We had an enjoyable evening on the 29th January at Sam and Selina's experiencing traditional Chinese hotpot. Nishan joined us also and we had a fun evening eating Chinese delicacies and enjoying great company and conversation....we love to talk about cultural differences, and each of their experiences in living the Western lifestyle.Thanks Sam and Selina for wonderful hospitality. 

Mmmmmmmm.................HOT POT!!!!!! 

An ocean view.....I like the idea of apartment living, especially with such beautiful views of the Pacific Ocean. 

Myself and Kevin with Selina........coffee and chips on the balcony! 

Fun stuff for therapy.......

And these are some great books I found for kids for therapy!! There is an ANGRY one which they didn't have but have since located it on the web - excellent tools to help kids deal with emotional issues.

New bedside tables

This is one of the 2 new bedside cupboards that we bought on Saturday...........we weren't actually looking for them but we had been looking at new beds a while back and didn't like the cupboards so much (and the accompanying price tag) that went with the beds, so now we have bought the bedside tables first. These were a great price, so if anyone wants some old bedside tables......

My new friends.....

So these are my new "therapy" friends. Kevin is enviable now that I get to "play" all day!!!! We went shopping Saturday for some new resources for my job, and Kevin spotted these furry little guys. They are actually ten pins and come with a fluffy ball to bowl them over! I got a gully in my first attempt.

More tools for therapy..........to help build emotional competence! 

Bathroom capers!

Here we go again with the bathroom. After we had water leaking problems and some unenvisaged floor movement, Kevin had to uproot all the floor of the "new" bathroom. So this is the new waterproofing, so hopefully we don't have any drips downstairs. Our tiler Bruce will return asap to complete; however he had a nasty accident and cut a finger off so is in recovery mode at present. Hurry up please Bruce!!!

Some pics of the girls in Europe

Thought I would share a few of the photos that the girls sent us. This is Neish and Ellie at the Eiffel Tower

A great pose; pic of Ellie and Jordan in Germany 

Ellie in Salzburg 

Neish and Ellie in London December 2005 

Ellie and Jordan 

Ellie and Jordan in Amsterdam methinks 

Tower Bridge 

Ellie in London December 2005 

Hello Neish........Jordan brought back a CD of photos for us and I liked this one of you. I think it's taken in Germany. 

Some love at last for Elmo!

Slightly blurry, but just to show you Ellie that Elmo is getting some love. Jordy came over earlier and we had lunch together, along with Nishan who is enjoying his last day of freedom before going back to work tomorrow.

Australia Day 2006

What a champ! Nishan helped Kevin in the garden today doing a quick tidy up and obligingly let me take a pic to remind you Ellie and Neish that our door is always open for you and we can't wait for you to be back with us.

Out the back.......

We spent Australia Day 2006 quietly at home, tidying up the yard, catching up on a few chores around the house, which included a ton of washing as the washing machine man only came today to repair our machine (a burnt out wire in the electronics). I took all of these pics after we had cleaned up and trimmed back plants etc. Kevin and Nishan did most of the work; I'm good for the hose! The neighbours mango tree is growing VERY large too!

Kevin after a day in the garden; about to start on the car....... 

Garden is looking pretty good, hedges growing well, but no new roof yet on our "Bali Hut". Sorry but we cracked open the Amarula....will save some for when you get home Neish and Ellie. (The inside story is that we were meant to wait until the roof was on before we opened the bottle of Amarula. For those of you who haven't tried Amarula, it's South African, check it out. It's VERY nice). 

The front garden with all of my bird's nest ferns growing beautifully

Happy Birthday BEN

Happy 19th Birthday Ben....January 2006. Ben returned early this year to start a new chapter in his life at Bond University doing a fast-tracked business degree. After being a part of our lives for the past 3 years, he had intended to move into his own apartment, but that's not eventuating quite yet, and we are very happy to continue to be his family for a bit longer. Ben's a little sad that he won't be home in Thailand when we visit his home town and his family, and always finds it hard returning to Australia for yet another year.Nishan is back staying with us also after a holiday home in India, and with our Korean student, we have almost an all boy household....hurry home Neish and Ellie!