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Kimmi We hope you had a great 13th Birthday. Don't party too hard!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY Lots of Love Lachlan and Nicholas Chris and Fiona XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO
Big Birthday Hugs and Kisses for the Birthday boy BEN. We are thinking of you and hope you had an extra-special fun filled Birthday. Lots of Love Lachlan and Nicholas Chris and Fiona XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO
G'Day All Thought it was about time someone left some news... Hope this message finds everyone well. Our family is doing well, both the boys are fine; Lachlan attends three years old kinder twice a week and is doing very well - today he drew me a rocket ship and scary monster face and we are working on the spelling and reading as well. Nick was weighted and measured the other day 14.5kg and 90cm - not a small boy at 22 months, his vocab has improved greatly in the last few weeks (its nice to finally have a two sided conversation with him)rather than me do all the talking.. Chris was started his new job with Westrac who are Caterpillar dealers in NSW/ACT/WA, he has been in Sydney for two weeks and we'll be pleased to see him home (even if its only for a few days). I have taken on a part time business development role which is going well, its keeping me out of trouble. We have two gorgeous kittens which keep the boys very amused; Champers is a Ragdoll x Maine Coone and Chardy is your normal country cat, but both very cute at 13 weeks. Skeats is suffering with his arthritis in the cold weather (its been 1'C most mornings here) and he refuses to sleep inside the house as he is afraid of the kittens.. We have nine alpacas, a very friendly bunch who are quite happy to come right up to the fence to talk to the kids. Thats all for now Cheers Fee
G'Day All Great to see the site up and running again. Hope this finds everyone well, were all doing fine. The boys are growing up too quickly - Nicholas is now 18 months and full of life, he has a great vocab and is starting to string two and three words together - but still cant get him to say "tah, please or thankyou"..agh Trenery Boys.. Nick is fighting fit, some 13kg and about 85cm and is a really gorgeous kid. Lachlan is also doing very well, we spend most of our day outside, bike riding and exploring the mischief that surround us. He starts 3YO kindergarten in a few weeks, which should be fun. Chris and I are keeping very busy. Chris is still pulling the long hours at work and is now a qualified CFA "firefighter", and is now on call until after Easter. Lets hope we dont get any bush fires like this time last year. The boys keep me busy, I've joined the Wooragee tennis club and play Monday/Tuesday night "have a cup of tea" tennis, which is really relaxed and lots of fun. We still have 6 Alpacas on our block, which seem to be keeping the grass down nicely - I'm in the process of making Alpaca Doonas as the fleece is so warm. Chris and I are off the the Aust Open tomorrow, so hopefully well see some great action on court. Love to all Fiona
G'day All How time flies, I can't believe there has been no news since January. Our boys are doing well, Nicholas is recoving nicely from his last operation at the end of April and Lachlan is next under the knife in early June.... its never ending!!! Both the boys are growing up so quickly. Lochie has a definate personality of his own, he is extremely good with his speech and keeps reminding me that the footy season has begun as he is always outside kicking the ball. Nick is now nine months, some ten kilos and has started standing and cruising between the chairs at our dining table. The little monkey is now into all our draws and anything else he can get his hands on. Both the bots play really well together. We have just agisted 3 Alpacas for the farmer across the road and we are soon to get another 5 or 6. Lochie thinks its great to have pet Alpacas. We had a tourist coach with about 30 senior citz pull up the other day, they all piled out of the coach with video cameras and cameras in hand and spent a good 10 mins admiring the Alpacas. Chris and I are both well. Thats all from our end, we have Pam, Mike and Emma up this weekend and Mothers Day on Sunday, so it should be a big one. Cheers Fiona
G'Day Pete Just a quick note to let you know that we all survived the fires last night. I had come back into town to get Pam and the kids and we have just had another phone call to tell us to get home - were back on high alert. talk to you soon cheers Fiona and Chris
Hi Peter and Jen, Apologies for the late night call. Old story, sitting around talking about old times and we decided to give you guys a call. But of course we forgot about the time difference!! Sorry. I blame Simon. That of course and the Scotch and Coke!! Things go well here. I have actually left the wonderful world of Radio and I'm now with Simon at his company Wiltshire Books. It's fabulous working for him, because whenever he gives me a directive I don't like, I just threaten him that I'll tell Mum.. Hope all is well in LA and we are still seriously considering trying to get over sometime this year to say hey! Take Care (especially with answering late night calls) David and Simon Wilshire,
G'Day All Hope this finds everyone well. We have finally settled into our new house and we are loving it. We look out our kitchen window towards Mt Pilot (where we were married) and have 360" views of the rural countryside, it is beautiful,picturesque and serine - we love it. Lachlan and Nicholas had there checkups the other day and are both doing very well. Lochie started back at swimming last week and did exceptionally well considering he has not swum for some six months now and thoroughly enjoys himself every Saturday. He and Georgia are at the same swimming level, but they swim on different days, they are learning to tread water, swim under water and arm strokes. Nick is well, he has started babbling away, loves playing on the floor and even amazed me the other day by rolling over - twice, not bad for three and a half months. Chris enjoyed his birthday, he got the essential male "Aussie Barbeque" as a prezzie from us. Good thinking on my behalf because that means he does all the cooking from now on - yeah!! Skeats and Del are both well, Skeats loves running around our block with the neighbours two work dogs, which keeps the old guy fit. Tomorrows temp is 38 degrees and we are in the middle of a drought. As we only have tank water, we now have 3 minute showers and try to conserve water were possible, most of our washing is done in town at my Mum and Dads...thats how dry it is. Must get going, Love to all Cheers Fiona, Chris, Lachlan and Nicholas
Hi all, Just a quick update. The three of us had a wonderful time in Italy last week spending 4 nights in Rome, 1 night in Pisa and 2 nights in Venice. May I say Venice is just wonderful. Our time there was so relaxing and the place has so much character. Anyway, everything is booked and we are heading home - hooray!! Mike's last day of work is the 18 Nov, our uplift is 20 Nov, the house gets cleaned and handed back on the 21st and we head to London to 'march out' on the 22nd. On the 23rd we fly to the US (well hopefully, we found out on Wednesday that we may or may not need visa's to enter the US - noone can actually give a definite yeah or nay and of course no one will put it in writing) to spend about 10 days with Jen and Pete. We are looking forward to this - it's Thanksgiving whilst we are there plus we may try and go to Vegas for a night or two. We arrive back in the UK on the 6th Dec collect the rest of our lounge from our friends here in Malvern and then return to London and fly to Malaysia on the 7th - business class of course! It will be pretty heavy going changing time zones 3 times in 4 days, but hopefuly Emma will be OK - she's a bit of a seasoned traveller these days plus our flights start late afternoon/early evening. We are spending a week in Malaysia (Langkawi Island) and arrive home on 16th December. We have arranged to get our goods out of storage on the 17th and hopefully our airfreight from the UK will be back in Melbourne before we get home (although we have learnt practise doesn't always follow the theory) and we can receive our airfreight on the 18th. Mike will head back to work in early January and Emma and I will settle into life in Australia. Will catch up with everyone when we get back. Mike, Pam and Emma
