Walkers of Upwey

Car-less

2011-07-10T13:51:00.001+10:00

Not until you are truly car-less do you fully comprehend just how much you rely on it. Living as far as we do from the CBD and having access to little adequate public transport for local trips, a car is a must.

With the family in Sydney for the school holidays I am car-less. It's no real hassle as I get the train to work 3-4 days a week normally so 5 days a week isn't that much of a stretch. Where I do notice it is the weekends. I'm very lucky that a bunch of my lawn bowling mates are very helpful in picking me up and dropping me off for bowling engagements, and I'm very appreciative. However, outside of that I find myself walking a lot. Main St for milk, train station fir a trip to town and so on.

It's great to get out and about on foot, but I miss the convenience of a car. Only one more week.

Our first teenager!

2011-06-01T07:17:00.001+10:00

Well, it had to happen eventually. Yesterday Patrick turned 13! we celebrated with cake after he got home from soccer training.

He's really enjoying high school and has made some new friends this year. And what's more us he looks like a teenager with his braces ad well :)

Happy Birthday Spud.

Comedy Festival 2011

2011-04-18T17:37:00.000+10:00

On Friday night Karen and I went to see Alan Brough at the Melbourne
Comedy Festival. That was not the highlight of the night
unfortunately. While it did makes us laugh in places, it was not a
show I'd recommend. Adam Rozenbachs at Trades Hall I would recommend!

Anyway, we stopped for dinner at Il Tempo in Degraves St before the
show. It's a cosy little Italian restaurant in one the lane ways in
the CBD and the food and service was great. The duck risotto was
beautiful.

After the show we walked around the CBD (it felt like 6 times) looking
for somewhere to have a drink and a chat with the friends we had seen
the show with. We walked not and out of several places after seeing
just how packed and noisy they all were. We're getting old!

We ended up jumping in the car and finding somewhere closer to home -
Switch at Knox Ozone. It was perfect. We had a couple of drinks,
chatted and Karen and I shared a sticky date pudding. It was a great
night and we were all so glad to have found somewhere to kick back
after the show - even if we did discover we're now old :)

First post for 2011

2011-04-01T21:17:00.001+11:00

Well, Patrick has started high school this year, and it's already the end of term one next Friday! He's already been on camp, indoctrinated his new iPad to its life as the possession of a 12 year old boy, and made some new friends.

The three boys are nearing the end of their summer basketball season and have all had a great time. Patrick will most likely play in the finals and with three rounds to go, Angus and Owen could yet too!

Lily has started at 3 year old kindergarten and is loving it. She goes on a Wednesday morning and Friday afternoon. By Wednesday afternoon she's pooped and needs a nap. She also manages to bring home some sand from the sandpit each day.

Karen is flat out driving the kids between engagements and running the household - with 4 little tornadoes it's a challenge.

And me, well I'm enjoying life back at Computershare and have jumped feet first into my new role. In some ways it's like I never left.

Here's Banjo!

2010-08-16T14:25:00.009+10:00

Here's the newest member of the family - Banjo the Ragdoll cat. You can click on the photos to get full size ones :)

The dreaded lurgy

2010-08-09T11:12:00.003+10:00

The Walker household is awash with chest infections (at the adult end of the spectrum) and coughs and sniffles for the kids. This has by far been the coldest winter we have experienced since living in Victoria, and probably equally as cold as the coldest winter we would have experienced in Sydney.

Global warming and the moderating of the climate has seen us sail through the past 6 winters - but this one got under our guard.

One good thing though - Owen hasn't been hospitalised with asthma since May 2009 (touch wood)! So that's a massive bonus :)

While the sun is shining through my office window at the moment (lovely), the 7-day forecast doesn't look quite so promising :(

I'd better bask in it while it lasts.

July 2010

2010-07-30T21:52:00.002+10:00

July has been flat out. After coming back from Sydney earlier this month, the boys returned to school and Angus had school camp in week 2 of the term. This was a 3 day/2 night camp at Phillip Island, and I went along as a parent helper with 2 other Dads and 2 Mums. It was a bit on the cool side which was to be expected, but we had a great time. Flying foxes, giant swings and sleeping in cabins witness their mates, the kids had a ball.

The following week the kids all went downhill with sniffles, coughs and headaches, culminating in all 3 boys having a day off.

This is turning into the coldest winter since we moved to Victoria, but we need the rain that's coming with it.

Our veggie patch is ticking over, and without the earth in the air, the veggies are using what sunlight they can soak up and the eater from the clouds and growing. We should get some veggies before Spring and the be able to sow some more - and maybe even set up a second raised garden bed at the same time.

Kids sports on Saturday mornings are keeping us well and truly busy and logistically challenged. The boys are still enjoying their sports, so I suppose it's all worth it :)

Markets and Museums

2010-06-22T09:46:00.003+10:00

On a cold and wintery day, what do hardy Victorians do? We head outside to a market - then inside to the sanctuary of a nice warm museum :)

We headed to the Melbourne Showground Farmers Market but turned one driveway too early and ended up at the Flemington Craft Market (which included some produce!). After braving that for a couple of hours and purchasing Lily a lovely new hat (and some yummy treats), we headed off.

On a cold and miserable day many families decide to flock together - at Scienceworks. This is Melbourne's science museum and it's awesome. The boys were playing with some connecting/building/creative stuff and here's the results of their toil. The images aren't the best, but you get the idea :)

Queen's Birthday weekend

2010-06-17T07:51:00.013+10:00

The Queen's Birthday long weekend meant NO KID'S SPORTS! However, Patrick and Angus had their musical theatre performance on the Saturday night, so there was no chance we could go away for the weekend. This year's performance was a tribute to musical theatre writers and lyricists over the past 100 years - from Fiddler on the Roof to Rent, Willy Wonka to Joseph and his Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat and many more. Angus was dressed as a yellow Oompa Loompah at one stage!

Anyhow, the boys and the rest of the cast did a wonderful job as usual.

On Saturday we took a drive to Castlemaine with our good friend Kathryn. Kathryn was our tour guide aswe had not previously been to Castlemaine. It's a beautiful country town and somewhere we'll be visiting again - and it's not that far away :)

Knocked down by friendly fire

2010-06-11T10:07:00.003+10:00

My own little bio-terrorists (read: children) have finally infected me with their cold germs. I'm blowing my nose more often than I can count and my head feels stuffy and clogged. The kids are pretty much over the worst of it, so they felt it was time to share with Dad!

I know they can't control their germs and how they spread them, but it makes me feel a little bit better to whinge about it :)

Work we've been up to

2010-06-08T14:29:00.005+10:00

After the hailstorm earlier this year we suffered a little damage. Most of it has now been repaired, and here's a photo of the new fascia on the deck. It's the decking timber on the face of the deck. It used to be fibre cement sheeting but was replaced with nicer looking and harder wearing treated pine. Yay!

Oh, and that arbor on the right hand side of the picture was built by Brian (Karen's Dad) and myself last year. Impressive, isn't it ;)

Also, we've reclaimed the old vegie patch as we are going to build a hen house here. So rather than do without a vegie patch we've installed a colourbond raised bed next to the old patch. We'll add 2 more over the coming months. We've already planted snow peas, celery, red onion and carrots. The strawberries and rhubarb from the old patch have been transplanted too!

We've used PVC conduit and some bird netting to give the seedlings a fighting chance against the local wildlife - and it seems to be working :)

(By the way, you can click the photos for a larger view)

Where will it all end?

2010-06-07T13:27:00.000+10:00

Lily has just been diagnosed with a viral throat infection and an ear infection. The throat infection was courtesy of Owen and luckily the ear infection can be treated with anti-biotics.

Patrick and Angus are still lounging around upstairs like sick primary school students do and Owen happily went back to school today after being absent for an entire week!

And me, well I'm downstairs in my office beavering away like normal :) And I even managed to knock an alleged bug on the head as reported by one of our Beta testers. Yay! A win for me.

A new week dawns

2010-06-07T10:48:00.001+10:00

While today is the Queens Birthday public holiday in NZ, it is just another Monday here in Oz.

Owen has returned to school after being sidelined for a week with viral pneumonia, but now Patrick and Angus are home with the lurgy! Where will it end?

