The year in review...

A great bonus of keeping the blog is the ability to look back quite easily at the happenings over the year. With the addition of pictures my journal is a colourful history of our life. Not that it is riveting reading for anyone else but me, but today I had fun reviewing the year.

Here are some highlights...

January saw us holidaying in Port Fairy and then later celebrating our 25th wedding anniversay

February was when Erin commenced secondary school and Chris quietly celebrated  turning 50

In March Bacchus Marsh was flooded with what was the beginning of much rain, so much so I stopped counting the mls

In April our family got together for a picnic

In May I got glasses

June saw Erin become a teenager

In July we met up with Chris' cousins whilst on their trip to Australia from Manchester, UK

In August we saw both Hayley and Erin perform in Oliver!
We also got to vote in a new Prime Minister

September saw Collingwood play in the Grandfinal and win it in a replay match (20 years between flags)
I held my first big study day, then went on Long Service Leave to get over it.

October saw us celebrate both my birthday and Yvonne's 40th. in NSW. Erin got to go on her first plane trip and we had a lovely holiday in Terrigal.

November saw Callum get his motorcycle licence and a new motorbike.
Hayley started her new career in  the Dentistry field.

In December we saw the Hoodoo Gurus live, celebrated Christmas with family and took a breather at the end of the year.

In reflection I have also read quite a few books, seen a few movies and it looks like I've done loads of scrapping, cooking, shopping and TV watching. I've also dabbled with yoga with surprising results.

These are the highlights, we've had a few lowlights too but it all balances out in the end. I believe you need to have a positive attitude even if things aren't going well.

So here's to the new year and the beginning of a new decade...

Have a good one!

Driving Miss Me...

I've been thinking about our trip to NSW as I scrap some photos. Our plane trip was exciting and new for Erin and I (Chris - a bit more seasoned with the flying thing) but things really started happening when we arrived at the airport.

I had googled some map directions, telling me that the trip to Terrigal should take 90 minutes. We had packed our e-tag so we could smoothly use the tollways. And Chris had loaded up the trip on his phone which would be our navigator. We were well prepared.


What could go wrong?

We landed in Sydney on a Friday afternoon at 4pm. We hadn't factored in that this particular Friday was the beginning of a long weekend when every single person in the city of Sydney was leaving for a break.

It took about half an hour to collect our bags and hire car. The little manual Corolla was easy to drive and I jumped in the drivers seat for that first journey so Chris could be Mr Maps and guide us out of the city. The first snag was the delay in picking up a signal on the GPS. While we were waiting for that first direction I headed out the way the guy at the Hertz booth directed me, he also added 'follow the signs to Newcastle'.

Well after the first left turn there were no signs! There was no directions from the phone and Chris had his phone out the window attempting to get a signal. What there was was a lot of traffic, rushing in and out of lanes and intent on getting in front. I had no idea where I was going, I kept heading towards Centrepoint tower (lucky that thing is so tall) as we knew that was in the city and I kept hoping for a sign for the Harbour Bridge. I kept saying to Chris 'left or right?' We were pretty clueless but I lucked onto the Bridge and onto the Pacific Highway. By the time the signal kicked in we were heading in the right direction.

After inching along the Pacific Highway and adjusting to the Sydney way of driving, 3 hours later we pulled into Terrigal. We didn't go the toll way, the most direct way and definately not the quickest way but we made it with very little clue of the best way. During the trip the GPS function of the phone worked really well as long as you gave it some time to think.

Our return trip to the airport was much smoother, our GPS took us on a different and quicker route, on freeways and tollways. We even went under the harbour in the tunnel and were ready to check in 2 hours after we left Terrigal.

Live and learn.

My leave is over...

Four lovely weeks have zoomed by in one way but in another it has been a good length of time to achieve some of the things I wanted to do. Some of those things were more exciting than others but I am satisfied none the less.

When the children were in Primary School they had to write a diary entry each Monday morning. At the end of the year they would bring their work home and I would read over their many pieces. I have kept some of the books as a reminder of their progress and the way their hand writing had developed. I laugh at these diaries and journals because they alway began 'On the weekend..', mostly they were very mundane activities and some family secrets were revealed in their writing! I am thinking of this as I begin this post.