Hello from the UK, Well it's been a while and a lot has happened - all of which probably won't be covered in this news. Where do I start?? June and July were very busy months for us. We had a wedding in the UK, Mike was flat out on his thesis, which he has passed with flying colours, he was also organising the 2nd posting we have over here and are currently in the middle of, I was trying to organise another house in Malvern (UK), we went to a garden party at Buckingham Palace, Mike got the chicken pox 4 days before his thesis was due in and then we had a quick trip back to Oz mid July - our apologies to those we did not catch up with. Emma was fanatastic on the plane trips and is a little of a seasoned traveller having flown to Paris 2 weeks ago and flying to Italy in 3 weeks. On the subject of Emma she is doing very well. She is now 6 months old, growing lots and still sleeping 11-12 hours at night. She smiles heaps, can roll but doesn't, is almost sitting and is saying da da da da - I'm waiting for the mum mum mum mum. I take Emma to swimming lessons on Wednesdays and she just loves the water. If we glide her along the top or underneath the water she kicks like a little frog - it's so cute. In August we moved from Watchfield to Malvern in Worcestershire. Malvern is a little over an hour north of Watchfield and about 45 mins south of Birmingham. Malvern is well known for the 'Malvern Hills'. As you would except from such a name there are some very large hills here which give a spectacular view for miles and miles - yes we have climbed them a couple of times. Our travels since moving to Malvern have been to South Wales, the Peak District (east Midlands), London, which included a coffee in Harrods and a Harrods Christmas Bear for Emma which is nearly the same size as her, Blenheim Palace and Paris for 3 days. Paris is a beautiful city and we had lovely weather. We climbed to the top of the Arc d'Triumph and went to the top of the Eiffel Tower. We are currently organising everything for our return to Australia the land of safe beef and lamb and of course sun. I should mention that we have been rather lucky with the weather. We've had a bit of an extended summer, however it is now starting to get cooler, it's been raining non stop for the last 24 hours and todays max temp is only 11'C so we are looking forward to getting home to an Aussie summer. To climatise ourselves to the warmer weather, on our way home we are spending approx 2 weeks in the US with Pete and Jen, flying back to the UK to pick up the rest of our luggage and then we head home on the always harsh business class flight to Melbourne via Malaysia for a week. This will see us back in Melbourne around mid December - hopefully leaving us just enough time to get our goods out of storage and receive our airfreight just before Chirstmas. The remainder of our goods come home sea freight so we won't see them until Jan/Feb. Mike is enjoying working and not studying. Well I must go Emma is tired and crying so I must go and put her to bed. Our love to all Pam, Mike and Emma
G'Day All Well you've probably already heard our great news, our house has finally sold...we were very happy with the price, so this means no more open houses and the stress of selling is almost over...60 day settlement! I travelled to Albury last Thursday and had a pretty hairy day last Friday - being rushed to the on call Obstretrian for an Ultra sound to check if everything was O.K - both bubs and I are fine and the Doctor has ordered me to have a glass of wine every night to relax the Placenta -so I am naturally not argueing with the Doctors advice. Sat and Sun Chris and I spent searching for our new house with no luck - we just can't seem to find "our house", so the search continues... Sunday we had a wonderful time at Harrison's Christening - he looked so cute in his Christening Gown, but wasnt really up for photos (he's just like his Mum!) Lochie and Georgia had lots of fun running around and playing together (they are like two peas in a pod) Thats all our news for now Lots of love Fiona, Chris and Lachlan
Hi Everyone, Well! What can I say...life is rather hectic with a baby!! I have a few minutes while Mike is changing Emma, however she is letting him know that she is once again ready to be fed. It's Anzac Day here today and we all went to the dawn service at 5.30am this morning, including Emma (she had finished her feed by 5) and then Mike went onto a traditional Gunfire Breakfast, which included Bundy Rum in Coffee and a game of two-up where Mike came out ahead a few pounds. Mike is heading over to the French Battlefields tomorrow with around 100 other Australians and will return on Sunday, I wish Emma and I could go as well. Emma is now 17 days old and is rather inquisititive. When she's awake, she is very alert and looking around everywhere. Emma was weighed last Monday and was 2.76 kg (around 6lb 1oz, I think). She is generally a good baby and only requires one feed during the night, however, this is at the cost on being a little unsettled during the late afternoon/early evening where she wants to be fed every one to two hours..... not that we are really complaining. Emma has already been on several outings including a tour of the colleges of Oxford last weekend. She attended her second BBQ today and has been an angel whenever we take her out. We have bought a kit to make a mould of Emma's hand. Actually, she is so small, we could almost make a mould of half her body :) Mike is still going for regular bike rides. On Tuesday he went over 30km, however, he got two punctures at the same time right when he was at the fartherest from home. He had to use instant patches to fix the holes. We had some visitors from Mike's work over on the weekend. It is always good to get visitors from home and see some familiar faces. We have taken some more recent pictures of Emma and hope to get them up soon. We sent in Emma's citizenship papers earlier this week to the Australian High Commission. So in 4-6 weeks Emma will be an official aussie. At the moment, she has no citizenship. Once Emma gets her citizenship we can then apply for a passport. That's about it for now, Love Mike, Pam and Emma XOXOXOXOXO
Hi All, A quick update on what is happening in England. Both Mike and I are glad his exams are over and we can get some normality back in our lives before our baby is born. We have been to London (not to visit the Queen though!) the last two weekends. Last weekend was just for the day as we went to the West End and saw 'Chicago the Musical'. Mike actually enjoyed it more than he thought he may, although the outfits the girls were wearing did help, it wasn't the only reason he enjoyed it. I also must confess at this time that there was the odd male or two in a see through shirt or undone vest. :) The weekend before we stayed for two nights. Saw some of the usual tourist attractions, Big Ben, Parliament House, the Aquarium, St. Paul's Cathedral, Tower Bridge, The Tower of London which houses the Royal Jewels - absolutely spectacular, and a walk through St James' Gardens to Buckingham Palace. We also went on the London Eye (a very, very, very big ferris wheel) at 6.30pm on the Saturday night and saw London by night. The London Eye doesn't look that high from the ground but once your in it and up the top of the Eye you are towering over all the buildings. Having said that, London is not full of Sky scrapers - one of the other Aussies over here said they believe there is a limit of 7 floors for a building. Hopefully by the end of Easter there will be some photos on the website so keep an eye out for them. Unfortunately I am suffering from a fair amount of back pain and this is limiting the amount of walking I can do - I have actually been told by my physio not to walk around site seeing for a whole day - oops! However, over Easter we do plan to do a couple of day trips to the Cotswolds, which are local and will include driving to a number of small but apparently very lovely English villages having a look around and then back in the car to the next. The weather here is definitely on the improve - even with the temperature around what you would expect of a Melbourne winter, it is noticeably warmer. Yesterday was lovely with sunshine all day and a gentle breeze. Although the temp was only 12-15'C a lot of people were out in t-shirts - little wonder they think 25'C is bordering on a heat wave. Apart from the back pain, a bit of fatigue and the semi regular insomia I've had the whole pregnancy, I am generally very well. With 3 weeks to go we are both looking forward to being able to hold and see our baby - and the lack of sleep? - I'll get back to you on that one! Mike is also well. Hockey with the college has finished, so he and a couple of the guys have this week started regular bike rides for anything from 20-30km. I think that's about it for now. Take care eveyone and we miss you all. Love Pam & Mike
G'Day All No we havent fallen off the face of the Earth - just been very busy of late. Chris and I are preparing our house to put it on the market, so we are eagerly washing walls and scubbing tiles - oh what fun.... Congratulations to James and Amanda on the arrival of Harrison. Also to Mal and Ros congratulations on the arrival of Stuart. Must be something in the water..its raining boys. Lochie is a real little angel, very much a chatter box and always on the go. He tells us every morning what day it is and James and Amanda - he can already say "Harry". Hope to chat with everyone soon Lots of Love Fiona
Hi Everyone, Firstly, CONGRATULATIONS to James and Amanda on the arrival of Harrison. He and Georgia will have a cousin in about 6-7 weeks. You have to love this country we are currently living in. On Wednesday we had it all - wind, rain, snow, sleet and sunshine - all before 10am. Mike's still very busy studying for exams, so I'm a study widow for another 2 weeks - I, actually we can't wait for them to be over. In between working, sewing, socialising with the girls and other shopping, I'm organising some day or 2 day trips for Mike and I to do between the end of exams and the arrival of Little Pam. That's all for now. Love Pam & Mike
