A BEACH WEDDING - OH SO PERFECT...

THE WEDDING - ADAM & BRON

..........but let's start at the very beginning!

The wedding plans started a loooong while ago, but the wedding fun kicked off a few weeks ago.
Below is a photo of the "Hens Night" invitation, it's red and lacy and oh so cute - hand made with love by Danni, one of Bron's attendants.

Also the invitation hand made (with the assistance of a computer and printer!) with lots of love by Bron and her mum, along with the place cards for the guest tables - these were put together by Bron's mum Kay - Oh My Gosh, the hours that Kay spent doing these you wouldn't believe and what a gorgeous end result - these were definitely made with L.O.V.E!
Rose petal holders also made with love (though a big dose of patience was required!), there are tricky little things to get together!! But cute - annoyed I forgot to take a pic with them filled with the rose petals from Kay's garden.

Bron and Adam asked me to give thanks before our meal - see below the blessings we shared.

Bron shopped for a guest book and wasn't impressed with what was on offer so asked if I could "scrap" a book for the occasion - The guest book, like not other, personalised for Adam and Bron.
THE HEN'S NIGHT

Then came the Hens' Night - Bad Taste and Good Fun!!!
Bron really enjoyed our bad taste outfits, the fun little gifts and games!

The "Awkward Sisters" (that's a story for another time :). I think we may have taken "Bad Taste" to a new level!

Pink, move over - Tracy's taking over! Pink was the theme for the night and that included the food!
The girls decorated the pink strawberry cheesecake - yummmmmo!

One of the fun games was to create a wedding dress from toilet paper!!! Below the winning team. How impressive is that "gown"? This team did an awesome job.

The three "brides" and their gowns. My team decked out Tulle - sorry Bean, we let you down big time!!
Tulle thought it was the best dress and wanted to wear it all night - unfortuntely the quality of the paper didn't allow that, it fell apart in minutes!!

THE BUCK'S GOLF DAY

The boys opted for a non-traditional Buck's get-to-gether and headed for the golf course for the afternoon. This was followed by dinner and to the paceway for the Gold Cup.
Father of the bride and grandfather of the groom preparing for the game.
Adam with his bes man (brother Steve) and groomsman David (aka Choc).
And away they went..
Dad drives one down the fairway!
A great day was had by all - so I was told!

THE BEACH TRY OUT

Here's Tulle who was the bestest ever helper, sitting and waiting for the next instruction! She stayed the whole afternoon and couldn't have been more helpful!
We trialled several different set ups before we were happy!




We're all happy and resting up - only took about FOUR HOURS :)

THE BIG DAY FINALLY ARRIVES


THE GIRLS
A MORNING AT THE DAY SPA

Bron before....
During.....
Jaime and her 3 beautiful girls.

THE ROSES ARRIVE
and the tears did too!!

THE BOYS

PREPARING

With a little help from his Mum

My gorgeous boy, man, boy, man, BOY!!! He will always be my boy :)

Adam's mate Hayden drove the boys to the beach in this gorgeous black Chrysler.

Pure Sweetness!
THE FLOWERS
Bride's boquet - tulips and lilies.

Bridesmaid's flowers - stunning tulips

THE OAK TREE ROOM AT THE BARN

The bridal chairs.


THE WISHING TREE

THE LOVEBIRDS!

THE TABLE CENTRES

THE CAKE & SPECIAL KNIFE

The cake belonged to my mother, can only estimate how old it is, maybe 58ish years old. It has always been in our family for my living memory.

Amazing cake decoration - hand made lilies.

SPECTACULAR

MORE TO COME - STAY TUNED!!!

T'WAS THE NIGHT BEFORE THE WEDDING AND...

...well - not all are sleeping, all the last minute little thingy things still to do! There has been fun and a bump or two along the way, will report on it all EVENTUALLY!! Hopefully early next week when we can all take a big breath and look back on what we have all been up to in the lead up to and including the big day :)

Talk soon!

