James Drives Me Round Many Bends

The school holidays is a good time to rack up the hours on the road required for a driving licence.  James needs 120 hours behind the wheel, so today we did a country tour of over 300k in the country areas around Melbourne.  He is already a confident and competent driver so he should have little trouble.

And So This Is Christmas ...

Lisa and Mark hosted the Reid-Garnett Christmas festivities this year on a very pleasant Christmas Eve.  The Preparation Elves had been busy before we arrived.

And their work was appreciated with starters and a magnificent meal with contributions from everyone.

The stars of the Christmas Game included chocolate (the perennial favourite), basketballs and an espresso coffee maker.  It was a wonderful relaxed evening to get us in the mood to receive Santa in style.

Jack Graduates

As Jack has now completed his time in Primary School he took part in the Graduation ceremony. The students were presented to parents and friends in the school hall spectacularly decorated in a beach theme.

 Jack also approaches the end of his time as School Captain so there will be fewer official duties next year.

Watching the year in review is always a highlight of these occasions.

As is the dinner served by the parents.

Base Emerges

As work continues on the house the outline of the ground floor is starting to become evident.
The plumbing below the floor level has been installed and we await the foundations of the alfresco area.

Lisa's Birthday Celebration

The family celebration of Lisa's birthday was held last night at Brett and Cathy's place.  Ebony and Holly had decorated the cake and Brett had cooked some beef and kangaroo to perfection.  It was a wonderful family evening.

Melbourne Summer

Yes - it certainly came down last night!

House Outline Emerges

It has been terrible weather for the builders but they are working still and the outline of the building is gradually developing.

Anniversary No 49

To mark the official passing of another milestone in the advance to senility we decided to watch "Mortal Engines".  Weird film! An exact trace of "Star Wars" in an earth based setting.  The reviews were funny - basically "it's likely to bomb but see it for the effects".  We would agree.

 Best part was the dumpling feast after the film.

Foundations in Place

With the footings finished the next stage of the build was to drill the holes for the stumps.

 Then the holes were filled with concrete and the stumps put in place.  The weather was not cooperating as the builders were nearly drowned in the downpour.

Marcia Comes to Play

Marcia has decided to have a tilt at a local Council vacancy and wanted some headshots for publicity. these are the ones we came up with yesterday.