Home in Oxford

We all survived the flight home. The first thing that William said after we landed back in London (as we walked up the gangway to Heathrow airport) was "We'll need to get a dog to hoover up the floor under Sophie when she eats".

:)

The best thing about this holiday......

....has been spending time with family.



(you were right Ali, the best photo we took of the two of us is the one where we are sticking our necks out, a bit like ET)

Easter at Inverloch

The beaches at Inverloch are lovely! Most days while staying here, we’ve been walking, sand-castle-building and generally playing on the beach. Sophie says that the sand tastes just as good at British sand does. There were a few rainy days at the beginning of the week, so William and Sophie don't look dressed very differently than they were on Cornish beaches in February.




The main Inverloch surf beach was 100 yards from the house we were staying in. It was patrolled, so we swam between the flags (you can see the life guards dressed in red and yellow). The water was lovely, and Andrew would like me to point out that the temperature was the same as that in Bournemouth in the Summer.



The local primary school had a school fete on Saturday, where William had fun on a bouncy castle, feeding and folding some animals (which he held ever so carefully) and exploring the cabin of a fire engine, all while Sophie slept. Jo enjoyed some shopping at the local market (great success shopping for clothes!), and we had had a nice walk along the coast in the afternoon, during which we picked up some dropping shea oak cones, watched crabs being caught from a bridge and climbed a great tree.

Playing on the beach

The kids absolutely LOVED playing on the beach, including some exciting moments as the waves came in.....

A new milestone for William!

William has just drawn his first face tonight. Andrew and I gave such an enthusiastic response that he has now drawn 8 faces! We love them. It is so exciting. I want to wallpaper the house with William’s faces. We think they are amazing. William says “This is brilliant”. He was given some fluorescent pens and special paper by friends we visited last weekend, which are such fun he has been inspired to take a new step and do something he hasn't done before. The first one had just eyes, nose and mouth, the second also had a head and now they have eyebrows! Then one had just one hair on his head.

Williams first ever face (with a very big smile):

Second and third:
(There are two faces here. The bit to the right of the open mouth is, apparaently, a place to park your car. $%^!?!!?!)


I’m loving overhearing the conversation as Andrew and William draw faces together. William: Dot, dot, dot, dot (as he draws eyes).
Andrew: Does this face have hairs in his beard?
Andrew: Where are his eyebrows?
William: He doesn’t have eyebrows. He only has one hair on his head.

According to William, this is Rumplestiltskin:

This one is a whole family of heads (the Daddy head has a beard!):

This one is a head inside a head:

Sunny Days

Today we’re enjoying more of a lazy day by ourselves, not meeting up with anyone, just going to the swimming pool, doing some chores, visiting the library, and taking Toby for a walk. Tomorrow we are off to Inverloch for Easter, with Alice, Ian, Patrick and other friends of theirs who have kids a similar ages to our two. We’re hoping to see Wilson’s Prom while we’re down there. The only bridge to the Prom was washed away in recent floods, but we hope will be rebuilt in time for us! Dinosaur bones were also found on a nearby beach, so we might be able to do some fossil fossicking.



On Monday my Uncle Ian (mum’s brother) and his wife Kathy came over to see us. It was great to catch up on their news – they spend half the year living in San Antonio, Texas, where Kathy is from.



We visit the local park to play (and climb trees) regularly. I think we could all get used to living on permanent holiday quite easily. Going back to work in May will be tough. Being on holiday allows us lots more time to take pics of the kids, which is great. We are also loving having so much time to play together. William has been having a ball with some of the lego that Alice and I used to play with. He keeps requesting to 'play with train tracks'. He also reminds us regularly, that 'me, Grandpa and Toby are best friends'.

Relaxing and socialising

We’re all continuing to have a lovely time catching up with family and friends. In addition to general lazing about and the occasional standing on one foot….




…… we’ve also been up to country Victoria to see friends Duncan, Kellie, Maggie (in Ballarat), Misty, Dave, Tilly (in Buninyong), Justine, Mark, Angus, Abby and Miranda (in Elphinstone). It is great to get to chat with so many friends – I’m really enjoying it. The kids quite like having a whole new set of toys to play with every day, although when William is tired, he does request to 'go home to Grannie and Grandpa’s'. The holiday is an understandably big change in their normal routine. Sophie is a huge fan of all the pet animals we've met, getting very excited by any cats, dogs and horses our hosts had. She shows no fear, cuddling spaniels, Alsatians, and ridgebacks. She’d point and jig up and down for a cat, try kissing all dogs and was inspired to say her first word: cat. Or, more accurately, caaaaaaaat, as she says it. See below:


Her other recent milestone was tooth number eight.


There has also been some tricky climbing done by William, feeding apples to Henry the horse, strawberry hunting by many kids, and the odd drink out of a boot (by William) on a picnic in the park last week.

Doing lots of normal things in Melbourne

It is WONDERFUL to be home visiting my family. We're doing all the normal things, like taking Toby the dog for a walk each day, playing in the park (three local playgrounds have been checked out so far), having a croissant and coffee at the local cafes and visiting my sister, brother in law and nephew, to see their new house for the first time. Sophie has been practicing walking more than ever before and now regularly walks 3 metres without plopping onto her bottom.





Sophie celebrated her first birthday the day we landed. William helped her blow out the candle. How lovely to celebrate it with Grannie, Grandpa, Aunty Alice and Toby the dog. She really loves Toby, and keeps pointing at him, saying "Duh, duh, duh" then just as you think she might be trying to say 'dog' she'll say "Bah, bah, bah". She keeps her beady eyes on him, wherever he is in the room, and likes chewing his toys. Bound to be good for her immune system!




We've also been for a swim in the local pool which was enjoyed by all. Today we met up with Melbourne friends (most of whom have 1-3 kids by now) at a restaurant by Albert Park Lake for lunch. We saw some black swans which are pretty with red eyes and beaks. Andrew quite enjoyed driving through the chicanes of the Formula 1 race track, which still remains as it was raced here last week. You can imagine how we really hoooned through them, in a family car with two kids in the back seat. :)

Sophie met a large, young Alsatian (called Walker) showing now fear, and whom she tried to kiss. William has a healthy level of caution, but did give Walker a couple of pats.