Blackbutt Reserve

Saturday morning came sunny and bright again and Dave and I took Jacob to the local reserve. We walked into one of the enclosures and Jacob saw a bird straight in front of us. He had a great time pointing to the different birds and he also saw some wallabies. Jacob missed the koalas as they were hiding behind some fresh new leaves.

We had a walk outside and Jacob pointed out the peacocks, black swans, emus and ducks and then he spotted the park and had a great play there for ages.

A surprise visitor

After our visit to the park, we walked back with Kate and Ben and managed to stop for a coffee and some raisin toast - yummy. As we continuted our walk in the beautiful winter sunshine, we then stopped for chips, I've decided that Kate was a bad influence on me ;o)!

Walking back to my house, we heard that there was a seal basking in the sunshine, so of course, we had to walk past and take a photo or two.

I've since read that the ocean is a couple of degrees warmer than normal and it has brought a large amount of fish to the area, which a very cute little seal has followed. I think it was the same seal we saw the previous Sunday whilst out whale watching. How lucky are we to live in such a fantastic place - whales, dolphins and seals. All I need to see now is a shark!!!

Antenatal Group catch up

On Friday morning Jacob and I set off for a nice walk to meet with our antenatal group friends. We met at one of the local parks and had a great time in the sun. Jacob is getting very adventurous and doesn't need me to help him on the play equipment anymore.

It was great to see everyone as it felt like ages since we last had the opportunity to catch up and see the children. I have to say though, it's not so easy anymore, with the kids all going in different directions and normally there is at least one parent running after a child! Trying to remember what you were talking about before you took off is very hard, especially for me as I hadn't got a great memory before Jacob!

Anyway, here's the group. Luckily Paul came along with Beth and Alfie and could take some photos for us.

(l-r back row - Alfie & Beth, Elliott & Kel, Darcy & Nicole, Jacob & I
l-r front row - Ben & Kate, Paige & Kylie)

We did have a little problem on the day. Kylie had brought Paige's toy lawnmower and everyone wanted to have a play, Jacob normally won the toy, as he moaned the loudest!!!

(l-r Jacob with the lawnmower, Ben in the background and Elliott wondering how he's going to get the toy!)

Whale watching weekend

On Sunday we were very lucky to get invited on Kerry and Steve's 42 foot cruiser once again and this time it was out to the open ocean.

The sea sickness tablets were taken, by some, the life jackets were retrieved out of the storage compartment, cameras, binoculars and warm winter hats were put on and we were ready to go.

We got out onto the ocean and there was four of us watching the ocean for anything that could look like a whale or whale blow water spout thingy. I spotted an interesting fin coming out of the water with a bird diving around the spot too - after a little investigation we found a seal - now you don't see them very often in the waters around Newcastle as it's normally too warm. So that was the first treat of the day. The children at this point were starting to lack interest, so snuggled up to someone special, closed their eyes and had a lovely long sleep.

We had a good look around the waters leading from Swansea to Newcastle during the morning but we were very unlucky and decided to call in at Newcastle Harbour to enjoy a spot of lunch, which was very scrummy, I may add.

So, tummies filled, children's legs stretched and it was time to go back out past Nobbys lighthouse. This time Captain Steve spotted a whale seconds after leaving the harbour (I think the commercial whale watching boat tipped him off). This was a humpback whale travelling on it's own but still kindly gave us a lovely treat and breached once (came out of the water fully) and also did a little diving and waving with his fin. Ant and I were brave and went to the front of the boat to try and get some closer photographs. Ant did really well but our camera is just a point and shoot, so I didn't get many close shots.

On the way back to Lake Macquarie, Steve thought he spotted another blow hole and turned the cruiser around to investigate. This time we hit jackpot and there were two humpbacks. They repeating breached, dived and were totally amazing. We stayed with them for quite a while and then dashed back to Swansea to catch the bridge opening.

We had an amazing day and have to say a huge thank you to Kerry and Steve for inviting us along. They've mentioned going out again when the whales do their return journey to the Antarctic with their calves. I'm counting down the days already ;o).

Bon Voyage

The time has finally come to say goodbye to our neighbours - Valerie, Guillaume and Elise. It has been a very sad week for me watching their belongings being packed up into boxes and then put onto a container. Jacob had his playmate all day on Monday and Tuesday whilst Valerie supervised and they played so nicely together - there was even cuddles, kisses on the cheek and Jacob gave Elise a kiss on the lips! Dave and I are lucky if we get one of them.

So, we've promised we'll email, skype and keep in contact by any means possible but also, when we return back to Europe we have holidays planned in the French Alps (their new home) and they have return holidays planned in Spain. Lots to look forward to.

Sleepless nights

Jacob has several molars coming through and we have found that Jacob finds it worse at night. Over the last couple of weeks, he has only slept through the night every 3 days. Dave has been getting over a cold (and he works during the day) so I have been trying to make Jacob feel better as quietly as possible. Not an easy task at all.

I think this photo shows Jacob's teeth off brilliantly ...

You can see a full molar on Jacob's left and then a little bit of a molar coming through on the right.

When you go into the laundry room ...

It was as big as my hand - arrrgggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

The first large spider we've found inside. Jacob was having his nappy changed and kept looking up and pointing, we were soon out of there! We think it was a huntsman, but not too sure.

Table and Chairs

I bought Jacob a table and chairs the other week. It is a firm favourite for reading books, eating lunch, drinking water and entertaining his friends. Oh and we bought him a toy laptop too, we thought it would stop him playing with ours, little did we know.

(Jacob and Elise)

I'm just like my Mummy and Daddy

A new playground

Jacob and I met up with our antenatal group friends a couple of Fridays ago. A new playground has been built at Speers Point (on Lake Macquarie) and it is amazing. There's sandpits, a pirate ship including a wheel, slides, swings, walk ways, a rope climbing frame, a little tunnel, things to climb up and slide back down and best of all, there is an area dedicated to musical things. Jacob loves to jump on some buttons on the ground and they make bells underneath them ring. There's bells to clang, things to knock - it just goes on and on. Jacob and I have been back since with our exercise group friends and they loved it too.

(from front to back - Jacob, Paige, Ben & Elliott - + a random boy right at the back.
Thank you Kate who took this photo and which I stole from her blog!)