Lasting quality...

I have been perusing Erin's baby albums, looking back on photos from her birth and babyness. People often say there is the most photos of the first child in the family then as the siblings arrive the pictures dwindle. Not so with us. I have loads of photos of her as the sweet baby she was and we even have some video footage that the others never got. I'm not sure where I got the time to put all these photos into scrap albums but she has the most.

This pic is  one I particularly love is from the day she was born. Chris is holding her with a loving gaze that is really sweet. We remarked as we looked at it that he is wearing a jumper that is still one of his favourites and worn nearly every day in winter 16 years later.

The Tastex jumper was given to him by his mother a couple years before Erin came along when his sister was working for that company in Tasmania and is probably over 20 years old. The taupe coloured heavy woollen jumper is fantastic quality and so hard wearing. I have tried to get him to wear other jumpers (remember the possum jumper?) or windcheaters but he always goes back to that one.

It will be a sad day when that article of clothing is retired.

Birthday time...

Looking back 16 years to when this little baby came into our lives.

And who now looks like this when she is going out with friends to a fancy dress party.















Or like this when she is blowing out 16 candles on the rainbow cake I put together this afternoon at 6pm after work, while preparing a meal with one ear on the news of the day.

Erin is not taking pics but using her phone to Skype Hayley so she could join in the cake ritual.

the finished cake

 This lovely girl has now turned 16, this girl who is fussy, stubborn, quiet, considerate, messy, creative, loving and moody all at once is growing into a young woman.

Many happy returns Erin, xxx

Winners are grinners...

We won the Grand Final in Monday Night Ladies Tennis tonight!

It was a pretty evenly matched event. We won 2 sets each so it came down to a count back of games. In the end it was 26 to 19 so I came home with 2 champagne glasses as the trophy.

This prize made me smile to myself as I remember our mother had quite the collection of champagne glass trophies from her golfing days. I hope to add to my collection and make a set!

I have been using Viber and Skype as well as Facebook messaging to keep in contact with Hayley. It has been daily communication and the visual contact on Skype is very reassuring. Not sure how good that communication will be in Spain but I'm hoping to keep up with her adventures at the same pace.

Update...

I got a message from Hayley to say she had arrived at her girlfriends'. Holly & Gil have already set themselves up in a flat at Clapham and Hayley will stay with them for 2 days. The message was short, basically saying she had got there. I can relax a little now. I am dying to hear how she got on with customs, the British passport and the London Underground trains. I want to know if she slept at all on the flight and whether its nice there or not. Those details will come. The rest of her travelling adventures are a bit unknown but now that she has arrived safely, that doesn't worry me anymore. Not like the last 24 hours.

Hopefully I will be able to relay some information soon.

She's gone...

Hayley is in the air as we speak, zooming her way through the skies to her Heathrow destination. It will take her 24 hours of travelling time to get there and then she has to negotiate herself and a back pack that is the size of another person through the 'tube' to her friends in Clapham.


We had a teary farewell at the Airport last night and I could hardly let her go to walk through those doors. I know she will have an amazing adventure as she lives and works overseas for the most part in English speaking countries but I will still worry.

The worry at the moment is amplified because we have no way to contact her until she buys a new sim card for her phone or gets to an internet connection. The promised message from Abu Dhabi airport during her lay over was later than I had calculated and now many hours will pass til I hear from her to know how her journey went. What did we do in the days before instant communication? Just worried the same I suppose.

The anticipated mess is a reality. It will take me a few days to clear up the rest of her stuff that she has left scattered around. We spent nearly all of Sunday trying to sort out what was to keep, donate or toss. My judgement about a lot of it will have to be satisfactory. She might have forgotten about it by the time she returns.

I am proud of her for taking this giant step. Proud of the lovely human being she has become. And for following her dream.

In a blur...

Time is both standing still and racing past me. I am fully recovered from my recent URTI, Hayley's departure date is looming and I am trying to fit in some runs.

We now have Hayley's back pack but she is not bothered to have a trial run of packing. She still hasn't retrieved all her belongings from Lucy's. This is OK by me because I don't have to find a space for them yet but she only has a few days until she flies out and I can foresee what will happen...I'll have a huge mess to sort once she's gone.
She has been working long hours and saving her dosh. She has locked in a nannying type gig in Spain for the Summer and contemplating going to the Tomato Festival while she is there.

Couldn't think of anything worse personally but they also have fireworks and bands performing etc.

I received my belated Mothers' Day present last week, a Nespresso Pixie coffee machine. We have had fun tasting all the sample pods and frothing the milk. Delicious. And so easy to brew the coffee and the milk frother is brilliant, quick, effective and easy to clean up.

Running buddy and I decided to do the MS Fun Run on Sunday. Decided on Saturday while it was pouring with rain. Even as we were driving in we were doubtful as it was still raining on Sunday morning. but just as we pulled into the Albert Park car park it cleared and we ran the 10kms in good time. It was my best 10k at 1:05:47. Hers was a little faster as we got separated by the 2,800 strong crowd who were all negotiating the many large puddles on the track around the lake. We didn't want wet feet in such cold weather.

We didn't get as much rain as the rest of the state, 18mm, just enough to soak the garden. The grey weather though has made me feel as dreary as the skies some days as I contemplate Hayley's departure and the adjustment needed.

Oh well, I'll just have another coffee and that will get me going.