Our daughter - Scout Andrine Ferguson

We are blessed and in awe to announce the birth of our daughter Scout Andrine Ferguson on Friday 23 Jan, 2009, at 8:19am. To say she is perfect is an understatement. Kelly and I have been dreaming and talking about her future a lot over the past two days and we are already getting great pleasure out of Luca's reaction to her. We are incredibly happy and thank you all for the congrtaulatory messages we have received.

The Ferguson Trio's Final Gig

One week out from the new baby being born, Luca's new brother or sister - we are excited. Coming to a venue near you the Ferguson Quartet as of next weekend!

Knowing that Kelly and I are not going to be able to get away by ourselves too much over the coming months we had Luca stay with his grandparents (the Australian varierty) for a few hours on Saturday and went to the movies to see Benjamin Button. I know Kel gave the movie a big thumbs up and Brad Pitt a bigger thumbs up.

We did a Ferguson Sunday morning special today and headed north along the beaches about 20 minutes to Avalon. There is an exceptional French style bakery that we get to about once a month and we ususally stock up on a week's worth of croissants. While we are out there we usually have a picnic breakie and often it is at North Avalon beach. If the weather is lousy it can be in the car looking out at the surf, but if it is great like today we go and sit on the beach. Luca enjoyed checking out the rock pools for crabs and throwing rocks to watch them spalsh in the water - typical boy stuff.
As well as family and friends we write this for Luca to hopefully enjoy when he grows up - it is now also for his brother or sister, our new baby. I am excited for what this new little person is going to bring us, and knowing how much Kelly and I both love our siblings, how awesome it will be for Luca. I pray everything goes well this week and can't wait to tell you all about it.

Sydney International

Two sporting posts in a row…truly a first for me! Last night I was lucky enough to get tickets with two girls from my office to the Sydney International Tennis. This is one of the pre-Australian Open tournaments being held in Australia this month. We had fantastic seats, court side, 5 rows back from Serena Williams. The match we saw was a quarter final between Serena Williams and Caroline Wozniacki. I was expecting Serena to smash Caroline, but was in for a great surprise when the match took almost 3 hours, ending in Serena winning 6-7, 6-3, 7-6. We had a fantastic time, the venue was amazing, the seats were fantastic, the weather was hot and the baby belly was at yet another Aussie Sporting event! Only a week to go and number 2 will be arriving, I think last night was the last of my summer sporting adventures, unless you count Mark and Luca playing catch, kick, tackle or don't spray daddy with the hose in the back yard. (another camera phone photo) -kel

An afternoon at the SCG

2 PM on a Tuesday afternoon…where else would any Aussie love to be? The Members Stand at the Sydney Cricket Ground was where me and my very big baby belly hung out yesterday. A colleague at work had Members seats to the Australia vs. South Africa Test, it was day 4 in a series that hasn’t been going very well for the Aussies. I was thrilled to be invited as I have become an avid Cricket fan over the last few years. Got to see the players up close, saw some excellent Cricket (the Aussies have actually started winning) enjoyed the great weather and generally had an excellent time with the old timers in the Members Stand. Not the best photo as it was from my phone, but I still had a great time bragging and showing the photo to Mark! Maybe I am becoming the Aussie wife of his dreams? -kel

Urban Safari

Mark took Luca to the zoo on Friday, a perfect way to kick off the new year. Favorites were the monkeys and the giraffe eating his lunch!

Happy New Year

Yesterday we ventured to the other side of Sydney, taking my good friends visiting from the states, to Bondi Iceburgs for lunch. The view was amazing and the weather was fantastic. We rang in the new year with a few friends last night and are off to the beach today to enjoy some more of the beautiful Aussie summer. Wishing you all a very happy and healthy 2009. -kel

One of My Favorite Aussie Traditions

Paddle Pops following an afternoon at the beach! Luca with his cousins Corey and Emilly -kel

Christmas Morning

Merry Christmas

Christmas Eve we hosted a dinner with Mark's family, some friends and our guests from the US. A big turkey, tons of food and lots of laughs. Happy to hear about the white Christmas for my family in the states, but even happier to take a dip in the ocean yesterday afternoon! We both have the next two weeks off, our plans currently consist of more food, more friends, lots of cricket and time at the beach! Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas! Here are some photos from the festivities! -kel

Party Animal

Yesterday we hosted a 2nd birthday party for Luca complete with baby animal farm. At first we thought we might have been going over the top a bit, but after an hour and a half and 12 kids thoroughly entertained we knew we had made the right choice. The baby animals (guinea pigs, ducks, chickens and bunnies) were a huge hit. Luca and his friends enjoyed the party and after a week of solid rain, we were lucky enough to have a bright sunny 100 degree day to enjoy the festivities. It was an exciting day yesterday, Luca said thank you in many ways, but the best thank you of all came this morning when Mark, Luca and I all slept until 8 AM, a first in two years! Our little man is growing up. Six weeks until his life is turned upside down and he becomes a big brother. Somehow I think this might mean another two years until we sleep in again!-kel

Santa 2008

Our annual Santa visit in the city turned out to be a great day with a few unexpected twists! After a morning of talking about Santa, looking at last years photo and saying Ho Ho Ho we were all looking forward to the visit. Neither Mark nor I ever thought we would have our photo taken with Santa again however, after we saw the total and complete look of fear in Luca's eyes when we got to see Santa the only photo option was a family shot. The team at David Jones was amazing, an although he looks happy as can be in this shot the real Christmas miracle was that we didn't leave with a tear stained photo! He was clinging to Mark and I like his life depended on it but after a little coaxing and some funny antics from Santa's Elves we got one smiling photo! After we left Santa was still on his mind and he hasn't stopped mentioning it since. While it was a bit hectic, he actually seemed to enjoy the experience. Now we'll see how he goes next year! -kelly

Deuce

We've been trying to get Luca to understand that it's his special day all week and not his mate Sean's whose birthday was a couple of weeks ago. I think he finally understood today, well I know he did, when I came home from work the first thing he said to me was "happy birthday Luca".

