House is now sold! And it seems to have gone to a good family who have a baby due in March next year, just after they move in.
We're happy but now need to get serious about finding somewhere to live. It seems very real now that the clock is ticking and we need to move out in a couple of months.
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Coundown to auction - this Thursday
Only a few more sleeps to go...
The auction is on this Thursday night; we're hoping that someone falls in love with the place and gets to enjoy it just as much as we did.
Harrison is off his crutches so that's one hassle out of the way.
I'll be sure to give an upon on how the auction goes so stay tuned.
The auction is on this Thursday night; we're hoping that someone falls in love with the place and gets to enjoy it just as much as we did.
Harrison is off his crutches so that's one hassle out of the way.
I'll be sure to give an upon on how the auction goes so stay tuned.
Monday, November 9, 2009
House for sale in Cook - auction
Up for auction on 26 November.
You can see the rest of the house on the allhomes.com.au website.
Feel free to encourage everyone you know to come along and bid at the auction.
Thursday, November 5, 2009
I'm Back!!!
First of all, no news has been good news. Ali is well, still getting the hormone treatment, tumours are small and not growing. Each week I keep thinking I should put something on the blog but then, either time gets away or there is nothing much too interesting to say.
As far as news goes...well Harrison will be turning 9 in less than two weeks! Last year still doesn't seem that long ago and I sometimes get the feeling he is way beyond his 9 yrs. He got his report card from school and he was more critical of it than I was! Only about 4 'A's for effort this semester. He has even asked me to prepare some 'homework' for him during the school holidays so that he can stay on top of it all. It's great to see him motivated but he also has the relax mode in hand so no hassles there.
One problem he has had is that he finally got the all clear to play cricket this season with his school (there was a concern that his warfarin may prevent this). He absolutely LOVES his cricket and could be found endlessly throwing a ball or bowling by himself in the back yard. Unfortunately though, he has injured himself. There was a moment where we were worried he had Perthes Disease (as it was something Alison had, can be hereditary, and is likely to strike at his age) however, it seems he has simply torn/strained a small muscle running across his hip. All the same, this means about 6-8 wks on crutches and no cricket for a while.
Annelise is still Annelise. Growing up quickly, getting into make up, music, etc. Her and Alison are heading up to Sydney tomorrow (boys weekend!!!) to go and see Mamma Mia with the cousins. No dramas with Annelise and she is growing up very well.
News flash - we are selling our house. This one takes up too much of our time and at the moment, we just don't want to have to worry about fixing bits and pieces or doing the yard. We have put down new carpet, painted the house (inside and out) and tidied up the yard. The place looks stunning and I hope we manage to get a fair price for it. It should be up on the net tomorrow so I'll post a link when it's ready and you can all look at the photos (or feel free to come along and spend lots of money to buy it). The auction is scheduled for 27 November so stay tuned for news on this.
I'm sure there's other things but at the moment, there's not a great deal more I can think of to talk about (my team lost in OzTag tonight). As always, I'll try to be more diligent with my blogging but then, when there is not really much to say, it's hard to sit down and say that.
Hope you all are doing well and wishing you all the best.
Andrew
As far as news goes...well Harrison will be turning 9 in less than two weeks! Last year still doesn't seem that long ago and I sometimes get the feeling he is way beyond his 9 yrs. He got his report card from school and he was more critical of it than I was! Only about 4 'A's for effort this semester. He has even asked me to prepare some 'homework' for him during the school holidays so that he can stay on top of it all. It's great to see him motivated but he also has the relax mode in hand so no hassles there.
One problem he has had is that he finally got the all clear to play cricket this season with his school (there was a concern that his warfarin may prevent this). He absolutely LOVES his cricket and could be found endlessly throwing a ball or bowling by himself in the back yard. Unfortunately though, he has injured himself. There was a moment where we were worried he had Perthes Disease (as it was something Alison had, can be hereditary, and is likely to strike at his age) however, it seems he has simply torn/strained a small muscle running across his hip. All the same, this means about 6-8 wks on crutches and no cricket for a while.
Annelise is still Annelise. Growing up quickly, getting into make up, music, etc. Her and Alison are heading up to Sydney tomorrow (boys weekend!!!) to go and see Mamma Mia with the cousins. No dramas with Annelise and she is growing up very well.
News flash - we are selling our house. This one takes up too much of our time and at the moment, we just don't want to have to worry about fixing bits and pieces or doing the yard. We have put down new carpet, painted the house (inside and out) and tidied up the yard. The place looks stunning and I hope we manage to get a fair price for it. It should be up on the net tomorrow so I'll post a link when it's ready and you can all look at the photos (or feel free to come along and spend lots of money to buy it). The auction is scheduled for 27 November so stay tuned for news on this.