Hi Everyone, I know this is well overdue, but I just don't know where the time has gone. Our Christmas holiday in Europe was fantastic (some photos are on the website and hopefully the rest will be soon). The temperature was mostly between -4 and 3 degrees celsius. We saw lots and lots of snow and many interesting and very old places. In January we had friends here for about 2 weeks, although they we constantly away for a few days then back for a few - so it was good to see some familiar faces. Australia Day saw all the Australian's posted at the colleges hold a BBQ for about 200 people - all from the different courses. We do however get the favour returned with invitations to other national days. In true Melbourne style the weather was extremely disappointing - very windy, pouring with rain, a splatter of sunshine for 30 minutes and then raining again. In fact that week was the start of the worst weather we have had here and it lasted three weeks. Mike and I got away to Cornwall, bottom south west corner of England, for 3 days. It was amazing coast line, but cold and windy. Today is actually a beautiful spring day - blue sky, a few clouds, plenty of sunshine and about 9 degrees celsius - temperatures to be envious of!! Mike's lectures finish on the 27th Feb, and his exams start about a week later. He has already been doing quite a bit of study and is reasonably confident about passing - as long a they ask the right questions!! Me, I'm doing much better this week. I managed to catch the cold that I'd been able to avoid for 3 weeks. It wasn't quite a cold but very bad sinus for 5 days, I couldn't breathe through my nose which meant I didn't sleep well at all and was extremely fatigued, I even went to the doctor and begged them to give me something - I was thinking a bullet but Mike said that probably wouldn't happen. Anyway I'm better now and see my obstetrician tomorrow. I'm 32 weeks this week and can't wait to hold our little girl, who I must say, at this stage is a typical Trenery and sleeping very well at night and not keeping her mum awake - I only hope this continues in a couple of months time! I must go, MS Outlook keeps reminding me to make a phone call so I'd best do that. Take Care Pam
G'day All Just thought I'd drop a line. We dont have alot of news, we are currently trying to get the house and yard to resemble its former self (pre- Del and Lochie!!), so have spent most of the weekend cleaning and gardening. Lochie and I have today off work, so we will catch up with mothers groupat the pool this afternoon. We still havent had a decent Summer in Melb, most days are around 21'C, we still have our ducted heating kick on at 4am, because the mornings are freezing....thats not Summer!! I've booking into the Melbourne Aquarium for my Shark Dive on Sunday 27 January - if you're in the land of Aus - feel free to come and watch... Lochie is a real little chatter box, in the last week he has said so many new words. Love to all Fiona, Chris and Lochie Pete - hope you're watching the tennis
G'Day All Just a quick note to say G'Day and to make sure that Diana made it safely to LA. Diana - I know you are anxious to find out how my interview went last night. Well I was on a short list of five candidates and I think I performed very well, they seemed to be very happy with me. The property is called Lindenwarrah at Milawa, which is a small five star conference hotel. So I should find out over the next few days whether I was successful - will keep you posted. The weather here is finally starting to warm up, but I'm not quite sure if we will have our traditional Xmas heat wave. Lochie is doing very well, he brings home everyday a lovely Christmas fingerpainting or drawing which he has made that day at daycare. Love to all Fiona
Hi All Just a quick note to say hello and let you know how we are doing. I'm now into my third week of full time work, doing admin stuff while the usual person is holiday in NZ and the Cook Islands. I have one week left with the possibility of part time work next year. It has certainly made the last 3 weeks go by very quickly. Pregnancy news - I'm 22 weeks tomorrow and everything is going fine, with our little girl being very active. Only in the last 3 weeks have I actually looked pregnant and not just fat!! On the weekend I packed away all my clothes that don't fit me - which was 99.99% of them :-) Now to make you envious of Mike's and my northern winter experiences. Monday and Tuesday we didn't see the sky or, for that matter, many buildings all day because the fog was so thick. Last night I went to one of the girl's places for dinner, because Mike & her hubby were away overnight on a trip, and left at 10.30pm to find the windscreen iced up on the outside as well as the inside, the temp was only about 4 degree C. This morning I had fun inside my nice warm house watching people take 5 minutes to scrap all the ice off their cars - it was a couple of mm thick. While walking to work at 8.50am this morning - feeling very warm but looking very much like a Russian woman with my thick coat, gloves, scarf and hat on, I figured it was rather a cold morning because the leaves didn't just crunch, they cracked due to the ice on them, there was ice on the footpaths everywhere, the grass was white with ice and even the tops of the hedges were white with ice. Winter in England!! Mike's studies are going well. He finishes his classes for this year on Monday, but has quite a bit to study to do, so will still be busy. As I mentioned briefly, Mike had an overnight visit yesterday and today to a couple of Companies on the East Coast, it's 6.30pm and he's not home yet, not quite sure when to expect him. We have our aussie christmas party on Monday night at a castle in the South of Wales, so should be a good night. We then leave on the 22nd for our holiday to Vienna, Prague and Germany for xmas and the new year returning 2nd Jan 2002. That's about it from us for the moment. To all our family and friends, who read this, have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Take Care Pam & Mike
Dear all Just a quick note to say g'day We are all fine. I have just spent a couple of days at home getting over Tonsilitis, feeling much better today, and I'm back to work tomorrow. I had 4 rolls of film processed the other day and some brilliant shots turned out (even one of Amanda - believe it or not!!) so I will scan them on next weekend. We are in Albury next weekend for C.J and my B'day. The following weekend we are flying to Sydney for a couple of days and it will be Christmas before we know it.... Boy the year really flies. Lochie is very similiar to Ben, he is constantly on the go, but so much fun. The weather in Melb is finally starting to fine up and we are getting the occassional 29' day, so we are able to spend our days outside. Chris had a great B'Day, lots of prezzies and a beer or two, what more could he ask for.. Thats all for now, talk with you soon Cheers Fiona
Hello everyone! Since the site went down, my last few updates fell victim to Pete's lack of backing up. ;) So to bring you up to date.....Ben started walking at 14 months and is now running all over the house. We can't stop him. Within days of walking, he could open all of the doors in the house. So what once was a barrier is no more. We are quite exhausted most of the time, as you can imagine living with the energizer bunny. He is so fast, you just wouldn't believe it! He loves to play outside and immediately gets dirt and grass stains all over the incredibly cute outfits I 'll have just put him in. This, of course, would only be something a mother would appreciate :) He is waving, clapping and dancing and loves to play pick-a-boo. He even likes helping me unload the dishwasher (silverware in particular). He has been teething for months and this has not been a fun experience. For all of you who were not on the chat a few weeks back, here is a fantastic little story. While my sister was babysitting one Saturday afternoon, Ben got a hold of the cordless phone and was dialing numbers. My sister took the phone away, only to receive a call from the police a few minutes later wondering if everything was okay. Come to find out Ben had dialed 911. The 911 operator apparently chuckled at the mishap. Our sad news, is that we had to cancel our long awaited trip to Hawaii. We had it booked for 6 months and then after Sept. 11th, our flight was canceled due to all of the airline changes over here. When we went to rebook, there were no nonstop flights available which would have added another 4 to 5 hours to the already 5 hour flight. Then there have been all the added threats and weird incidents on the planes, so we decided to postpone the trip. Kimberly is doing well, no new news really. She is still getting good grades and generally having fun being a preteen. We had a "Mummy" party over here and invited 3 of her friends (and a girlfriend of mine) over for a slumber party. We watched both "The Mummy" and "The Mummy Returns" and pigged out. It was a blast! We also just had Halloween and had everyone over at our house to go "trick or treating". Pete has embraced this holiday and has found much pleasure in decorating the house. We had a hanging happy skeleton, happy lighted ghosts everywhere, a fake spider web, pumpkins, strobe lights and a projector that showed the image of a ghost saying "boo". Apparently next year we will have a fog machine as well. Kimberly dressed up in one of my cheerleading uniforms and occasionally put in vampire teeth. She looked very cute. We had a dragon costume for Ben, but he was NOT interested in wearing it all, maybe next year! We have all been fighting a cold here and it just won't go away. We've had it for weeks now and are frankly, sick of being sick :) Lastly, Ben went for his shots and check up at the end of October and here are his latest stats: Weight 21 lbs 11 oz and Height 29 1/2 inches tall. Hope everyone is doing well! Love, Jen, Pete, Kimmi and Ben
