Saturday, February 20, 2010

Brisbane, QLD - Nice Little Holiday Rental

We stayed in Brisbane for a couple of days before returning home. It was nice to have some time in the city to shop and eat Mexican food! This house we stayed in was awesome! It's the contemporary style I love, so tastefully decorated. Too bad I didn't get many photos of the inside.

I was trying to take a photo of Anna and was annoyed that it wouldn't snap the photo. That's because it was taking a video. DUH!

Sunshine Coast, QLD - Australia Zoo

The Sunshine Coast is north of Brisbane, whereas the Gold Coast is south of Brisbane. A big attraction at the Sunshine Coast is Steve Irwin's Australia Zoo.

They have a wetlands area that is pretty realistic. It looked a lot like the real thing, as we saw in Darwin last June-July. Here is a jabiru.

We've really enjoyed the Australia Zoo in the past, as they've gone to great lengths to make the environment very pleasing to the animals. This time was not quite the same, probably due to it being the hottest time of year. The animals were a bit lethargic, which is completely understandable. I was lethargic, too! Anna enjoyed the little farm animal petting zoo as much as anything!

They're all trying to get the best position, which cracked Anna up!

Aw, aren't the little piglets cute?

Gold Coast, QLD - Sea World

Another theme-park attraction at the Gold Coast is Sea World, similar to the ones in the states.

Anna got in the photo booth to get her pirate wanted poster made... I decided at the last minute to join her in the shot, so she looks appropriately mortified, lol!

What does everyone love at Sea World? The dolphins! Here are some doing somersaults in the air!

Wow, how would you like to be a dolphin trainer? Now, THAT's a cool job!

The dolphin show finale... very impressive!

This ride was fun. It went into an underground Bermuda Triangle kind of place that included aliens! Kind of a newer-themed haunted house sort of thing...

Sea World's version of the log ride. It was fun! You didn't really think I would show my screaming face on here, did you? C'mon... whaddaryou... kidden me?

Another favorite Sea World attraction, the Seal (or Sea Lion) show! It's amazing how they train these guys, eh?

Gold Coast, QLD - Tamborine Rainforest Skywalk

A short drive from where we stayed was the Tamborine Rainforest Skywalk.

I really like all the ferns and trees with the white bark.

These plants with the little red balls were pretty, very Christmassy-looking!

Here's a closer shot. They look like red wooden beads.

Mom, doesn't this look familiar? LOL!

Gold Coast, QLD - Australian Outback Adventure

The Australian Outback Spectacular is a dinner show that features cowboys, magnificent horses, cattle and camels. The audience is fed an aussie feast while watching the story of a competition between the stockmen and women from rival outback stations. There's a lot of audience participation, with each member supporting either Warrego Station or Bunya Downs. We had a fanstastic time! Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take photos inside, as it might distract the horses and other animals. Just trust us... next time you're in Australia, this is a must-see!

They put a few horses out in the foyer each night before the show. It's hard to see, but this was a beautiful black stallion named "Ice". (They provide the hats for each guest.)

Anna with "Digger", one of the star cattle dogs in the show.

Gold Coast, QLD - Dreamworld

One of the big attractions at the Gold Coast is an amusement park called Dreamworld. Within the grounds, they have "Tiger Island", which is a better tiger display than most zoos have!

Here's a clip showing the tigers sitting up, as well as how big they really are!

This white tiger is a brother to the butterscotch colored one above. People get excited about white tigers - I guess because they are more rare. (We learned during the show that white tigers are *not* albino, contrary to popular belief.) Personally, I like the darker, more vibrantly colored ones!

Here's a clip of two tigers jumping high into the air! The handlers explained that they didn't realize the tigers would do this until one showed them this skill unexpectedly. They take the tigers on a walk around the park each day, on a leash, before the park opens. One morning they were on this routine walk when a peacock flew over the tiger. The tiger launched himself about 14 feet into the air to grab the peacock, lifting the trainer off the ground with him! (They are incredibly powerful animals.) The trainers were so impressed, they worked the behavior into the show. I suspect the peacock was less impressed.

Dreamworld has a cute little old west, outlaw area. Here's a wanted poster for a horse thief! I guess this one is "Crazy Kate".