IT'S A SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP - THIS GIRL AND HER PIG

She's had her Piggy as long as she can remember.
Daddy bought it home for her after a trip one day - she was only a weeny thing, probably about the same size as Piggy back then!
Piggy spends most of his life at home but is an occasional visitor to...

Nan and Grandads.She loves her Piggy and I bet her Piggy loves her too :)

The Littlest Surfer Pro

She's hit the big time or I should say THE BIG WAVES!

With a little help from Mum.

And Daddy!She's off.
With the biggest smile!
She can now ride the big ones like her sisters.
They were the perfect size.And the perfect shape.For the perfect ride for an almost 5 year old!
And there's no stopping her now!!
Right back out to catch another one!!

The Good Mayor

That was the headline to the photo that appeared in the Advertiser on Wednesday! Along with "How Mount's No 1 Citizen saved a holiday.

On Monday Steve and Jaime came to the rescue of Marina and Edgar, tourists from Columbia after their car broke down about 5km from town - near the Barn Palais on a 40 degree day!!! They ended up at the motel that Jaime works for and the story goes from there. They arranged to pick them up next day and took them to see the sights of Mt Gambier, to the Tantanoola Caves then down to us for a meal.

They were thrilled to be experiencing Aussie hospitality - that's if the Muchas Gracias that came every 30 seconds was any testament :)
Marina and Edgar enjoyed our typical Aussie BBQ, even though we ate inside as it had cooled off (thankfully!).

This was then followed by a treat for us all - a chocolate fountain where we dipped marshmallows, fruits and sweets into hot flowing chocolate.

So between mouthfuls of chocolate, Spanish and English...........We managed to communicate..........
Quite well! (It was a good chance to brush up on some very rusty Spanish!)
Isn't it funny that Chocolate is Chocolate in any language!!! Most of us also ended up with chocolated coated tee shirts!
When Marina and Edgar arrived in Adelaide they contacted the Advertiser and they ran the story of "The Good Mayor"! The final paragraph in the newspaper reads, "The travellers, who have been holidaying in Australia for just over a month, said they could not believe the generosity." With Marina adding that people in Colombia were more cautious. "We just want to say thank you very much." That would be MUCHAS MUCHAS GRACIAS!!

ALL CREATURES GREAT AND SMALL

Landed on the balcony and stayed on the wall long enough for a quick pic.

How amazingly delicate are the wings

THANK YOU MICHAEL . . . . . AND WENDY

...... for the trucks and the tractor!
I LOVE TRUCKS and I LOVE TRACTORS - Seriously!


It's a very serious business - trucks and tractors.

Very serious! Would you like to play Grandad Ron? Truck or tractor?

Actually, you can have the tractor.
Seriously, you can have the tractor - I think....
Yep, you can have the tractor cos I have......

2 TRUCKS!!! Seriously!

CHINA 09 - RANDOM IMAGES

A few more snaps, quite random, of our trip to China last September.
There were flowers EVERYWHERE, dressing up the country in anticipation of the upcoming anniversary celebrations.
No trip to China would be complete without a visit to the Pandas.
Big lazy messy and ever so cute!
Terracotta Army - Unforgettable & Awesome!


The face of China.
We took a trip out into the countryside, the farmers live a very simple life.

Food of every description available - this was in the Moslem markets in Shanghai.

Beautiful red lanterns of every shape and size hung throug out the cities and town.
A very very delicious meal of dumplings. Every taste and type imaginable! Y - U - M!!!
Confucius say: "Man who dance not necessarily a dancer"!!!
Everything in China is a piece of art - this is a beautifully decorated walk way.

We met this little man and his name is Harry!
Incense burning at a buddist temple.
Silk worms munching away on the mulberry leaves.
Magnificent oriental gardens (only for the wealthy though).

