Lou and Thor

We caught up with Lou while she was visiting Melbourne to show off her new son, Thor, to parents and friends. The baby loves the camera and Lou gave us all the gossip from Park Slope. Dunno who that other bloke is, but.

Southern Christmas

Are the children excited about Christmas? Oh yeah, a bit. Here they are at Southern Cross Station on the way to a Christmas party.

Hannah all made up

Hannah went to Ashley's birthday party and took part in a fashion show. All the girls were made up and then put on a catwalk show. It was very authentic - everything but the drugs.

Beatles Concert

Here are the children in their end-of-school-year Beatles concert:

Dean and Lisa

Dean and Lisa's wedding is set for March 13, 2009. Here they are in the backyard at our place during a family barbecue to celebrate Dean's and Dad's birthdays, both of which fell this week.

Excursion to Royal Botanic Gardens

Hannah on her class excursion to the Royal Botanic Gardens recording cars and getting ready to duckwalk under the Tree Tower.

Piano concerts

Hannah and Sam at the keyboard in the school library for their end of semester concerts. They both played three pieces in front of an audience of about thirty parents and fellow students, and both did exceptionally well, even if I do say so myself.

Walkabout

On Melbourne Cup day we drove to Daylesford, which is a "beaut spot" for a day trip. We had a picnic, went for a short walk through the bush, checked out how tall we were, but didn't see any koalas or drop bears. Then we went back into Daylesford to watch the Cup. We had money on five horses, none of which threatened to win.

Essendon Traffic School

The children spent a Saturday morning learning the rules of the road on bikes. They cycled around a small set of roads that included stop signs, traffic signals, school crossings and other road furniture. As expected, Hannah was outraged when some other boys failed to stop at a red light.

Halloween

No trick or treating this year. We had Hannah's friend Molly and Sam's friend Patrick and their families to our place for a Halloween party. Rachel got the kids to play a game which culminated in the loser trying to eat candy from the top of a pile of flour without using their hands. Here's Hannah after one round. I guess the candy must have tasted nice, otherwise I can't account for that line of drool falling from her chin. Yum!

What is Australian for entrepreneur?

Recalling the enterprise of some of our neighbours on 3rd Street, Hannah and Sam decided to spend a Sunday afternoon selling home-made lemonade. Although there wasn't as much passing trade as in Brooklyn, they still made $10 selling their wares at 20c per glass. One guy didn't want any lemonade, but just gave them $2!

Hannah at Moonee Ponds

Hannah in her Kerr-Dineen dress anticipating her apple juice in Moonee Ponds this morning.

Grampy

Today is the day of the Thanksgiving service for Rachel's father, who passed away on October 5th. Rachel is in the UK for the service and we in Melbourne will be thinking of everyone in Storrington today. Here is a photo of John and Elizabeth, with the children, during their visit to us in Brooklyn in 2004. An ordinary photograph perhaps, but a typical one of John - smiling and surrounded by smiling family. We are all terribly saddened by his passing, but glad to have known and loved such a wonderful man.

Summer uniforms

Summer school uniforms in Melbourne include hats. In fact, if you are not wearing a broad brimmed hat you cannot play outside. Here are the children with their new hats and Hannah in her new dress. Why wearing a hat makes one pose for the camera like a soldier is a little mysterious. Or maybe they've been watching The Sullivans.

Williamstown

The weather is starting to warm up in Melbourne, which means weekend trips to the water. Here is Rachel with the children at Williamstown with sailing boats, the Melbourne skyline and and an old warship in the background. We took a boat trip around Port Phillip Bay and then had an outdoors lunch.

Our house

Rachel and the children made a video tour of our new house. Here it is:

The Fifth Beatle

Music at school recently has generally meant The Beatles. Both children have watched "Help" and have been singing Beatles songs in class. When they get home from school they get on YouTube and sing along. Here is Sam, printed lyrics in hand, putting everything into "Help."

Swimming fashion

You have to love natural fashion sense when you see it. Here are the children all dressed up in their poolside-casual gear, ready to knock 'em dead at their first swimming lesson at Windy Hill Fitness Centre.

Father's Day

Father's Day in Australia is in September, which means I had two Father's Days this year. Brilliant. Hannah gave me a book of vouchers for lots of services including a massage, breakfast in bed, book fetching, and dish washing and she performed them all with aplomb. Here are the children (in the dressing gowns Nana made for them) with Grandpa and his new barbecue apron in Australian cricket team colours. We expect it won't be looking so pristine by the end of summer!