Oh, looks like they got her! She's about to escape, though.

Uh-oh... looks like she's in trouble now...

Anna and Danny enjoyed this water rapids ride!

Here's another (professional) shot.

They had the usual dingos, roos, and emus. However, this was a really nice, natural environment for them. This looks like our area, here in the outback.

Hangin' out on the back porch

Check this out! We've never seen an emu sitting down before. I guess it just hadn't occurred to me that they might get tired, too!

This was very a very popular attraction, old Ford cars. Kids always like to drive, eh?

Ye old log ride, always a favorite!

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Gold Coast, QLD - Forbes Hall

This is the house we rented, at the base of Tamborine Mountain. It's called Forbes Hall and is huge and gorgeous! It's often rented for weddings. It has 5 bedrooms, but they gave us a deal since we only needed to use 2. It turned out they locked the other 3! I guess they didn't trust us. We weren't going to mess them up... I just wanted to see what they looked like.

The house has beautiful architecture. We loved the arched doorways, rounded walls, spiral staircase, etc.

We should have taken more still photos of the interior. (Anna did get a video, though... shown further down.)

This is the master bedroom, which looks out over the pool and a beautiful parcel of green, rainforest land. A kookaburra landed on the back fence one evening and made a heck of a racket! Of course, as soon as I got outside with the camcorder, it flew away. (BTW, you can see Anna's prized possessions on the bed. She reckoned this would be her room!)

Lovely buckskin horse next door.

This was the view looking out the front door. All that green and it never rained a day while we were there!

Here is a video Anna shot of the place. It's a bit wobbly, but it's fun to see and hear her perspective!

One morning, I looked out the window at the pool and noticed a bunch of little frogs trying to stay on a hose used by the auto-cleaning device! Danny got a bucket to help them get out. Later, after we got home, the owner called to thank us for staying, etc. Danny told her about the frogs and she said they were probably baby cane toads! But, I'm thinking, "So what? We're still not gonna let them drown!" Here's a little video clip of them. They're cute, don'cha think?

Saturday, August 29, 2009

Anna's Singing Group Performs at the School Carnival

Kerubo: "So we gonna sing or what?"

OK, time for the singing group "Just for the Fun of it". Yay! This is a volunteer singing group that gets together to practice during lunch. Most of them happen to be in Anna's class, year 4.

Back row L to R: Anna, Kerubo, and Rachel (in year 6)

Front row: Morgan, Wednesday, Jess, and Sophie

Time for the dance moves!

No carnival is complete without a visit from the Reptile Man. He's brought a snake named Susie today.

Hey, she's on top of my head... that tickles!

Sunday, August 16, 2009

Anna's 10th Birthday Party

Anna and all her friends really love music, so Anna wanted to have a dance party with all their favorite tunes: Mostly Miley Cyrus, Taylor Swift, and Michael Jackson, with a few songs by Ashley Tisdale and others. Luckily, her dad has all the equipment and he's a good (and willing) DJ!

How do you like the party invitation? Cool, eh?

OK, she's ready and can't wait for her friends to arrive! (She has a sparkly flower sticker-tatoo under her eye.)

The first arrivals... L to R: Jessica, Anna, Sophie, Kerubo, and Siobhan.

All the girls love Samson and he loves the attention from them! L to R: Jemma, Kate, and Kerubo.

OK, let's get this party started! We started with an air guitar and tamborine contest. The air guitar is actually an inflatable guitar, so it's an air guitar itself!

Crazy moves...

The birthday girl takes a turn. Nice moves on the tamborine, Siobhan!

Kerubo and Thandy goin' for it!

Love the flyin' dreds!!

Sophie plays a mean air guitar, too!

Takin' a break from the air guitar to play musical statues.

More air guitar and dancing...

Go Girl!

Jess takes a turn. It's hard to choose a winner - they're all so good!

Kate making a stage run!

Kate ended up winning. She got to keep the air guitar, woo-hoo! Here she is giving her acceptance speech. It was too cute! (You'll have to trust us on that, since there's obviously no audio.)

Dance fever continues... Lovely Hannah Montana shirt, Jess!

Invisible person? Heh, Thandy's doing bunny ears... good one Thandy! Finally caught Aliyah (L) doing some dance moves!