I'm sure there's other things but at the moment, there's not a great deal more I can think of to talk about (my team lost in OzTag tonight). As always, I'll try to be more diligent with my blogging but then, when there is not really much to say, it's hard to sit down and say that.
Hope you all are doing well and wishing you all the best.
Andrew
Monday, July 27, 2009
Good scan results
Ali had another scan today and good news again! Somehow she's managed to shrink those little suckers down again and now the docs are able to spot two lesions, one at 18mm and the other 15mm. Smaller than last time!
Her hip was looking good too.
I'm not sure what she's doing but everything is moving along better than we had thought possible. Still, it's not something we want to question and we'll just keep on taking as much good news as we can get.
Alison is very excited of course, and relieved.
Just to improve her mood, we are getting the final bit of carpet laid tomorrow. So, after some renovations that have been just completed (well, just about) and the new carpet, the place is looking different. We should have the garage cleared out soon and the kids are mad keen on having a garage sale so hopefully we'll be able to offload some stuff that is no longer needed.
I'm not going to promise to update shortly this time. I know that I was woefully negligent last time and don't want to build up false hopes (but I do hope to get around to it soon).
Bye for now.
Her hip was looking good too.
I'm not sure what she's doing but everything is moving along better than we had thought possible. Still, it's not something we want to question and we'll just keep on taking as much good news as we can get.
Alison is very excited of course, and relieved.
Just to improve her mood, we are getting the final bit of carpet laid tomorrow. So, after some renovations that have been just completed (well, just about) and the new carpet, the place is looking different. We should have the garage cleared out soon and the kids are mad keen on having a garage sale so hopefully we'll be able to offload some stuff that is no longer needed.
I'm not going to promise to update shortly this time. I know that I was woefully negligent last time and don't want to build up false hopes (but I do hope to get around to it soon).
Bye for now.
Monday, April 20, 2009
We huv returned frum New Zuland
For those who did not know, we have just returned from an 8-night tour of the north island of New Zealand with the whole family and Alison's sister's family. If you click on the picture below and look carefully, I have roughly marked out our drive.
We had a great time and the kids especially enjoyed themselves. As I start to sort through the photos I'll put some up for you all to see. Here's a brief summary of what we got up to.
Wellington (1 night)
We flew into Wellington and stayed just one night. This was too short as it was a very pretty harbour city and we think that there was more around that we could have seen if we had the time. Highlights were the Chinese buffet (kids cost just their age, i.e. 8 yrs old = $8) and the Te Papa museum.
Napier (1 night)
We went north from Wellington, detoured through Martinborough and stopped after a long day's drive in Napier. The highlight here was the black rock beach at Napier and the short visit to Martinborough which had some nice wineries including one that had its premium label as 'The Great Harry' (no, we didn't get any, at $200/magnum it would want to be good...http://www.palliser.co.nz/n98.html)
Taupo (2 nights)
Taupo sits right on a large lake and was adventure city for us. We went bungy jumping into water (only some of us) and jet boating. The accommodation was great and there was plenty of grass and parks around for the kids to play cricket, touch and ride on a small train. The five kids put on a 'Harry Potter' play for us which kept the big people entertained. Highlights would be the bungy and jet boat.
Rotorua (3 nights)
Or as the kids had so much fun saying, 'Roto-sewer'. Despite the smell, we did have a good time in Rotorua. After a problem with our first night's accommodation, we found much nicer digs and settled in for a good stay. We had fun swimming in heated pools, visiting real live kiwis and riding a 'luge' down a big hill. Paul (my brother-in-law) and I even went sledging, which is like jumping on a plastic boogie board and swimming down rapids. Highlights here would be the cultural night where we were treated to a Maori ceremony and hungi, and either the luge or sledging. Having said that, the smell is the thing that will probably live longest in the children's minds.
Auckland (1 night)
Our final night was spent in a typical city apartment, overlooking a busy street with lots of noise. We were right across the street from a reverse bungy ride where passengers are strapped into a three-seat open-air pod and flung 50m or so into the air as they spin around. I think the latest I heard people screaming on this ride was 1am. Looking out the window was very entertaining as we also saw:
That's it for now but I will be back with photos soon.
We had a great time and the kids especially enjoyed themselves. As I start to sort through the photos I'll put some up for you all to see. Here's a brief summary of what we got up to.