We love the little guy so much it is so great to see him a bit puzzled by getting gifts but generally being so happy with each one that we have to ply it away before he will open another one.

Our boy is nearly 2!

This year has gone very quickly. I was playing with Luca this morning and he was entertaining me with a duck hand puppet, this time last year that was one of his favourite things, the difference being I was doing the entertaining and he was the audience. Luca at North Curly

Apple Cup! Winless Season!

Do I really need to say more? Not really but without overdoing it I did like the start to this news story and thought it deserving of mention on Sunburned Feet...

"PULLMAN -- Outside Martin Stadium, where Cougars fans were still frolicking Saturday afternoon as if they'd just clinched a Rose Bowl berth, one Washington State student jumped into another's arms and yelled, "This is the greatest day of my life!"

Happy frolicking Coug fans!

Have a great day.

- M

Northern Rivers - wrapping up (days 3 & 4)

We could get used to this sleeping-in thing, especially when followed by a swim and a walk to get pancakes and coffee. The only energetic thing we did on day three was to get a couple of bikes from the hotel and cruise around the beaches and drop in on a few open houses. A super chilled day. The highlight was our only fancy meal of the trip at Finns - Kelly's friend from work had raved about this place and it was good.

Day 4. Our last hurrah! After a swim we checked out of the hotel and as we had some time to kill before flying home we decided to get on the road to Bangalow again - it was market day in the town. We really had expected a small farmers type market. No, no, wrong! This thing was big and it was hopping. The hippies had come into town from their mud huts and there were some crusties to be seen, there were also some pretty high fashion couples, bikies, in all a bit of a miss-mash but great people watching. The markets were also superb.

We were gone for four days but it seemed like a lot longer. We will be back up to this part of the country again for sure. We missed Luca a ton and as soon as we got on the Rockstar to fly back to Sydney we were both impatient to see him.

Northern Rivers - small townin' (day 2)

We were sort of excited about getting to sleep-in these holidays so we rolled out of bed at 9:30. Kel headed off to the Spa for some pampering and I went for a waddle on the beach - I definitely bit off more than I could chew and ended up nearly keeling over and had a forty minute walk back along the beach to where we were staying.
Some funky big houses in the area around the hotel so we did a bit of exploring and after lunch decided to chance it with a trip out to the hinterland to visit a small town called Bangalow. Jackpot! Bangalow was great, what Byron should be. Lot's of original small town character, unbelievably cool shops and some nice art work. We ended up spending hours wandering around.

It was pretty warm out in Bangalow although not one word of complaint from my heavily pregnant wife, she is definitely a trooper. It was time to get back to the beach and the pool. I needed to cool off and give myself some time to think about what to put on the line with this years Apple Cup bet - I was feeling confident!

Northern Rivers - beachin' (day 1)

It's bittersweet leaving the little guy for 4 days but after a short trip on Rockstar we we're feeling the warmth. The sun is out, the skies are blue, Kelly is hitting her fourth Australian state (Queensland) and turning 31 all at once.

We jump into the rental and wave good bye to the Gold Coast as quickly as we can, heading for the NSW border and a slower pace. We make a quick stop to view the Miamiesque skyline of Surfers Paradise and are more than happy with our decision not to hang around.

We spent the morning checking out the northern NSW coast culminating in a lunch time stop in Byron Bay. Some beautiful beaches and disconcerting warning signs "brown snakes are prevelent in this area" are the highlights. Byron has only gotten bigger and more bustling since I was here in 1998, the beach is still beautiful however and the view from the lighthouse headland spectacular. After a quick bite we headed back north along the coast to find our hotel and for once it lived up to the promise of the brochures. We took a dip in the massive pool and spent some time lounging around and reading (these activities were repeated numerous times over the next three days). We drove to a nearby small town (Kingscliffe) for dinner and ran into the gnarliest looking line of black clouds I have ever seen. By the time we had our food and were in the car the storm had let loose. We had about 5 miles to drive but it was pretty scary with the sky pitch black except when interupted by crazy lighting and thunder all the while it was raining sideways. Glad to be back in the hotel that night.

The Race That Stops A Nation

A public holiday in half the country and it may as well be in the rest of the country. The Melbourne Cup is a BIG deal down here.

For Luca just a chance to hang out with his friends an extra time this week and get an ice cream cone as a special treat. Almost as good as winning the trifecta!

My name is Luca and I live at Curl Curl

We've had a few hectic weekends in a row getting the driveway/front fence project close to completion and it seems like everything else has stopped. We made sure we took a little time out last Sunday to explore the headland at the local beach and have some fun togther. It was a fun time even though the weather turned a bit sour just as we were leaving (after a weekend of sunshine and hot weather - always the way).

Last week was also eventful for Luca who made us proud by confidently saying his name at art & moves. He gets invited to do this every week by the teacher and after about eight months of invitations he finally told the lady that he was Luca Ferguson. Our little boy is growing up.