Hi all, Just another quick update from the UK. Mike's studying is going well, I'm generally keeping well and have almost shaken the cold Mike was kind enough to share with me. The weather has progressively been getting cooler/colder but we are still managing to get quite a few sunny days, which are wonderful as long as your not in the wind. Last Thursday and Friday the weather was rather nasty. The daytime temp was only 6-8C with a northerly wind carrying a wind chill factor of -1C, it was freezing. In fact Thursday afternoon saw a little sleet fall for a few minutes. Friday morning there was ice on the leaves on the ground. We expect to see, or not see, black ice on the roads fairly soon. The weekend has been much kinder and we are back up to about 13C. We have our Madrid photos back. I promise to try and get some more pictures scanned this week, so stay tuned. That's about it from us for this week. Love Pam and Mike
Hi Everyone, Thought it was time for an update from the UK. We have just spent 4 days in Madrid. The weather was great - a little chilly in the morning but very nice and sunny in the afternoon. We spent 2 days jumping on and off buses in Madrid to see all the sites that Madrid has to offer. The buildings in Madrid are so ornate and grand - we both really liked the city. It seemed almost every second shop was either an eating place or a beer bar. Mike went beering a couple of times, although his companion, ie me, did not really enjoy the smokey environment that much, so the sessions only lasted 2 or 3 beers. The Hotel we stayed at was 2 star and very basic, however, it was in a great location so served us well - Mike's only gripe about it was it was twin share, needless to say I had 4 very good nights sleep!!! On the third day we did a half day tour just out side of Madrid to an old Monestary and the Valley of the Fallen, where there stands an enormous cross and Basilica and on our last day we walked around Madrid before heading back home. Mike's course and studies are going well. Earlier this week he had an over night tour/visit, so he had his chance at beering then - however he did manage to come home with a cold. He did enjoy this visit as he got to climb over an Apache Helicopter and saw some of the British communications equipment. I'm keeping well, all the 'all day and all night nausea' has gone and I have my energy back also. I almost feel human again except for my expanding waist line. I went shopping in Oxford on Tuesday to find some maternity clothes, which naturally at this stage (16 weeks) are too big, but then my normal clothes are getting a little too tight - I can't win!! Currently we have some friends from Australia staying with us, so it is good to see some familiar faces. Our love to all Pam and Mike XOXOXOXO
G'Day Everyone Its hard to belive that Sept 12 was the last message that I placed on the site - sorry. We are extremely busy, I have just worked a host of 14hr days - one more day till my day off, yeah! Chris is also one staff member down and works his usual 12hr days, so were both wrecked and in need of a holiday..... We are all keeping well. Lochies new trick is to climb onto the middle of the coffee table and do a dance - he thinks this is great fun!! agh He does some lovely drawings and paintings for us (on paper ~ for now) and keeps himself busy by destroying every cupboard in our house, Boys are so much fun are'nt they. Love to all Cheers Fiona, Chris and Lachlan
Hope this message finds all our extended family safe and well. In the streets of Melbourne there seems to be a numbness in the air, and everyone is very shocked by what has occurred in the States. As Chris said when he got home from work last night, the traffic was strange, people on the street had a blank expression on their faces and not one customer complained about waiting to be served. We get live broadcast from CNN, which is on every channel.. We are keeping well, Lachaln & I were about to leave this morning as I was due to return to work and Lachlans rash (Chicken Pox???)has returned, so we are booked into see the Doc, so that they can confirm exactly what it is, will keep you posted. Love to all - we are thinking of you Fiona, Chris and Lachlan
Hi Everyone, Firstly, an apology for our slackness in updating the site since we have arrived in England. We do have an excuse, we've been enjoying the sunshine whilst we can! The flight, in business class, from Tokyo to Heathrow was pretty good, all 14 hours of it. It is amazing how quickly the flight goes when you can stretch out and sleep reasonably comfortably. We were meet at the airport by our chauffer who drove us to Swindon (the largest town about 10 mins from Watchfield). We did have to laugh on the way to Swindon - it was raining, what else did we expect. We moved into our house on the 10th August and got our belongings on the 15th August. We did however find out that our goods only left Australia on the 5th August - we can only wonder why they sat in Australia for over 2 weeks after our uplift. A couple of things were damaged, mainly due to heavy boxes being placed on others that we not packed extremely well, however we are in the middle of claiming for damages. We are almost settled in. Everything is unpacked, I just have to find a place for it all. Our house is smaller than most. We have two bedrooms (most have 3 or 4), a study, bathroom and toilet upstairs and dining room, lounge room and kitchen down stairs (the laundry is in the kitchen). So with a smaller house than most and extra furniture that we do not require, that is yet to be removed, it is a little difficult to have the house fully set up. The area we are in is very beautiful and very quite. We have had some very nice weather. It has rained a couple of times, however the majority has been sunny and warm (our warm 21-24C, is humid/hot for the the poms) We have done a few social things with the rest of the Australians over here (there are about fifteen Aussie families, plus many other international families which we are starting to get to know). For the past three weeks Mike has been on his pre-sessional course, which consisted of anywhere from 1 to 3 hours of class a day, 3 trips to tourist destinations (more about these is a moment) and a class re-scheduled by the Aussie students, naturally, in order to give everyone an extra day off for the bank holiday long weekend in August. So instead of a 3 day weekend, thanks to the Aussie students, everyone had a 4 day weekend. Mike actually starts his course today. Just in case you are wondering if I reminded him of the fact that he is student and has to study - absolutely! I couldn't let that pass and not have some fun with it. The long weekend we sent off to North Wales and managed to see most of Central Wales as well. Mike booked some accommodation (a B&B) in Llandudno (pronounced Klan-dud-no, that's the Welsh for you) on the internet and when we turned up they didn't know a thing about the booking. They had mainly family staying as it was the owners 50th birthday. Anyway, Tom and Carol were lovely and they managed to fit us in, plus insisted on us joining the party. I went to bed about midnight and Mike kept drinking with boys until 2.30am. Llandudno in on the north coast of Wales and a very popular summer holiday resort. We saw a couple of castles, some which dated back to the 1200's and which had been very weather beaten. It is only in the last 40 years that the Wales historic society has started to look after some of their landmarks. Wales is also very pretty and as with the England, the roads, cottages (including their close proximity to the road), and fences or rather hedges are very much the same as you see in the typical English murder/mystery movie. I promised you more about the tours organise by the college Mike's with. We have been to Warwick Castle, Hampton Court Place and Oxford. The size and history of all these places is difficult to grasp. Warwick Castle and Hampton Court Place have both been beautifully kept and maintained. Hampton Court Palace was home to some of Britain's most famous king's and queen's and was used for nearly 500 years of royal history. The most famous resident was Henry VIII. The state apartments, king's apartments, the Georgian rooms and the palace gardens are spectacular. The initial building on the site of Warwick Castle was built of wood in 1068 at the command of William the Conquer. Throughout the middle ages and under successive Earls of Warwick it was gradually rebuilt in stone. By the 14th century it was a towering mediaeval fortress. In 1978 the Tussard's Group acquired the Castle and has spent nearly 20 million pounds on repairs, restoration and refurbishments around the castle and grounds. We have also been to some local tourist spots, including the White Horse, which is a clay filled trench in the shape of a horse, there are apparently many of these is the Wiltshire (the county we are in) area. The hill that this is carved in offers some very good views of the area. We have also been to Avesbury and Stone Henge of which Avesbury is better. Avesbury is similar to Stone Henge however the stones are vertical and in a circle. That's about all our news. In the next couple of days there should be some photos of Japan on the site (it's my job today to finish scanning them in). Hopefully by next weekend there should also be some photos of places we have visited over here. Anyway, I must go and start the house work (we haven't hired a cleaner yet). Give all the kids a kiss and a cuddle from both of us. Take care and our love to all. Pam & Mike