This week marks the end of performing arts rehearsals and culminates in the performance for both boys on Saturday night. This will be their last hurrah as they are both discontinuing next term. Break a leg, boys!

Friday night musings

2010-06-04T21:32:00.001+10:00

4.5 out 6 of the family are crook. Patrick is not feeling 100% and I'm fine. We're sitting here watching St Kilda begin to disassemble Richmond while the rest of the family is in bed :)

Leftover lasagne hit the spot for dinner tonight - Karen makes a mean lasagne ;)

Patrick has soccer tomorrow and Angus has basketball, before we hopefully head to a 40th at Derrimut.

Go Saints!

Winter is here with a BANG!

2010-06-04T09:03:00.002+10:00

Well, while Owen didn't have his almost ritual hospital stay in May we thought it was looming large at the beginning of June. However, we were fortunate to get on top of it early and a visit to the GP has seen him on 'home rest' all week and he has been recovering well. He's got cabin fever from not going to school all week, but his condition has improved vastly. If he can hack staying indoors (mainly) for the weekend he should be fine to got to school on Monday.

My bowls weekend away in Moama was a raving success. Both teams from my club (8 people in total) had a ball and are all keen to back up again next year. We may even have the chance of increasing from 2 to 3 teams! While we didn't set the world on fire on the green we did have some success. We also had a great time off the green.

May seemed like Prep Party Month! Every weekend it seemed that there was at least one party for Owen to go to - some times 2 parties in the same weekend! Oh well, we've come out the other side largely unscathed and the kids are looking forward to the end of Term 2 and a trip to Sydney!

I mowed the lawn over the previous two afternoons so hopefully that won't need doing again until some time in Spring :)

The internal and external building work that needed to be done after the hail storm earlier this year was completed this week. Now we are awaiting the repair to our evaporative cooler to complete the job. It's all been handled so far with a minimum of fuss. Excellent.

Apart from that there's not much more to report :)

As we enter the cooler months ...

2010-04-30T17:46:00.002+10:00

As the summer season of junior basketball reaches its' climax - the final series - soccer has begin and the winter season of basketball is upon us. Coupled with that winter activity for all aspiring AFL 5-8 years olds - Auskick - our Saturdays are chaotic for the foreseeable future!

Coming up in May (it begins tomorrow, and wasn't that quick!) we have Owen's birthday (6), my own birthday (38 already!) and we round out the month with Patrick's birthday (12 OMG!). Along with that there are more bills to pay, more instalments for school camps to pay and more errands to run - I'm in Brisbane for a day trip on the 13th! It never ends.

Apart from that, the nights are getting longer, the grass is not growing so fast (yippee!) and the temperatures are beginning to plummet. I like winter :)

Anyway, here's a snap from our recent visit to Mirboo North where we caught up with the Beecrofts (after far too long).

What's been happening?

2010-03-18T15:10:00.003+11:00

Well, the high school reunion was fantastic. It was organised by (pretty much) one bloke - Ian Fulton - and he did a great job.

The turn up was about 35 of a possible 150 or more, but everybody that made the effort had a ball and we hope to catch up again before another 20 years passes. Awesome.

I thought Summer had made a beeline for the door, but this week has seen 30+ on a few occasions and generally warm overall this week. That's good news for the bowls tournament tomorrow!

On Saturday, after the boys' basketball and a high school admission interview for Patrick, we're off to Nagambie Lakes for 4 days/3 nights. Looking forward to it from all the good reports I've had.

Have a great weekend everybody!

High School Reunion (not Musical!)

2010-03-11T07:58:00.003+11:00

Well, we've hit Autumn with a bang. Cold, wet and windy so far. Urrrgh!

Anyway, I'm off to Wollongong via Sydney tomorrow for my High School Reunion on Saturday night. It's been 20 years since most of them left Year 12 while it's 22 years since I left Year 10. It's also 22 years since I've seen pretty much anyone. Looking forward to it.

Oh Summer, where for art thou?

2010-03-01T12:28:00.001+11:00

I know it's only 1st March, yet summer seems to have taken an early holiday this year. March can be quite hot, but in the last 7 years, February has had the title IMHO.

Anyway, our plans for various outings on the weekend were scotched thanks to the weather, so let's hope it's been worth it and we have a wet and (not so) wild winter with lots and rain :)

Performing Arts classes recommence for 2010

2010-02-23T11:37:00.003+11:00

Patrick and Angus do performing arts out side of school. This culminates in two performances per year - one in June and one in December.

On Monday evenings they go along to rehearsals and undertake tuition in singing, dancing and some drama. Of the three streams, drama is definitely the gift that keeps on giving. At home, any day of the week you can see Patrick or Angus giving a dramatic performance.

It could be because they don't want to go to bed, or they don't want ham on their sandwich or simply because they have no reason why they are acting out.

These classes are really money well spent.

On a serious note, it's great to see them enjoy the rehearsals and they absolutely love being part of the performance. The performances are held at the National Theatre in St Kilda to a full house. The costumes, props, lighting and the performers are all top notch. They are part of the Childrens Performing Company of Australia (CPCA). We recommend them if anybody's interested.

Here's a few photos from the December 2009 performance.

And so ends another season of Pennant

2010-02-22T13:21:00.002+11:00

Without boring all of you non-bowling types into a coma, my team was relegated from Division 2 to Division 3 as of yesterday afternoon on the back of some stupid decision making and a bit of luck for another team. There's always next year! Pffft!

Anyway, on with the show.

The coming weeks and months will be interesting and my colleagues and I look for support to be elected to the new Bowls Victoria board. With the current board being only an interim board to steer good ship Bowls Victoria from the time of unification until the first full board can be elected, it will be interesting to see how the cards fall and how many incumbents stick their hands up to go around again.

This is the single biggest opportunity in more than one lifetime for bowlers to effect change in their sport - for the better and towards the future. I'll keep you all posted on how this goes.

So, apart from kid's sport - weekends are now free (mostly) until September!

Getting back to nature

2010-02-19T14:28:00.002+11:00

When I was a kid I'd take off for hours with my brother or some mates and we'd go up into the bush behind the next street of houses and just go on an adventure. Never got into strife, and on occasion saw some wildlife.

This morning I took a walk and rather than cruising around the normal few blocks I took a different route down near the local tennis courts and then behind them where this is a creek.

It's summer, and as and adult isn't it funny how your thinking changes. As a kid I wouldn't have a second thought about walking through there, but as I was walking this morning my mind turned to snakes. Living where we do, it's a real possibility that you could encounter the odd 'Joe Blake' in that sort of an area. But I soldiered on and lived to tell the tale.

I next thought that the kids would love to go exploring down there, get a bit dirty and maybe see a lizard or something.

I should really get my lazy ar$e out of bed early more often and do this :)

Winter Olympics

2010-02-18T09:05:00.004+11:00

I love the Winter Olympics. Last night I watched some curling - lawn bowls on ice! I also really enjoy the Alpine skiing and the Giant Slalom as well as the Snowboard Cross and the Half-pipe. I still don't get moguls or figure skating, but the speed skating is awesome.

I get similar feelings about the Summer games as well, but you don't often see cycling or athletics advertised or promoted in the media - these are things you need to seek out. So we're off to the Melbourne Madison soon, thanks to Robin letting me know it was on.

So many people enjoy watching many of these events but wouldn't know that there is a domestic/national/international series held locally and so forget about it until the next Olympics. Most of us will never get to an(other) Olympic games so you should support your local versions of the same sports I reckon :)

Literacy assessment

2010-02-17T18:51:00.002+11:00

Owen had his Prep literacy assessment today. All of first term the Prep's only go to school Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday while Wednesday is reserved for Literacy and Numeracy assessments.

While he doesn't really show much interest and reading (despite being asked if he'd like to read to etc) he surprised us and apparently his literacy is about to TAKE OFF!

There's no doubt he's ready for school and all that it entails, and now we know that he is capable of reading and sounding etc, but just not too keen on it when there are so many other cool things to do like play DS or Wii or shoot hoops with his big brothers!

Yay Owen!

Lawn Bowls coach

2009-08-24T12:22:00.002+10:00

I spent the weekend at a course to become a lawn bowls coach. I've been waiting to do this for almost 2 years now, however I've been thwarted on previous occasions by trips to NZ for work or the course being on a day/evening that I couldn't make.