They've worked up a mighty thirst!

Back to the music... time for karaoke! All the girls loved singing the Pink song "So what (I'm still a rock star)"! Kate backing them up with her newly-won air guitar.

Whoa! Even Jemma got up to sing. She's usually a bit shy...

Party's over... thanks for coming!

Later, Anna got her present from the parents. A "just like me" doll, which she loves! She named her Abigail Amelia - Abby for short. We wanted to get one without bangs ("fringe"), but the only one available had medium-toned skin and Anna is definitely fair, so we choose the fair-skinned one with bangs. Notice the matching outfits! They're pretty "dear" (expensive), but very good quality.

Since she collected donations for the RSPCA instead of taking gifts from her friends, we didn't mind spending a bit more for the doll and clothes. She deserves it!

Here's the outfit without the jacket. Cute, eh?

Another birthday is over. Everyone enjoyed the party and she had a great day overall!

Monday, July 27, 2009

One with the Foolishness of Many

Ha, this is our current family catch phrase! Anna saw a guy doing something silly on Australia's Funniest Home Videos and said, "He is one with the foolishness of many!" We thought that was funny and have found so many opportunities to repeat it lately. (Yes, we're easily entertained!)

Well, it's a bit of a shame that we haven't updated our blog in so long - over 3 years! Since it's last been updated, Anna has completed Years 2 and 3 and is now in Year 4 (notice the pattern here?). She was the Student Council Rep again in Year 3 and decided to let others have a turn every other year, so she didn't run for office this year. She earned the title of "Junior Gymnast of the Year" for the whole Northern Territory last year, so that was a pretty big deal. She was also in the newspaper on her last birthday for raising money for the RSPCA in lieu of birthday gifts. All in all, she's a great girl who is doing very well!

Chad has left home to attend university ("uni") in Melbourne. He is working on a Bachelor's Degree in Audio Engineering and is doing great so far. It's been a big adjustment for him moving to the city. It's his first time living on his own and he takes trams and trains to get around the city, which is a big change from life in Alice! (OK, I admit it's been a bigger adjustment for us having him gone, but let's don't dwell on the details!)

Danny played a concert at the Desert Park in May that was awesome! It was professionally videographed, so we will be posting some video clips on youtube once we get them. We've seen a draft copy of the whole show and it looks good. Now we have to decide which individual songs to have polished up. It will probably take a while, as things tend to progress slowly here in the Alice... no worries, no hurries.

We just posted some photos of our latest holiday to Darwin. We have some great photos of other trips from the past 3 years that I never posted: the U.S. (Colorado and Texas), Tasmania, and New Zealand. Darwin kind of pales in comparison to those, but it was nice in it's own way. Hmmm... I wonder why I never published the awesome Tassie and New Zealand photos... oh yeah, I remember... because it's a huge pain in the bum!! I will try to do better from now on, though.

Anna wants to be sure everyone knows she is no longer in Year 1. She's now in Year 4! Here is her school photo:

Here is the class photo, which are mostly the same kids shown in the Year 1 photo. They've been a tight crew!

Sunday, July 26, 2009

Up the Track to the Top End

Knowing Chad would be home for a visit from uni between semesters, we started thinking about ideas for a family holiday. We hadn't been to Darwin yet and we knew this was a good time of year to go there. It's winter, which is known as "the dry", the season with no rain and no humidity. (It ended up being about 32 degrees celsius / 90 degrees fahrenheit each day, which is great winter weather in our book!)

The Top End of the Northern Territory is known for its tropical weather, rich indigenous culture, national parks and laid-back lifestyle, so we decided to drive up there and see things along the way, rather than flying straight into Darwin.

Here's a photo that shows the drive we're talking about (hot pink line near the top of the photo). This is Stuart Highway, aka "The Track", that extends all the way from Darwin to Adelaide (South Australia).

A more detailed view of the map...

And we're off... this trip will be about 1,000 miles each way! Have headphones, will travel.

First stop, Aileron. This is the first of many roadhouses we stopped at to get snacks and fuel. They seem to be an artistic mob there. Check out this lizard couple with the poor embarrassed girl.