Shanghai the modern city of China - by night. The old slowly being demolished in the foreground with the modern ever growing city behind.
MMMMMMMMMMMMMM! Not a lover of duck, but this Peking Duck was doublydelicious!
Tea ceremony.
Fish, or if you are from New Zealand Fsh.
Colourful tea pots and tea cups.
I though this delightful, the Hutong Pizza Hut! I once heard that pizza actually originated in China? Can't imagine that!
Watch anyone? We have genuine Lolex and many other top brands only $20 (for five that is!)
Beautiful scape in the garden of the Summer Palace Beijing.
Summer Palace.
This pottery around AD 256
A friendly smiley Chinese Man, from China, he's Chinese, lives there, in China! Don't you just dig that shirt!
Umbrellas and hats of every colour and size available
Remember the life size army of warriors? Below is another much smaller version, the person ordering this lot obviously not an important Emporer!
We visited this site of the Beijing 2008 Olympics - the Cube (swimming) and the Bird's Nest (athletics). Very very impressive.
Loved some of the art, especially this style.
Magnificent antique furniture
Back later with some more xx

INTRODUCING......................

Miss Liv Kohlberger (aka Bubba Livy Lou Lou) arrived Christmas Day at 18 minutes past 4pm, weighing 8 pounds 9 oz (3906grams) and measuring 54cm with 36 cm head circumference - to proud parents Ky and Kon!
Remember this pic from a previous post? Well this is the mumma Kylie K (aka Bubba Louie!)
And this is Kylie with Konrad's little God son saying "Hi Baby" just a few days before Liv made her entrance into the world.Here's a weary mumma and happy healthy baby girl.
Check out those scrummy little chubby cheeks - she's just like mumma was when she was born, but a pound or two lighter! (Maree You Are a Legend!)
A cuddle from Dadda.All cleaned up and tucked into the hospital crib.All prettied up and ready to go home.
Now check out the pic below, here's Kylie with my two little blonde bombshells with baby Kylie, gotta be 30ish years ago. The genes are strong in the Kenchington line, it's a look into the future for Liv I think! Time will tell, I'm sure Kon can see some family resemblance too :)

Adam Steve Kylie & Icecream!

A Must Post Before Midnight

Our first born grandchild is now 9 years old!! Our beautiful Baie. A must to post this before the end of 2009!

We wish you enough Baie...

We wish you enough sun to keep your attitude bright no matter how grey the day may appear. We wish you enough rain to appreciate the sun even more.

We wish you enough happiness to keep your spirit alive and everlasting.

We wish you enough pain so that even the smallest of joys in life may appear bigger.

We wish you enough gain to satisfy your wanting and enough loss to appreciate all that you possess.
But most of all we wish you enough love to keep on loving right back.

PS: We also wish you enough cake!

A BEAUTIFUL BOY'S MANY FACES

HAPPY

PENSIVE

QUESTIONING

JUST PLAIN....

UTTERLY BEAUTIFUL!!

(Am I biased??!)

Our Christmas Concert

Tulle started our concert off by singing Mary's Boy Child - this year baby Jesus came resplendent with pink bow (unfortunately this bow and headband is permanently attached to the doll's head), please look past the pink bow.
Tulle sang the story of the birth of Jesus while....
Rori and Baie placed the nativity (we did eventually move Mary and Joseph much closer together andto their baby!). The kayak in the background obviously adding much authenticity to the whole scene :)

This was followed by Baie's solo of Rainbow Connection learned last year in junior choir.
Tulle then performed her jazz number to Ease on Down the Road - unbeknown to us she missed some steps and was rather distraught about it!! We all thought it was fabulous!Baie performed two of her favourite dances; the Scottish Lilt and the Irish Jig, again in costume very authentic to the dances!!
Rori's item was You Are My Sunshine sang solo by Nan!! She's known the words since she was 2 years old, but unlike her sisters was a bit stage struck! (Note lips clasped firmly shut!)


Then it was Nash and the Perryman Sisters performing If You're Happy And You Know It...

Clap Your Hands!

and

Stomp Your Feet

And last but not least the "Nash Dash"; the stage is not for him, back to the truck if you please!

The Gifts

I think the smile says it all - delighted. One of the girls' gifts this year was a little sewing machine, and here are the bits that go with it - the sewing kit and lots of colourful felt to learn with.
"Hmm - Interesting," thinks nephew Rob! (or is this really one of the REAL KINGS?)