Anyway, I've done it now and as well as learning about how to deliver basic coaching to new bowlers, also learned a bit about my own bowling.

It's no fun

2009-07-27T11:28:00.002+10:00

All 6 of us are home with various levels of sickness. From the common cold to chest infection and bronchitis.

We all visited the doctor yesterday. How often does a doctor have an entire family of 6 lob in their office?

Hopefully we're all on the mend now.

Illness

2009-07-23T12:05:00.003+10:00

Patrick is on his 4th day off school in a row. He hasn't attended all week. I don't feel too good either, but considering I work from home and don't need to go into an office where I would potentially infect everybody else, I'll keep on working.

It's the bloody dry cough during the night that does you in. Bad, broken sleep is the worst. Damn viruses! Damn you!

Hopefully we'll be on the mend soon. Lily, and to a lesser extent Owen, are also showing symptoms. It's that time of year :(

Heathcote

2009-07-20T10:23:00.004+10:00

Saturday morning saw Patrick and I head to Patrick's soccer match. The Sherbrooke Rangers U11 Rockets remain undefeated after a 2-0 result against North Blackburn Jedi's.

After the match Patrick and I headed Heathcote to visit Wild Duck Creek Estate. This was the annual open weekend where mailing list customers can turn up, taste the fruits of David and Liam Anderson's labours and pick up their order.

The 2007 vintage was tiny due to environmental factors. The upside is that the fruit that did manage to get into the bottle is actually quite intense.

As always it was a great experience to taste new release WDC wines and catch up with David and Liam. Having a cellar door that is open only weekend a year seems quite counter productive, but it works very well for WDC.

And apparently the 2009 vintage will see a return to more realistic cropping levels and hence more wine of offer for customers. The 2007 vintage saw allocations slashed for most wines and some wines not even produced.

Last piece of the puzzle

2009-07-15T16:15:00.005+10:00

As we've been rearranging the lounge room and making the place a bit more comfortable, we decided that a nice lowline entertainment unit would set the lounge room just beautifully.

Well, Karen ordered it and it arrived yesterday. Because our lounge room is quite large and open plan, the unit was planned to go up against thefar wall (for those that know our lounge room). Well the plan was OK - all except for getting the 3 metre (10 feet) unit into the house!

I had to quickly remove the picket fence/railing from our front verandah to allow access through the front door. The 2 delivery guys that turned up were honestly the oldest, un-muscliest, un-delivery type guys you could imagine and gave Karen all sorts of reasons why it couldn't be taken into house any other way - hence I had to do a bit of ad hoc DIY. Luckily the railing went back up OK (albeit, temporarily). At least it's safe.

And the unit looks great in the room, Karen's very happy that it sets the room off nice and symmetrically. Who knew? The way to a woman's heart is via furniture symmetry!

Back home

2009-07-13T13:24:00.002+10:00

We managed to make he trip home in one journey this time - with no break in Holbrook.

This was a decision made on the spur of the moment, as we cruised through the southern extremities of Sydney and beyond. We polled the kids, and those that could provide feedback were all for it, so we made for home.

An extra 6-8 days a year travelling and about $1000 p.a. in accommodation costs (not to mention the other incidentals incurred) makes for an expensives trip 3-4 times a year. The break is sometimes a good idea, but in my opinion it has so many drawbacks I'd prefer not to - as long as the rest of the family agree.

If I was the only one who wanted to make the trip in one go - I don't think I'd be too popular!

Anyway, we're home now and back in th groove.

So long Sydney

2009-07-10T16:22:00.004+10:00

After a fortnight in Sydney, we're off home tomorrow.

With NSW and Vic school holidays totally out of kilter this time, it was a bit disappointing that we only got to catch up with Damien & Kellie & Co. once, but that's what happens when your State Government is adamant that the first term school holidays MUST encapsulate Easter! What's with that? Anyway...

The kids have seen two movies and been bowling as well as having been taken on many day trips to parks etc over the past fortnight. Patrick almost finished his (late) homework as well. You can't rush these things.

Now it's back to Upwey and school, pre-school, playgroup, etc. I hope our house is still standing after some pretty devastating winds going by the TV weather reports.

I should probably blog more often as well :p

And here's a few random family photos.

3 posts in 12 months!

2009-05-20T11:19:00.003+10:00

I've been slack on the blog front, but pretty busy in real life!

Last weekend was 12 months since that trip I made to Albury which resulted in me coming home from Albury to replace Karen at Owen's bedside. The weekend before last Owen was again admitted to hospital for asthma.

Luckily we were all in the one place and Karen and I each spent a night with Owen at the Angliss.

Last weekend I again went away for the weekend on a bowls tournament trip and nobody went to hospital! Amazing!

I spent the weekend in Moama with 3 other members from my club and we played in a 4's tournament. We won 2 of our 5 games and had a great weekend. Looking forward to doing it again in August for a Pairs tournament in Deniliquin :)

Christmas Photo

2008-12-17T11:18:00.005+11:00

Here is the official 2008 Walker Family Christmas Photo!

Click on the photo for a larger view!

Baby food

2008-06-25T20:59:00.001+10:00

How fast can an eight month old devour a tin of pumpkin and potato goop? Pretty damn fast! Lily is well onto this eating caper. Of course, she's still attached to Karen many times a day, but she's pretty handy on the fang as well. She'll have to be - to keep up with her big brothers.

Locusts. Why did I just think of locusts?

Birthdays galore

2008-05-27T18:48:00.004+10:00

Owen turned 4 on the 13th of May, my 36th birthday was last week and Patrick turns 10 this weekend. But here's my story.

Karen asked me a couple of months ago what I would like for my birthday. For once, I had an answer. I wanted to go bowling for the weekend! And it just so happened that there was a tournament on in Albury on the weekend leading up to my birthday.

It was a triples tournament so I wrangled Damien Jones and Steve Peisley into forming a team and sent off the entry form and organised accommodation in Albury. I was stoked - couldn't wait. With every week that went by I was getting more and more excited.

Anyway, on the Friday afternoon I picked up Damien and then we headed off to Steve's place to pick him up before trekking up the Hume to Albury. Woo-hoo!

I kept Karen abreast of the progress and called her again once we were in transit.

The one weekend I went away bowling with a couple of mates EVER and what should happen? Well, here goes.

Friday evening, Angus announces he is not feeling well and goes to bed early. This suits Karen as she can also put Owen to bed early. Karen and Patrick stay up watching the footy.

Fast forward a couple of hours and Angus isn't feeling any better. In fact he feels so bad he decides to eject his dinner and lunch all over his bedroom floor. This made his quite upset and gave Karen a job of work to do. Angus is out in the shower and upon exiting, he barf's again. Karen re-makes his bed, dresses him and puts him to bed with a bucket beside his bed. Owen slept through all this mania! Patrick wouldn't sleep in the room because of a curious (barf) odour. He slept with Karen.

Meanwhile, I'm in Albury eating take away pizza, having a couple of beers and kicking back. I was hoping upon hope that that would be the last drama for the weekend. Did I mention that I had taken the family car to Albury and left Karen and the kids without a car? Well I did!

Cue Saturday morning. I called Karen to find out that Angus had woken up and was feeling much better than the previous evening. Owen was now on the decline with his asthma! Damn. The one weekend I go away and hell breaks loose. Karen continues treating Owen's asthma with Ventolin and Tilade as per his treatment plan.

Meanwhile in Albury, the rain delayed the start to the day and our first 2 games were reduced from 12 to 10 ends each. And we only ended playing 3 of the 4 scheduled games. We won 2 of our 3 games on Saturday, and with an early finish to the days proceedings we had a couple of cleansing ales.

Back in Upwey Patrick had played in his first soccer victory for the year, Angus was feeling better and Owen was beginning to show some slight signs of improvement. Friends lent us a car in case Karen had to rush to hospital at short notice. Owen was taking Ventolin onboard like a champion!

At the Boomerang Motel in Albury, Steve suggested we get some dessert (lemon tart) from the motel restaurant to compliment the take away pizza we had consumed. Damien and I laughed, but went to the restaurant just to humour him. Lo and behold - there was three serves of lemon meringue pie left! Not lemon tart, but lemon nonetheless. Damien and I were now laughing on the other side of our faces while we snuck the dessert out of the restaurant and back to our room.