G'day again! I want to thank the family for the birthday gift package. All the Ben clothes are darling and there is a picture of Ben with the stuffed doggy on the site! Kimmi's notepad is on the fridge and the chocolates were gone within 3 days. Pete scarfed the BBQ shapes within seconds of being lifted from the package. FYI: Ben had his check up today, so here are his stats: Height- 28 1/2 inches; Weight- 21 lbs; Head circum.- 45 2/3 inches. Talk to you soon! Jen
G'day all! Just a quick update: Benjamin took his first steps last night! He loves to push his walking toy around and walk around the furniture or when holding our hands, but he hasn't been interested in standing or walking on his own. Last night, he was standing and holding onto the coffee table with one hand and had a cookie in the other. Without thinking, he let go of the table and was standing, so we all started cheering. He then went to hand the cookie to Erin and took two steps. Once he realized what he did, he plopped to the floor and we haven't yet been able to get a repeat performance. ;) Kimmi starts 5th grade in another week and she has a new sister as of August 23rd, (from her dad :), that she is very excited about. Her name is Kayla Isabelle and Kimberly has been a big help in taking care of her. Love to you all, Jen
G'Day Just a quick note to let you know that Lachlan took his first solo steps last weekend. Both Fee and I were there. He is still quite clumsy on his feet, but practice makes perfect. Chris
Dear Jen HAPPY 30th BIRTHDAY Hope you have a wonderful day and get all that you wish for.. Love Fiona, Chris and Lachlan & James, Amanda & Georgia Mike & Pam Have sent you an email re house rental, if you havent received then we need to speak ASAP - URGENT. Cheers Fiona
Hello Kimmi and Jen Kimmi I hope you had a wonderful birthday. Happy 10th birthday. Love you Gramy Jen wishing you a very happy 30th Birthday I didn't win Lotto so I can't be there to celebrate it with you but I do wish I was there. Have a wonderful day. Lots of love Diana * Thanks for the birthday wishes. I have been asked to correct your spelling :- 'Grammy'. Fancy not knowing how to spell your own name :)
Hi everyone, Thought it was time for an update on Japan. The Business Class flight over was fantastic - so much room! We managed to find our way to the train at Kansei Airport (Osaka) and took it to Kyoto, where it once again took us about 5-10 minutes to figure out which way it was to the hotel. Whilst in Kyoto we did 2 walking tours, a 1 day tour of Kyoto and a half day tour of Nara. Needless to say we say many temples, shrines and buddhas. The Japanese food we have had both in Kyoto and Tokyo has very very nice. In Tokyo very few taxi driver speak english so we handed the taxi driver a map our friends had faxed us showing him where to go - we made it! Unfortunately our friends had to go back to Australia for a family funeral on Wed night, however they did leave us full use of their apartment on the 32nd floor so the views of Tokyo are very good, plus we have the subway map so we are right. We have managed the subway extremely well, although at the stations you go down 3-7 sets of escalators plus some stairs to get to the platform! Tokyo has been a pretty relaxing time, we have read & done a couple of walks. Yesterday we went to the Hakone region (pronounced Ha-ko-ne) where there were numerous attractions including an open air museum, a lake (born from the eruption of the Hakone Volcano before the birth of Christ) and sulphurous steam vents. Unfortunately the weather is very hazy in summer so we were unable to see Mt Fuji, however we did see it from the plane from Kansei to Haneda (Tokyo). Today (Friday 3rd) is our last day in Tokyo, tomorrow we head for the UK. In order to catch our 11.25am flight we have to catch the airport limousine (a bus) @ 8.00am! We will add more later, Mike and Pam
Dear Kimmi Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday dear Kimmi, Happy Birthday to you..... Hope you had a lovely day, we are all thinking of you. Jen, it was wonderful to speak with you the other day. I have now survived three birthday parties for Lachlan (1 for Daycare, 1 for family & friends, and 1 for Mothers Group, so I am exhausted and definitely out of ideas for birthday cakes for another year. All the parties went really well and Lachlan had a great time - loved being the centre of attention!!! There are some photos missing, from memory they were Georgias B'day party, photos of Pam & John W, which were all sent on the same day as the other photos. Pete thanks for all the work you have done, looks great. Love the portrait photos of Ben, they are just adoreable, you have got me motivated to have some taken of Lochie this week. Love to all Fiona xoxoxoxoxoxo [Send me the missing photos and I'll post them up - Peter]
Hi everyone! Firstly, a big Happy Birthday to Lachlan!!! I cannot believe how quickly this year has gone by. We just saw your photos, Fi, and Lachlan is just adorable. We can't wait for the cousins to meet each other!! As I type, Pete is scanning and adding new photos of our own. We got professional pictures of Ben taken the day before his birthday and got 3 fantastic shots! There are also pictures from his party and random shots around the house. We've also added pictures from Kimmi's birthday celebration. We took Kimmi and a few friends to Universal Studios for the day and then they all spent the night for a fun filled slumber party!! We had a terrific time! Then on the 21st we had a family and friend party here at the house for both Ben and Kimmi, which was also a lot of fun. You'll also find a section of my mom's birthday party. Mike and Pam where are you!!?? We can't wait to hear how things are going so far. Please let us know where we can reach you. We are thinking of you and wish you the best. James and Amanda, it was great to talk to you! Give Georgia a snuggle for us! Diana, we love and miss you too! Hope you like all the pics. Love to you all, Jen, Pete, Kimberly & Benjamin
Pete Great to see the gallery up and running again. I sent through about 50 photos to you some months back - just wondering if you received them, as I never did contact you to confirm this.. I have two sick boys at home with me, Chris has been home all week with no voice - oh what bliss!! Love to all Fiona
HAPPY 1st BIRTHDAY BENJAMIN Pete and Jen, sorry we didnt call today, I have been at work all day. Chris has been at home looking after Lachlan, but he is struggling to find his voice as he has caught the same thing that I had last weekend - must be too much kissing! Ha Ha.... We hope Ben has had a wonderful day and that there will be heaps of birthday photos on the site very soon. Jen I sent a big parcel last week with everyones b'day prezzies - (minus one for Pete - sorry Pete you have to wait a few months), so it should be heading your way soon. Love and kisses to all and we will try and catch up next weekend on the phone. Cheers Fiona, Chris and Lachlan
G'Day Just a quick note to bring you all up to speed. Lachlan and I have been home sick for almost a week, Lochie has Conjunctivitis and I have had Larongitis - so were both in the wars and rather miserable at present. Chris is fine and keeps popping the vitamins as a safeguard. We had Diana stay with us last weekend, she babysat Lachlan on Fri night so we could attend a Volvo function. We hd a great night, it was the first time we had been out "alone" in over a year. Big thanks to Diana, we greatly appreciate it.xoxo We had Pam and Mikes farewell party on Sat night, which was a big success, Poor Chris and James had a bit of a headache on Sunday morning - probably one too many shooters. We are trying to organise Lachlans 1st B'day party for the end of the month, the guest list just keeps growing, I have no idea where we are going to fit all these people, but I'm sure it will all work out in the end. Best be off - take care everyone. Cheers Fiona .......