Nope, definitely our Robbie!
Rori lines up her favourite of favourites, that would be a giant box of Cadbury Favourites, luckily there is an electric toothbrush right next to it to delete the damage.

Hmmm, must check out what' in those chocs!
And they keep coming - the new kayak did very well on it's first ride on the grass!
OH MY GOSH - WE LOVE IT!

Then it was Nash's turn.....

There were presents galore and cousins galore to help.A big ole Tonka Truck with a bonus hard hat and tools - what more could a kid want?

WEEELLLL..............
How about Nan's laundry trolley - that would work!

The Preparation Cont....

Before breakfast it was time to prepare the rest of the feast.
Can't imagine why the tape dispenser is on the bench???
Carol and I have been doing this for so long now we don't even have to talk!
So glad Allan was about to pick up the camera!

The Three T's Of Christmas

Three things I love about Christmas.....

The TREE of course - you've already heard the story of the tree so wont elaborate except to say that the star and the gift wrapping are the only two coordinating items on the whole tree! Although if you look closely you will find a blue bauble from Seattle and a dancing fairy in similar colours :)
The TABLE......I love decorating the Christmas table, this year the same as last year except for the addition of the beautiful aqua blue mosaic tree that I picked up in the post Christmas sales in Robe for a song! And a couple of large chalices also on sale but this year from Target.



I forgot to photograph the bonbons made by the girls - you can just see the remnants in the pic below.
The of course comes the TUCKER!
Here's the masterchef at work!
A huge roast lamb, pork with perfect crackling and a weeny turkey roll!
This is all eventually followed by the plum pudding. Baie is becoming quite adept in all aspects of pudding making and unravelling!

Aided of course by Tulle. Baie and Tulle were the servers of the custard and ice-cream.
And here's the pudding in all it's glory, plump full of flavour and fruit and can you see one of the silver coins just poking through the surface?

PREPARE YE THE WAY....................

Well Christmas has come and gone again and here's a little peek at how we prepared for this special day....

Our Christmas tree that we thought was just "Awesome" approximately 30ish years ago (Steve was around 4 years old when we purchased it from John Martins in Adelaide), is slightly worse for wear. A few branches have fallen away and it's nowhere near as tall as it was when we bought it!!! So I had decided that we would just go with the little fibre optic for another year until we found a new one...........BUT the girls asked, "When are you putting your tree up Nan?" And I thought why not, just one more year and away they went opening the decoration boxes, oohing and aahhing over the different trinkets that we have kept over the years.

Whenever we travel overseas we endeavour to purchase a Christmas decoration for our tree, so though it is not particularly beautiful it holds memories of our travels, some given to us by friends and memories of our own boys at a very young age decorating the tree with some of the decorations still being used right up until now!
"Where's this one from Nan?" "That's the one we just bought in China Tulle, it is hand made from copper, hand painted and fired up to 8 times to make it look so beautiful. It is called Cloissonne."

"Where's this one from Nan?" "Well Tulle, that one's from Target in Mount Gambier!"

"What about this one Nan?" says Baie, "That's from Peru in South America and it's a little Nativity scene placed inside a gourd". "What's a gourd Nan?!"....................
They did a lovely job of it and this year the tree was decorated from the bottom right to the top - Baie can finally reach right up!

Then comes the Christmas baking:
The Christmas Cake, Cookies, Fudge, Caramel Popcorn
(Fudge in the tin already!).

And of course there's the pudding!

Ingredients at the ready and the pot ready to boil.


The coins (pre 1966) are scrubbed and ready to go into the pudding mixture.

And the fun begins - how lucky am I to have 3 MASTER CHEFS at hand!


And a husband armed with the camera for any photo opportunities!!!!! (just scooping up the butter that slithered to the floor!) I really should bend those knees :)
Now this year's pudding has a bit of a story attached - hope you have time for a short read!