On my holidays I....

went to 3 parties ☺Yvonnes 40th

                          ☺ Lucy's 21st

                          ☺ Callum's 19th

flew in an aeroplane for the first time in 13 years

visited family, beaches, cafes

had my birthday in another State

watched Spring unfold in my garden and pulled out loads of weeds...look out backyard you're next!

walked beside the river most days, usually when it wasn't raining, the river looks really full

gave blood (and embarrassingly nearly passed out at the end, I've lost all my condition!)

saw the movie 'Eat Pray Love' and enjoyed it. Some reviews made me doubt I would but it was very like the book, so that made it for me. Maybe those reviewers hadn't read the book.

read just one book, but that was enough

scrapped some recent events

made some jewellery and some cakes

tried yoga at the local centre, will probably go back again

was busy at some times and did nothing at others, just the way I like it

went for a ride with the Ulysses club on a beautiful sunny day

spent lots of time with Hayley - lunches at Woodend, Ballarat, before she starts her apprenticeship soon

walked a hundred k's (felt like it) at Chadstone with Vanessa and had a good laugh

had a haircut and helped at an accident - at the same time

did some of the spring cleaning I had planned but not all and thats OK too.

I'm not ready for alarms and uniforms but will go back to work tomorrow with lots of memories of my time off. My first task is to put in a leave form for the next round of holidays!

My birthday...

This year my birthday was celebrated while we were away, which was quite a nice way to do it.

Erin was quite taken with these flowers while we were in NSW, our climate is not quite right for them here

We had a very nice dinner with Duncan, Donna & CJ. They left for their home in Toowoomba early the next morning, leaving us with some extra days on our own.

Terrigal part 4 - Beaches...

Our trip included visits to a few beaches.


The skillion at Terrigal

Terrigal beach on a blowy showery day

Avoca Beach

The surf was up at Avoca

Patonga, a quiet inlet with lots of fishing boats and pelicans

Pearl beach seemed like a lovely family spot, they were constructing/improving the sea baths here.

And finally the view of cosmopolitan Terrigal on a sunny day from our balcony

Picture perfect

Terrigal part 3 - Cafes...

We did a lot of my favourite thing while we were away...eating out!

Hot chocolates at a beach side cafe

Pizza and pasta at a street cafe

Brunch at another cafe

Pancakes at Yvonnes cafe in Woy Woy

I think I am getting better at the self portrait thing

Yvonne and Joys' new business, its called Pepe's at the Pavillion and is becoming very successful for them.

They opened in February this year and are working long hours 7 days a week but its paying off for them. The food was delicious and the coffee fabulous. Shame it is such a long way away, popping in for a coffee is not an option, but if you are in Woy Woy (near the station) do try it!

The party...

The whole reason for our trip was to get together to celebrate Yvonne's birthday. She will be 40 on 10/10/10, the youngest of the clan with 16 years separating her from the oldest (Brendan). Not all could be there but we were able to catch up on

Aunties

Von

Donna

Uncles

Duncan

Cousins

Emma

Clare

CJ, the character

And some new friends

Tina & Joy

There were even some spectacular fireworks

And a good time had by all despite the chilly temperature and constant rain, as night fell the warm jackets came out and I was glad I had packed them even though I thought it was a waste of space at the time.

Erin had the camera on a tilt most of the night!

Terrigal...part 2...

Our internet find for accomodation has been pretty good. When you book something sight unseen or without a recommendation it can be a bit risky. We have been pretty lucky in that;

the house is in a good location with great views and

its pretty clean & close to its description.

The views are fabulous

The pool would be great to swim in if it were 10 degrees warmer and not raining

The  10 minute walk to the beach is a steep downhill with what seems to be a vertical climb back up

I've been watching the surfers whilst reading my book and sipping on a wine

Would be just about perfect if it wouldn't rain so much.

It reminds me of when we used to go on fishing holidays as children. The locals used to say 'you should have been here last week' when the fish were apparently jumping into the boat and weighed about 5 pounds each. Today a local shopkeeper told me the weather in Terrigal last week was a sunny 28 degrees. Not this weekend, its been cold rainy and windy, but I'm not letting that spoil my holiday.

Terrigal,part one...

Our little trip to NSW began with Erin's first ever plane ride...

When she got off this little plane at Avalon airport we got on a slightly bigger one! She was full of nervous chatter and questions, testing of window shades, seatbelts and asking where the life jackets and oxygen masks were.

She settled down after we took off (and we hoped the kid with the fog horn voice would too)

Chris changed seats with me so he could crane his neck and try to see what she was looking at out the little window. I was reading my book and they were trying to guess what the river was ??Murray and which snow capped mountain it was ?? Kosiosko whichever it was it was very pretty in the distance.

Then as we were approaching Sydney airport Erin taught Chris how to make an origami crane out of a paper napkin.

Then we dashed out to the baggage collection/car rental desk and headed out into mad peak hour/Friday afternoon of a long weekend/Sydney traffic for what turned out to be a 3 hours trip to our Terrigal destination.

More on that next time...