This statue is huge! Unfortunately, the fine detail doesn't show up too well. It's pretty amazing, though.

Here's another view...

The warrior dad, "Anmatjere Man" is up on the hill. He is 17 meters (over 55 feet) tall.

The next stop was Wycliffe Well, 380 km (236 miles) north of Alice Springs. It's a nice, clean holiday park and a good place to spend the night when traveling up and down the Track. By the way, it's the UFO capital of Australia!

Fortunately, they do allow humans, too.

As long as they know their bounds, that is!

Here is the UFO landing pad.

And another view of it. There are heaps of newspaper articles displayed inside describing UFO sightings over the years. It turns out the place I work is also a UFO landing site! I saw two articles stating that, so it must be true. I had no idea. Why am I always left out of the loop?

Here are a couple of the scariest aliens!

I hope they don't take this young girl back to space with them. We'd like to keep her here for a while longer, if that's OK.

The owners are more tolerant of the aliens than the locals, ha! (There they go again, always having to be politically correct.)

This was the house we stayed in. It was really nice inside, kind of like an old cowboy-style bunkhouse.

Anna was excited to see she had bunk beds in her room!

Oh no, another alien landed out back! They're all over the place.

The souvenir hat is a must-have fashion accessory!

The grounds are nice with plenty of gum trees and ducks.

They offer a train ride that tours the property. One of the highlights is this little lake, which is lovely.

The two sweetest passengers on the train, I reckon! Oh yeah, the train stopped on occasion and the driver got out and talked about various things. There was a family with some young preschoolers sitting in front of us. The Mum kept telling them to "sshhhh" while the tour guide was talking. A few minutes later, I had to cough and the little girl in front (probably about 3) turned to me and went "ssshhh!!"

On to the Devil's Marbles. These are amazing large rocks that look like they were tossed across the fields by a giant!

They're not all exactly round like marbles, but hey, what else can you call 'em?

Yikes! I hope these don't fall! The look like they're about to slide off...

Ooh, there's a broken one and another one that's cracked.

This is a typical photo of them. It makes it seem like there are only a few, but there are actually acres of them!

Hey, somebody help me move this thing - it's heavy!

Um, hello-o-o, this is about to smash my head. I need some help here, people!

A small sampling of how many Devil's Marbles there are. There are heaps of them together (left and right of this view), then they just stop. There are no rogue marbles anywhere else up or down the Track.

It's been a long day, quite tiring to play with those giant marbles!

The next day, we drove all the way to Mataranka, known for it's natural hot springs. Anna is excited to see more bunk beds. This one is a triple decker, woo-hoo!! (Unfortunately, she ended up falling off the middle one during the night. It didn't have a guard rail and she woke up to use the toilet and briefly forgot where she was. Ouch.)

Here's the outside of the cabin and the caravan we drove.

 border= View from the porch. Those rust-colored hill thingies are termite mounds, which are all over Mataranka. There are even bigger ones! Eww.

Chad and some old lady waiting for the tour bus to take them to the Yellow Water river cruise.

Here's the Yellow River and the boat we'll be on.

There are lots of unique birds in the wetlands. It was interesting to hear about their behaviors and characteristics. The black and white flamingo-looking ones are called jabirus.

Here is a big jabiru nest. It's hard to imagine them flying up that high, but apparently they do. (I'm assuming the tour guide would have no reason to lie about that, would he?)

Typical view of the wetlands. No doubt, there are at least a few crocodiles hanging out around here.

"What? No, don't mind me. I'm just another piece of driftwood... this is a perfectly safe place for you little birdies to rest..."

Have you ever seen real lily pads? I didn't realize they were so big! They all turn to face the sun as the sun moves throughout the day.

There are heaps of them near the Yellow River. (Excuse me, people, I'm trying to take a photo here... can you move your big heads??)

The boat stops at the end of the tour to watch the setting sun. Nice reflection of clouds in the water.

OK, guys... pose for a photo while we're here. Lovely!

It's turning into a nice sunset. The tour is over, time to head back.

The next day we ventured on to Kakadu National Park and saw several ancient rock paintings. (I say "ancient". I don't really remember how old they are!)


Actual painting...

