Tenzin's 4th birthday

Tenzin had a fabulous 4th birthday. All of us (except Dunc and Iona) had been to the movies the day before as his birthday treat to see "The Tooth Fairy" (don't rush!) The kids enjoyed it which is the main thing! On his actual birthday he had pressies, swims in the pool, cake in the park with friends and neighbours and then a birthday BBQ with Gummy, Gumpa, our au pair Isabelle and her friend Aurore. Dunc bought him a new fishing rod so no doubt there will be lots of competition between Tenzie and his big brothers!

Barney's tooth

Barney lost tooth No. 3 - the first of the top big ones. I have been dreading this moment as he has such perfectly spaced small teeth and it always changes how they look so dramatically. He is still my gorgeous Barney though.

Taronga Zoo

We had half a day at Taronga Zoo with all the kids except for Arthur, who had gone to a party. The baby elephant - Luk Chai - stole the show as always - he is just heavenly.

Barney's 7th birthday party - Waterworks

We had a delayed party for Barney, having set off camping on 2nd Jan. Towards the end of the school holidays Barney invited four school buddies and Arthur was allowed one. We took them all to a water slide place in Manly called Waterworks. Sadly Tenzin is not tall enough yet so he stayed home with Gummy and Gumpa waiting for the onslaught of seven boys coming back for a BBQ and sleepover! One of the other mums kindly sat with me for two hours at the bottom of the slides to keep me company and provide drinks/snacks. We hardly saw the boys apart from flying down the tunnels. The BBQ was fun and the night was late (11pm for them!) but they had a ball.

Jet boating with Gumpa!!

The big boys were treated by Gumpa to half an hour of zooming around Sydney Harbour in a jet boat. Afterwards, Barney said to Dad: "Gumpa, that wasn't fun...it was SOOOOOOO fun!"

Mum and I were more than happy staying on dry land!

Botanic Gardens with Mum and Dad...

We spent a wonderful day going to the City on the ferry from Manly. We spent time at the Botanic Gardens, had lunch and then Mum and I took Tenzin and Iona around the gardens on the little train looking at bats and botany while Dad, Arthur and Barney went power boating around the harbour! Pics above.

Maxi Finucane is born...

Our friends, Jen and Chriza, had a divine little boy - Maximillian - on 5th Jan while we were away camping. It didn't take us long to get over there for a cuddle/newborn fix!