November 07

Melbourne trip Nov 1-10

Louise and Jasper flew to Melbourne to visit Louise's sister Claudia, her hubby, Ray and Jasmine (who turned 1 while we were there).

We had a good flight, although Jasper didn't sleep, or watch his DVDs, or eat - just used the seats, me and the poor bloke next to us, as a climbing gym!

Jasper quickly showed quiet, timid Jasmine some new tricks, like how to climb all over the sofas, up the back of them, and jump from the coffee table to the sofa, and by the end of our trip she was definitely more boisterous and adventurous. Jasper loved his cousin and couldn't wait for her to wake up each morning (whether she was ready to or not). He then jumped into her cot and sucked on a few of her dummys, before getting out to play all day with her.

The weather in Melb turned cold, wet and windy upon our arrival, so activities included Lollipops, and indoor play centre, a few trips to various parks in the fine spells, some shopping at the outlets, lunch at the Stokehouse in St Kilda and a trip to the Melbourne Zoo on Monday Nov 5.

It was Jasmine's first zoo trip but she was more interested in the pesky seagulls, pigeons and other insignificant wild birds, than all the other exotic animals - oh well.

Nov 6 was the Melbourne Cup and we went to a big party at friends of Claudia and Ray's. Jasper had a great time helping himself to left over champagne - agggh!, playing in the ice chests and running around on the tennis court with a racket and ball.

Jasmine's 1`st birthday - Nov 8

Jasper gave her a pop up cubby, like his and quickly demonstrated how to crawl in and out of it. He also gave her some cargo pants and a new hoodie for when she gets a bit bigger. Claudia made a #1 cake and Jasmine's friends from Mothers Group came over to celebrate with us.

Jasper had the most fun playing with Nanna Monica. Poor Jasmine hardly got a cuddle with Nana as Jasper was hogging Nana to himself.

On our last day in Melbourne, I took Jasper to the Albert Park Aquatic Centre. It has a kiddies play pool area and also a bigger wave pool, which we went in together. Jasper had his wet suit on so was warm, but mum was a bit chilly - I'm used to the hydrotherapy pool which is 32 degrees when I take Jasper for swimming lessons. I must be getting too precious now.

Home on Nov 10 and daddy and Maddy, the dog, were happy to see us.

World Music Concert & Thanksgiving picnic

Other Nov activities included a world music concert at the quaint Quarry Ampitheatre with Kaz, Guy and Maya, and Shiney. We picnicked on the grass before enjoying music from Spain, Eastern Europe and Russia.

At the end of Nov we celebrated Thanksgiving with the Johnstone's and a picnic arranged through the Americans in Perth group. So many American's came out of the woodwork - we had no idea there were that many living in Perth and many of them for 10 years or more.

Jasper had a great time playing with all the kids and sucking on lolly pops with Charlie.

September and October 07

Dunsborough

The first weekend of Sept we went to Dunsborough with Nat and Mike Paganucci and their 2 boys, Gabrielle 5 and Luca 3. We scored gorgeous winter/spring weather and enjoyed a nice hike along the coastal trail to Castle Rock Beach, where the boys played and we relaxed in the sunshine.

More yard work

We ripped out the brick pavers around the swimming pool and in the backyard in preparation for having liquid limestone poured in these areas. Jasper helped out and gave dad a little extra load while wheeling the wheelbarrow on each trip to the front verge.

Varekai
We saw Cirque du Soleil's Varekai on Sept 14 with mum and dad and thoroughly enjoyed it. It was our 3rd Cirque that Sean and I have seen. Jasper stayed with Kaz and had a nice time playing at her house and thankfully didn't disturb her 4 week old baby.

Camping at Cervantes

At the end of Sept we packed up and headed 2.75 hrs north of Perth to Cervantes on the coast for a 3 night camping trip. We broke all the smart camper's rules by arriving late, having to pitch a brand new, humungous tent in the dark with a hungry, whiney toddler running around and pulling out each pole you've just arranged. Luckily a nice Kiwi bloke helped Sean with the tent, while I rustled up some food for a whiney Jasper and heated up a bottle of milk to keep him happy.

