We love our mommy!

There is nothing better than seeing the kids after a day at work ... except when they are even more excited to see us.

Loungin' with mommy!

Last morning in Penang

Heading home this afternoon. I can't wait to see the kids and Mark! This is a pic of the sunrise from my hotel room this morning. -kel

Dinner and the Market

Last night after a long day in the office we headed out for dinner at a Hawkers Market. This was in a fairly touristy area but full of locals having their dinner. The food on offer was pretty varied and mostly Chinese as Penang is a mostly Chinese area of Malaysia. After dinner we headed to Batu Ferringhi market, it was pretty lame, stall after stall of knock off purses, watches and nick knacks. Not my thing at all, interesting, but no purchases for me. Tonight is another shopping adventure after work...-kel

Penang Malysia

This week I am in Penang Malysia for work. Tonight we had dinner in an open air cafe with a tin roof. This "resturant" was pretty much street food with a roof. It was pretty crazy, especially when asked to go "choose" my dinner from the seafood tanks! The lighting wasn't that great so it was difficult to get pictures inside, but here is a pic of me and my dinner to be...it was soooo good! Tomorrow after work we are heading to the night markets at Batu Ferringhi should be another fun adventure. Missing the kids and Mark heaps, but hoping I can find them each a cool present at the markets tomorrow.-kel

Ice Cream You Scream we all Scream for Ice Cream

Mark was at a work function tonight, so as soon as I got home we headed down to Manly for a special treat, ice creams and some good old fashioned sea gull chasing! We had a blast, the ice cream was super messy, Luca had chocolate and managed to get it in his arm pit in about 5 seconds. After ice cream we took a stroll down towards Shelly Beach, the kids ran after the sea gulls on the walk the entire way there and back. Poor sea gulls were just trying to get some dinner snacks from some of the many people enjoying early evening picnics and fish and chips, only to be harassed by my two! We pulled into the driveway at home at 7:45, kids were washed up and in bed by 8, sound asleep by about 8:01! So simple yet so fun. -kel

Happy Fathers Day

Yes, this is the second holiday I have moved to a more convenient date in the last six months. To be honest, it's a total pain, but at the same time completely necessary. Australia celebrates Fathers day in September, normally cool not an issue, however last year we were in the States on holiday and amongst the fun times I totally forgot. The day passed, we didn't even call Mark's amazing dad, to wish him a happy Father's Day. Sooo....after being reminded once by Mark that I basically skipped the one holiday totally dedicated to him I decided to make good ASAP (certainly before Mother's day).

Marks Mom and I planned a surprise day at the beach complete with picnic and presents on Saturday...then Luca got an ear infection (no swimming for a week), ok picnic at the park, play on the toys lots of yummy food....then Saturday morning we woke up to rain, lots of rain (yes, just like halloween)...so we had a surprise Fathers Day picnic in Mark's parents living room.

Mark and his dad were very surprised. It was a totally fun afternoon, not at all what we had planned but fun none the less. Not to worry, this won't happen again, we'll never ever miss fathers day again.

None of this really sounds like high drama, but in reality, it was. Planning a surprise for them was really hard, trying to keep the kids quiet, quickly changing our plans every few days, and even at the last min when Mark's dad showed up at our house about an hour before I was supposed to get the whole family in the car under false pretenses and drive to his house to surprise him!

Every min of drama was totally worth it, when I look back a the last year and the amazing dad Mark has been as well as grandpa and father Mark's dad has been there are no two more deserving dad's out there. From fixing our leaking taps and endless hours of babysitting, building pirate ships and reading princess bedtime stories these two are the absolute best.

Happy Fathers Day Mark and Graham. -kel

Cottage

Today was Luca's first day of Cottage at his new school. Cottage is the pre-school (3 days per week) program at the school where he will attend Kindergarden through year 12. Luca was pretty relaxed, happy that he was wearing a school uniform (all "big" kids wear uniforms to school in Australia), happy with his new big boy backpack and that he got a special breakfast of cinnamon rolls. Scout on the other hand was not so happy, she was insisting on going to big boy school too and having her own special breakfast. She even refused to say goodbye to Luca, to think we have another two years before she starts!

Luca and his best friend Sean both started "big boy" school today.

As we walked into the big school, I was a little misty, he is growing up so fast. With his hair cut and his total confidence I couldn't help but think how fast the last four years have gone. He is growing up into such a fantastic little man, we couldn't be more proud of him. -kel

Australia Day

A 30+ degree day so it was the pool, followed by the pool, followed by a BBQ at our fiends Dieter & Katie's house where we spent time in the pool and then a quick dip in the pool when we got home.