We visited the Warradjan Cultural Center, which had a lot of fascinating displays. Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to take any photos in there. They have a replica of a huge wall of rock paintings (that actually exists somewhere). There was a big long aboriginal name for it. Reading the translation of the name cracked us up... it was "biggest mob of paintings", ha!

This is not the biggest mob of paintings, by any means, but it is another rock painting, as you can probably guess. Anna suggested this one be called "A big, fat dude jumping over a bunch of little skinny dudes". Hmmm... that might work.

Some beautiful scenery in Kakadu. Hey, Chad's shirt resembles some rock painting of Heath Ledger as the Joker! Good choice of clothing for today, eh?

Another magnificent view.

It was a really bright, hot day.

"Did I mention I'm not really into scenery, especially if you have to hike for 30 minutes to see it?"

On to Darwin, the capital of the Northern Territory, population about 120,000. Note there are no towns nearly as big as Alice (28,000) in the 1,000 miles we've driven. It makes the drive from Dallas to Amarillo look like rush hour in New York City! Anna wasn't overly impressed straight away, though. When we got there, she said "We drove all this way to come HERE? Is this where we're going?" We went to the Mindil Beach Sunset Market shortly after arriving in Darwin, which we all enjoyed. It's "on" every Sunday and Thursday evenings.

It's a nice little market offering shops and entertainment. This little boy (2nd from left) was 11 years old and played some pretty good jazz trumpet.

The idea is to enjoy the market, then get some good food and wine (if you're so inclined), grab a seat on the beach and enjoy the sunset. A very Aussie kind of evening! Of course, beaches in the Alice are at least 1,000 miles wide, ha! (If you don't get that, never mind.)

Now, that's what I'm talkin' 'bout! A lovely evening.

A really interesting attraction in Darwin is the Crocodylus Park with it's beautiful, tropical landscaping at the front.

It's a crocodile education and research center that may not sound that appealing, but it was really interesting to learn about these prehistoric creatures. They have changed very little over the centuries. Notice this strategy of just keeping her mouth open and waiting for some unsuspecting critter to walk in (or at least near). They can be so still, then move lightening-fast when the time is right. SNAP!!

This is one of 30 "girls" who share this lagoon. They couldn't keep adult males this way, as they are very territorial and would kill each other. They had some demonstrations by a very entertaining and knowledgeable guide. There is a pulley that goes across this lagoon and they put some chicken meat on it and reel it out above the water. The guide talks about the hierarchy of the crocs and points out some behaviors, such as several circling around and starting to go for the meat. Certain ones will then get a signal to back off and will quickly swim away. Eventually, one of the "bosses" will jump for it. The guide was funny. He said, "Ah, you greedy pigs. I don't care if you all miss out!" He said they are actually overfed. The only way the weaker ones can ever get any food is when the dominant ones are full.

We did see plenty of the big 4 meter long males (that's over 13 feet!) and learned a lot about them, too. We didn't get any photos - I guess we were too busy taking video. Anyway, suffice to say you don't want to come across one of these guys without a fence between you! The Guide talked about people breaking his poor Auntie's heart by swimming in water holes and getting injured or killed by crocs. She tries to educate people about crocs and they just won't listen! He imitated some goofball saying "Ah, this water looks OK. I don't think there would be any crocs in here. Let's have a swim." That's a stupid thing to do in the Top End of Australia. You can't always see a crocodile until it's literally in your face!

They can keep the younger ones in big groups. I think these were about 2 years old, around 4-5 feet long. It was funny to watch them sleeping on top of each other. When one wakes up, he might step on someone else's head to get past, even pushing another one's head under water! Check out the one trying that open-mouth hunting technique. Buddy, you're dreaming if you think some tasty little morsel is going to get past all those other crocs and casually walk into your mouth!

We thought this tree was pretty, but have no idea what it is. Anna needed to get a photo of Blue Bear and Bella on their visit to Darwin. (These were gifts from Grandma on two separate Christmases a few years ago and they have traveled to many, many places with Anna.) She seemed a bit embarrassed when we took the photo this time, so we'll see if she wants to continue it as she gets older. (She might take them on the trips, but only take their photos inside.)

After leaving Darwin, we headed down to Litchfield Park. This is called Wangi Falls. (It is one of the few swimming places certified to have no crocodiles!)