Things were going slowly downhill in Upwey. Owen was taking Ventolin at 1/2 hourly intervals and Karen was not getting much sleep. At about 7am on Sunday morning, Karen called Carla to organise for the big boys to minded and then called an ambulance to transport Owen, Lily and herself to the Angliss as Owen's asthma had deteriorated overnight.

Back in Albury, I'm waking up to face another day on the green and see if we can win 3 from 3 on Sunday to figure in the money! I called home to see how things went overnight as the last I had heard was the Owen's asthma was settling down. What a shock when I found out they were in hospital! 350km away and what have I done?

So, we won our final 3 games to finish with 5 wins and 1 loss. This put us 20th out of 116 and we finished up with $50ea. Prize money went down to 40th place, so we did pretty well. We had a ball and we'll be heading back again.

Anyway, as soon as the presentations were over we hit the road back to Melbourne. I dropped Steve off first, followed by Damien and then went home to put the baby seat back in so Karen could take Lily home. I relieved Karen at the hospital at about 10pm on Sunday night and Owen was sound asleep. Karen picked up Patrick and Angus from Carla's (meanwhile Patrick and Cody had spent some time at Carolyn's place during the day to share the load) and headed home for a "restful evening".

I awoke on Monday in hospital and Owen was rearing to go. Hang on! Today is my birthday! What a weekend.

Owen was discharged later on Monday with a new treatment regime and appearing much better than when he presented.

The boys woke up and were also feeling decidedly second hand after such a long Sunday, They didn't make it to school either. Karen, Patrick, Angus and Lily came and picked up Owen and me from the hospital and we had a lovely birthday lunch at Zagame's. Phew! I made it to 36!

How could I have possibly guessed what an eventful weekend would be had at home on the one weekend I go away? Karen did a truly remarkable job to keep everything together and the help from Carla and Carolyn was much appreciated too. And to Damien and Steve - next year we'll go better than 20th!

Easter

2008-04-08T18:57:00.003+10:00

We headed up the Hume on the Thursday evening that school wrapped up for Term 1 in Victoria. We stayed the night in Wagga Wagga before arriving in Sydney on Good Friday. It was an action packed visit.

We caught up with family, went to the Easter Show (Lily included), had Lily christened, had a party to mark the occasion of Viv and Brian becoming Australian citizens (finally) and I even got to go bowling twice!

Lily caught up with her new cousin, Tarnie

The entire clan caught up. There's now 9 kids between mine and my brothers families!

I'm a sucker for a cow caricature

Owen met a friendly lamb

While Angus and Patrick had fun on the giant slide

We put on a massive Aussie spread to mark the occasion of Viv and Brian's naturalisation

And we laid on a great cake for Lily's christening (not that she knew about it)

And Angus lost a front tooth!

So, as you can see - we we're pretty busy!

Since last we wrote...

2008-02-26T20:31:00.002+11:00

We've been doing a bit of this and that. We even managed to get everybody out of the house and see the Sand Sculpture exhibition at Frankston Beach. Now that is art!

Owen was also admitted to hospital with a recurrence of his asthma. This time they sent us home with an asthma management strategy and a diagnosis of actually being asthmatic. Poor little fella. But he did have exclusive use of the Starlight Foundation kiddy entertainment unit. It has computer games. Nintendo GameCube, DVDs and more!

And Lily continues to come along in great fashion.

You better watch out...

2007-12-20T08:37:00.001+11:00

As Christmas descends upon us I thought it was time to update the blog.

Lily is growing and getting more sleep during the night (which is good for Mum and Dad). Still not as much sleep as we would like, but what can you expect from an 8 week old?

Angus and Patrick have almost finished school for the year and have found out who their teachers are for next year. No nasty surprises (that we know of). Since Patrick's teacher for this year is moving rooms next year, he has been using the kids as removalists this week. That a combination of the draconian IR laws and a slack teacher.

So, have a Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year. We hope to see many of you over the break.

We got a towbar - for FREE!

2007-11-29T16:39:00.000+11:00

We got a new Kia Carnival (through salary sacrifice) in July. I recently enquired about getting a towbar on this car. I want to use a bike rack and eventually buy a box trailer (we need one when we go on holidays with 4 kids).

Anyway, the only place to get one was Kia as there was no aftermarket alternative. Or there wasn't until I queried Boronia Towbars.

These guys make aftermarket towbars but hadn't had a Kia Carnival in yet so they hadn't had the chance to use one as a template.

Enter - the Walkers. They needed to car for two days to work out how and where it would be attached and wired, as well as to make a jig from which to manufacture further towbars. For the inconvenience of not having our car for 2 days, we got the towbar for free. They'll obviously make up for that on future towbars they manufacture. Sweet!

22 days into Movember - 8 days to go

2007-11-22T10:23:00.000+11:00

22 days into Movember and my own sponsorship amount is $40. Let's go people! Click on the Movember link to the right of screen and pledge some $$$ for Men's Health. You can also check out my Mo Log and see a picture of my mo. It's coming along nicely.

Yay, we haven't been to hospital all week!

2007-11-17T22:08:00.000+11:00

Yay! The Friday following Lily's last visit to hospital saw Karen as a patient, due to a viral condition that felt (to Karen) much worse than it turned out to be. The downer was that one of the tests conducted turn Karen radioactive for 24 hours. We found out about this AFTER the test when the nurse said "You're not pregant of breastfeeding are you?" Derr! Shouldn't you have asked this BEFORE the test - especially of the answer to the pregnancy part of the question was YES! So, Karen could not nurse or feed Lily for 24 hours.

Well, we've overcome that and Lily is now gaining weight and growing in all dimensions. She is not yet sleeping through the night, but to her credit she is only 4 weeks old and we may asking a bit much.

Also, the mo' is coming along nicely.

If you feel like you'd like to donate, go here.

Movember

2007-11-01T09:24:00.000+11:00

Having turned the blog Pink for October, I'm now growing a mo' for Movember.

During Movember (the month formerly known as November) I'll be growin a Mo. I've shaved off my goatee as you can see here. This will be interesting, because the kids have only ever seen me with facial hair! That's right I'm bringing the Mo back because I'm passionate about men's health and the fight against prostate cancer. Why...

Every year in Australia 18,700 men are diagnosed with prostate cancer and about 2,900 die of the disease, making prostate cancer the second largest cause of male cancer deaths, after lung cancer.

The average life expectancy of a man in Australia is 5 years less than a woman (currently 78 compared to 83).

Men access health services 30-40% less than women, thereby denying themselves the chance for prevention and early detection of common diseases.

As you can see, there are plenty of reasons why we need to make the community aware of Men's heath issues.

To sponsor my Mo please go to http://www.movember.com/nz/donate, enter my registration number which is 109799 and your credit card details. All donations over $5 are tax deductible.

All donations are made directly to the Prostate Cancer Foundation of New Zealand who will use the funds to create awareness, increase support networks for those men who suffer from prostate cancer, fund research and scholarship programs. (I'm doing this for NZ since I work for an NZ company and we have a company Mo team!)

For those that have supported Movember in previous years you can be very proud of the impact it has had.

Thanks for your support

Michael

Home again, home again, jiggity-jig

2007-10-30T09:39:00.000+11:00

Karen and Lily were re-admitted to hospital on Sunday afternoon after the home visit from the nurse found that Lily's jaundice levels had again risen.

24 hours under some intense light saw Lily's levels plummet dramatically. As a result, Karen and Lily returned home yesterday for (hopefully) the last time.

So there you have it - our family is once again all together.

Homecoming

2007-10-26T21:37:00.000+10:00

After a couple of false starts, Karen and Lily made it home today (Friday 26th October) in time to celebrate Angus' birthday.

Lily's hospital stay was extended due to jaundice. Some photo therapy (sleeping under a light) rectified this and she was given the all clear today.

Thanks to everybody for their messages of congratulations and best wishes. We'll post more photos in the coming days and weeks and hope to catch up with many of you as well.

Lily Ruth Walker

2007-10-21T16:41:00.000+10:00

Lily Ruth Walker arrived at 8.53am this morning at the Angliss Hospital a Ferntree Gully. We left home a little after 7am and things didn't take very long.