Great to have a day off in the middle of the week and no better way to spend it than with close friends and family.

Luca & Scout eating sausage sambo's with their friends on Australia Day

Scout at 2

She loves tomatos and 'ollies' (candy), Finding Nemo, climbing on ropes at the playground, turkey, her big brother, Tinkerbell, playing "What's the time Mr. Wolf" and doing "motorboat, motorboat" in the pool. She is beautiful and we love her like no other (except Luca of course).

Definitely more of a handful than Luca was at the same age, our little girl turns 2.

Arrrrrrrrggggg Matey

Pirates invaded yesterday for Luca and Scout's birthday party. Figuring this maybe the only year I could ever swing a combined party we went all out with a great 4th and 2nd pirate themed birthday party. The kids had a blast.

Cupcakes, balloon swords, a treasure hunt, swimming in the Lagoon (our pool), lolly bags, tug of war and best of all a huge pirate ship in the backyard the kids and their 35 little guests + parents had a great time. Here are a few pics

from the big event.

A huge thank you to Mark's dad, once again he has surpassed all expectations with his craftiness this year. He made this pirate ship for the kids to play in, it was made entirely of cardboard, he even painted the floors to look like wood grain! The ship is still in the garden today, held up amazingly considering the "sailing" it did yesterday. Needless to say, the pirate ship was a huge hit! -kel

Emus vs. Lion-Tigers

We are lucky to have Mark on holidays for the last two weeks. Our days have been filled with trips to the beach, park and the pool. Lots of small jobs around the house have been done, friends have been visited, wine has been drunk for lunch.

Today, with no real plans, we decided to go to one of our favorite parks (amazing views of the harbor, great kids toys, huge open fields) for a game of soccer and a play on the toys. The pre-game discussions were priceless, with Luca, Scout and I taking on Mark.

Here are a few comments:

Kelly: Sniff, Sniff, is that the smell of defeat in the air?

Luca: Daddy, Sniff, Sniff, I smell your feet.

Kelly: Tell daddy his hopes of winning are pipe dreams.

Luca: Daddy you dream of pipes.

Luca: GOAL!!!!!!!

I can't remember any of the other comments exactly, but I will say that I almost didn't want to play, because the comments from Luca were so much fun!

Oh and for the record the Lion-Tigers (Luca's team) won 7-1, Mark's team the Emus are calling for a rematch asap! -kel

Bubble-O

A bubble machine for Xmas and some great weather

- boxing day in Curl Curl.

Christmas 2010

Christmas Eve swim in the pool.

The build up this year has been big, barely a day has gone by in December without Scout singing "jinga bells" or Luca asking how many more days until Christmas. The photo with Santa this year did not have to include Kelly or I, Luca asked for a scooter and Scout wanted "ollies" (lollies, candy) and there has been some extraordinary toy putting-away at bed time knowing that Santa is watching.

The big day arrives...

Luca and Scout just before they see the tree and presents.

Luca with the tree.

After seven "get-ups" between us during the night to get Scouty back to sleep, (this is a problem unrelated to Christmas), Kelly and I were dreading Luca's anticipation driven early wake up - but it came at something past 5 in the morning. Somehow Kelly convinced him to wait another 20 minutes in which time he fell back to sleep and we were able to delay the start of festivities until 7:15am.

Scout unwrapping "Snow White" her first "girl" movie.

There was zombie like wide eyes for a few seconds looking at the tree with all the presents, we somehow delayed Luca enough to read Santa's thank you note for the beer, cake and apples we left. The kids loved the present opening, as you would expect, and Luca took great pride when Scout and I opened the presents he had actually chosen for us.

Luca's present for Mark "Tiger Beer"

It was just us this year and it was nice as a change. We took our time opening the presents knowing we were on no schedule to get anywhere else, lunch was mostly leftovers from the delicious Christmas eve turkey dinner that Kelly had made and the afternoon was spent enjoying some nice Sydney, December weather in the pool.

Scout making lunch in the new kitchen Santa brought to her and Luca.

It was as chilled out a Christmas as I've ever had and I have a trail of chilled out Christmas's behind me. We did spend a fare bit of time on the phone to family in Perth and the U.S. and next year we will definitely be spending Christmas with family and we will enjoy it just the same if not more.

Scout and her new baby having a post unwrapping drink.

Our Christmas best wishes to all of our family and friends. Joy to the world.

