Myan and Den seem to be settling into the Australian way of life!
To be fair to my Mother-in-law I should probably tell you that it is 10.30am and she has already got the washing machine on full throttle, swept the kitchen floor and brought the kids out for a cycle.
This is the only way I could think of to keep her sitting in the one place for more than 30 seconds!
My second tooth came out tonight! There is a hole in my gum now. I will put it in my special cushion that has a pocket for the tooth fairy. I want to see her. My first tooth I wanted to see her and she left me $2 and 5cents and a picture of her. One more tooth is wobbly but it isn't ready to come out yet. I will tell you when it comes out!
Love from Rhiannon xoxo
Gareth's pre-school had a special fancy-dress day today; they had to dress up as super-heroes.
Luckily, Gar has a brilliant superman costume complete with a six-pack stomach built in, just like his Dad...
It was a bit hot to wear it all the time, but he certainly made the most of it and was really chuffed to show off his muscles all day.
Together with his "super-friend" Owen, he was flying around rescuing everybody...
Today has been a much more relaxed day for everyone. Myan and Den spent most of the morning on the deck outside being topped up with tea and coffee, while watching the wildlife and reading magazines.
It was fairly hot today, it reached 40 degrees at one stage so keeping cool was a good idea!
Just before it got dark, we decided to take the small trip down to Nobby's Beach, it's a great beach with a superb lighthouse nearby. The kids splashed around as usual and romance was definitely in the air....must be the sea air !
It will be Annes birthday later this week but she will be in Sydney cheering on Kel in a pistol shooting competition. Our kids love any excuse for a party and some cake so we decided to celebrate a bit early.
Sian made the cake almost entirely herself (it was a Cadburys chocolate box mix!) and apart from cracking one of the eggs onto the kitchen floor I think she did a wonderful job!
Gareth was so excited about giving her one of her presents that he had helped to buy. It was a craft hammer that I had carefully wrapped up in thin pink tissue paper so that you could see exactly what shape it was! Anne did a wonderful job of "wondering" what it could be but of course Gareth couldn't contain his excitement and shouted "It's a hammer!" Well done Anne for looking so amazed and surprised!
At last.
Rhiannon has battled long and hard to get her first visit from the Tooth Fairy. After much wiggling and twisting and threats of getting Uncle Huw to wrap string around it she managed to pull it out herself.
On Friday afternoon there was a school disco. My friend Jemma brought me there!
At the disco we got a little easter egg and drink free! Me, Jemma, Belle, Maddie and Isabella all danced together and had lots of fun.
We almost danced all night! There were lots of songs. My favourite one was loveshack.
At the end of the disco Jemma's dad (Mark!) helped clean up.
While we were waiting we played with some boys,we had some running races and sliding games!
It was one of my favourite day's hanging with
my friends!
Here are some more photos of Myan and Den's first couple of days here in Australia...
Kilaben Bay Jetty:
Grandad and Rhiannon:
Sian wearing Gina's hat (suits her better!):
Gareth up a gum tree:
Byron on a Sunday (unshaven):
We have had another exciting day with Myan and Den today. Byron and myself talked before they came over and agreed it would be best to let them have a relaxing holiday, not trying to do too many things in any one day- after all we have three weeks to show them around.... I think in the excitement of having them here he has totally forgotten our conversation! 
He brought them on a walk early this morning to the local park and jetty in Kilaben Bay. Then on to Blackbutt for a big picnic lunch where we showed them the Koalas and kangaroos on another nice long walk around the reserve. In the car on the way home he detoured to a beach where we went for another walk in very fresh and 
bracing wind!
Just when we thought we were finally on the way home, he yet again detoured to a lovely boat club in Belmont so we could have fish and chips overlooking the yachts bobbing around on the lake! The kids were so exhausted when we finally got home that they were bathed and in bed within half an hour and Byron and his folks are crashed out on the sofa! It's only 8pm and I can't see tonight being a late one!!! 