After a late dinner of kebabs we were ready for bed, but Jasper ensured there was little sleep to be had. He kept getting out of bed, wandering around the tent, pulling things out of the food and utensil bags, harassing Maddy and us etc. And then when he'd had enough of us trying to hold down into bed, he started to cry -- loudly! To try and spare other campers around us (of which there were many as the sites were so cramped together) I bundled him in the car and started cruisin' Cervantes at 3:30am - to no avail. At 4am I put him back in the tent with us and we finally passed out until he woke at 6am.

The next day he napped for only 2 x 30 min slots in the stroller. Penny, Mat and Tom arrived and we watch the AFl grand final at the Country Club - Geelong won very convincingly over Port Adelaide.

A nice BBQ dinner, boys in bed and a game of cards and some wine was next for the adults as we tried to ignore Jasper's whining from the tent, only to discover about 2 hrs later that he'd puked all over himself, his bed, PJs and sleeping suit - great! Cleaned him up, let him sleep next to us (which he didn't), and then Tom was up from 3 am onwards and had Penny driving to the beach and sleeping the rest of the night with him in the car. The 2nd longest night ever finally became morning and as we tried to avoid eye contact with our likely highly annoyed camp neighbours after having kept them awake with 2 crying toddlers, we all decided to pull the pin on another sleepless night and head for home. We hope that's not the end of our camping trips as we both love to camp.

Sean and I did however make it to the Pinnacles on the way home (after sneaking Maddy into the national park, past the ranger) and we quite enjoyed these thousands of limestone structures in the desert.

Bibbulmun Track again

On Oct 6, Jasper, Maddy and I headed to Bunbury to Grandma and Pop's. The next morning we drove out east of the Harvey area on miles of dirt road (we got lost so our trip was not quite direct) to our drop off point on Trees Road for an overnight hike on the Bibbulmun track. Grandma drove home with Jasper and would pick us up in Allanson (near Collie) the next day.

We started our walk at 10:20am on a glorious day and were greeted with loads of wildflowers and plenty of greenery and little streams and creeks after the good rainfall of late. At 11:30 am we made it to Yourdamung hut where we stopped for lunch. So far we hadn't seen another person on the track. Our toes were already hurting for both of us, so after some bandaids and sock adjustments we were off again heading south.

Our stop for the night was the Harris Dam Hut 19kms from our morning start point and we arrived at 3:30pm to find no one there. The sky was looking dark so we decided to get the fire started while the wood was still dry. Within an hour it was pouring, so we curled up in our sleeping bags (well Maddy was already in mine) for a little nap.

It was still raining while we cooked dinner in the hut and only a tiny respite meant that we enjoyed sitting by the camp fire for just a short time. No other hikers made their home here tonight, although the log showed that 2 parties had been here earlier in the day and would now be in the comfort of a hotel in Collie for this rainy evening. The rain didn't really bother us and it was lovely drifting off to sleep with the sound of the rain on the roof.

The next morning it let up for about 1.5 hrs while we had breakfast, packed up and hit the track south again, but after 40 mins of hiking it rained again and didn't stop until about 11 am. Maddy was the only one with a rain coat (but unfortunately I lost it soon after taking it off her when it was warming up) so will have to get her another one for her birthday at the end of the month.

We finally got phone reception and called mum to tell her our estimated arrival time. The part from Allanson Rd to the Allanson shop was another couple of kms and longer than we expected, so we were relieved to see her and Jasper waiting for us at 12 noon on Monday. Jasper came running up to me with a hug, and then one for Poppo too.

We'd made it - about 35kms over the 2 days. Dad did really well for his first long distance hike - setting a cracking pace. Although his toes are really sore - I think he might lose a nail or two. I made sure I cut my toe nails really short, having already lost 2 nails after my Kilimanjaro descent.