Merry Christmas

Soccer

Luca has been taking a soccer skills class for the last few months. Today was the last class before the holiday break, not only did Mark make it to the class to watch him score 3 goals (top scorer on his team (to be fair, some of the girls were sitting in the goal on the other side of the field)), he also was told he gets to move up a level next term. He loves his soccer and I couldn't be more proud of the little man!

Of course, he is all decked out in his Chelsea gear, this makes him a big favorite with the coaches! -kel

Summer afternoon

Scout in our garden this afternoon. She is growing up fast and she is cheekier than ever! -kb

School Concert

Mark and I attended Luca's "End of the Year School Concert", Luca didn't sing a note, didn't even open his lips once! We aren't so sure if it was stage fright or distraction, he was totally not in to it. Mark and I had a few good laughs and the kids were really cute. He is growing up quickly, sitting in the seats with all of the parents it made me feel so grown up. Luca had a great year at school, Mark and I could not be more proud, seems like just yesterday we were taking him to his first day. The party afterward was great fun, and Luca had no hesitation participating in the cake eating! Here he is with his good friend Millie after the concert. -kel

The Big Guy hits four

Present opening in bed, cinnamon scrolls for breakfast, a day at "his" beach, more presents in the afternoon and finally fish and chips with Grandma an Grandpa for dinner - a birthday any four year old would be happy with. To celebrate his dual nationality it didn't end there with phone calls and web cam's to family in the U.S. on his "American" birthday the next day.

He is getting bigger and more independent but still Luca is really very little trouble, he is a good, happy, fun kid ... happy birthday mate, we love you.

33

These days it's pretty much impossible to get a family photo with all three of us smiling. For my birthday, Mark and more importantly Luca and Scout indulged me in a few picture taking attempts. Here is the one and only that we are all smiling in. I had a wonderful birthday, enjoyed the beach the fantastic weather, some great pressies and a night out in the city with Mark. This summer birthday stuff is the best, so beats the rainy November nights of the past!

33 sounds old when I say it out loud, but as you all know, Mark makes me feel much younger every time I say his age out loud! -kel

Summer pt I

Ballerina

Scout started Ballet lessons a few weeks ago. While certainly not the most talented ballerina...yet....she loves it, absolutely loves it. I love it too, it's pretty much the funniest thing I've ever seen, she is all thumpy and loud and her attempts at "gracefulness" turn out pretty much exactly the opposite. All of that being said, she has such a great time, is one of the most attentive students and keeps all of the mom's well and truly entertained. -kel

Agapanthus

Some Aussies consider Agapanthus weeds, I however love the flowers. Carefully cultivated in our front garden, they are about to start blooming. -kel

Halloween...A day late

Trick or Treating on November 1st, yup! No it's not some Aussie thing. Luca was so excited for Halloween, all day yesterday talking about trick or treating, planning his route and singing Halloween songs (he made them up). About 3 PM, the flu hit big time, all over the bathroom and all over daddy. Luca had a fever and was not going anywhere. He was seriously bummed as all of the kids were knocking on our door (that he had decorated with jack-o-lanterns and bats).

So....I made a few arrangements with the neighbors, good friends and grandma and grandpa to do a little Trick or Treating today....everyone knows you can Trick or Treat on two days right??? Little did I know it was going to be pouring, and I mean pouring down rain all afternoon today. Would this hold my little Halloweeners back...no way! We went out, in wellies, rain coats, umbrella and we trick or treated. (close your eyes imagine seeing us on the street, a very very funny site, it was raining so hard it was like standing in front of a fire hose) Thank you to all of our lovely friends who made today so special for Luca. As we were walking home, Luca was gripping my hand for dear life as we crossed a raging river that formed on our street, he looked at me and said "this was the best mom, my treats are going to be so yummy." Soaked and all, we had a great time, it will certainly be a story I tell for at least the next 20 years...-kel

Since I don't have an underwater camera...this was the best pic I could get when we were finally home!

The Three Weeds - been down this road before

The food and atmosphere are great and the kids can't cause too much havoc - we love the Three Weeds. The forecast was for rain, it was sunny but we went anyway and had a great time. A good reward for a Saturday of hard work for Kelly and I getting our raised garden beds to the brink of planting.

Rocket Launching is Serious Business

Mad Scientist

Luca and I spent a day at the Powerhouse Museum with a few of his friends. The exhibits were fantastic, best of all Luca got to make slime. -kel

Da da da da da da da da Batman

Things have been feeling pretty safe around here lately with frequent visits from a couple of super heroes.