Karen and Lily are both doing very well. Lily weighed in at a healthy 6lb 14oz (3.1kg for the metric amongst us), 43cm long and a head circumference of 33cm. This makes Lily the smallest of the family (at delivery time). Lily is also the fourth and last child for this family.

Present at the birth (apart from Karen and Lily) were Michael, Patrick and Vivien. Our wonderful midwife Jacqui ensured everything was smooth sailing (and even kept one over anxious trainee doctor at bay!)

Here's a few photos from Lily's first day.

Pink time again

2007-10-08T07:35:00.000+10:00

It's October again and that means it's time to go 'Pink for October'. Web sites will Go Pink during the month of October to bring attention to Breast Cancer Awareness Month, get people talking about breast cancer, and raise money for research.

This is the second year I've turned this blog pink in recognition of this scheme. To find out more, go here.

An update (at last...sorry)

2007-08-27T13:16:00.000+10:00

We've done a lot since we came back from Qld. Not surprising, since that was 4 months ago!

We visited Pat, Jenny, Aidan and Rohan in Tasmania during June. We flew into Launceston, picked up a hire car (Nissan X-Trail, I don't recommend it as it was too gutless), drove the Axeman's Hall of Fame (very underwhelmed) and then headed south for Brighton and Pat & Jenny's house.

It was great to catch up after 11 years! Last time we met it was at Pat & Jenny's wedding and neither of us (unsurprisingly) had children. We took a couple of days trips around Hobart and nearby national parks before heading up north again and exiting via Launceston.

The week before we headed to Tasmania, Owen was in hospital with asthma bought about by a virus. He and Karen spent the night. About 6 weeks after we returned from Tasmania, Owen was again in hospital.

This time, since Viv and Brian were down, Karen and myself escorted Owen to hospital late one evening. We were released the following morning after more ventolin and observation. The Angliss hospital at Upper Ferntree Gully have been great.

I was lucky enough recently to win a double pass to the Melbourne premiere of the Simpsons Movie. I took Patrick and we even got to have our photo taken with the cast.

The Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) at Federation Square is currently exhibiting the Pixar collection. This has many hand drawn sketches, cells and clay models from several of the Pixar animated movies - including the desk lamp from one of the original short films. Here are a few shots.

And here are a few random shots of the kids in the city, at the museum and Carlton Gardens.

We did it!

2007-04-11T08:11:00.000+10:00

We survived a week on the Gold Coast with the 3 kids - and we visited 3 theme parks.

On Sunday 1st April, Viv, Brian, Karen, Michael, Patrick, Angus and Owen piled onto Bob's airport transfer minibus for the ride to the airport. Using the M4 and M5 it only took 1/2 an hour. Amazing! Once at the airport we checked in and boarded our Coolangatta-bound VirginBlue flight.

Once we reached Coolangatta we were greeted by another Bob for the transfer to our apartment in Surfers Paradise. We settled into our apartment and had a swim in the pool and spa.

Suitably refreshed we went in search of some dinner and settled on Santino's Pizza/Italian Restaurant in Surfers. From there it was back to the apartment via the local IGA grocer to grab some essentials.

On Monday morning we found our way to the local bus stop and caught the bus to Seaworld - the first of our 3 theme park adventures. This is the closest park to Surfers and we were there in a jiffy.

It became all too much for Owen shortly after arriving and he slept in his pram for the next hour or more. We watched other people having an up close and personal dolphin experience and followed this with the seal show and Waterski Wipeout (the current waterski show). The kids were all suitably impressed thus far.
After we'd "done" the shows it was time for rides. Patrick and I rode the Corkscrew five times in quick succession due to the lack of queues. Viv, Brian, Patrick and Angus rode in one boat on the flume ride while Owen and I enjoyed the same ride behind them. Owen was most taken with this ride and it was to become his first in a series of many over the coming week. We rode other rides before making our way to the water park and riding the water slides and lazing about the pool. Once we'd finished there we boarded the monorail for the trip to the front gate and home.

Theme park trip #1 successfully complete!

However, later that evening once we had put the children to bed, disaster struck. Angus was awoken from his slumber by vomit all over his face and pillow. Later that same evening Owen suffered the same fate. Owen continued with a few more purges during the following day while still feeling mostly OK. Angus couldn't keep down anything for the next 36 hours and we took him to the doctor as a result. After his doctor visit (or just before, who knows), Angus began to pick up remarkably and was on the road to recovery. As a result we spent Tuesday and Wednesday in the apartment, by the pool and at the beach across the street.

By Wednesday afternoon Angus was feeling well enough to venture out so we headed into Cavill Avenue for a poke around and some dinner. On our way back to the apartment we came across the night markets along the Esplanade. These were interesting and familiar (if you know what I mean).

So our plan of having one theme park day followed by a rest day was scuttled. We decided after two rest days that we would now have 2 straight theme park days. Living dangerously!

Thursday saw the allure of Movie World too great and we succumbed. From the minute we walked in the gate it was a fun-filled, action-packed day. It started by Patrick, Angus and I going on the Batman 'The Ride' and being tossed and thrown around our little space ship simulator. Very good and the boys enjoyed it too.

We then caught the Shrek 4-D movie. It is 4-D because as well as viewing it in the traditional 3-D, you get other sensory pleasures throughout the film - such as a spray of water on your face when Donkey sneezes, etc.

Owen enjoyed yet another log/flume ride. With his Pooh Bear sandals on he was just on the 95cm height requirement for many rides. Lucky boy.

We rode more rides, had lunch at the all-you-can-eat restaurant and then saw the Police Academy show. It's an oldie but still a goodie.

Owen is rapt with the cartoon characters that walk around the them parks, as can be seen by his emotive display below.

He got the biggest thrill of all the following day.

So after more rides and an ice-cream it was off home again to have dinner and begin preparations for another day. The next day was Good Friday and the beginning of the NSW and QLD school holidays. The crowds were to become a bit bigger and we were going to Dreamworld.

Friday morning we rode the bus once more, to Dreamworld this time. We were met at the gate by Kenny and Belinda Koala and Owen couldn't resist.

Our first port of call was the Imax theatre. Owen became weary of this after about 15 minutes so I took him outside to give the other theatre goers some respite. Well, what a lucky break - we bumped into Dora the Explorer. She happens to be Owen's most favourite cartoon character of all time. And he showed her.

And yes, the "minder" above was looking at her watch and passed a comment regarding the time Dora had left before her next engagement. Owen could happily have returned home after that encounter - he was so chuffed.

Well, from here we spent the rest of the day on rides and making our way between shows and "worlds". These theme parks are continually updating there layout, attractions and shows. Great stuff.

Saturday was a more relaxed day and we wrapped up our stay by having a game at King Tut's Putt Putt. 3 courses of 18 holes are available for your putting pleasure. Sunday saw us picked up by Bob, delivered to Coolangatta airport, flying to Sydney where we were retrieved by Bob's Russian offsider for the trip home. All in all a very enjoyable, if tiring, holiday.

What have we been up to?

2007-02-11T16:57:00.000+11:00

Since I last posted we've returned from Sydney, spent the Australia Day long weekend by the beach at Inverloch, Patrick returned to school (Grade 3), Angus started school (our little Preppie) and Patrick has returned to cricket. I think the photos say it all!

We're wearing our Australia Day hats from the Sunday Telegraph as supplied by Auntie Angela

And then it was off to school for our Preppie - Angus.

Angus and his fan club on day one of school

Owen feels like he's missing out

Patrick started back in the U/11 cricket competition.

Does my head look big in this?

Sorry for the slackness in updating the blog. I'll try harder. Really, I will.

Xmas 2006 - Another one gone

2007-01-05T21:44:00.000+11:00

Christmas 2006 saw us in Sydney again. We trekked up the Hume on the weekend leading up to Christmas and stayed for 2 weeks.

One of the most useful presents was a digital camera for Angus. He is forever making off with Karens or my phone and snapping photos until the memory card fills! So we thought it was high time he had his own. The following photos are 2 of the first 3 photos taken. (The third photo is not fit for publication - it caught Dad at the worst time).

Following Xmas, Karen and I took Patrick and Angus to the Sydney Observatory. After a quick dinner at the Lord Nelson Hotel (just down the road - how fortuitous) we headed up the road for the 2 hour tour of the Observatory. Well worth the effort. Even the museum artifacts are well worth the price of entry and you can see those any day of the week for free. It is the tour and use of the facilities (and possibly the after hours) that attract the entry fee. We thoroughly recommend this tour to anybody with the slightest interest in stars, the universe or just 'stuff'.