Yokain Vineyard Estate and Wellington Weir

We then had coffee and lunch on the verandah of the shed at the vineyard. The vineyard and farmed looked lovely at this time of year - so green and lush. Dad wanted to take Jasper for a ride on the 4 wheel motor bike, but he was scared (the first thing he's ever been scared of!) and cried - so that was not a winner.

Then we drove to see Wellington Weir overflowing - a very pretty site with the water resembling lace as it tumbles over the side of the dam. Final pic is Jasper with his new hair cut - he looks very handsome!

July & August 2007

July 2007

Scitech

On July 1st we went to Scitech, a hands-on discovery centre for kids, as part of Rio Tinto's Family Fun outing. Jasper had a great time running from exhibit to exhibit. He really liked the mini construction site complete with wheelbarrows, foam building blocks, pulleys and ramps.

Although he pushed the wheelbarrow up the ramp, he also liked sliding down it himself.

He also got his face painted with a red back spider and had a balloon dog made for him.

Jasper had a date with Olivia, one of his girlfriends from Mothers' Group. They enjoyed a meal of assorted finger-licking good foods at a romantic table for two. And then they ran around the house, squealing at each other.

Olivia must have been impressed by the first date, as she came back later in the month and even had a bath with Jasper - whoa! They're fast movers these two.

Other July activities included hosting a baby shower for high school friend, Karen on July8. We played games (they all whined that they were too hard), drank champagne (well those who weren't PG or breast feeding did) ate food and had a good catch up.

Only July 13, we saw Christina Aguliera in concert at the Burswood Dome. She was great - a real professional performance with sexy back-up dancers, flamer throwers, stilt walkers, trapeze swingers - you name it. We were expecting to be the oldest ones there, but were pleasantly surprised to see that the average age was a lot closer to our ages. Mum looked after Jasper and the same weekend we went for lunch in Fremantle to celebrate her 65th B'day.

The saddest news of the year was the passing of dear high school friend, Ashley. His wife Lisa, also one of our school gang and close friend since 13 years of age, has been an amazing tower of strength while he battled a brain tumor for 7 mths. They were teenage sweethearts and have two young children, aged 5.5 and 2.5 years. It's just so unfair and I've not felt so upset and fragile for a very, very long time. It will be a long time before everyone is close to feeling healed I believe - Ash had a big impact on many people - a true, all round, top guy who will be sadly missed and very fondly remembered forever.

August 2007

August 2nd was Ash's funeral. So many old school friends came to say their last goodbyes to a fantastic friend. The church service was given by Father Tony, our high school father - and he provided a beautiful sermon. The service featured several of Ash's favourite songs including one from Spy Vs Spy and also photos of him doing the things he loved most - hanging with his family and friends and being at one with nature.

After the wake, I was exhausted and didn't kick on at Lisa's home like many did. It was a very emotionally overwhelming day and I was in bed before Jasper! I truly don't know how Lisa has kept going all this time - she must be so exhausted. We are all going to keep a pretty close eye on her to ensure she has support in the coming months as that is when she is likely to need it most - once all the activity and house full of family and friends subsides..... She is such an awesome girl, mother, wife and friend!

Avon Descent

That 160 km river event was on again on Aug 4 & 5 and Kaz managed to make the baby hold off long enough so Guy could participate - (baby is due 8 August). He did really well and Kaz and I scored a glorious sunny day to watch the action on Saturday. And after so many weeks of rain, the river levels were the best they've been for the race in the past 10 years.

Cold August nights, sunny August days

Jasper helped out with some yard work and did a Jon Bon Jovi impersonation.

He also had a bubble bath (one of many) and spent some mornings swinging in the park with his buddies. It's a great life when you're 18 mths.

Caversham Wildlife Park

At the end of August we visited the Caversham Wildlife Park about 45 mins North of Perth with my cousin Penny, her hubby Mat and their boy Tom who is 2 mths older than Jasper.

The park is very hands on, with minimal fencing and enclosures for the animals and opportunities for kids to touch, feed and pet appropriate animals, such as kangaroos, koalas, wombats, donkeys, rabbits, guinea pigs etc.

Jasper and Tom had a great time, especially feeding the kangaroos and being in the bunny pen.