Hi Jen and Pete Just a quick note to say Happy Anniversary. It's hard to believe it has been two years since we were in the States for your wedding. Hope you have a good day. Must go, love to all Pam & Mike
G'Day to all Congratulations to David and Vanessa on the arrival of Matthew David - Happy 50th Birthday Colleen - we are thinking of you and hope you enjoy your party, wish we could be there to celebrate with you. Pete and Jen - Happy Anniversary We are currently in Albury, celebrating my Dad's 60th Birthday, we had a huge party last night, marquee in the back yard and plenty of amber fluid, you know the drill. Chris appears worse for wear today and tells me he is only 10% - its going to be a very long drive back to Melb tonight...serves him right, all self inflicted. We are keeping very well, Lachlan has just cut his top two teeth - new trick this week is whistling, so hopefully he will be able to blow out his birthday candle next month. Amanda and Georgia have just spent a week with us in Melb, and we had a wonderful time, shopping - (dont tell James) and the kids were best of friends by the end of the week, giving each other lots of kisses and cuddles, and suprisingly sharing toys. Love to all Fiona, Chris and Lachlan [:-)
Pam and I decided that given we were both holding down full time jobs, revovating our house and organising a long term move overseas that our life wasn't hectic enough. So, we thought we would add a bit more to our life and buy an investment property. We decided to do that on Thursday. We bought a property on Monday. As you can appreciate, we only have one month before we leave (July the 21st, at this stage), so if we were going to do something we needed to act quickly and that's what we did. The property is a unit, one of six, on the first floor, (that's one above ground floor for our overseas viewers) and is in Brunswick, here in Melbourne. The property is currently being totally refurbished and will probably be finished about two weeks after we leave, just to add to the complications. We are in the process of finalising [finalizing] arrangements with our financal people, tax guy and solicitors and hopefully it will be sorted out in a week or two. We have some photos and will put them up here as soon as possible. Also, I found out on Friday that the second part of my posting to the UK, the direct attachment to a Ministry of Defence [Defense] organisation in Malvern for 3-4 months has only been approved in principle, but not in practice. I love Government speak! What that means is that as of today, funding is not officially allocated for it and I need to submit a new justification for it. Some where along the admnistrative paper flow food chain someone has botched up the paper work, not me, and I guess it doesn't really matter who, it just adds one more big thing to get organised in a hurry. I am working from home today. Hopefully, I will be able to finish the inventory of the entire house that we need to do as part of our move. What ever doesn't get shipped with us goes into storage here in Australia, so we need to itemise [itemize] everything. Have you ever had to count every knife, fork, spoon, sock, clock, table, chair and underwear that you own .... I takes a while. I have been lucky, as Pam has had a bit more freedom than me recently and has done most of it already. Anyway, back to it. I hope your lives are a little less hectic than ours, although I would imagine David and Vanessa are currently in a similar boat with Mathew. Congratulations David and Vanessa from both of us. Mike and Pam
Hi Everyone, Our lives are extremely hectic at the moment organising things for Mike's posting to the UK. Between both of us working full time, some minor repairs to the house, lots of painting of the skirting boards and door frames, to remove the mission brown and make it more appealing to potential tenants, organising the inventory on the house for storage, having medicals done (it took 3 hours to have a medical and chest x-ray today, plus we have to go back for more tests next Tuesday and Friday) and arranging housing etc at the UK end there is not a lot of time for sleep!! Needless to say we are both quite tired. Anyway, we are off to Albury for the weeekend to see the family and for Georgia's 1st birthday party. We are heading up Saturday and catching up with friends in Seymour on the way up. Our departure date is not confirmed at the moment but will be around the 21st July. We are travelling to the UK via Tokoyo to stay with friends who moved there in January this year. My life will be extremely busy in July. I'm in Sydney for three days for budget/sales meetings in the first week of July. I'll most likely finish work on the 11th July. Mike & I are in Canberra for a de-briefing from the Dept of Foreign Affairs & Trade (DFAT) on 12th & 13th and our going away party on the 14th. The removalist will be in to pack up the house the following week and we leave around the 21st July - boy! am I looking forward to that business class flight!! Anyway must go. Our love to all Pam & Mike
HAPPY BIRTHDAY GEORGIA ROSE!!!!! I can't believe how quickly the year has gone by. We miss you and really wish we could be with you for this milestone occasion. Kimmi finishes 4th grade next Tuesday and then it's a long summer break. She is still taking piano lessons and joined the swim team in February. Ben is still as active as ever! He gets into everything, but always with a smile, so how could anyone be upset at a cute face like that? My mom turns 50 in a few weeks and my dad is throwing a big catered party for her. It should be loads of fun! If you are not doing anything that night, you are all invited....there is still time to pick up a plane ticket or two. Erin has moved back home from Alaska and is currently working part time. She has decided to go back to school and was accepted into a local junior college. A big hello to Simon, Nat, Joshua, John and Faye!You are right, a babe is completely life changing and the best experience in the world. To answer your question about the cute, cuddly, fluffy dog. His name is Oliver and he is a mix of a Lhasa Apsa and a Bichon Frise (excuse the spellings if they are incorrect :) ) Aka: Lhasa Chon Love to you all! We'll talk to you soon. Jen, Pete, Kimmi & Ben
Hi Guys just wrote a couple of things in the guest book. Seeya Simon
Hello everyone, it's catch-up time......the last note on this site was Sept/Oct (definitely disgraceful) so here are the Benjamin measurements and accomplishments since then (for comparison): at 4 mths: Ht 24 1/2 in; Wt 14lbs 12oz at 6 mths: Ht 26 in; Wt 17lbs 19oz at 8 mths: Wt 18lbs 12 oz at 9 mths: Ht 27 1/4 in; Wt 19lbs 8oz Ben's first tooth started popping out at 6 1/2 months and then got his 2nd, 3rd and 4th tooth all at the same time just before he turned 8 mths. He was also sitting up on his own and started his scooting rampage during this time. At 8 1/2 mths Ben pulled himself up onto the coffee table and then a week later in his crib. 3 weeks later he perfected a "getting down" technique and since then stands up onto everything and walks around the furniture very quickly. We thought Ben was a career scooter for a while; he is very fast and very strong, but he has moved on to crawling and we cannot keep up with him. He has been teething again and has 2 teeth popping through on top. He is still not sleeping through the night and wakes up several times and he still does not nap well. Who knows why, we just hope he grows out of it soon. He says dada all the time and is now saying mama. This is update number 1. More to come soon on the rest of us. Hope you're all doing well. Will write again very soon. Love you Jen, Pete, Kimmi and Benjamin.