Beautiful waterfalls, eh?

Look how big the waterfall is compared to the people at the bottom.

Anna and Dan loved swimming here. It's warm spring water with a soft sandy bottom.

This is an interesting and definitely unique roadhouse in the town of Daly Waters.

I guess it's kind of a "Mom and Pop" place with a pub and restaurant.

Here's the pub. (I don't know why I didn't get any photos of the inside.)

A guy there did wood-burning and he made this guitar for Anna while she waited. Chad's the guitar player, but he didn't want one. Go figger. I bet he's regretting it now! :-)

After a long drive home, we're coming back into Alice. The trip is done! It was good. It will be time to start planning the next getaway before we know it...


Sunday, May 28, 2006

Anna's School Photos - Year 1

This is Anna's school photo for Year 1 (first grade). Notice she's proudly wearing her Student Council pin!

A few weeks ago, Danny was ill, so I had to help her get ready for school and get her there. Her and Dad have their routine down, and I'm pretty much out of that loop. I was trying to get everything going that morning and Anna said to me, "Dad doesn't do things all mixed up. He does it in the proper order." Then she started to recite what the proper order was, but I had to interrupt her to say, "Let's just do the best we can. We're running late." Her response? "Dad and I never run late!"

This is Anna's class. She loves all her friends and teachers. They're all so cute, aren't they?

(Like any of the photos here, you can click on it to see a larger view.)

Chad on wheels!

Chad passed his driving test with a perfect score and was very excited to get his own car! It's a 1990 Ford Falcon. It's amazing that a 1990 is considered an *old* car. Where has the time gone?

By the way, you may notice he has dyed his hair black now. He would probably go for a bolder color if his school allowed it!

He's really on the go now! He gets up at 6:00 am to go to the gym, then to school, then to work most evenings, and to boxing class two evenings a week. When he gets home, he usually has homework and spends some time working on his music. Whew! (BTW, he works at Subway and Baskin & Robbins. They're owned by the same people, so he works at both places.)

He's really proud of his car and independence, and we're happy for him.

Western Australia - Perth Zoo

We had to go to the Perth zoo while we were in the neighborhood. It's a big, nice zoo that we highly recommend. They have all the usual animals that everyone has seen, so I'm only posting a few photos.

They have a very nice environment set up for the fairy penguins.

Aw, aren't they cute?

Anna's favorite animals are tigers, so we had to get this photo! (I'm thinking I should go into business creating these zoo photos. I could do a much better job, ha!)

This was the highlight of our visit to the zoo. We had been watching this mum and baby orangatan swinging around, way up high on the equipment they have in their area. Then the mum decided to bring the baby down right in front of us!

"Mum, that carrot sure looks tasty. Could I have a bite?"

"No, sorry. I don't think you're ready to handle this big carrot. I better eat it myself."

"OK, I'll just chew on this piece of straw." We were really glad we got such a good view of these two!

Western Australia - Adventure World

Adventure World is a little amusement park. This ride was real high and went all around the park. It has to be pedaled! Chad was a good sport to take Anna for a ride. She didn't help peddle much!

Here's a view from a castle overlooking the park. The kids rode on a lot of rides, but I didn't get very good photos of that. Oh well.

Water toys are always fun. Kids should never go anyplace in Australia without their bathers (swim suit)!

Yikes. Look at this big dragon! This was a nice pool for playing, not too deep with lots of slides and things to climb on.

Western Australia - Dolphin Watch

The old man and the sea! Looks like a natural, doesn't he?

Heading out for the dolphin watch. We were hoping to see some wild dolphins (not captive).

We all enjoyed the boat ride.

Ooh, look! There's one!

There's a mum and baby. Wait! Let me get a better photo!

There they go on the other side of the boat. I still can't get a good shot. Slow down!

This is fun!

There goes a couple more. I kept trying to catch a photo of them with their heads out of the water, but they wouldn't cooperate. It was cool to see them anyhow.

Hey, there's our condo! The houses on either side are huge, single family homes. Wouldn't it be nice to live in one of those?

Western Australia - Marapana Wildlife World

We can't go on a holiday without visiting at least one wildlife park. This was a small family-operated place that was really nice.