Family Photo

2006-11-03T14:44:00.000+11:00

This year our Playgroup had a novel idea for fundraising - affordable family portrait sittings. It worked like this:

1. Make a booking
2. Turn up
3. Have a series of photos taken with your entire family, children only, parents only and variations on the theme
4. Pay $12. This includes a framed A4 size photo. The $12 goes to the playgroup
5. Purchase any other photos you like (once printed) or the entire pack for about $130 which includes the digital images on CD and the copyright. Similar packages at Pixi Foto would cost several hundred dollars and you still wouldn't get the digital images or the copyright!

Well, here is one of the family shots.

(Hi Karen.)

A reunion at last (well partially)

2006-10-24T16:51:00.000+10:00

My baby sister, Lauren, is coming home from her recent European adventure that saw her employed as a tour hostess for Contiki throughout Europe for the past 6 months or so. After a whirlwind return and catch up in Wollongong, Lauren and Dad will be making the trip down the Hume to stay with us for a week during the Spring Racing Carnival season.

We're all looking forward to catching up again, and while it won't be a full reunion since Damien, Kellie and Co. will be in Sydney, it will certainly be good to have Lauren and Dad here for a week. The boys are really looking forward to seeing Poppy and Aunty Lauren again.

Spring is powering on in Melbourne. We go from highs of 36 to overnight lows of 5. It's amazing and I wouldn't give it up for quids.

My work now has a fair dinkum office in Melbourne and I'll be gracing it with my presence for the next couple of days. I'll see if office life has changed much over the past 6 months or so.

Ciao.

Still in the Pink

2006-10-18T13:34:00.000+10:00

Well, it's past the half way mark of the month and we're still in the Pink.

Lawn bowls has started again and Michael is again rolling up on Saturday afternoons.

Angus is in his last term of pre-school at which time he will move to BIG school next year and his lovely teacher, Mrs Tozer, will retire. Her able assistant Pip will remain at the school with Elisha. Patrick will be in grade 3 when Angus is a wee little preppie.

On Monday we bid farewell to Viv, Brian and Nan as they headed north up the Hume back to Sydney. With the visit by Viv and Brian before the school holidays, our trip to Sydney over the school holidays and their return visit on completion of the school holidays, we've just spent 2 month together. It was sad to see them leave but we had great times over the last 2 months. And it's only about 2 months until we visit again.

Well, that's about it for the moment.

Pink for October

2006-10-02T14:10:00.000+10:00

Those of you with a keen eye might have noticed the change in colour. Well I've gone out in sympathy for all people directly or indirectly effected by breast cancer. This was not my idea, but was the brainchild Matthew Oliphant and one of his co-workers. And I think it's a great idea.

Back on the home front, after a busy month we're all back at home and have returned from Sydney with Viv, Brian and Nanna (or as the kids know them: Nanna, Grandad and Grandma!).

The lawn bowls season is on the horizon, beginning next weekend. Woo-hoo!. The Swans lost the AFL grand final in a thriller and the Storm lost the NRL grand final in circumstances we would rather forget. There's always next year - C'arn the Saints!

I'm here, then I'm there...

2006-09-18T14:22:00.000+10:00

What a busy 2 weeks it's been. I was in Christchurch last week for work. I could have been in Tibet for all I can tell about Christchurch. I went from the airport to the motel, to the office, back to the motel, etc.

While in NZ, I called home only to be informed that we were to head to Sydney once I returned as the school holidays have then started. Mid next week it's back to Melbourne for me and the family will follow on the weekend. Very busy indeed.

We managed to surprise Angela (Karen's sister) with our arrival in Sydney. Ang thought we were visiting friends in Victoria and when she arrived at her Mum's place to welcome her Mum and Dad home from Melbourne, she was confronted by Clan Walker.

As those of you who follow the AFL would well know, the Saints were subsequently bundled out of the finals on the night we went to see them. Gallant in defeat, they led all night until injuries forced them to succumb to a second rate Demons side 10 minutes from full time. And the following week saw the coach sacked! I learnt of this while in NZ - and not from the NZ media either!

Well, if you read this before we leave Sydney and would like to catch up, give us a holler! Ciao.

Footy Finals Fever

2006-09-07T17:55:00.000+10:00

St Kilda have made the finals again. The faithful live in hope. I have managed to secure tickets to tomorrow nights clash with Melbourne Demons at the spiritual home of football - the MCG. Patrick, his mate Nathan and myself are going along tomorrow night to see which Victorian team will form half of the Victorian assault on the Premiership semi-finals next weekend against the losers of this weekends interloping interstate battles being waged in Adelaide and Perth.

It could be a very long drive home from the MCG tomorrow night or I might take two 8 year olds out on the town to mark the success! (just joking Child Services!)

On a different note, just when we thought Spring had sprung, we've had over an inch of rain in Upwey during the first week of September. You never can tell.

Spring

2006-09-01T21:12:00.000+10:00

After a mild-ish winter and one that did not deliver on the snow front, Spring has well and truly sprung on the first day of September in Melbourne. We were languishing with only half an inch of rain for the month of August until about the 20th, then in the space of two days we received an inch and a half!

Now on September 1st, we've had the hottest start to September ever - a fat 25 deg C!

Patrick has just arisen from his bed and is trying to tell me he needs a fan! I'm sure we'll be back to long sleeves and hot water bottles in the next few days.

It's still Winter

2006-08-23T16:53:00.000+10:00

It is definitely still Winter here in Melbourne. Especially since we're currently looking forward to a high of 11 degrees on Friday! This has been one of the worst snow seasons for the Victorian Alps in many many years and Mt Baw Baw is closing this weekend.

My Dad (Graeme) visited last weekend, arriving on Friday evening and leaving on Sunday afternoon. It was great to see him again and we look forward to his next visit with Lauren (my little sister) on her return in November from trekking through Europe as a Contiki tour guide. What a hoot!

Dad had only just departed and Viv and Brian arrived for a two week stay. The house is abuzz with the interaction of grandparents and grandchildren once more.

I'm still enjoying working from home, While it does present a different set of challenges, the benefits are fantastic. Like once I finish breakfast, work is at the end of the hallway and when I've finished work, the family is just outside the door. My company has secured an office in North Melbourne and we'll be taking up residence in the next 6 weeks or so. I won't need to go in there every day so I'll get to enjoy the interaction of working in an office and the solitude and benefits of working from home.

Patrick has finished AusKick for the year and received his medal at the final session last weekend. We had a BBQ afterwards and now we've got a 6-8 week break before Milo cricket starts again! Angus seems keen to take up AusKick next year too.

The lawn bowling season is almost upon us again and my Club has been fortunate enough to get $40,000 from the Federal Government and $18,000 from the State Government to help with the replacement of our synthetic green destroyed by a flood over 18 months ago.

Karen and I are attending a trivia night this weekend. It's that time of year again - every group/organisation seems to be in fundraising mode.

'til next time, Michael

Gee we've been a slack lot...

2006-08-09T19:35:00.000+10:00

Gee we've been a slack lot. March was our last post! Sorry.

So, what have we been up to since March?

Well, we went to the Cadbury Easter Egg Hunt at Werribee Mansion on Easter Saturday (I think). That was a great day. The kids found heaps of little solid eggs, we got entry to the Mansion for the day as well and the entertainment on the green was enjoyable.

May saw Michael change jobs (for those who don't know already). He went from Computershare to PayGlobal. It's the same sort of role but in a much smaller company and a totally different industry. It's already seen him in Sydney twice and will eventually see him in New Zealand - after all it is a Kiwi company.

Sometime since March we went with Col, one of our friendly neighbours, to a miniature railway. Col is involved with Puffing Billy and the volunteer railways of varying sizes have Open Days for each other so we managed an invite to this one with Col. The detail in these miniature trains is outstanding. The kids (and the adults) loved it. And to top it off - it was all FREE!

Angus fell asleep on what turned out to be his last ride of the evening.

We spent the mid-year school holidays in Sydney (for those we didn't catch up with) and Michael actually worked from Viv and Brian's place. Since he's working from home these days, it doesn't really matter whose home it is, does it?

