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Stop Press - February 2009 Check out first pictures of wee James, our new arrival! Thank you so much for all your kind messages and gifts! Flick's birthday was somewhat overshadowed, but we managed a small gathering the day after she returned from hospital with Granny Susan (over from New Zealand to help out for a few weeks), Uncle Esko (also over with his work), Helen, Mark, Pam and Aki her Japanese boarder.
January 2009 In our last update we forgot to mention that we are expecting again! Charlie's baby sibling is due in February - sorry if you're only finding out now. We left you last time with scenes from Charlie's first birthday party in August. Later in August Charlie and Dave headed across the ditch to see the grand parents and - in Dave's case - attend a reunion marking 20 years since the inception of the New Zealand Debt Management Office, a unit of The Treasury that Dave worked in for nearly six years, partly while he was also completing his under-grad studies. It was great to see many old faces and realise how broad and accomplished the DMO's diaspora has become. Meanwhile Charlie had a ball and enjoyed sleeping in his little Kindercot tent bed.
Just as well, because a couple of weeks (and in Dave's case a trip to Perth) later we were off on our six week round the world extravaganza, visiting friends, sight seeing and doing a spot of work in Singapore, London, Northern Ireland, Paris, New York, Ottawa, Toronto and Hong Kong. Thanks heaps to everyone we imposed upon, especially Lara, JP & Alicia, Roger & Karen, Neil & Jude and James & Corinne. Check out the trip web site here. Back in terra Australis in mid October we helped our friends Pam and Mark celebrate their thirtieth birthdays at a groovy disco themed party.
And then the effects of the credit crunch really started flowing through the property industry and projects started drying up for Dave's work. This meant he has had to work harder than usual turning over more stones to find a decreasing number of often fairly anemic worms (that's a metaphor by the way). So work-wise it's been a bit grim, with no sign of improvement in the first half of '09. Having said that, every cloud has a silver lining and there are still opportunities out there. For example, the week before Christmas Dave had an unexpected trip to New Zealand to kick off a small project with the BNZ. Very useful for delivering Christmas cards and late presents and seeing a few family and friends: On the other hand, Flick's Learning Ladder business (which she joined in July) has flourished, with her racking up the fifth highest direct sales figures in NSW in both October and November. She's really enjoying representing a quality product that sells itself (a range of children's books and educational games from Puffin, Penguin, Ladybird and Doreen Kindersely). Due to our impending arrival she's taking a break in Q1 '09 and then hopes to build up a team of sales advisers under her to start leveraging the opportunity. Since the last update, new congratulations go to:
Also to Bret & Hannah for their impending family addition.
On the social front, we've had visits from Susan, Ken and (briefly) Esko, been entertained by various friends (including a fabulous degustation feast at Pam & Mark's) and have hosted a few minor gatherings at our place.
We stayed in Sydney for the Christmas / New Year break but went "away" to Toby and Diane's for a most excellent surrogate family Christmas. We stayed with them on both Christmas Eve and Day so that Charlie could get a better understanding of what it's all about from Dominic and Celia, while we could enjoy ourselves without having to drive home. Diane and Flick planned and executed an amazing menu including one of the best hams ever. Raja the new Asiatic Leopard kitten was very cute.
We've also had excursions to Bundeena to see Bridgette and Gary (great beach bordering the national park, sumptuous barbecue lunch featuring beef, lamb, pork, ham and turkey and fabulous wines from Gary's Yarraman Estate winery), Carlton to dine with Des and Greg, Avalon to see Michelle, David and baby Joe (from Flick's mothers' group) and an overnighter to Newcastle to stay and play with Tina and Indy in their wonderful art deco, beach facing apartment. We saw in the New Year quietly, waking up Charlie and heading down with a few neighbours to watch the local Manly 9pm fireworks. After an ice cream we were in bed by 10:30.
Due to Flick's condition we brought forward our annual Cecil St Cinema, which featured the crowd pleasing, toe tapping, sing-a-long-ing Mamma Mia. Pam also organised a baby shower for Flick - much smaller than the last one and a lovely afternoon on the deck for those concerned. Thanks Pam!
All the best,
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