Everyone loves the koalas. This is their normal snoozing position. They always look like they're about to fall out of the trees.

Check out this laid-back guy! We've seen lots of koalas over the years, but we've never seen one laying in this position before.

"What'cha lookin' at? Can't a guy relax without people staring and pointing? Jeez!"

The animal handler lets Anna pet a koala. Notice the two thumbs (on the koala, not the employee)?

Of course, there are always plenty of roos to feed.

Isn't it cute the way they hold the human's hand? I've never seen one bite the hand that feeds it - they just hold on so you won't take it away until they're done.

OK, so this is a basic deer, not that exotic. Anna loves feeding them, though.

Chad thought the llamas were funny.

"Gangsta Geese", as Chad called them. They followed us around hoping to get fed.

A pretty little parrot minding his own business.

There were two groups of dingos. They can't put too many in one enclosure or they will fight. This is the top dog in his group.

There is a hole in the ground between these two. It's a dingo den and is fairly deep and wide. At one point, there were three dingos in there, apparently fitting comfortably. We expected to see/hear a big tussle when the 3rd one went in, but it never happened.

Chad has always loved dogs of every kind and they seem to "take" to him, too. He was glad the animal handler brought one of the dingos out for a visit.

Anna enjoyed petting the dingo, too. This one is the top dog and when he left the cage, the other two immediately got into a fight. Yikes!

"Sure, boy, you can taste my soda." I was afraid Chad might find this little wildlife park boring, but he enjoyed it. It was a nice day for the whole family.

Western Australia - Rockingham

We had a 2-week holiday in Western Australia in March-April, which was fantastic! We stayed in this condo in Rockingham, which is about 1 hour south of Perth. Lovely, eh?

We love these beveled windows across the front. We thoroughly enjoyed this view. It's a bit different from home where the view is our fence and the neighbors' roof!

This is the scene looking off our balcony. Notice the lovely little play area and gazebo. It was very peaceful there and never too crowded.

A beautiful place to take a stroll with the kids and dogs. I wish we could have taken Samson!

Like a lot of kids, Anna loves playing on the stairs. Easy entertainment!

Of course, we have to take the laptop wherever we go.

Chad is saying to me, "What?! Haven't you ever seen a guy using a microwave before? Do we really need a photo of this?" I think it's a good picture of him, though. So there you go.

A diverse area in Rockingham called Shoal Water Marine Park.

Interesting coast line here...

FYI, this is the INDIAN Ocean (for those who may not have pieced that together)!

Of course, they have all the necessities in Rockingham, including McDonald's. Anna is pretty low maintenance. She's quite happy with McDonald's Happy Meal toys!

Penguin Island. You can walk out to it or take a ferry. The penguins that live there are the little fairy penguins, about 1 foot tall. Those are sea gulls in this photo, though! (Remember the "mine mine" birds from Finding Nemo?)

"Natchel born" beach bum!

Saturday, February 25, 2006

Anna Begins her Political Career

Anna started Year 1 (first grade) about 3 weeks ago. They recently voted for student council representatives at her school - a girl and a boy from each class. Anna won the vote for her class! She hadn't mentioned it and we saw it in the school newsletter. We asked her if she realized she had received the most votes and she said matter-of-factly, "Of course. We had to vote for the person that we thought would do the best job, so everyone *had* to vote for me. I even had to vote for me!"

Time for some fun after all that hard work at school!

Relaxing on the garden swing. Life is good!

Meet Stephanie

This is our 3-year-old granddaughter, Stephanie. I know it's hard to believe that I, Ellen, could be a grandmother. I'm so young and vivacious and... well, OK, I *am* old enough to be a grandmother, but enough about me! Stephanie is the daughter of Danny's son, Geoffrey, and his significant other, Gina. (By the way, Gina not only plays bass in her and Geoff's band, she is also pursuing her degree in Computer Science. What more could anyone ask for?)

OK, back to Stephanie. She's not only adorable, but also very clever. It seems she has already made her first purchase on EBAY! Her dad, Geoff, had purchased some knobs for a guitar he was working on. He left the page up (big mistake) and later, Stephanie apparently got on the computer and saw a list of "other things offered by seller". She chose a lovely telecaster body and clicked on "Buy it now"! So there you go, her first ebay purchase - a nice little gift for Dad!

