A day at Manly

Today was Louise's Christmas Dive day.

So up early and off to Manly. Weather was looking good (28degrees, little cloud).

Louise had two good shore dives with SydneyDive, whilst we went for a walk down the Corso at Manly, and off to the beach (then because the sun was getting far to hot for sensitive skin), back to the Corso for lunch.

Where the smell came from

Well, we discovered where the smell was coming from - raw sewage was bubbling up from an drain access point near the bottom of the garden - given the way it "bubbled" up suggested a blockage (I put the lid on, and weighted it down with 20Litres of liquid chlorine!)

So, off to the list of tradies, and our recently obtained plumber (who is actually a drain specialist).

Yes, it was blocked, and yes it is likely to block again - tree roots have penetrated the pipe. What isn't clear is if the blocking point is on our pipe or Sydney Water's part - that is going to take another visit and a camera.

Joy.

Off to the sales now.

Boxing Day gardening

Louise spent most of today filling up the neighbour's WheelyBin with bits of the garden.

We were going to go into the pool at the end of the day, but the kids had a late sleep and by the time they were up, it was a bit late, and nearly dinner time!

We did discover an interesting smell though...

Christmas Day

Back at home now after Christmas lunch/dinner with friends, at friends.


Amelia and Callum were generous enough to wait until 7am before getting up (later than normal!), which was nice. Then time to open a couple of presents that Santa brought (oh look, Santa ate the jelly and dranks the beer that we left for 'him').

Callum isn't sure about the whole opening thing - Amelia has no doubts.

Then some breakie and more opening gifts. Then bathtime, and time to make the salad and start packing for going to lunch.

Lunch was good, with prawns, ham, bbq'd swordfish, salads, pinapple desert and christmas pud and custard. The weather was cold though - only about 20 degrees.

Both the kids were sparko by the time we got home (I drove) - Louise wasn't far behind :-)

Amelia's birthday, and a social event in the evening

Today was Amelia's 3rd birthday, and our first social event since moving to Latona Street - it was the yearly xmas street bbq (at the house on the corner - not in the street!).

Everyone bought a plate and it was interesting to meet our neighbours and introduce ourselves.

A busy week

Well, that was a busy week - lots of stuff at work with one possible new customer, and then a last minute trip to Melbourne yesterday, followed by a days worth of presentations today at Parramatta.

then off to the roofbar in the CBD for the staff xmas party.

(train home, and a 35 minute walk [mostly down hill] from Pymble Station)

OOO - Hail

That was interesting/scary! Hail storm whilst we were out in the car - stones about 2cm across. Although not as big as they got in some suburbs!

WildLife

Interestingly, Pymble seems to have much more wildlife than St ives did. At night we can hear the bugs chirping, some sort of lizard growling (every night!), and the mossies have shreded me every time I go to put rubish out once it is dark.

And then there are the spiders.

I've nearly walking to a particularly nasty looking one (only about 10cm across) that had built a web during the evening, between the car, the house, and the bins. He was sitting a little above my head height...

And then there was the little huntsman on the car. (little meaning only about 20cm across at the widest part)

We were driving (ok, Louise, was driving) to the shopping centre to do some xmas shopping (eg get pics of the kids with Santa) - suddenly Louise squealls! She's seen a big spider on the rear window, and doesn't know if it is inside or outside the car!!

We park at the shopping centre - Amelia tells us the spider is hiding on her door. Why? I look in the side mirror on myside - there is a large spider sitting on the the door frame above amelia (outside!) - legs hanging on the window. Louise gets out the drivers side. So do I!

It runs around the car - over the windscreen and more.

Doesn't stop it getting flicked off the wingmirror by the bit of plastic I've found though.

Not that I don't like spiders...

been busy - still moving in

sorry for the lack of posts - as you might expect we are still unpacking boxes, and trying to find where stuff is hidden away