Chill out at tennis, but the heat is on!!

When Jean went to watch Andy Murray and Laura Robson play tennis at the Hopman Cup in Perth she was in the top row of the stadium and was it hot, hot, hot - personal fans were the order of the day!! Unfortunately Andy did not play at his best as he was jet-lagged and found the humidty hard to cope with -as did the crowd!

At 40 degree temperatures swimming pools have been the order of the day since then. A water polo pool on the edge of the Swan River provided a fantastic swim opportunity, at another venue fun pools were great fun for Lois and Isaac, and the pool in the garden has been very welcoming! Another great place to go is the shopping centres which have great air conditioning.

Apart from this there is not much to report. Pete and the children leave on Thursday for Sydney to go the the Pacific Rim Newday - a yearly Christian camp for teenage children. They will be about 2 hrs north of Sydney so hope the terrible flooding does not reach down that far. It is so dry here - we could do with some of their rain. While they are away we pack up all Suzanne's things to move into her new rental next Tuesday. We will have to pack up again as well as we are moving into her 2nd bedroom. So its a busy week ahead!!

A nice warm evening and 2 policemen

We decided to go down to Mandurah to celebrate the new year. Warm evening, a game of cricket - to show the ozzies that we can all play well (sort of), take away pizzas, cup of coffee - or hot chocolate, children playing nicely, early fireworks for families with kids, cheese and biscuits with a glass of wine (white and warm) what more could you ask for? WELL the local police don't like drink on the forshore at Mandurah on New Years eve and a two of them came over to ask us to put the bottle away as it was an alcohol free event - how embarassing!! The evening finished with more fireworks which were very good but not a patch on London. We eventually got home about 1.30am with some very tired children.

On Sunday Jean, Nic and Pete went up into Perth to see some tennis at the Hopman Cup which they all enjoyed especially as Nic got Djokovic's autograph. Jean went back the following day to see the Brits Laura Robson and Andy Murray play while Roger went to help a friend fill in a pond and take some fencing down - how fair is that?

We are now back with the girls and getting ready to move Suzanne into her own 2 bed rental house in a few days time and we will then move in with her. Will keep you posted as how that goes.

Happy New Year to you all.

06.30 Christmas morning

Yes, we did get up at this ridiculous hour - only to find one of them had been awake for over three and a half hours

Stockings opened, breakfast eaten, more presents, off to church, more presents, BBQ lunch and then ........................... the pool!!

As the temperature was 40 degrees we all went in to cool down before we went for our usual Christmas afternoon outing ........................... only this time it was the beach!!

And then after some time watching a DVD Christmas present it was off to bed - thank goodness!!

Boxing Day - and it was decided to take it a bit easier so we went to the zoo. Still 40 degrees and everything is very hot including our drinking water - not good, in fact very bad - tastes horrible!! We saw some interesting animals as well as the usual ones, like a Tree Kangaroo, a Monitor, an enormous Tortoise over one metre in length, Red Pandas, a Quokka - look it up, - and hot Children and Hotter Grandparents!

When we got home - guess what - the pool again. Dinner, DVD, bed - YES.

Today is a bit cooler only 37 degrees - I'm at home, Suzanne is shopping and the rest of them .........................No not the pool, they are on the beach.

We hope you had a great Christmas and are looking forward to the New Year and hopefully some better weather.

Roger & Suzanne get wet this time.

There we were doing the Christmas thing and putting the ouside lights up when it started to rain. So, as the electrics were not connected, it was safe to continue and the rain soon stopped anyway. Our contribution to the festivities were not the same as some of the other houses near us, they must spend a fortune on lights and electricity to run them - bit like the UK in that respect.

On Sunday we went to church, as we have been doing regularly since we got here, and enjoyed seeing Isaac playing in the band.

In the evening we went to another outside carol concert, very different to the previous one we went to, located in an amphitheatre with seating on the raised grass around three sides. It rained a little while we were there but this did not spoil the event, which included some ballet as well as the singing, all very cultured.