Here she is with Santa, looking less than impressed. Who is this guy?

Who could resist those beautiful eyes?

Anna loves being an aunt and can't wait to see Stephanie again. In fact, last Thanksgiving we went around the table, each saying what we were thankful for. When it was Anna's turn, she just said, "I'm thankful for Stephanie and everything else!"

For those of you who didn't know/see Chad when he was a toddler, this is him at age 2. Why did I stick this in here? Only to point out that Stephanie's curly hair reminds us a lot of Chad's when he was young. (He probably wouldn't like having this picture put on the net, but I doubt he'll ever look at our blog, so I'll probably get away with it. Mmwa-ha-ha-ha!)

Monday, February 20, 2006

Chad's Year 10 Formal

Chad is ready for his big night of dining and dancing - the Year 10 Formal, which marked the end of year 10 (10th grade). He takes a moment here to pose with Dad.

This is the car Dad organized for Chad's big night. It's a Ford Model A, completely restored (obviously). The owner was nice enough to chauffeur Chad and his date, Jennifer, to the dance in this car. All he asked was that we make a donation to the cancer society, which we gladly did.

A professional photo taken at the formal. The boy cleaned up pretty good and Jennifer looked stunning!

Anna's first disco

Anna went to her first disco, a school-sponsored event. We were a bit surprised to learn that the younger kiddos were allowed to go, but they were happy to be included and had a great time! This is Anna with her friend, Nicola. Most of the girls in Anna's class are about Nicola's size. You'll probably notice that Anna is quite a bit taller and more filled-out. Unfortunately, this causes some of the girls to call her "big and fat"... it starts in Kindergarten!

Here she is with her good friend, Luka, who is always entertaining. Anna is quite a bit bigger than he is, and unfortunately, this angle exaggerates that even more!

Jemma is one of Anna's best friends. They go all the way back to preschool!

"Knotty" Boy

Chad let his hair grow last year so he could get dreadlocks. He wanted them for several months, so it wasn't an impulsive thing. He knew about the required maintenance, etc. and still wanted them, so we agreed. (I have no problem with my kids altering their appearance in any way that is not permanent. I was surprised to find out that -in this day and age- friends and coworkers expressed disbelief that I would let my son get dreadlocks! C'mon, it's just a hair style. What's the big deal?)

Anyway, he got the dreds and was really pleased with them. We (his parents) even thought they looked good. Unfortunately, something Chad wasn't prepared for was the scratchy feeling they created. He said it felt like sleeping on a bale of hay. He tried for a few months to get used to it, but never could. So, he cut them off. (He literally cut them off himself and didn't want to bother with having a professional trim. Oh, to be that self-assured.)

Who is Larry and why is he so happy?

Some folks may be confused by the title of our blog, so I guess I should explain it. "Happy as Larry" is a British-Australian catch phrase that simply means "extremely happy" or "very pleased with the way things are going." The rural-American equivalent of "Happy as Larry" would be "happy as a pig in mud." There are a few theories about where/how this phrase originated, which I won't go into here. If you're really interested, you can always google it.

Fortunately, we are all pretty happy and content with our lives here in the Alice, so the title seems to suit us.

Having a go

Um... hello? Is this thing on? Testing, testing... OK, off we go!

Since our web site has been pathetically out of date for most of the 8 years it's been online, we decided to get with the program and try a new approach to keep it more current.

I was discussing the time and effort involved in keeping a web site up-to-date with a good (and smart) friend of mine, Tony. He suggested trying a blog, which is much quicker and easier to maintain... so here we go. (Bonus: other family members can write their own stuff to post!)

Now, I have to admit I initially spent a few hours designing my own blog skin (template, design, look-n-feel, whatever you want to call it). The design was coming along great - themed around the song "Imagine" by John Lennon, colors I really like, etc. But then I stopped and asked myself, "What the heck am I spending time on this for?" I'm not taking advantage of the convenience of using a blog! I should be spending time on the content, not the design. Who really cares that I could make the thing look nicer? (Granted, very few people will care about the content either, but I digress...)