I bought some bird seed yesterday that can be hung from a tree to feed the smaller birds. I thought it might last a couple of weeks....
Woke up at 6am this morning to eight Cockateels going mad eating it! What a noise! I creeped out the back door in my pj's with camera in hand to try to take a picture. Found myself face to face with our neighbours staring at the birds in amazement. Or maybe their surprised faces were more due to my attractive just-fallen-out-of-bed hairstyle!
The cockateels weren't fazed by my walking up to them and just kept eating until every scrap of the seed was gone. It certainly makes a change from feeding the ducks down the park!
It's Saturday and we have just spent our first day with Myan and Den. They arrived late last night, had a great nights sleep and were woken up bright and early by three very excited grand-kids! What a way to get over your jet-lag! We had a very relaxing breakfast out on the deck. Byron did a great bacon and eggs on the barbie. We brought them to see the block of land we will be building on, introduced them to the neighbours and then went for lunch in a local cafe. We went for a walk along the lake in nearby Warners Bay and had some ice-creams that melted faster than we could lick them! The kids are in the bath and hopefully on their way to bed and we are looking forward to some lamb on the barbie and a bottle of wine (or two!)
As I type Myan and Den Baynham are flying across the world to join us here in Oz for three weeks. Anyone who knows Myan will know that she is a clean-a-holic! So in preparation for her arrival this house is being scrubbed to within an inch of its life! Nothing is safe....not even the teddies!!!
Gareth has never enjoyed having his hair cut. In fact it usually means Byron grabbing Gareths head between his hands and holding him down while I run the clippers over a screaming, crying scarred-for-life child.
When we arrived here in Oz we noticed that none of the little boys around had short cropped hair and most of them had a real mop on their heads. Apparently if they ever see a little boy with a very short hair cut it is assumed they had nits! As you know we are embracing this new culture and so Gar has had 6 months of freedom from the dreaded clippers. We finally decided he needed a trim when his fringe grew down past his eyes! We thought he should have a proper scissors and comb haircut and asked Anne if she would oblige. We didn't really tell her how much he would hate it, we thought we would just throw her in the deep end!
Anyway, we sat him on a barstool out on Annes balcony so he could watch the rainbow lorikeets flying back and forth to the bird feeder. We stood back and waited for the screams as Anne approached with the scissors..... Nothing happened! He laughed and sang nursery rhymes and chatted about the birds! Result!!! He can now see again just in time for Nanny and Grandads visit over from Wales this weekend! Thanks Anne!
We have been here for almost six months now. We have survived our first Australian summer (with the help of air-con!) Now that it is Autumn and the weather is cooling down we decided we should put back together the family bikes. With much cursing and dropping of spanners all bikes have now got two wheels fixed back on. I was wondering how I would get on with Gareth sitting in the child seat on the back of my bike as he is heavier than Rhiannon! After I dropped the girls to school this morning we had a test cycle along a long straight road with tarmac as smooth as silk. Gar loved it and kept up a running commentary of what he could see. As the road started to climb slightly and my speed dropped Gareth kept shouting "Faster! Faster! Faster!" It wasn't long before my legs were screaming out for mercy and we turned around and free wheeled home. It was very enjoyable but something tells me either I need to get fitter or Gar needs to learn to cycle his own bike!
Ok, this isn't funny anymore.
Last night was cool, but this morning? Whoah there...
We've an air-conditioning unit that also has a setting to blow 'warm' air and I honestly never thought we'd use it.
"It's chilly Dad"
"Bloody hell Mr B!"
"You're house is cold Byron"
I get the hint, so reluctantly I turned on the reverse cycle air-con and it seemed to work. Seems like the cold snap has coincided with the clocks going back last night.
Absolutely determined to ignore any sign of cold weather, I still refuse to wear socks or long trousers and proceed to cook breakfast on the bbq. What a martyr.
