Tuckers Downunder

I am in Seattle for a few days, leaving the girls at home with builders again!….  Obligatory shot of my toes from the plane as I write this note:

By the time I get home on Saturday the building work at the front of the house should be finished, at last!

Here’s where they are so far: (Before and after shots below)

Had a great time on Saturday at Tony & Sue’s wedding in San Souci – south of Sydney.

Found a recipe for success when attending a wedding with a two year old and a 3 month old:

• Get a good sleep in for the 2 year old before leaving the house
• Have an outdoor reception, in a park if possible, near a duck pond is even better,
• Great weather, not too hot around 28c and sunny is best,
• Have the reception close after in a venue with lots of space and a huge veranda overlooking a river and marina,
• Lastly, make sure there are lots of friends and family in attendance who are more than happy to dance, run, play and eat with the two year old once you are knackered.
• No need to worry about the 3 month old, they’re easy!

Good time was had and I think we have some nice pics to show for it….

Did I mention the dancing? Oh, well, the the inevitable evolution of any child, from baby to teen seems to need to include a period of over-confident-dancing, well, Scarlett may well have started early, but it seems set to continue… The pictures do not do it justice, it’s very entertaining: The victim in the case of the first picture is Barry, there will be others.

First real interaction with our Neighbours-to-be is to discuss why a tree of ours has fallen and crashed into/onto his tool-shed, this incident swiftly let to a series of calls from other neighbours bringing various other nature related issues, such as termites and dead looking trees… I hope this isn’t a sign…

Previous tree incident below from June last year also led to an interesting discussion with a surprisingly forgiving neighbour, yes that 10 meter tree is dangling over his house!

This came from a friend’s blog and became an interesting topic of discussion at my Mum’s New Years’ Eve party, especially amongst the McIntyre’s!

Here’s the gist:

Our own interpretation included the following: they are 8, not 5, i.e. twice as mean, they are also Weegies (the Children are from Glasgow), specifically Barmulloch, scary, you are allowed to be as mad as you like (Aunt Katherine was particularly keen on this rule), children CAN be used as weapons (Neil McIntyre needed this comfort).

Outcome was,

Aunt Katherine : 10+ kids

Neil McIntyre : 7 kids

Euan McIntyre : 8 kids

I think we shoujld all be afraid of Aunt Katherine, but we knew that, right?

My Dad took these just before Christmas, I think they’re lovely. In case you think they are heavily posed, firstly, Scarlett’s 2, there’s no concept of posing at 2, and secondly, she’s sitting on my arm in from of a door, she has herm arm around my neck – she could see herself reflected in the lens, that seems to be the key!

Proud Daddy.

Some pictures from our time in Scotland – thanks Dad for these.

We’ve been back in Sydney for just a few hours now after an epic journey home… (More on the journey later)… a few things struck me within 2 hours of getting back:

It’s warm here, ok it’s summer, but it just feels so WARM!

It’s also very bright. Sure it’s lighter later in Scotland during summer, but there’s a real dazzling brightness to Sydney in the summer, I now realise that I love it.

Having your bags lost by an airline is crap even when you are arriving home

Love being back in our own car instead of a hire, it just car feels like home

(Thanks Mark and Sarah for giving looking after it and sending it back to us cleaner than it’s been since it was new!)

oh, and we still live on a building site

The lion the witch and the wardrobe malfunction!

(Ok, slightly unfair, however I had a grab a bunch of winter stuff from the coat cupboard at the last minute and as you can see I didn’t do all that well! I am wearing my Mum’s coat in the picture below)

We were lucky enough to find some snow on Scarlett’s birthday so we had a great time throwing snowballs (Ok, I had a great time, no one else enjoyed that part), building a snowman, and generally suffering the freezing cold and damp clothes that come with playing in the snow!

Picture below right is of a snowman we built in less than a minute!

Yes sweetheart, that’s all the snow there is…..