My friend Gabriella's 4th Birthday Party

Today we went to Myuna Farm in Dandenong for Gabriella's 4th birthday. We had a fantastic day filled with lots of fun. The party room was beautifully decorated by Leanne (Gabbie's mum). The kids had a chance to decorate their own cup cakes which was lots of fun. Ruby's cup cake was covered in purple butterflies and pink hundreds and thousands. The kids all sat around the table to a feast of food and party blowers. The food was all eaten up and then the kids were of to explore the farm. Ruby could not get past the petting area with bunny rabbits and guinea pigs. Dad tried to show her different thinks but without much success. She had a great time. Then it was on the pony rides. Ruby stayed at the front of the queue waiting for her go. She was so excited about her first pony ride. She asked me if it could go faster the little dare devil. Ruby had so much fun catching up with her friends and a great day was had by all. We would like to thank Leanne, Hao and Gabriella for a wonderful day.

Chinese New Year

Well we were setting the scene at the house with the chinese new year decorations going up. Ruby helped me put up the lanterns and the lantern lights. As for cleaning the house in preparation for the new year well let's just say nothing about that. On Sunday the 25th we travelled by train to Springvale were we met my Uncle Stu and Uncle Russell and their families. We enjoyed the celebrations along with all the other thousands of people. We watched the lions dance and got very scared when all the fire crackers went off. We enjoyed watching women in traditional costume singing and dancing and even got up and danced with the jazz band they had playing (that was after they had warmed up for about 20 minutes). Ruby went on a few rides with her cousin Jacob and once again it is affirmed that she is going to be dare devil. The weather was extremely hot but we got through and enjoyed an airconditioned trip back to in the train and ended the day with dinner at the Pancake Parlour. We were all very tired when we got home but it will be a day to remember.

A Visit From Cousin Emily

Ruby had a great time when her cousin Emily came to stay with us for a few nights. We had a fantastic day on the Saturday at Sovereign Hill. The girls and Daddy panned for gold and it took all I had to get Daddy away from the stream so we could see other things. He was very proud of the few specs of gold he found. We visited the Candle Shop and Ruby and Emily made very beautiful candles which was lots of fun. Our day was spent underground doing the Gold Mine Tour, I am sure my daughter is going to be a dare devil as she got really excited as the tunnel got really black and we couldn't see where we going (all I knew was we were going down). She had a great time on the tour and made sure she was up the front the whole time listening to the guide. He would ask questions and she would be the first to put her hand up (even if she didn't know the answer). We had a lovely lunch at the New York Bakery and then just enjoyed wandering around the rest of the town. We finished with a Horse Drawn Cart ride. By the time we left the carpark we had 2 girls fast asleep in the back seat of the car. Dick put Emily to work and she spent most of Sunday afternoon mowing the lawns, I think she had a really good time doing it though. Well it was time for Emily to go home on the Monday and Ruby was most upset. That day when she saw a young girl walking down the street she would point and say Emily. We really enjoyed having you Emily.

A Day At The Beach

Today we headed of early for a day at the beach in Dromana with Kathryn, Jim and Eliza. Eliza is one of the other beautiful little girls that came from China at the same time as Ruby. When I say we headed of early we did but it seemed to take us so long to get there with traffic, toilet stops etc. They had a great set-up on the beachfront with one of the boat sheds that had a beautiful big tree right out the front which provided shade all day. We could even make a coffee while sitting on the beach. All over the beach were jelly fish that Ruby loved picking up and filling her bucket with and then using a potato masher promptly made them in to soup. At one stage I told her to go and drop one of Kathryn toes just joking and about 20 minutes later she hadn't forgotten and promptly landed one straight on to Kathryn's foot. Ruby and Eliza had a great time playing in the sand and sharing a very big bag of chips during the course of the afternoon.

We then headed up to the house were they were staying and ended the wonderful day with the traditional fish and chips, a must when you have been at the sea side for the day. Thank you Kathryn, Jim and Eliza for a wonderful day.

Our Day at the Ballarat Wildlife Park

Well Christmas is over and we thought it would be nice for just the three of us to have a day to ourselves so we decided that a day at the Wildlife Park sounded like a great idea. Ruby really enjoyed her day there which involved feeding the Kangaroo's a lot!! She was armed and ready with 2 bags of food and she used it all up within about 1 hour. She loved seeing the Alligator's and especially the wombats (even got to pat one - the wombat that is!). We had a really relaxing day together and a very tired little girl when we had finished. Bring on 2009 we are ready for it now.

Christmas 2008

Christmas was great this year as we got our very first turn at hosting it. We have always lived so far away that we have had to be the one's to travel. All the family travelled on Christmas morning to Ballarat to enjoy the beautiful weather and a fantastic day. Ruby's day started with getting up and discovering that Santa had left a mess and eaten and drank everything she had left out. She walked staight past the presents he had left and got straight on to the cleaning up and making sure she put all he scraps he had left in the bin and the empty can of Bourbon in the recycling bin.
She then stated she needed a wee and wasn't until she returned that we had to point out about the presents he had left. It was so much fun watching her unwrap each of her presents and the look of excitement on her face with each one was wonderful to see and watch.
Lunch was beautiful and consisted of Beef and Pork on the spit with a traditional roast dinner. Sweets was traditional as well Plum Pudding home made by Ruby's Mummy and yeah of course Brandy custard. The kids had a great time opening all the presents after lunch as well as the adults. With the space we have here it was great the kids enjoyed the sandpit, trampoline and cubby house and played wonderfully together all day without any incidences. I would like to especially thank our Sister-in-Law Wendy who was most affected by the move of Christmas to Ballarat as she was unable to attend her family dinner as she has done every year in the past. Dick's mum (Gran) came along and enjoyed her day out from the Nursing Home she now resides in. She looked totally exhausted by the time we took her home but enjoyed her day out regardless. We hope everyone had as an enjoyable Christmas as we did and wish you all the best for 2009.

Our Budding Artist

We were amazed the other day when Ruby was doing some drawing. She came up to Dad and presented her drawing stating that she had drawn a turtle. We were both amazed at her attempt. Just thought we would share her first real drawing with you.