Just before the point of putting the dried fruits in, that's after the rubbing of the butter into the flour....Jaime noticed that some of the fruit was out of date. No mind I say, this stuff lasts forever! Upon closer inspection found that the sultanas did in fact look a little fermented and decided to replace said fruit. Fortunately had another little stash of fruit, weighed it up, placed in bowl and proceeded with pudding mixing, tossing out fermented fruit etc. Time came to add fruit to mixture - OH MY GOSH I've tossed out the fresh fruit and put the fermented lot into pudding mix - WHAT A GOOSE! So quick trip to local supermarket for MORE fresh dried fruit and we started the whole pudding from scratch!!!!

So, on with the show! The girls proceeded with the mixing, - they are very experienced pudding makes, they've been doing it since they were old enough sit up on the bench and put their hands in the mixture!

The fruit and sugar goes in........

Add 8 lovely farm fresh free range eggs!


And then the best part of all - all hands in to mix it all up.


This year Nash was not at all keen and I had to encourage him to put his fingers in. Maybe "force" his fingers in would be more correct!


Squish, squish, squish........ much better than finger painting, especially when you get to lick your fingers afterwards!

Girls love it - Boy hates it!

Then it's wrapped and strung and put in the pot.

I'm not sure how long we have been eating this particular plum pudding recipe in our family but I do know it's longer than I've been alive and that's a LONG LONG LONG LONG LONG time :)

SHARING A LITTLE BIT OF OUR CHRISTMAS JOY

Our Girls!

Our Boy!

Our Clown!

Our Actress!

Our Sweet Thing!

OUR JOY!!

A JOYOUS CHRISTMAS TO YOU ALL!

CAN YOU STAY ALL DAY?

I wish we could!

Grandparents Day at Kindy - we got to ride in the boat.

Read stories

Look at that HAPPY little face!

Meet the rabbit.

Play trains.

Swing high............

EVER SO HIGH!!!!!!!!!!!!

HIGH ABOVE THE SKY :)

V for VICTORY

The last time we had a Staff v Students game it was basketball, my all time favourite sport as a young fit thing! I played, we won, I didn't walk for a week!

I vowed NEVER to do the Staff v Student thing EVER EVER EVER AGAIN!

2009 was the year of the Staff v Students cricket match - couldn't resist and had a ball! Still walking, but I'll reserve judgement until tomorrow!
No, it wasn't West Indies v Aussies, we were both on the same team - that's me and Walter and our VICTORY sign - the kids were not happy - but we were!

The kids' whispered, here's Mrs P, this will be a wicket!!! Hee Hee Hee, little did they know I've two sons that I had to bowl for and bat with for many years!!

The victorious team - isn't just great beating a team of 11 and 12 year olds - FEELS GOOD!!!

LIFE'S A WHIRLWIND SO.......

You know, all the end of year stuff (rave rave rave!)

Let's see if I can catch up a little.

Baie won a trophy for the Pipe.

Admired by Daddy.


Rori had her interview with the principal Mrs Eckermann and she's ready to start school!

Passed her aptitude test with flying colours - of course :)

Dean came over from Melbourne to build shelves for Allan's shed.
Now he can finally sort his tools.
And "stuff".

The girls had a sleepover and Tulle couldn't resist a snuggle in 'her' cot.
Even though she has well and truly grown out of it, she can't quite let go!!

Taken a bucket load of photos for:

Formals.
Beautiful Mum's and Gorgeous Babies.

Hello Shauna and Neveah.

Hi there Megan and Charley Lila.

Hello Narelle and Bailee.

Gorgeous 80 year olds on their birthday.
And that's just a few, but it's all been a whole lot of fun!

The Horse Whisperer

Bron's two horses escaped their paddock thanks to one of the farmhands leaving a gate open. Someone must have found them wandering the road and put them safely behind the fence of a neighbours farm!
This meant Bron had to bring them home.


So with no more than a length of rope, she led them back through the paddock.All the way along the road with Nash and me in the car with hazzard lights on hoping a double milk truck didn't come rumbling along!



And safely home again.She's a natural with animals, I was freaking out (inside of course!), Morty the bay is so big and Tori the palamino is not broken in yet but she had no trouble with them whatsoever, they followed along like little puppies!