After a month of hard work Luca filled up his reward chart and the "real" Batman called him to congratulate him and spent the night in our cabana where he left Luca his new Batman suit and few empty beer bottles he took from daddy's beer fridge. Holy Borracho Batman!

More Pacific North West

We dropped in on Kelly’s grandma, Luca and Scout’s great grandma – Grandma Pitt – outside Olympia on the way from Seattle to Portland. Grandma Pitt always puts a good feed on and we get to catch up with Kelly’s cousin’s, uncle’s and aunt’s – I love visiting and always leave very full.

I played navigator for the trip into Portland with Kelly driving and between us we made it to Kelly’s mum’s new place without a hitch. Typical Portland weather though – just like a Sydney winter. We ate well on the entire trip but nowhere better than at Kelly’s mum’s. It’s unusual for me to say something trumps good food and beer but those things were not the highlight in Portland - Phil, Kelly’s step dad was the MVP getting us into the Adidas Co. store with a 50% off coupon. We left with five massive bags of stuff, including 9 pairs of shoes – it was like Christmas or a good dream and I must admit I was a bit dazed and confused walking around the store, slightly overcome with excitement.

We knew Luca and Scout were in great hands, again there would be no missing mum and dad, they weren’t even excited or sad to see us leave – seeya and a wave over the shoulder. We headed off to Steven and Renaun’s wedding in Sisters, Oregon.

I love road trips and although it wasn’t a long drive it was pretty cool going through mountains of central Oregon to get there. We stayed in a house with seven other people for the wedding, it was awesome fun and great catching up with a whole bunch of my Seattle friends. We were there Thursday through Sunday with events every night (one leading to a crazy pitch black walk home across a golf course, which at night seemed like some type of Lewis and Clark adventure but in daylight was all of 200 meters). During the day we did some swimming (horse riding for Kel), lots of sitting around reading, shooting the breeze, watching college football, drinking and eating. The wedding itself was amazing, the backdrop was probably the most spectacular I’ve seen with a lake and twin snow topped peaks (The Sisters) behind it. Lots and lots of dancing and drinking.

The next days was a rush but all for a good reason. Up early and out before the rest of the house was awake, lunch in Portland with Kel’s mum (great take-out burgers), pick up the kids, a quick stop to say “hi” to Gram Pitt on the way through and back to Seattle. That night we went to see Ray Lamontagne in concert – a favourite of Kelly’s, she had been tracking his movements around the world trying to line up a concert and it all worked for us in Seattle. It was superb, totally won me over – it was definitely worth the mad day.

The final adventure, a few nights up in the San Juan’s with Tiff, Jeff and Abe. We stayed on the beach on Decatur Island in a massive beach house. This part was probably the most fun for the kids, they had the run of the place inside and out, we went crabbing which Luca loved (the crab fights between the “keepers” as we threw them down in hole of the boat were his favourite), picked blackberries, went kayaking, rode bikes, saw deer and seal lions and generally chilled out.

A final hurrah a breakfast with a bunch of friends at Pat and Katie Perkin’s beautiful house and then a much more successful and rather uneventful trip home. Sydney is home but Seattle is my second home – I miss it.

New York

We flew into town behind the remnants of a hurricane which left awesome weather for the entire time we were in NY - the only time we complained was on the morning of our arrival when after the red-eye from Seattle we couldn't get into our room for about five hours after our arrival. But all good, we didn't waste a second. We were staying at the "W" on Lex and 50th so while we were waiting for the room we did some exploring around mid town and Kelly even managed a bit of shopping.

The first night we ate at P.J.Clarke's - more of a local place and they do a great burger. A few beers some great pub food - a blast.

Beyond any allowance for time difference we were just happy to sleep in while we were in NY and my mate Matt Malloy caught us on the second morning still in bed at 10am - the funny thing is he called at 11:00 the next day and we were just sitting down for breakfast and he wasn't shy in giving us a hard time.

After our less than early wake up on Sat morning we headed down to Soho and had breakfast at Balthazar. Kelly loves this place, it is a really cool NY bistro in a French style, it is massive. We ate at the bar, which I always enjoy - the food lived up to the hype. The rest of the day we went our separate ways, Kelly to do some intensive shopping while I went to a few galleries and flee markets but I also couldn't resist the shops.