After the holidays we headed back south and have been experiencing a very cold winter. It hasn't helped the Victorian snow fields, but it's been 'bleedin' cold in Upwey.

For those faithful few that have been following the saga that is the synthetic green at the Upwey-Tecoma Bowls Club, we've had a breakthrough. The President, Secretary (Michael) and one other committee member met with AFL legend and Victorian Sports Minister, Justin Madden, a couple of weeks ago on the off chance that he might take pity on the CLub and dish out a few $. Ten days later we get confirmation through our local State member (also a Labor MP) that we'd been allocated an ex gratia payment of $18,000. While this doesn't cover the replacement of the green, it puts us in a better position to get the remaining funds required. So with a bit of luck we should have a new green in October. Stay tuned for more details!

What have we been up to?

2006-03-07T20:58:00.000+11:00

I can't believe it's been 2 months since our last post! Well, since we left Sydney in the New Year and came home we have been busy and we have been doing stuff. We forget to take the camera someties. But I think we've nailed that now that both of our new phones have a 2 mega pixel camera onboard!

Anyway, if you're interested the cafe at the end of the pier at St Kilda is being rebuilt - true to style. We went to the craft market a few weeks ago and took a stroll down the pier to have a look. What do you think?

And from our walk around the market, here's a couple of photos of the family.

(it was too much for Owen!)

And Angus was fascinated with the fishermen on the pier.

We'll write again soon. Have a good week!

Christmas in Sydney

2005-12-27T21:36:00.000+11:00

Christmas day was marked by present opening ceremonies (starring our children), followed by a lovely Christmas lunch, a little nap and lovely evening feasting on more ham and lunch items. A very lovely day.

Boxing Day on the other hand was spent at the epicentre of trouble in Sydney - Cronulla. We visited Damien, Kellie, Kaitlyn, Isabellah and Jasper and took a trip to the beach. As a result of recent events in Cronulla, it now boasts the mantles of the safest beach and safest suburb in NSW.

The beach was well attended, but crowds were well down on a hot Boxing Day prior to the riots. Anyway, we had a blast and Owen had his first beach visit.

Owen was so impressed and felt so safe he even made a new friend.

The photo below depicts two brothers. Can you choose the one that normally resides in Melbourne?

Well, we've got an action packed 2 weeks ahead of us. Visits to friends and families, trips here and there as well as the ride home are all planned between now and January 8th. So if you're in Sydney and want a piece of the action, give us a call! Have a great New Year everybody.

Pilgrimage

2005-12-22T20:41:00.000+11:00

Tomorrow we're heading north to Sydney for Christmas. We're all staying for 2 weeks and then returning so that I may go back to work to keep everybody in the lifestyle to which they've become accustomed.

It's been a very busy day just one day before the road trip. Karen had a wisdom tooth break away last night and it required an emergency removal today! Barkley had the cruellest cut of all today and will be feeling a bit sore and sorry for a couple of days before he forgets what all the fuss was about! And now we've got to pack and get the house ready for our imminent departure!

As well as being busy today, we've been very busy for the past month - the silly season. We've had Christmas parties, picnics, Xmas conerts - The Works.

We recently had a picnic in the Royal Botanic Gardens with some other folks who keep a blog (weblog - this kind of website) about kids and family. We took the dogs and they were a hit with the daughter of Kathy (the organiser). Alia was rapt in Hayley and Barkley and they did not mind the attention at all.

It was a gorgeous day and we'll be doing it all again some time in the New Year.

Spring has sprung

2005-11-08T20:55:00.000+11:00

Well, it's certainly been a busy few weeks. It started with Damien, Kellie and family making the trek south for a week during the school holidays. During the holidays we went to the awesome ABC Gardening Australia Show at Caulfield racecourse. Angus even met B2. There really was something for everyone.

Just after the departure of Damien, Kellie and Co. we went to Healesville Sanctuary for an early morning breakfast and animal meet and greet before the crowds arrived. That was a great experience too, and only made available to Friends Of The Zoo.

Hot on the heels of Damien, Kellie and Co. was Viv, Brian and Angela. Their stay entailed lots (I mean Lots) of gardening, landscaping and general around the yard stuff. The transformation has been amazing and not a Spring minute has been wasted.

It wasn't all hard work of course. There was a local property open under the Open Garden scheme - so Karen, Viv and Ang couldn't resist. Patrick accompanied them.

One morning recently, Owen decided he'd help the dogs eat their Weet-Bix for breakfast. He's a great little helper!

Since the school holidays it has been Angus' birthday. The present from Nanna and Grandad was a scooter. While Angus got used to his scooter, Patrick mastered the art of no training wheels. Here's our happy big boy.

Playgroup has also been keeping Karen, Angus and Owen busy. Here's a few action shots and a photo of Angus and his mate Brendan.

And around the house, well butter wouldn't melt in their mouths!

We hope you're all well and we'll see you at Xmas time if not before (for anybody feeling like a trip South).

And now for something a little different

2005-10-20T12:43:00.000+10:00

Kathy over at Zucchinis in Bikinis has invited all Melbourne baby bloggers to The Inaugural Melbourne Baby Blogger Picnic. See below for details. If you're interested, leave your details in the comments of this post on Kathy's blog.
------------------------------------------
Baby Blogger Meet-Up
Ok, so here is the invitation... I have given three alternative dates and will confirm which it will be in the next post, based on responses. If you are interested, please indicate in comments and include an email address that I can use to directly mail further details and confirmations. Please also advertise the event on your own blogs, if you would be so kind, and encourage any interested parties to drop in here to RSVP (so I can keep a handle on numbers).

All Melbourne-based bloggers who write about babies and children (your own or a relative's) are invited to:

The Inaugural Melbourne Baby Blogger Picnic

When: 1pm to 5pm
Sunday 4 December OR Saturday 10 December OR Sunday 11 December
Where: A central city location, TBC by email to respondents (We will have a fine-weather and wet-weather alternative)
Bring: Yourselves, your offspring, food, cameras, toys etc (balaclavas optional :-)
It might be nice to bring a toy or game that others can share and enjoy; we will be bringing our bubble gun, for instance, which is usually enjoyed by kids from a few months up.

Another new member of the Walker family

2005-09-20T21:30:00.000+10:00

You may have seen recently that we brought Barkley into our home. Well, a few weeks later and he is well and truly a member of the family.

Today marked another big day in our household - a sister for Barkley!

Hayley is a 6 month old tri-colour Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. Being twice as old as Barkley she is quite a bit bigger and Barkley is rapt to have a big sister around the house. They hit it off from the moment they got together. He's a bit boisterous and Hayley is forced to tap him into place occasionally.

Hayley was going to be kept by her breeder, but she had a change of heart and would like to take some time out from the breeding and show circuit. As one last hurrah, she entered Hayley in the Royal Melbourne Show. Hayley took away first prize on Monday and was in our house on Tuesday. It was a sad goodbye, but Hayley is loving her new abode and playmate. The kids (and the adults) are also rapt to have a little girl in the house.

School holidays have begun

2005-09-18T19:00:00.000+10:00

The first weekend of the school holidays was quite eventful. Leisa, Kevin, Hamish and Siobhan visited from their dairy - Leisa and Kev had the weekend off while Leisa's Dad tended to the herd (and he was glad when they got home).

While they were here, we went to the Melbourne Show. The day started out wet and miserable but had cleared up by lunchtime as predicted (the bureau get it right most of the time down here!). We saw some interbreed dairy cattle judging followed by a visit to the beef cattle and animal nursery pavilions.

Shortly after this we paid a visit to a few other pavilions before making our way to the woodchop arena. Just before going to the woodchop arena, nature called. While some of us visited the conveniences, Patrick wandered off (mistakenly) and got lost. 25 minutes of frantic searching later, Michael headed to the lost childrens office to find a very relieved Patrick. He wasn't the only one relieved!

From here we went and saw sideshow alley and all of the kids had a ride or slide and thoroughly enjoyed themselves before heading to the showbag pavilion and catching the train home. It was a long day indeed.

Sunday saw us heading up the mountain and visiting Silvan.

The Tesselaar Tulip Festival recently started and we visited on the Turkish weekend.

As well as loads of tulips, we were treated to a traditional Turkish marching band performance and singing.

