiday was Point Lonsdale. It had a fabulous beach with rockpools big enough for kids to swim in. The big ships enter Port Phillip Bay here through a channel called The Rip. They were quite spectacular to watch.

Geelong

Geelong is a fabulous city. I was amazed at how much thought had gone into the design of it's waterfront area. The footpath that runs around the beach area has rod holders built into it, the drinking fountains that were dotted along the footpaths had dog drinking bowls chained to them. They had ramps instead of stairs leading down to the beach, perfect for pushchairs and they had a Mens Baby change area at the beach which I have never seen before. There are over 100 bollard people dotted around the area, I took photos of some. Here are the Geelong photos.

Fairyland

On the way to Geelong for a couple of days we decided to check out Fairyland in Anakie. We were the first people there for the day and enjoyed the different fairy tales with animations. There was also a great view from the top and an old fashioned playground with a big slide that the kids enjoyed.

Lovely birds around our house

We are really enjoying watching the birds above our carport. The green birds are making a big mess dropping plums all over the ground. They are really noisy as well. Lucky they are neat to watch. Wayne took these photos earlier this morning.

Images of Christmas

We had a lovely Christmas yesterday. The day was made more enjoyable with lovely colourful parrots in our tree just outside the back door.

Owen and his friend David came for dinner, Wayne took them out and showed them how to prospect for gold and they tried to spot some Kangaroos but it was too early and there were none about. The kids loved all their presents and were kept happy playing with them all day. The kids and I went for a walk around the lake, followed by a play on the playground after lunch, to give them a chance to get out of the house and burn off some steam.

Merry Christmas from The Milburns

All ready for school

We had a bit of a try on and a photo shoot today. Emily has been having transition days at school on Wednesdays and she has orientation day coming up on Tuesday. Orientation day is a day where everybody goes into their next years class for the day. Natasha will try her Grade Two class and find out who her teacher will be for next year. Grade 6 kids have a day at High School etc etc. I think it's a great idea as it gets the kids all keen for next year. (Hopefully)

Natasha's Grade One Dinner

Natasha got all dressed up to back to school for a flash dinner. Here is the photo.

Yummy Yabbies

We had our first of many (we hope) yabbie feasts tonight. They taste very similar to crayfish. Here is a photo of them in the sink.

Tap Dancing Emily

Here is Em in her costume. She is tap dancing to "Rubber Duckie, you're the one" in this outfit. She is on stage at The Capital Theatre on the 24th November. She is also dancing in a ballet number and Natasha is "doing the Locomotion" in the same concert. I will post more costume photos when I catch them at home in their makeup.

Cousins catch up at Melbourne Airport

We had a lovely afternoon today with Jenny and Stacey as they had a 6 hour stopover in Melbourne Airport. The kids just picked up where they left off and started talking and playing together. Rhys was impressed to have a cousin. Jenny and I enjoyed a wine while the kids watched planes out this window.