Sunday morning was fun, we headed uptown to Central Park East, great breakfast at this small bistri Viand, a real NY experience. Further north, we were headed to the Whitney and some other shop that Kelly really wanted to go to (I think I have a mental block on the name because it was a bit too much for me). Anyway "the" shop was not open when we got there so we went and listened to the buskers in Central Park for a bit and did some people watching, given the beautiful weather I stayed there while Kelly did some shopping. We then went to the Whitney for a Lee Friedlander photography exhibition - very cool.

My friend Matt had his driver come pick us up and we headed out to his place in New Jersey for the afternoon. Matt and Lacey are awesome, lots of good times with them, so it was a real pleasure to see them. It was Labor Day and we went to a BBQ at some of their friends place. Their friends were really nice and very hospitable, I got a little hammered as did the host and so sometime after the sun had disappeared he took Matt and I on a quad bike ride through the woods that back onto their property. Anyway, at some point we came out of the woods and onto a public road, so you have three drunk guys without helmets and insurance coming face to face with a police car. Long story short - we get a ride back to the party in the police car and lucky the hostess of the party is a local public defender who specialises in representing police - a slap on the wrist and off we went, very lucky. Back to Manhattan that night - but a fun time, although too short, with the Malloys.

Our last day! No wasting time, back downtown on the subway and another beautiful day. We walked across the Brooklyn Bridge with a hoarde of other people. Brought some lunch in a deli in Dumbo and ate by the East River in a cool park. Something a little different and great fun.

By the end of the day we were both looking forward to getting back to see Luca and Scout. We had spoken to them and knew we were hardly missed, Luca getting to sleep in a fort (aka cardboard white goods box) in the lounge room the entire time we were away. Don't know if we can top that one.

Seattle

It was hard to look too far ahead to the great time I knew we all were going to have when we had about twenty hours of flying and layovers ahead of us with Luca and Scout. Luca was great on the long haul from Sydney to San Fran but Scouty was a bigger issue, she didn't sleep for the first 10 hours of the trip and it was with significant creativity and patience that Kelly and I somehow kept her occupied enough not to disrupt anyone else. We had a four hour layover in San Fran which was too much for Luca, we now had two tired, bored and disoriented kids to get across the line. Thank goodness we were flying Virgin America to Seattle, the super gloss white interior with blue neon lighting allowed Luca to convince himself he was on a space ship and Scouty finally just crashed. Seattle! We made it.. all luggage and people in tact.

We invaded Kelly's sister's place and now we were in town things just kept getting better with Tiff and Jeff having a case of cold Pacifico ready followed by dinner from Red Mill. Ohh yeaah!

Thinking back I am confused about the exact shopping order but I know Kelly hit the trifector of U.Village, The Rack and the Marysville outlets all in the first two days. We were already eyeing a new suitcase to carry the stuff home and we had only been in the U.S three days.

On Saturday afternoon I caught up with some good mates Bret Anderson and Chris DiRe, with Bret arranging tickets to the Sounders game. Football (soccer) in Seattle has become a huge deal, I enjoyed the game but better still was the chance to catch up with a bunch of friends. A quick stop into Cowgirls Inc. after the game was amusing. The next day we spent the afternoon with Chris DiRe and his wife Barb - I miss my friends in Seattle even more than the food and beer, some quality, quality people.

The following week saw us hit some of our favourite food options, some more than once (Dick's), go to the aquarium, do even more shopping but mostly hang out with Kelly's family and get to know Luca and Scout's new cousin Abe. Uncle Jeff worked a miracle with Luca who was totally fearful of dogs, getting him to become great friends with their dog Gus. Scouty took great delight in using the sternest voice she could muster to tell Gus to "sit" or "vacuum" (clean the floor) - as much as I can imagine Tiff and Jeff were happy to get their house back when we left I bet Gus was even more relieved to be rid of Scout.

Seattle is full of great memories and some even more special than others. Part of the reason for coming to the US at this time of year was so that we could make it to our friends Steven and Renaun's wedding and we had a fun night out with them at La Carta Oaxaca in Ballard. An awesome restaurant (the food was even better than I remember), but even more important to Kel and I it was venue for our first ever date.

We visited some cool playgrounds and I took Luca to see my old house and to Gasworks Park. It was great to show the kids around and have time to spend with them, the only downside is it gets harder to catch up with people at night.

The end of the week and we headed north to Burlington where Kelly did much of her growing up. I know Kel enjoyed showing the kids around a little bit to add a bit of balance given we live in the middle of where I grew up and see every school I went to on a weekly basis.

While Scouty and Luca bonded with their grandparents Kelly and I relaxed on shuttle back to Seattle on our way to four kid free days in Manhattan.