Hi Everyone. Finally, I have had a chance to work on the long overdue update to the look and feel for Trenery.net. The new gallery is still a week (or two at most) away. Hope you like it. The new web site makes use of more advanced features so please let me know if you find any errors on any of the pages. Peter PS. I am planning on chaining Jen to the computer tomorrow until she has added all our latest news :)
G'Day All Just thought I'd drop you a line - and welcome Jen to the site! ha-ha Georgia was weighed on 17.05.01 8.210kg (18lb 1 oz) She is doing very well, crawling and tantrum throwing seem to be this weeks new trick, I asured Amanda that I knew exactly what she was going through as I have Georgia's twin (being Lachlan) to contend with, as he is doing much the same. Our word of the week is Ted - very cute and lots of babble. Lachlan was weighed on 29.05.01 9.945kg (21lb 14oz) 75cm tall - Health Nurse assures me he is very "healthy" and will just be a big boy. Chris finished his job last Fri at Benz and received a lovely Silver watch for his service. Started at Volvo on Monday and is really enjoying the change. We have a brand new Volvo as a company car - boy have they come a long way since I was a kid, I asked Chris the other day when I get to put my order in ....no reply from him yet! Lachlan received his first letter yesterday, Georgia's birthday invitation. J & A are holding a small party at an indoor play centre next weekend, so we are heading up to Albury for the weekend, will be great to catchup with everyone. Still trying to get these great photos on the site, P & M are flat out this week renovating their house so it can go on the market, so I will try to get the photos on here soon. Luv to all and kisses all round Cheers Fiona p.s J & A no longer have eady access to the net, so they will drop a line when they can. p.s.s Amanda & Georgia are planning a trip to come & stay with us for a week in Mid June
Hi all! It is DISGRACEFUL how long it has been since I have been to this site. I have only just read through the last few months of news. I will sit down and fill in the missing pieces to our lives within the next couple days. Please forgive me :) Love to you all! Jen
G'day Pete, Jen, Kimmi & Ben Hope you are all keeping well, just a short note to let you know that Chris has accepted the offer made by Volvo, and starts in two weeks. Lachlan is now pulling himself up on everything and is cruising along the furniture. I'm so exhausted as he is into everything and moves so quickly. His ecezema has returned with a vengence, its on his chest, shoulders and hands and is very itchy, poor thing it really is giving him hell this time and I have just about tried everything to get rid of it. I had a lovely Mothers day - scored a pair of wool slippers from Lachlan, just what I wanted!! We had dinner at Pam & Mikes with Diana and had a lovely evening. Realy enjoyed our weekend with Diana Must go, Love to all. XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO Fiona, Chris and Lachlan
G'day Hope this news finds all the family well. We are all fine, just thought I'd drop a line, seeing no news has been put on the site from anyone for a few weeks. Chris has just been offered a job with Bilia Volvo - the largest Volvo dealership in the Southern hemisphere, he is currently negotiating salary package - we will keep you posted... Lachlan is learning so many new skills this week, its really hard to keep up with him. We have learnt to stand and climb, say bub-bub and "del", today he clapped hands, waved hello and bye-bye and is now crawling correctly (all this in two days). Lachlan started swimming lessons last Week, which we really love and yesterday swam for about a metre underwater - they dont mess around, the babies are straight underwater in their first lesson. Lachlan is a real water baby, he absolutely loves it. They really grow and change so quickly, we will send through some current photos and will ask Mike to place our up to date photos on the site. Please post on the site some current photos of Kimmi, Ben and Georgia - we miss them all so much. Diana will be coming down to stay with us this weekend, which we are all looking forward too. And John and Faye are coming for lunch on Sat. (Pete dont forget Mothers Day this Sunday) Thats all our news for now. Love to all Fiona xoxoxoxox
We have just received news that the posting to the UK that I applied for has been approved. The posting is to the Royal Military College at Shrivenham to complete a Masters in Science on Military Electronic Systems Engineering. The Masters will be followed by three months of On the Job Training at the UK's Defence Engineering Research Agency in Malvern. I am still confirming all of the details, however, the course begins in September, this year. Currently, we expect to leave Australia in late July/early August. Hopefully, we will be able to do a 1 week stop over in Tokyo and catch up with some friends who moved there earlier this year. Pam has applied for 15-18 months of leave without pay at her work. Currently, we are waiting to hear back on that. If she doesn't get that, she will have to resign. Hopefully, Pam will be able to get a job over in the UK, but we will have to wait and see. Anyway, that's the immediate news. We will add more when we know more. **Peter, you will need to add London Time to this Web Page.
A happy Easter to you all I am spending Easter at home. Hopefully James and Amanda and Georgia will be able to come to dinner during Easter.I seem to be working almost full time at the moment. I am in the middle of evening training for prospective volunteers - Monday and Wednesday 6pm - 9pm. These are people who are either working full time or uni students. I have been going to Wangaratta a couple of times a week. (They are the contractors for the co-ordinators for the Victorian Government)for meetings. I am pleased too because after sending a submission to the Albury Wodonga Cancer foundation for funds, we go $5000 dollars from them. I wanted $10,000 but at least this is a start. Community groups are now interested and want a speaker on Palliative Care. guess who. I am still enjoying the job. Plenty of constant work so that is a bonus. Kimmi congratulations on getting straight A's. Christopher I hope you are better. I don't see an update on Benjamin. How about some news. Love to you all; that includes Kevin and Colleen.
Dear Pete, Jen, Kimmi & Benjamin Hope everyone's keeping well. Lachlan is teething at the moment, his top tooth has shown its ugly head, however we are waiting for the bottom two to pop through. They have been giving him plenty of grief over the last week or so, he is chewing on everything in sight to try and relieve some of the pain. Chris has been home sick for the last few days, he has pulled a muscle in his back while running the dog the other night, so he has been told to rest. I have returned to work, three days a week. Lachlan is in daycare for two days, which he loves and the third day Chris looks after him. Since returning to work the weeks are now flying, I cant believe it is Easter this weekend. Anyway I'd better hop along ... Hope the Easter Bunny is kind. Lots of love to all the Trenery Clan and look forward to hearing from you soon Fiona xoxoxoxo
Hi Pete, Jen, Kimmi and Ben Things with Mike and I are going well. Mike's very busy with work, study and hockey training during the week. The proper season for hockey starts after Easter so there goes our weekends. On the days that he's not playing hockey he'll be studying or should I say he should be studying. This can only mean that it will be up to me to re-decorate the inside of the house by myself. Most of the painting is complete on the outside of the house. I did manage to get Mike to help me a little, but in true Trenery style when it came to help for the second time in the one day, he had homework to do! The garden is going well and almost finished, which means of late I have not had much of an excuse to visit any plant nurseries - must change this!! Georgia's and Lachlan's christening went well the other weekend, although it took Mike and I a little to recover from. We had a wedding in Melbourne on the Saturdary night, drove to Albury Sunday morning (yes, I managed to have Mike up, showered and out of the house by 7.15am), and did our godparent duties (just stood there). Mike caught the train back to Melbourne at 6.30am Monday morning and went to work. After looking at furniture at Amanda's work I drove back in the afternoon . I got back in time to drive directly to the train station to pick Mike up and got home about 7.00pm - needless to say we slept well that night. Anyway must go - I shold be working! Hope all is well over there. Lots of Love Pam & Mike
