Christmas Over for another year

The kids got spoilt yet again. Our Christmas started on Christmas Eve with lunch at Rohan and Wanda's (my brother and sister in law). We did the usual, each family packed their own picnic lunch, and each supplied some nibblies. Of course there was way too much to eat but you just never know when to stop. The kids unwrapped their presents before lunch and that was over as quick as it started, but at least they had their new toys to play with. It was very relaxing sitting out under their pergola, chatting and laughing while the kids played. Lochy, as usual did an excellent job of entertaining Bailey. Bailey just idolises Lochy. They spent most of their time on the trampoline. Bailey would jump off it and Lochy would have to get off to help him back on.

This year we had Christmas morning at home. It was nice waking up in the comfort of my own bed rather than the caravan and opening the presents on the comfortable (warm) lounge room floor instead of the cold hard annexe. The kids were very excited unwrapping everything Santa brought them, even the stocking pressies were wrapped. Then Adrian's parents came for lunch. We handed out more presents then had a yummy roast dinner of beef cooked in red wine, ham and chicken, followed by the traditional plum pudding and brandy custard. It was very relaxing remaining indoors on such a cold Christmas day and not having to go anywhere else.

They got way too many presents to mention so I won't. Micayla's favourite was the Polly Pockets Quick Clix Limo and the Over the Hedge DVD and Bailey's is the Thomas the Tank tracks, puzzle and Cars DVD. Of course they got lots of lollies, which are nearly all gone.

The Hunter Valley Gardens

Here are the photos of the Gardens. The explanation of our visit is below in the Iscar Christmas in the Hunter Valley Post.
The Oriental Gardens
Then from the Story Book Gardens
Hansel and Gretal Mad Hatters Tea Party from Alice in Wonderland. Of course Darren is MAD too!
Jack and Jill Humpty Dumpty Waterfall The Rose Garden/Expressions of Love

More photos of the Murder Mystery

Check the post 'Iscar Christmas in the Hunter Valley for more photos

Photos of Iscar Olympics

These photos didn't work in the other post. Read below for more information about these photos.

Iscar Christmas in the Hunter Valley

After dropping the kids off to Adrian's parents on the Thursday night, we left home at 5.00am Friday morning to catch a plane to Newcastle and then a bus to the Hunter Valley. We stayed at the Tallawantha Lodge at the Hunter Valley Gardens.

The boys went into Iscartech (conference) all day Friday while the wives and partners went out to lunch, wine tasting, a bit of shopping and some of them went off for the "fluffy" (as they called it) afternoon having massages.

Friday evening was a BBQ smorgasbord on the Shiraz Terrace. It wasn't a late night for me. I was shattered from some late nights previously and an early morning. At about 9.30pm I went back to my room for a luxurious bath with a hot chocolate. The bathroom was very inviting. The bath was a large oval, sunken, under a glass roof with a rock tiled wall. Just gorgeous.

Saturday morning was the Iscar Olympics out on the oval. The teams rotated around playing Volleyball, Bocce (spelling???), Croquet, and racing on skies and building towers. I didn't play because I was still recovering from surgery but I umpired.

After lunch we went for a walk through the Hunter Valley Gardens with Darren and Mel. Darren's arm was twisted to be there. I was really impressed with the gardens, there was a lot to see and they were very well kept.

After the walk in the gardens, Mel and I went on a winery tour with the rest of the Iscar employees and partners, but Adrian, Darren and Phil chose to stay behind and drink beer in the spa. When we returned we could hear them laughing from our rooms. Then I wished I had've stayed behind with them, they sound like they were having a great time. But I did have a great time on the winery tour and bought myself a nice bottle of red from Ivanhoe Vineyard. We also visited Lindermans. The guys running the tour were very entertaining. I think they were still drunk from their Christmas party the night before.

Then it was Saturday evening and we got ourselves all dressed up in 1920's costume for a Murder Mystery evening. We had to answer trivia questions and do silly things to gain more clues. One of the tasks was a girl from each table had to get on the dance floor and perform a dance. Mel ordered me to get up there and she put a chair out on the floor for me. There was no getting out of it so I got up and did a bit of a lap dance on the chair. There was lots of cheering and Adrian missed it. At least I gained us some extra clues; one of them sealed it for us. We ended up solving the murder correctly along with 2 other tables. After the murder mystery was over they put on the karaoke. I was disappointed by this, I just wanted to dance and not to a couple of people singing badly into the mic. So I figured if we had to listen to karaoke then we all might as well get involved. So I suggested to Jason (the boss) to make everyone join in by having a play off against states. Instead it was a playoff between tables, with us being the first. I guess seeing that I suggested it I had to get up and do it. It ended up being a great success with lots of groups getting up and of course Victoria had to get up and perform 'We are the Champions'. A couple of other songs I can remember doing were The Proclaimers, 500 miles and Rednex, Cotton Eye Joe. This one got everyone up dancing. We had a ball and the last 5 minutes of the night was just dancing. Adrian and I got up and did the 'Jive'. Well so called anyway, Adrian knew what he was doing but I had no idea. He was giving me a crash course on the Jive right there on the dance floor. It didn't matter if I made a fool of myself because I was having fun, and had a few too many red wines anyway.
Is that a gun in your pocket, or .....................?

A Gift for Carrie

This is what I made for Micayla to give to her Prep Grade teacher for Christmas.

Thank you to Simmi (Ribbon Palace) for the supply of the beautiful ribbons. Thanks also forthe loan of your paint.

Dancing Diva

Micayla performed in her dancing concert for Dancing Diva on Sunday 10th December. It was an early start. Had to be up early to do her hair and make up and have her in Noble Park in time for 9.30am dress rehersal. We were in the audience for the 11.30am concert where she showed us what she'd been practicing all year with her 'funk' and 'tap'. She did her 'funk' to Kylie Minogue's 'Better the Devil You Know' and her tap to 'YMCA'. We were all so very proud of her and she looked so cute up on stage in her little costumes.

Thanks to Oma, Opa, Erwin, Kerri, Jordan, David, Laura, Kaytie, Tania, Nathan, Mitchell and Jaeda for coming along to support her, even though we were stifling in the heat. The temperature that day rose to 45 degrees and there was no air conditioning where we were. Her Nanny and Poppy were supposed to come but mum injured her back so sadly they couldn't come all the way down from Ballarat. They have a special little gift to give her though.

Micayla then had to perform in a second concert at 1.00pm, which we didn't have tickets for. The others all went home to the cooling while I sat and waited for her to finish. During this time I went out to buy Micayla a long stem red rose. She was so thrilled she kept saying "thank you" for days.

Here are some pictures to share. Unfortunately the pink outfit shots are a bit dark.

Another Prize!

I won the monthly challenge at my lss. It was a layout (which was open to interpretation) for "Song Titles". I entered my candle holder, which was actually my entry into the Scrapbooking Memories Masters. The website for the lss is www.artypants.com.au. Check out next months challenge for "Doodling" and have a go yourself. I can't wait to spend my $20 voucher.

Thanks to all involved in choosing my entry as the winner and thanks to Artypants for offering the prize.

Here is what won. The photos are of my wedding and are printed on vellum, so that the flame can be seen through the photo (if you were to light the candle, which I wouldn't). The candle has the title "You light up my life".