Allambie Heights Public School Carols...

Sunday night was the hectic Allambie Heights Public School Carols. The kids' favourite bit was no doubt the disco, Santa arriving on a fire engine preceded by elves on Harley Davidsons, and the buckets of sweets thrown out by Santa. Not sure how interested they all were in the carols themselves but we oldies always enjoy an excuse to throw down a blanket, bring a picnic and sing our little hearts out. Never as good as in Blighty mind you. A carol concert here is always more of a performance that one watches, rather than joining in heartily. Iona was taken home early by Isabelle which made it easier to stay close to Barney and Tenzin in the crowds as the lights were all turned out in anticipation of Santa's arrival and then the fireworks. Arthur was so busy having fun with mates that we met up at the end but saw very little of him all evening. Dunc was on BBQ duty and pack up at the end with the usual suspects of helpful Dads, hence his lack of appearance in the photos!

Kids R Christmas Parade

On Wed 2nd December, Dunc and I took part in the annual 'Kids R Christmas' parade at Sydney Children's Hospital, Randwick. Dressed as Snow White and a large Elf, we joined 20 other Christmas/Disney characters and were split into four groups. Led by hospital volunteers we were taken around different wards handing out bags of presents and balloons to all the babies, kids and teenagers unfortunate enough to be spending this time of the year in hospital. My special friend, Dee, has been organising the parades (also at Westmead Hospital) for the past ten years with a friend of hers. It is a mere drop in the ocean but the parents and doctors are thrilled for the kids to have a brief distraction from often long stays in hospital and the kids loved receiving the goodies unexpectedly.

Iona ready for swimming and cuddly boys

Boys at Skate 'n' Scoot night...

What a hoot. Fortunately no one had my camera when it was the parents' turn to grab a scooter and charge around to loud pumping music. I was there but it can't have been a pretty sight!

Swimming, surfing, skating and scooting...

There have been numerous surf trips for Dunc and the boys (locally) but both cameras were broken so no piccies. Sadly a great day out on the boat to Flat Rock Beach with the Morrells and Camerons also missed photos of the kids hooning around on the inflatable biscuit. Now we have replaced both cameras so snaps aplenty have been taken of Isabelle (our au pair) throwing the boys for hours in the pool, the school skate 'n' scoot night and the regular new thing of two out of three boys snuggling up for the night - a different combination each time!

Boys camping trip to Coolendel

A couple of weeks ago Dunc took Arthur and Barney on a big boys' camping trip with Jon Perry, Arthur's godfather. They went to a beautiful riverside campsite, called Coolendel (about 3.5 hrs South of here), which had been highly recommended by Jules and Lenka. They had an amazing weekend jumping from 'jump rock', riding the rapids (albeit small!) on inflatable beds and floating about 2km downstream on their inflatable beds. They were joined on the campsite by huge wombats, wallabies, countless birds - fairy wrens, lyre birds, kookaburras. They even managed to squeeze in a bit of 'trick-or-treating' with other camping kids, having picked the Halloween weekend to go away. A few snaps for you to enjoy.

Iona walking!!

I always thought people were making it up when they said that their offspring had taken the first steps on the 1st birthday - however, in Iona's case this is exactly what happened!! Her first steps were to Duncan (typical!) and it has taken a couple of weeks to finally get film of her in action. Here she is in all her glory.