Lovely friends

A few more shots from the beach. Michelle and Steve (Lucas' parents), Amy, Kirstin & Clara. A great day spent with special friends.

Clara's Beach Birthday

Now this was a 2nd birthday bash worthy of praise. It started with a beautiful handmade felt embroidered fish invitation, (I know, I should stop here shouldn't I?) which invited us to spend the day at the beach for Clara's 2nd birthday. We had a ball - the weather was perfect, not too hot (I know this is hard for you to imagine Dad), the company was great and the kids had a brilliant time. Amy gave us lessons in how to fly her fabulous kites - we bombed but it was fun, Kirstin made cupcakes with umbrellas and lolly beach towels (who knew this could even be done?) and the kids dug and swam and ate and laughed. Truly, a memorable day. Thankfully Sophia is still too young to understand the fine art of comparison - Orestes and I would be done for!

We love the zoo and our friend Clara

Clara and Sophia are great mates and as luck would have it Clara doesn't like berries but loves to feed them to Soph - what a deal. We have been feasting on this bush outside our house all August long and it seems we need to drive our green car to get there.

Soph was fascinated by this beautiful lorikeet at the zoo - certainly wasn't the Bunya Mountains but what can you do?

Summer fun

Soph loves to paint, draw and help me in the kitchen or garden. Here's a few shots of her engrossed in these activities. I love the one of her drawing (hat on backwards) with Yia Yia on the deck. You have to look closely at the beautiful apron Kirstin made for Sophia - she's wearing it in the kitchen, it's so gorgeous.

Never ending summer

This really has been the summer for adventures. We had a great week down in Bend with Orestes' Mum at the end of August. It was so lovely to watch Sophia and Yia Yia spend their days together. Sophia also had a great time with Orestes putting around on the Deschutes in the boat and going to the High Desert Museum. She got to experience camping when they pitched their tent out in the meadow and slept (well Sophia did) soundly for two nights. They have also made a habit of bundling up to watch the stars from the deck. Daddy loves it when Sophia falls asleep in his arms. What a fantastic August we've had.

Tide Pools

I had to show these incredible photos from the tide pools at Haystack Rock on Cannon Beach. Orestes and Soph spent ages each morning down at the pools = lovely leisurely reading and coffee time for Mum - love that! Naturally sea anemones and star fish are now a big part of the conversation. Aren't they beautiful?

Birthday at the Beach

The dust had barely settled when we loaded up and headed to the beach for a week. Again, Orestes found us an incredible place to stay. This time a little cottage one house back from the ocean - it was gorgeous. Sophia and Orestes spent hours at the beach, digging in the sand, swimming and exploring the tide pools. We celebrated Soph's 2nd birthday in a very low key fashion. Orestes went looking for a carrot cupcake at 4pm on the 27th, luckily found one and some candles. Sophia blew out the candles and then the poor urchin had to share her little cupcake with her parents! And that my friends is our idea of the perfect 2nd birthday party.

New Zealand

On our way home from Australia we had a week on the North Island of New Zealand. Orestes' found us an unbelievably beautiful unit that perched truly on the edge of the world. We had such a relaxing week and so enjoyed the beauty that comes with rolling hills and rain.

More family

We were so lucky this trip that everybody was living in such close proximity. We took day drives to Dalby to visit everyone which was so much fun. Sophia met her great Grandma Hodder which was so incredible for me. I love the photo of the four generations of girls, that was a really special day. I love the one with her boys, Blake, Matt and Josh with Soph on the couch. I couldn't resist including the wallaby - they were hopping about on the lawn of my cousins' holiday house at the Bunya Mountains. They've been trying to teach the kids not to chase them!

Fun with the family

Grandma and Grandad had a great time with Soph. She was a tough customer for them to win over, very wary but toward the end of the trip she started to warm up a bit. She really enjoyed doing yoga with Mum in the mornings and digging for potatoes in the garden with Grandad. She is still yelling, 'G'day Grandad' whenever we talk about him. They fed the magpies each morning from the deck - another memory she talks about.

Australia - the beautiful

What a truly amazing summer we've had! Starting with an incredible trip home to Austraila, it was so wonderful to catch up with family and friends. I'll start with a few traditional shots of the beautiful landscape. Note the roo under the gum tree.

Gardening girls

Sophia and Clara had a great time making their own little garden pots. They stuck stickers on their pots and then planted sunflower seeds - fingers crossed we get a crop!

Fairy Festival

We spent a beautiful May morning at a local fairy festival - as you do when you have a two year old! It was all a bit strange for Soph, although she did enjoy the ribbons around the May pole.

Dig, dig, dig

Sophia and her friend Lucas had a great time at the Oregon Beach in April. They ran and dug and ran some more. The best part of course was that they slept all the way home in the car - love that!

In the garden with Aunty Laura

3/8/07
Or Laulah as she's affectionately known in our house. We had a beautiful day with our special friend in her gorgeous garden.

I wear my sunglasses at night.....

3/5/07

Or when I'm eating breakfast., or dinner, or at bedtime....

Let's hope she wears them at some stage when it's sunny out.

From beast to angel

2/15/07

She's an angel I tell you, an angel! Bath time with Dad in Bend is something to treasure - now that's a lot of bubbles!

Yoghurt head

3/11/07

Who knew yoghurt was the new hair gel, or face cream or washing powder or floor cleaner? She's a beast I tell you, a beast!

Miss Have-A-Chat

This little girl loves to chat on the phone...'Hullo,...........hullo, anybody there?

She's just starting to say, 'I love you', and 'bye bye'. Too sweet really.

Food glorious food

Sophia loves to help me cook and prefers to stand up at the bench to see and enjoy all the action. We have a date with Dorothy, our incredible neighbour, to make cookies once a month - what a treat!

A beautiful, blustery day at Cannon Beach

We had a beautiful few hours at the Beach in early February. Dad, you would have died! The wind was so strong that it almost blew us over - it was great! Freezing, but really energizing. The clouds parted for a few hours of gorgeous sunshine and Sophia had a ball.