This festival is a month long and certainly is popular.

A new member of the Walker family

2005-08-27T19:00:00.000+10:00

Today we took a trip to Geelong to pick up the newest member of the Walker family. We decided to get a puppy, one that when fully grown will be small enough to travel with us when we come to Sydney. We decided on a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel and we named in Barkley. Eventually we will get another, but seeing as I am home a lot and will be spending a lot of time with him, we will wait another couple of months before getting him a mate.

Michael and I didn't tell Patrick and Angus we were getting a dog, they thought we were just going for a day out in Geelong. We arrived at the house and they both got to have a nurse of the puppies. While Patrick was holding the one we were buying, we told hime that he was ours and that we were taking him home with us. They were both so excited.

Both the boys have wanted a puppy for so long but we had always said no because of us travelling to and from Sydney. It's lovely to watch them with Barkley they are both so loving towards him and so gentle. We have all really missed having a dog as part of the family, and this breed loves being part of a family and is so gentle. He has his little basket in the laundry where he sleeps and a large soft cushion in the lounge room when he is with us. He really is going to be part of the family, he will even be coming with us to playgroup (in his carrier) for the next couple of months so he won't have to be left.

We are very lucky down here, we have lots of parks and reserves where dogs are allowed and a dog training centre just around the corner. He also has a lovely big backyard to play in and explore. He will also be walking with us when we take Patrick to school and pick him up.

A trip to the Museum

2005-08-20T19:00:00.000+10:00

Today I (Karen) went to a Creative Memories Scrapbooking Day so Michael, not wanting to stay at home and do nothing, took the kids to the Melbourne Museum and as always the kids learnt a lot and had a great time.

After the kids had finished exploring the Museum, Michael took them out to Carlton Gardens which is just outside the Museum and they had a play on the equipment.

Mid Year school holidays

2005-07-26T22:30:00.000+10:00

Karen and the boys have returned from Sydney after spending the school holidays in the Harbour City. While there, they went to Annabel's first birthday party. Annabel if Vanessa's niece and Callum and Lachlan's cousin. As well as having a lovely cake......the boys got to run around Fairfield City Farm with Callum and Lachlan.

Owen seems a little bit over the party at this stage

And butter wouldn't melt in Angus' mouth

Apart from the party, Karen and the boys also caught up with Rob and Suellen and little Noah - the brand spanking new baby brother for Jaydon and Annie.

We also got to see the Swans beat Collingwood at Telstra Stadium while seeing Lachlan run around at half time in the Auskick little league.

They also spent lovely days at home and about with Nanna, Grandad, Grandma, Aunty Angela and Uncle Simon. We also got to visit Uncle Damien, Aunty Kellie, Kaitlyn, Paige, Isabellah and Jasper who had all recently returned from their overseas holiday.

Well, Nanna and Grandad returned home today after spending a couple of weeks with us after the school holidays. It was great to have such a great time together.

We won't have long to get lonely, because next weekend Aunty Lauren is making her way south for a few days. Can't wait!

Oh, and on another note, Michael and Karen were part of a winning trivia team last weekend. Woo-hoo! And we're going to another trivia night in 3 weeks time.

Have a great day!

Illness

2005-06-19T20:04:00.000+10:00

It all started a week and a half ago when Angus was diagnosed with croup. He was getting about the house sounding like a seal and not feeling very well. Since then, Karen, Patrick and (most recently) Owen have succumbed to some viral infection that has symptoms of a very runny nose, lethargy, coughs and all-round dog-tiredness. It was so bad last Thursday and Friday that I stayed home from work to nurse the entire family.

Anyway, as I write this it is now Sunday night and the family is on the mend. Patrick should return to school tomorrow and Karen should be able to take Angus and Owen to playgroup on Tuesday and Thursday. And me? I'll be back to work tomorrow for a rest!

We leave this coming Friday (24th June) to spend the school holidays in Sydney. We'll see you all soon.

Healesville Sanctuary

2005-06-05T21:37:00.000+10:00

Today we had planned to go to the Werribee Open Range Zoo. After getting off to a late start and not leaving the house until 11am, we decided against driving across the other side of Melbourne only to spend a couple of hours at the zoo and turn around and have 2 or 3 grumpy kids in the car for the ride home.

So we headed to Healesville Sanctuary (which is much closer) and stopped in the Healesville village and monthly markets on the way.

The sanctuary already has a platypus enclosure, but with the sponsorship of BHP they have built a new platypussary with the express purpose of increasing the ability and (hopefully) success of breeding in captivity.

There are his and her nests and ponds as well as a special nesting box for her. It's a joint venture between Taronga Zoo and Healesville Sanctuary and promises to be very exciting.

With the sanctuary only housing Australian native animals, it's great to see these animals in such a lovely environment.

There are numerous aviaries housing a huge array of birds from black cockatoos and helmeted honeyeaters to lyrebirds and even an albino kookaburra. This lyrebird was going through its repertoire when we visited it this afternoon.

These birds are known for their mimicking and no wonder. And of course, the better looking of the species is male. The females are much plainer.

So, in two weeks time we plan to get an early start and get to Werribee before we head to Sydney for the school holidays. It's great being a FOTZ member (Friends Of The Zoo). Karen and the boys might even take a trip to Taronga while Sydney.

Feel free to leave a comment below and let us know what you've been up to.

Patrick's Birthday Party

2005-05-27T22:01:00.000+10:00

It's Patrick's 7th birthday next Tuesday. We were going to have his party this weekend, but the bowling alley was all booked out - so we had it last weekend.

Six of Patrick's friends (Stephanie, Holly, Mason, Shaun, Nathan and Haydn) and Angus were the party-goers. They all had a great time with the ten pin bowling, then followed it up with a party food and soft-drink-fuelled party upstairs in the party room. Party Party Party.

Happy Birthday Patrick - our big 7 year old.

Owen's 1st Birthday

2005-05-13T14:13:00.000+10:00

Today marks the auspicious occasion of Owen Brian Walter Walker's first birthday. And he made it, in spite of the best efforts of his older brothers at times!

Here's our one year old, kicking back and celebrating his first birthday at playgroup.

Happy Birthday Owen.

Breast Cancer Awareness

2005-05-06T22:54:00.000+10:00

Tonight, Karen participated in the Field of Women event at the MCG. This involved 11,500 women in pink ponchos and 100 men in blue ponchos standing on the hallowed turf of the MCG to create the shape of a women. This was run by BCNA (which stands for Breast Cancer Network Australia). The number of men and women is significant because these are the number of men (100) and women (11,500) diagnosed with breast cancer in Australia each year.

The event was run prior to the Melbourne vs Adelaide AFL match tonight. Once all of the participants were arranged on the ground a few speeches were made a audio-visual tribute was played on the big screen. It was a very moving time.

One lady I work with also attended with some of her girlfriends in memory of one of their friends who fell victim to breast cancer a couple of years ago. Among the 11,500 women on the ground there were many survivors, and there were many people who had been indirectly touched by the disease as well.

Have a great Mothers Day weekend!

Welcome to our new blog

2005-04-29T21:12:00.000+10:00

Hi everybody and welcome to our new website. It's in the format of a weblog (or blog) and will make it simpler for Karen and I to post updates about the family and our happenings.

It also gives you all the chance to leave a little comment after a post rather than send an email if you prefer.

As an update, Patrick returned to school two weeks ago after having the 2 week school holidays. He has been having swimming lessons during the school day for the last 2 weeks and we've noticed a big improvement in his swimming lesons on the weekends which he and Angus still attend.

During the school holidays Monika, Richard and Anthony came down from Sydney and stayed for a week. We all had a lovely time and got to show them many of Melbourne's sites. The day they left was the day Brian and Viv arrived from Sydney. Brian and Viv are still here and have been giving Karen oodles of help in the garden, house and with the kids. It hasn't been all hard work - we've managed to got to the Flemington Craft and Produce Markets, get some shopping done, visit Williamstown and attend the local Anzac Day service and march.

This weekend will see us take a day trip to Geelong as well as some more work around the yard.

I'll be decommissioning the existing website, BUT I will move the photos to a place viewable by all. I'll place a link on the right hand side with the other links when I've done this. In the future we'll post photos into pour blog posts to let you see what we've been doing.

Have a great weekend :)