G'Day Pete, Jen, Kimmi & Ben Peter, thankyou very much for placing our wedding pics on the web site. We received our wedding album the other day and we are extremely happy with the quality of our photos, I'm sure you will agree, they look great. Glad to hear thet Diana made it safely to the states, and we're sure she will throughly enjoy her stay with you. Last weekend we continued with the fencing saga, by placing 10 more fence extensions along one of our side fences...we came out tonight to find Del has decided that jumping over the fence is now too hard, so why not dig underneath instead... We have now covered in two large holes and are keeping a close eye on her every move. Lachlan is now very vocal and is so proud of himself saying 'Dad-dad'. Chris has applied for a job at Benz head office, lets hope he is successful. I shall return to work 2 April (3 days a week) and we have managed to get Lachlan into the daycare of our choice, which is extremely difficult in Melb as available positions for babies is few and far between. Talk to you soon, take care Lots of Love Chris, Fiona and Lachlan
G'DAY EVERYONE HAPPY VALENTINES DAY I WAS THE PERFECT HUSBAND, I BROUGHT FLOWERS HOME FOR FEE SO ILL LIVE TO SEE ANOTHER YEAR... (HOPE ALL YOU GENTLEMEN WERE AS WISE) LACHLAN WENT FOR HIS 6 1/2 MONTH CHECK UP STATS ARE AS FOLLOWS HEIGHT 70CM,WEIGHT 18LB 15OZ AND VERY HEALTHY WE ARE ORGANISING LACHLANS AND GEORGIAS COMBINED CHRISTENING FOR THE 25 MARCH AT ST MATHEWS CHURCH IN ALBURY. ON ANOTHER SUBJECT OUR WONDERFULL DOG DEL HAS PERFECTED THE ART OF JUMPING FENCES,WE FOUND HER 2 DOORS DOWN THE ROAD PLAYING WITH ANOTHER DOG THE OTHER DAY.WE NOW HAVE TO CONSTRUCT HIGH FENCES ALL ROUND THE YARD TO KEEP HER IN.WE WERE PLACING FENCE EXTENSIONS ON THE FENCE WHEN WE NOTICED A DOG JUST LIKE OURS PLAYING WITH THE DOG NEXT DOOR AND WITH CLOSER INSPECTION OF THIS DOG SURE AS EGGS IT WAS DEL. WISH US LUCK CHRIS,FIONA,LACHLAN AND SEEK&DESTROY(DEL) P.S. WHERES THE UP DATED PHOTOS PETE
Hi Everyone We thought you might like an update on Georgia's stats as of the 29 January 2001, weight 15lb 7oz ( 7 kg ), her lenght is 67cm ( 27.35 inches ) and catching up to Lachlan fast or not. She has 2 more teeth which is now a grand total of 4. Also can't take our eyes off her as she rolls and pulls her self along everywhere, especially to things she's not allowed to have. Going well at child care, she bashes up all the boys ( watch out Lachlan ). Amanda's back at work and hating it, she'd much rather be at home with Georgia. James is enjoying his new job at the Service Station ( he comes home a bit smelly though ) he has 2 rotating shifts the morning shift starts at 6:30am and finishes at 12:30pm, arvo shift starts 2:30pm and finishes at 8:30pm, Monday to Friday, he also works some sunday mornings. We shall try and put some updated photo's on and would like everyone else to do the same, the babies grow so fast it's hard to keep up. That's all for now Take care everyone love James, Amanda and Georgia xxx
Hi!
G'Day Update on Lachlans progress, he was weighed on Monday 22.01.01. He is a very healthy 17lb 13 oz (8.105kg), height 67cm.We are starting to become a real chatterbox and cant be left alone for a second as he rolls across the room. No teeth yet!! Love to all Fiona
Hi Everybody How are you? I am sorry I couldn't see you at the wedding. I miss you a lot. Hope I can see you soon. I love you. Bye, Kimmi
Hi Jen, Pete, Kimmi and Benjamin Just an update on the weight of Goergia and Lachlan. Both were weighed today, Georgia weighed in at 13lb 8ozs and Lachlan weighed in at 15lb 7ozs. James and Amanda have go through the joys of Georgia cutting two teeth. Mike and I caught up with Chris, Fi and Lachlan on the weekend. Lachlan was full of smiles. I think he's going to be just like this father - friendly and smiling at anyone (especially the girls) Love Pam and Mike.
HI! FROM METUNG AUSTRALIA FROM JIVES&BILL, DICK&INGRID ANNE&GARY & LINDY. WE ARE HERE BOOZING FOR LINDYS 39th BIRTHDAY SAT 21\10\00. CHEERS TO ALL.
G'day!!! We just had Benjamin's picture taken and Pete has added the 3 poses to the "Benjamin Gallery". Be sure to take a peek! Love to you all! Jen
Hello everyone!!! Benjamin had his 2 month set of shots yesterday- 4 total with 2 jabs in each thigh and he didn't like it one bit! HE WEIGHED IN AT 11LBS 8OZ AND IS 22 1/8 INCHES LONG. He is cooing and smiling more and more everyday (which shows off his very cute dimples) and when he sleeps he smiles and laughs. He is incredibly cute and we are loving him to death, even though he still wakes his mommy (mummy) up several times every night. Love to you all and hope you are doing well!!! Hugs and kisses, ;-) Jen
19/09/00 Tomorrow is Pam's Birthday Happy Birthday Pam See you at the weekend for the BBQ celebration of your 30th Birthday Lots of love. Diana
The gallery has grown by more than 40 pics in the last few days. Please take a look!
G'Day Benjamin, just thought I'd catch up. I here with mum and dad in Albury visiting Nanny,Poppy and Grandma. Were all here wishing Uncle James a happy 30th birthday, weather been lousy all weekend, very wet, cold and windy. We held a party for Uncle James on Saturday night but he couldn't handle the pace and started to show his old age and was in bed by 10.30pm. Everybody else though, continued to party on. I saw cousin Georgia and she's a cutie, and I'm almost as big as her. I've enjoyed the stay, but can't wait to get back home SOMETIME TODAY. My love to everyone... Lachlan. P.S. I'll be sending through some current photo's of myself and Dell to Uncle Mike.
Congratulations Mike!!!! We're all very proud of you.
Hi Pete, Jen, Kimmi and Benjamin Just letting you all know that Mike got his promotion at work. We finally found out yesterday. He had the interview about 6 weeks ago.... not bad going for the public sevice!! The type of work he'll be doing is different to what he is currently doing, but it doesn't change the fact that he is still "an engineer"!! Must get back to work. Bye for now.
Hello to you all. JAMES IS NOW 30 years old. Happy birthday James. Welcome to the "OTHER SIDE" Lots of love.
New photos have been added to the gallery. Check out the James/Amanda/Georgia and the Chris/Fi/Lachlan/Del galleries as well some of our wedding photos. Also added titles and captions to each photo. Today, Pam went and spent megabucks at Wombat Gully Plant Farm and bought 32 plants including azeleas, gardenias, mondo grass (not the smoking variety) and coupla native plants as well as a few others that I can't spell. Last night I suprised Pam when she came home from Sydney with flowers and a specially cooked candle light dinner. Also, for all of our American friends, by the time you read this message daylight savings (summer) time will have started here. It is early this year due to the Olympics. This means that we are 18 hours ahead of LA.
Just a Benjamin update: we had a doctor visit today and he now weighs 8lbs 11oz and is 21 inches long!
Almost all of the cats have homes. Two are up for grabs. The dogs operation went great too!
Oz Football Update. Jimbo's team (Kangaroos) have been beaten today by the biggest margin ever in a Finals Game, 125pts. Also, last night Peter's team (Hawthorn) eliminated Fiona's team (Geelong) by defeating them by 9pts. Next week Jimbo's team will play Peter's team with the LOSER eliminated. BTW, Malcolm's team missed out on making the finals by one place, again!!! I love the internet....instant world wide sledging!!! Also, FYI, on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday, the Aussies will play the South Africans in the first ever games of cricket under cover.
The Trenery division USA would like to officially announce the birth of........... Benjamin Peter Trenery Arrival: July 21, 2000 @ 9:02pm Weight: 7lbs Length: 17.5 inches Head Circumference: 33.5cm Chest Circumference: 33.5cm Birth Place: Fullerton, California USA (made in Australia)
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