Wellington (1 night)
We flew into Wellington and stayed just one night. This was too short as it was a very pretty harbour city and we think that there was more around that we could have seen if we had the time. Highlights were the Chinese buffet (kids cost just their age, i.e. 8 yrs old = $8) and the Te Papa museum.
Napier (1 night)
We went north from Wellington, detoured through Martinborough and stopped after a long day's drive in Napier. The highlight here was the black rock beach at Napier and the short visit to Martinborough which had some nice wineries including one that had its premium label as 'The Great Harry' (no, we didn't get any, at $200/magnum it would want to be good...http://www.palliser.co.nz/n98.html)
Taupo (2 nights)
Taupo sits right on a large lake and was adventure city for us. We went bungy jumping into water (only some of us) and jet boating. The accommodation was great and there was plenty of grass and parks around for the kids to play cricket, touch and ride on a small train. The five kids put on a 'Harry Potter' play for us which kept the big people entertained. Highlights would be the bungy and jet boat.
Rotorua (3 nights)
Or as the kids had so much fun saying, 'Roto-sewer'. Despite the smell, we did have a good time in Rotorua. After a problem with our first night's accommodation, we found much nicer digs and settled in for a good stay. We had fun swimming in heated pools, visiting real live kiwis and riding a 'luge' down a big hill. Paul (my brother-in-law) and I even went sledging, which is like jumping on a plastic boogie board and swimming down rapids. Highlights here would be the cultural night where we were treated to a Maori ceremony and hungi, and either the luge or sledging. Having said that, the smell is the thing that will probably live longest in the children's minds.
Auckland (1 night)
Our final night was spent in a typical city apartment, overlooking a busy street with lots of noise. We were right across the street from a reverse bungy ride where passengers are strapped into a three-seat open-air pod and flung 50m or so into the air as they spin around. I think the latest I heard people screaming on this ride was 1am. Looking out the window was very entertaining as we also saw:
- what we presumed was a guy out on his buck's night dressed in S&M gear pole dancing against a street sign to the crowd
- a group dressed as caveman dancing down the street, and
- the cops pulling over cars and doing a full body search of the driver and passengers on the street.
That's it for now but I will be back with photos soon.
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
More good results
Alison had another scan yesterday and the results were good again.
The main tumour in her liver is now 21mm, down from the 29mm last time and less than half the 50mm it was at late last year.
Other small tumours in the liver are now no longer visible, the tumour in her hip bone has not grown and there are no new growths visible.
We are all very happy as you could imagine! It was a big relief as Ali had been having some pain coming from the region near her liver so we were a bit concerned.
Onto the day to day life issues, Annelise had her interview with Girls Grammar today. We met with the head of Years 3-6 as part of the entry process.
Annelise was asked what she likes at school; 'art, drawing and playing with clay' was about all she could think of. She was then asked what makes her happy at school; 'not getting into trouble' was her response. I was starting to think we were getting into dangerous territory.
Next question was about what she doesn't like about school; 'stuff like maths and reading, I don't like reading books'. Ooops, not the best way to impress.
The winner though was yet to come. Annelise was asked whether there were any special areas that she was working on at school to do better; 'trying not to get into so many fights'.
At least the school will know that she was not coached to do and say the right things and that she is honest (mostly) and has spirit. We'll just have to wait and see what happens next.
Thanks to all for your good thoughts and wishes and I'll blog again in the next two weeks or so.
The main tumour in her liver is now 21mm, down from the 29mm last time and less than half the 50mm it was at late last year.
Other small tumours in the liver are now no longer visible, the tumour in her hip bone has not grown and there are no new growths visible.
We are all very happy as you could imagine! It was a big relief as Ali had been having some pain coming from the region near her liver so we were a bit concerned.
Onto the day to day life issues, Annelise had her interview with Girls Grammar today. We met with the head of Years 3-6 as part of the entry process.
Annelise was asked what she likes at school; 'art, drawing and playing with clay' was about all she could think of. She was then asked what makes her happy at school; 'not getting into trouble' was her response. I was starting to think we were getting into dangerous territory.
Next question was about what she doesn't like about school; 'stuff like maths and reading, I don't like reading books'. Ooops, not the best way to impress.
The winner though was yet to come. Annelise was asked whether there were any special areas that she was working on at school to do better; 'trying not to get into so many fights'.
At least the school will know that she was not coached to do and say the right things and that she is honest (mostly) and has spirit. We'll just have to wait and see what happens next.
Thanks to all for your good thoughts and wishes and I'll blog again in the next two weeks or so.
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