Our Girls!
Our Clown!

Our Actress!

..and we love it! WE WISH YOU A JOYOUS CHRISTMAS AND A NEW YEAR FULL OF BLESSINGS
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!
Admired by Daddy.

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".

Beautiful Mum's and Gorgeous Babies.
And that's just a few, but it's all been a whole lot of fun!
This meant Bron had to bring them home.
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!
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!

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.
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.
In deep contemplation - cutting the cake with a wish - I wonder what he wished for :)

The first day of the heat wave.


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

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.
Check out the beautiful end result...........
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!
And choose what ride she wants to take.



And take a long nap!
And our big girl dances......
I love to watch her dance!
Lots of good reasons to "Go to the Show"!
No idea what the inscription says, but I will ask Ming our Chinese teacher to translate for me one day.
As you can see from the pics this is part of the Wall is in it's natural state with not much renovation happening here.
It was magnificent!
Below is my favourite photo of the wall showing how the wall continues from one mountain to the other with the towers built on right on top of each peak.
The leaves were just turning and the scenery was beautiful, marred slightly by the smog that is blow in from Beijing.
This part of the wall was over two hours travel from Beijing which was heavy with smog that day. We travelled the whole way hoping that it would clear at the Wall. Unfortunately that wasn't the case but it was still magnificent.
Bev and I bought hiking sticks, Allan thought it unnecessary, but we girls were very pleased to have them on the STEEP STEEP steps!

Every now and then we had a little bit of down hill,
And a rest here and there.
Phew!! It was great to walk the Great Wall at Jinshanling :)
And the traffic that contributes to that smog! The cars there are plenty, the rules there are not many!! But despite this the traffic seems to flow and the drivers are incredibly tolerant - no road rage here; cars, buses, trucks, motor bikes, bicycles and pedestrians weave in and out of the traffic, through pedestrian crossings, red lights, across in front of buses etc etc!!
Of course when you think of transport in China, bicycles come to mind. Not all of the 18 million inhabitants of Beijing can afford a motor car, though from the number on the very well organised freeways it looks like they can!
Street kitchen.
A shot of an old lady in the old Beijing, in the Hutong area that we visited. More photos of that area later.
An old man practising his calligraphy using water on cement, he wrote "Australia" for us!
Inside is massive and magnificent; check out the size of the people in the picture and you can get a better idea of the size of this huge complex.







So this will be the last update for a few weeks but I'm sure there will be plenty after we arrive home.
MATEY DOG
MATE'S LIFE
MATEY AND ME
Never did get Robbie's story!!
Loved a chat
Had good manners
Always looked forward to Christmas - mmmmmmmm left overs for a week!
Go for a stroll and a play in the puddle.
I'm not sure what he loved most, a toss up between our family, the back of the ute, the beach, food, tug o war - the list goes on!
I know one thing, he was never far from Allan and what ever he was doing at the time.
Behind him...
Between..........
In front.........
Underneath..........
Right there...........
As close as he could get.....
On the run.........
Yep, right there.........
Actually, I think I do know what/who he loved the most....
This is the track he took after a blow out.
But for the Grace of God - the photos taken the morning after. We were almost home (at Lewieville farm) when he passed us, we heard the pop of the tyre then just dust!!

We had time for a spa
And pizza with the Muellers!
Allan and Anthony catching up.
And it was party time for Sophie Fleur Bai.
At the Tigger Playhouse with family and friends. Unfortunately Daddy wasn't well and in hospital, but the little 5 year old enjoyed herself - and has the pink cheeks to prove it!
No show without Tigger - Sharon and me hamming itup with the big guy!
Our own staircase to the moon. The moon rising over the ocean just out the front of Lewieville (Pt MacDonnell)
Hmmmmmmmm...... if you recognise these two, please let me know who they are!!
Ah ha - it's Chopper and his Chick!
VERY IMPRESSIVE
A bit of late summer fun, two little four year olds enjoying the waves.
I can't help but wonder what she's thinking as she swings back and forth looking out on to the lake?
Maybe thinking of rainbows like this one.
Luckily had my camera in the car late one afternoon.
And was blessed with the sight of this beautiful arc.
There is something about rainbows that I just LOVE.
...through the double fence to get where they like to go! Still all in a line!
I went off to work and Allan snapped these almost an hour later when they had drifted back in to our back yard. How cute are those little chickies?!!
The top and bottom photos were taken through the office window upstairs and the centre pic is from the lawn out back.

Here he is, so cute, made from cotton balls, white wool wrapped around and face and legs all made individually with felt and pipe cleaners. All sheep legs coloured separately by hand to match - the dedication of a Nanna!
And three cute little faces - each face cut and baked by Nanna Kaye.
AND HERE'S THE BIRTHDAY BOY in his little Billabong jeans and baby moccasins!
enjoying his day.......
Cake time and facing that very first candle...
It was DELICIOUS!!! :) and full of Radox salts to soak away the aches of a day moving and cleaning!!
...so come right in...
and take a look around!
Lots of cupboards and shelves
and more........cupboards and shelves and a couple of bins - they are great bins! There's a story behind them there bins!
It's not just a pantry, it's a store room for the upstairs area too.
Office above.
Master bedroom (with ensuite in the back ground)
My robe below, Allan has his own elsewhere!!
The stairs were moved back to bring up the furniture. These stairs have been moved back and forth on several occasions usually with just 4 or 5 people to help - this has meant hernia's, back ache and other ailments that can't be mentioned! So this time Allan enlisted at least 10 men to help move the stairs and carry the lounges up and over the balcony
It was very successful and a lot less stressful than previous occasions when there has been just a few helpers!!!


So, here is the new lounge(s), not particularly beautiful but particularly comfortable!!
It took a whole weekend to choose between something that looked like it came out of a "Beautiful Homes" magazine but not particularly comfortable and this one that is not particularly beautiful, but amazingly comfortable.
And speaking of a little help from our friends, here's Rick helping dad put his bedroom furniture back together.