So, after a busy but relaxing and wonderful 9 days away, we're back! And wow was it great to see Olivia again! I think seeing her leap out of my Dad's arms and into mine was the best part of the holiday! We had an excellent holiday though and got to see some of the most awesome and beautiful scenery on this planet of ours! It was also really special being there with most of the van der Schaaf family to witness Terry and Nynke's wedding. Pity the weather decided to turn sour and we had rain all of Friday and Saturday!

The Time Has Come...

Whoo hoo!!! We leave for New Zealand tonight!!! Can't wait! Except for the fact that we'll have to say bye to our dear Olivia for 9 days :-( I'm sure I won't cry b/c I'm not that sort of person, but I will definitely miss my little girl. Just checking out the forecast for while we're there and it looks like we're in for some cold weather...17C for the wedding day! You call that summer?! I've hardly had to think about winter clothes yet. Except for the other day, when out of the blue, we woke up to the sound of rain on our roof! I couldn't believe it! It just rained steadily the whole morning, eased up in the afternoon and then rained again at night! Of course I had to do my shopping that day; so here I go and dash outside in my jeans and thongs - I hate wearing closed shoes - put Olivia in the car quickly and promptly get sopping wet feet! Well, that's another thing I hate when it's cold, so yes, I ended up putting my closed shoes on... Cold, rainy weather is nice once in a while, so I'm sure we'll enjoy the cooler weather while we're in NZ. Especially when they forecast temps in the high 30s here for the rest of the week.
We bought a digital camera the other night so maybe you'll see some photos on here more frequently. I tried last week to put some on, but our computer is sooo slow, so guess what? We've bought a new computer too, a laptop actually, which hopefully goes 100x faster than this one. Hopefully it arrives today, b/c Rod wants to take it to NZ.
Anyway, I should finish packing my suitcase :-)

Christmas Day

So, in true Aussie style, both Christmas Day and Boxing Day were absolute scorchers! I think the temps were around 41C both days! Definitely beach weather. We spent Christmas Day at Jervoise Bay with my family and Dad and Mum's friends Martin and Susan Byl. They had their surf cat there and some kayaks so we weren't bored! At night we had a delicious BBQ and salads for tea all together. Perfect...

Bike Riding...

The other Saturday we hired some bikes in the city and went for a ride along the Swan River. It was a gorgeous morning - not too windy and not too warm yet. Of course Olivia screamed when we put her in the bike seat but once we were off (and away from the 'scary' hire men) she was happy as a lark. I'm not sure what her problem is but she's very wary of anybody she doesn't know and lets everyone know about it too! Anyway, we rode for quite a while before we had a little rest in a park where Olivia could go have a play.

Albany

So, we've just been to Albany for the weekend to see our newest nephew Zachary...and what a little cutie he is! It was great to see the family again and catch up with friends as well. Sorry, I have no photos cos we're 'old fashioned' and still have a film camera ;-)