Dean is getting married

Yes, you read that right. Dean bowled us all over with his surprise announcement. He popped the question and Lisa said yes. Lisa now wears an enormous rock on her left hand, and they are spending their weekends scouting around Victoria looking for an appropriate venue. Everyone is very happy and excited about the event. I will get a photo of the happy couple and post it right here!

Larelle

On July 22, my oldest friend, Larelle, died at the age of 44. We met when my family moved in next door to hers when she and I were both 12. She had had kidney disease since she was 15, been on dialysis for most of the last 27 years, had three failed kidney transplants, two cardiac operations that she had not been expected to survive, and, finally, her liver stopped functioning. She was also the most delightful person anyone could meet. We investigated whether she would be able to go to New York last year, but she needed dialysis three times a week and the cost of dialysis for visitors to America was just too high. Then she started planning for a trip to Italy where dialysis is provided for Australian visitors, but it was not to be. She was witty, intelligent, loving, stylish, graceful, and brave beyond any measure. Although chronically ill for most of her life, she never allowed her illness to define her, and her good humour in the face of setbacks was extraordinary. She had two degrees, edited a magazine, and won gold medals for Australia at the World Transplant Games. And she could dance. Her partner of 17 years, Steve, is an outstanding bloke. The photo above shows Larelle with Steve in 1992.

Children at school

Here are the children outside our new house on their first day of school in new school uniforms. It is uncertain from this photograph whether or not Sam is wearing underpants - he seems to think going "commando" is great fun. They have both settled into the new school very well. Last week Sam won the "Star of the Week" award for his class for "persisting with all activities until they are completed to the best of his ability," and now has a large purple certificate recording his award. He has a new friend called Patrick who invites himself to our place on most nights and plays football with Sam at every opportunity. Hannah has had a couple of playdates with new friends, been to one birthday party and is looking forward to the class sleepover next term, when the class will spend the night in the classroom.

Blogging holiday

I took a blogging holiday - sorry. The last six weeks have been spent filling in forms and sitting across tables from bureaucrats and talking through those windows where there is a mike on one side but not the other. At the end of it all, we have Australian driver's licences, a car registered and insured in the state of Victoria, Medicare cards, children's immunization certificates, car parking permits, bank accounts, credit cards and all the sundry items necessary to live in the world's most livable city (oh, alright, second after Vancouver).

A Lockup, Footy and Manic Monday

On our last day living in the CBD, we went to Melbourne's oldest tourist attraction, Old Melbourne Gaol, where Ned Kelly was hung. As part of the tour we had the Lockup Experience, where a cop yelled at us for half an hour as if we were criminals and locked us in a cell. I couldn't really take it seriously though. The cop was a young woman from New Zealand. It was like being in a fight with Diana!

On Saturday night we took the children to the Telstra Dome to see the mighty Bombers trounce the Brisbane Lions. Hannah recorded every goal in the Record, and Sam sang along with the Essendon theme song at every opportunity. Unfortunately, I didn't take a camera so you can't see them both in their Bombers colours. But you can read all about the game here.

The first day of school went very well. Both children enjoyed the day immensely, both made friends, both looked forward to going back on Tuesday. Hope it lasts. They get their school uniforms on Thursday and I will post some photos of them and of the new house, assuming I have a home internet connection by then. We moved in on Monday and all went well. The lease furniture is very good and the house is fine although it has extremely high ceilings and lots of bare floors so it is quite cold. Vicki stayed for pizza and the children enjoyed their new bedrooms, although Hannah's door fell off. Nothing's perfect I guess.

Goodbye Mantra

Monday is a big day - we move into our new house and the children start school. Everyone is very excited. Hannah has found out that her school class has a sleepover in September, and they both have swimming lessons as part of the school curriculum. And tonight we are all going to the Telstra Dome to see the mighty Bombers take on the Brisbane Lions. Oh yes. 50,000 Bombers fans will be hoping for a miracle.

More from Melbourne

Things are moving rapidly in Melbourne. We move into our new house on July 21st. It is in Essendon very close to where my father and I use to watch the Bombers play every Saturday afternoon. The children will start school at Essendon Primary School on July 14th and will look resplendent in their black and red uniforms. Hannah will go into Grade 2 and Sam will be in Grade Prep (equivalent to kindergarten in the US). Sam will face the bigger test because he will be in school all day for the first time and all his classmates will have had six months of school already. But we think he is up to it. I will post first day of school photos in a couple of weeks. We have also agreed to buy a car. A Mitsubishi Lancer. Sam is very excited because it has a spoiler! We are buying it from Rachel's boss and I have to go to Sydney to get it.

The children are having a couple of days with their grandparents in Drouin. Rachel and I had dinner last night at the Italian Waiters Club, and followed up by having a glass of red in a comedy club on Bourke Street. The comedy was awful, but the wine was good.

