Oh God! It's October

Believe it or not.........barely.  October is upon us and I've just gotten around to changing my Blog photo which was supposed to be a NY resolution.  Well at least it's done.  And if you refer to my last post, I did complete that 12km fun run and made a new running buddy in the process, Yay!
Most of you are my facebook friends so news seems kind of outdated when I get around to Blogging.  I think I have to take a new approach to my blog so that it is interesting!
Anyway, I'm not stopping by for long, just wanted to put Harry in the picture before he turns 1, which isn't long now.  We are going on Holidays next week, so I might blog on our return and educate you all on the Western Australia central coastline and it's beauty.  Stay tuned......

Back to the Now

It's May, in fact it's almost the end of May.  Busy has taken on a whole new meaning, and sleep is a very valuable commodity.  That and 'time'.  Two things I have very little of.  I have a fun run coming up this Sunday.  It starts and ends at the WACA.  That's funny for me, being a Victorian.  An explanation is in order: wherever you are in the world, Sports Stadiums are usually a big deal.  They seem to hold some strong cultural influence in the Western world.  In Victoria it's the MCG.  It's referred to as the hallowed turf and to stand or indeed do a fun run on it, is 'a big deal'.  And that I have done; once with my good friend Shan and once with my sister Caz.  Well, here in Perth there is the Subi Oval (now known as Pattersons stadium, thank you sponsors) and the WACA, which I assume is the West Australian Cricket Association or something like that.  So the fun run is focused around there.  It means absolutely nothing to me, but obviously is special to the locals and sporting fans alike.  It's just 5km but it was a post-baby goal I set, so I'm excited.  Harry will be 7 months next week.  Nothing like a growing baby to remind one of how time flies!  I have my sights still set on the 12km fun run in August.  I'm on track, I've just got to find the time to train a bit more often.  See, there's that precious thing I have very little of: time.
I'm loving the community of the boy's School.  I have met some gorgeous Mums who are always looking out for me and offering help.  Both boys have met some wonderful friends too.  We really have been lucky and I can see as Harry gets a bit older, Perth becoming a great place to experience.
I am starting to feel a little adventurous and wanting to see more than the 10km radius from our house.  We have a couple of local trips in the planning stage and I'm excited to see a bit more of Perth and surrounds in the coming months.  We ventured to Fremantle last weekend and had a look around the boardwalk which was nice.  It's only about 30 mins away, so not a real challenge, but somewhere new nevertheless. 
A lot has happened in the past 9 months since moving here and the roller coaster of life continues with School, appointments, soccor, footy, karate and swimming, baby, boys, friends, family, holidays, christening, husband, dog, fitness, mum etc. etc.  I keep planning that Yoga class and I know it would be exactly what I need, but the paradox is I can't find the time to do exactly what I need to do to help me deal with how busy I am??  I thought I would have gotten wiser with age..............

Christmas: a bit late......

We had a fantastic Christmas last year, but it was really busy, so I feel inspired to write about it, but am only getting around to it now. It was Harry's 1st Christmas and our first one in Perth. My sister Sue, Pete, Cal, Lucy and Zoe came over from Dubai and my Mum and Dad and sister Caz came from Victoria.  It was such a special time and my boys really loved seeing their cousins, Aunties and Grandparents.  The weather was gorgeous, so although there was always a low level of chaos, we enjoyed barbeques, picnics, Christmas lunch and present opening and a couple of glasses of wine.  My sister has been in Dubai now for five years, so our get-togethers are always too brief but they have come home each year which means my boys have established a great relationship with her kids.  Tom and Angus have memories of their visits and look forward to seeing them each time it happens.  That said, Sue's kids are absolute gems which makes it very easy.  I'm sure they could think of much better things to do other than hang out with a 6 and 4 year old, but they play Lego, Nerf guns, chasey and jumping on the trampoline.  They read stories and listen to my kids 'news', they are wonderful and my boys Adore them.  Some things we did while they were all here were go to the Revolving Restaurant 'C' in Perth with Sue, Caz, Mum and of course Harry, for lunch, which was very fancy and a very memorable view.  We celebrated Cal's 14th birthday on Christmas Eve with a picnic in Kings Park which was just fantastic (see photo above - the Pyramid of Cousins) and then Cal got to choose his dinner of choice: KFC. No joke!  The rest of us had seafood and salad.  Tom thought KFC was the best thing ever (it was the first time he had it) and he still talks about it!  Poor deprived child.
Caz going for runs with Reggie each morning.  Reggie loved it, Caz loved it and it gave me a break from the dog walking.  Win-win-win!
Christmas day with all its craziness and fun and food.  This was the epitome of the visit.  If I had woken on Christmas morning to just us, it would have been just another quiet Sunday.  We didn't have a lot of friends at that stage and with such a young babe, making Christmas special would have been difficult.  Having the business of 'all hands on deck' made it feel real and wonderful.  I just want to make sure I remember it because I was definitely in the midst of the 'baby fog' and you forget so much that goes on in those first few months.  I was really lucky that all my family made an effort to come here. Fortunately Perth really did turn it on, so I think they were pretty happy to come and visit us too....I hope. 
Sue and Pete went and stayed in Cottesloe for a couple of nights and we went down and watched the sun set on the beach and relaxed together.  Sue discovering Claremont shopping centre - her little piece of Perth shopping heaven.
So that was 10 days over Christmas 2011 in a nutshell.  So much has happened since then and none of it been blogged about but it's good to remember the extra special times.

Missing Torquay

The long flat beaches
With water shimmering
in the sunlight like glass.
The sheltered nooks
With safe, calm waters
for my kids to play.
Long runs to Cosy or the surf club
With my dog on crisp mornings.
Friendly faces down the street
Or at the Larder to say Hi.
Parks, markets, bike rides, beach,
Friends around, happy faces.
Fish and Chips at Fishos,
Ice cream on Bell St,
Coffee at Mobys.
I appreciated it all
when I was there,
And miss it so much
Now I'm gone.
Especially warm summer mornings
at Cosy with friends:
Kids paddling, and jumping
the gentle waves.
Holes been dug and
adventures been had.
Did I realise how spoilt we were?