BORN TO BE WILD............

Kylie Bubba Louie, you've never looked better - I just love it - God bless you and little Bubba Louie, it's count down now!

DO YOU REMEMBER YOUR FIRST DAY AT SCHOOL..

For me the memories always centre around the excitement of NEW SHOES! Here's our number 3's new school shoes on her first orientation day at St Martins.

So very proud to be in her big sisters uniform.

Here she is peeking into Nan's office where she visits most days!

BABY SMOOCHES

These two little smoochers have been together almost since birth - no they're not twins!


They are "Just Friends" -They are Nash and Neveah!Actually, they just love each other!!
Even though they will eventually live on opposite sides of the world from each other...
I hope they will always remain friends :)
At the very least they will have these cute photos to remember each other by.

FROM PERFECT DAY TO PERFECT NIGHT

Each evening God paints a different picture for us outside our window. This was Wednesday's sunset and we sat on the balcony and watched it all unfold until it was dark - perfect!

A PERFECT DAY AT THE BAY

For those of you who are not familiar with "The Bay" - it's what Port MacDonnell is generally known as. If you were to ask, where do you live? The answer would be in "The Bay". If you are going for a drive to Port Mac. You're heading to "The Bay, and today it was a perfect day at The Bay.

We had a load of fun on the kayaks.
Tulle was up and dancing.
No waves - but lots of smiles
But that didn't matter, it was the perfect opportunity for the little ones to learn some paddling skills.
There was some hanging out to do in the warm water of the pools.
A quick chat amongst sisters.
And of course, finish off with a game of beach cricket.

We ended our delicious beach day with a belated celebration for Steve's birthday, complete with delicious Tarsha Torte....

.....and pretend candles! Who forgot the candles!!? Who needs candles when everyone has a great imagination!In deep contemplation - cutting the cake with a wish - I wonder what he wished for :)

SUMMER - HERE IT COMES

And summer, here we come!
The kayaks are out - Bron having her first paddle - Adam coaching and trying not to get his 'bits' wet!

The first day of the heat wave.



We're sure to be spending a lot of time at this spot!

CLOISONNE - beautiful handmade in China

We visited a 'factory' where the items are made by hand, painted and kiln fired (8 times) to produce a beautiful item that looked like fine china (the breakable kind!).

The "canvas" for a Cloisonné pattern is made of copper.

A coppersmith fashions the copper by hand into the shape required. He sits and hammers away for hours.
The pattern is imprinted onto the base, and copper wire that is approximately 1/16 of an inch in diameter is bent into the desired pattern and soldered into place. This is painstaking work.
To make to coloured fillings various pigments are ground into a fine powder. Then comes enamel filling. The pigment is added to each cell compartment by hand. See the droppers in the mix?
Once the first filling is complete, the piece is fired in a crucible. As the copper base turns red the pigments will melt filling each cell. There is a slight amount of shrinkage to the pigments on the first firing, and some re-filling of the cells will be required before a second firing. There can be as many as six or seven or more firings to achieve the desired results.
Once all of the compartments are sufficiently full the object is placed on a motorized wheel, and cutting emery is used to even the surface. (Didn't have anyone working on that the day we visited, so no photo). The object will be fired for a final time, then polished with whetstone and carbon.

The exposed metal filigree is electroplated with gold or silver to prevent oxidation from dulling the filigree. Then the object will be given a final polish.


Check out the beautiful end result...........

Decisions Decisions!!

FROM SMOG TO FOG

This is what greeted us at Mutianya.

FOG!!

We drove out of the smog of Beijing and hoped for a clear smog free day at the Great Wall.
Didn't go far because we couldn't see anymore that what the photos depict - it was still beautiful!

GRANDPARENTS DAY AT ST MARTINS

How lucky am I to work at the same school my grand daughters attend? Very Lucky! This year grand parents were asked to talk about their days at school to compare with how things are these days. It was fun and interesting. I got to meet the class pet - forgot to ask his name, but very cute!

Check out all the year's work - very impressive!

And great grand dad Ron came along and enjoyed talking about his days at school too.