From Melbourne

Greetings from Melbourne. It is cold and windy and it gets dark by 5.30 each evening! We are staying in a city hotel very close to Rachel's work. We have already immersed ourselves in Melbourne life, drinking plenty of flat whites, hopping on and off trams, and getting into fights about the footy. The kids are happy because the hotel has a swimming pool so they can swim every day. They were greeted by Nana and Grandpa at the airport and Nana had made them both beautiful dressing gowns so they won't get cold in the hotel. Unfortunately the hotel doesn't have wi-fi and charges a fortune for an internet connection so I am writing from an internet cafe nearby. We have already agreed to buy a car, have made an application to rent a house, and I have a job interview next week so we have hit the ground running. More soon.

Road trip ends. Farewell America

I am writing this from the departure lounge at LAX. The road trip is over and what an adventure it was. Some statistics:

States: 6
National Parks: 11
Miles driven: 4122
Most miles in a day: 398 (June 11, Lake Isabella to Mariposa including Sequoia National Park and needing to double back from wildfire near Bakersfield)
Least miles in a day: 0 (June 15 - the cable cars take the load in San Francisco)
Nights in Kamps of America Kabins: 13, best Mariposa, worst Craig.
Nights in hotels: 7, best Bashful Bob's in Page, AZ, worst Bluff, AZ.
Children's favourite activity: Disneyland, Circus Circus in Las Vegas.
Favourite National Park: Arches (Rachel), Zion (me), Zion (Hannah), monorail in Las Vegas (Sam)
Favourite meal: tapas in San Luis Obispo.

No time for anymore. I'll write again in Melbourne.

Day 21. Disneyland (2)

Hannah was selected for Jedi training and became a Jedi Knight. Here she battles with a bad guy (he is from Parts 1, 2, or 3, so I have no idea who he is).

When we went on the paddle steamer, we were invited into the wheel house by the captain! It made the ride very special. The children were instructed to blow whistles and ring bells and enjoyed themselves immensely.

We went across to the Disney California Adventure Park in the afternoon. It is a relatively new park, built on the old Disneyland car park and has most of the Pixar film characters. There were some shows indoors where we could escape from the 100+ degF temperatures. The children pose at the entrance to the park.

The children meet Sully.

Day 20. Disneyland (1)

It was a hot, hot day at Disneyland. We stayed until the fireworks at 9pm (with a little sanity break between 3pm and 5pm), but the kids loved almost every minute of the day (they weren't too keen on the 3D Bug's Life show). To hear them laughing and squealing during the parade of Pixar characters was to know that the trip was worthwhile. Too tired to post anymore - I will let the photos speak for themselves. More tomorrow!

Day 19. Santa Margarita to Los Angeles

Hollywood Boulevard and outside Grauman's Chinese Theater I told the children that they had to find Tony Curtis's star to show Nana. Here it is.

The children with Elmo and Barney. These two bloodsuckers wanted money for the photo.

Jimmy Stewart. Yes.

Hannah found Harry Potter.

To infinity and beyond. Sam and Buzz Lightyear.

Fireman Sam

Sam loves fire trucks. Who knew? He insisted on a photo of himself and then on taking one of his mother on a WRH fire truck in the Hearst Castle Visitor Center.

On our way down the coast, we stopped at Salinas and paid homage at the Steinbeck Museum. Then we took a drive through Cannery Rown in Monterey. Just a tourist trap now.

We stopped for lunch at Big Sur and revealed to the children the big surprise. The last two days of the road trip were going to be at Disneyland. They looked rather pleased.

Highway One.

We arrived after the last guided tour of Hearst Castle at San Simeon. A look through the telescope was as close as we got.

Day 17. San Francisco to Santa Cruz. Muir Woods and Highway One

We had seen the biggest trees in the world at Sequoia, now we went to see the tallest at Muir Woods. Tall trees are all very well, but more importantly, this was the location of a crucial scene of Vertigo. Here Rachel and Sam re-enact the scene where Kim Novak tells Jimmy Stewart where she lived and died. Sam, like Jimmy, is a little downcast. Looks like he is well on the way to being a great actor.

Very tall trees. Obviously Hannah did yet another Junior Ranger program. A trip to a National Park just doesn't cut the mustard without one of those.

I didn't know there were gum trees in California. There were areas that we drove through today that looked just like southern New South Wales. It smelled like the Australian bush. And then I saw a sign for a guy selling macadamias! I was half expecting to see kangaroos hopping through the forest.
Golden Gate Park in San Francisco has a new art gallery - the de Young Gallery. A funky building that seems to be twisted around the vertical axis. Unfortunately closed on Mondays.