Charlotte's birthday and more

Charlotte turned 4 on 23 June and had friends over for a party. They played in the garden and rode the plastic motorbike down our "luge" course in the backyard.

Josh planted a herb and vegetable garden when Grandma and Grandpa were here. We have had to put netting over it to keep out bush turkeys, possums and Kirsty. All the plants are growing well.

Wayne has shouted himself a new mountain bike and is enjoying riding it on Mt Coot-tha tracks. Murray has a new bike also and both are aiming to get out more often on the trails.

Visitors

Helen and Ken came to stay in late May for 2 weeks. Very fortunate timing as we moved into our new house and benefited from extra hands! We visited Louise's cousin Lyndon in Toowoomba. We explored lots of Brisbane with Ken and Helen including a trip to "Straddie" Island.

Georgie (Wayne's cousin) and Phil Orme plus Phil's mother came to visit us from New Zealand. It is always nice to have "rellies" look us up and visit.

Kids having fun

The kids are loving school and other activities. Josh is enjoying music at school. Both Josh and Tessa have had athletics and cross country.

Kirsty our seeing eye dog puppy arrived in early July to stay with us for 12 months. We socialise her and get her familiar with everyday places like shopping malls, trains, buses, beaches etc. It's lots of fun for the kids but also fairly hard work at times.

Pembertons & Seaworld

Our first visitors came in April. We were able to show Gary, Penelope, Caitlin & Anneliese the sights we knew of Brisbane. Then we joined them on the Gold Coast for a trip to Seaworld. Much fun was had by all (except Charlotte & Tessa on one scary ride). Seaworld is fantastic with stage shows, rollercoasters, huge water slides and not forgetting the sea creatures (especially the dolphins). Congratulations to Pen for her audience participation in the dolphin show!

Moving & Exploring Brisbane

We arrived and stayed in Annie St for 4 months then moved to our own place in Auchenflower. Hopefully this is the last move for a while. Once the boxes were finally unpacked we had more time to explore the area further.

Southbank is very nice and handy - it was the site of Expo88. Brookfield A&P Show gave us our first camel ride. North Stradbroke Island is a great day trip by vehicular ferry. It has beautiful beaches and dolphins can be seen from the cliff top walkway.