Monday saw us visiting our friends Lynne and Aldo and family at Mandurah where they were having a few days holiday. This is the view from the front window of the house they were staying in. I think I can easily say that I really missed my boat!! We stayed there for three days and went to see the local waterfront, shops and beaches. We played beach cricket, went kayaking, watched them fishing in the sea catching puffers - which literally puff up as a form of defence - and enjoyed the local ice cream.

We returned on Wednesday in time to go up to Perth to see a nativity play featuring real sheep, chicken, donkey, camels and of course, people. It was a very good production. Now we are back with our VERY excited grandchildren doing all the shopping and last minute preparations!! We have just marzipaned the 2nd Christmas cake!

Happy snowy Christmas to you all from baking Perth - believe it or not one or two are slightly envious!!! xx

They all got wet this time

Monday

Yes! you've guessed correctly, we found more water. This time we were at a place called Hillary's Boat Harbour just north of Perth. As the name suggests it is a marina but it also has a leisure park - if you can call this type of activity leisure! Pete and Nic and all the children had a great time in the water chutes and also on the High Ropes and Crazy Golf.

We took it easy and watched and took lots of photos, although Jean did take a swim in the harbour - such clear water! Needless to say they all slept very well that night but we needed to be up early next morning as there was an inspection on their home by the rental agency.

We have been spending lots of time doing Christmas shopping with the family - nothing changes even when you are on holiday - and also getting my hair cut - it grows well in the sun!!

Temperature still in the upper 20's and lower 30's - life is so hard here! Jean, Suz and Lois caught the train (which goes up the middle of the highway) to Perth yesterday evening to go to a shop and see the Christmas decorations - they were great - need to take the rest of the family. On Sunday eve there is another Carols in the Park which we plan to go to.

We are going south next week for a few days to Mandurah to stay with Lynne and Aldo and their family who are on a short holiday there.

We hope all your preparations are well in hand and the weather has not held you up too much!

Launching Grandma

It was a very sunny and hot day today so we all, except Suzanne who was working, went down on the beach with the kayaks. Jean decided she wanted to have a go, and she got on very well which pleased her.

We have spent the last week visiting other people as Josh and Lois have had exams at school and needed some space to revise. We have been to the Serpentine - no not in Hyde Park London but a reservoir dam south and east of Perth which at the moment is very low on water as is all of Western Australia. We have also been back to Kings Park to have a look at Perth again by daylight.

Preparations for Christmas are progressing well but it is very strange being here in the middle of summer and hearing Christmas music being played everywhere.

Suzanne is now actively looking for somewhere to rent and we have been spending some time helping her look at properties - as you do when you are on holiday!!

Now that the children have broken up from school we will be planning a few outings and doing the Grandparent bit of entertaing them and providing them with lots of ice creams etc - maybe.

Blue Seas, Blue Skies & Wet Boys

The other day Pete and Josh went down onto the beach to do some bodyboarding. Josh has been having some lessons at school and wanted to show off his prowess!! Did we ever have lessons like that when we were at school? - I don't think so! I quite think that after school breaks-up next week we will be encouraged to spend more time on the beach doing similar activities. Whether you will see any pictures of us doing things like this awaits to be seen! Unfortunately we still don't seem to have had time yet to sort out all our photos taken up to now - about 2,000 - to keep the best ones and and put the others in directories.

We are going off in the next hour to see Lynne. and Aldo and family north of Perth which will be nice as we have not seen all the family together for about 3 years. While we are there we will be going to their church which will be different.

Josh and Lois have end of year exams next week so there is a lot of revising going on at the moment.Then they are off school until the beginning of February! Its a little cooler here at present so is quite pleasant, although the wind seems to get up every afternoon. Yesterday evening we went to Kings Park to view Perth city lit up - it was quite magical.