I've just signed off the purchase of my new Ducati 1098! YAH!




The only problem is that in reality it's not a Ducati I have actually purchased, but a garden retaining wall which costs the same as a Ducati 1098! For a garden wall!!! I could cry...

The start of my Ducati:

Not a huge amount of progress again this week. We have had a lot of rain during the week and the excavation guys don't like to get their diggers dirty.

Not sure what happened to the summer, it has done nothing but rain for the past five days and progress has been slow. It's been a bad week, with some unexpected and rather large bills being found, which always happens - we just hope there aren't too many more...

Progress on the house has been good, although it's been a bit warm for the guys on site.

No really, pinch me...

It has been 18 months since our offer was accepted on the block of land and finally after we successfully defeated Dr Evil (Warringah Council - see early postings) we are ....
FINALLY STARTING TO BUILD OUR HOUSE!!!!! YAH!

First step was to start clearing the land.

Unfortunately our carbon footprint has gone through the roof, with the removal off all trees on the site. Unfortunately, we couldn't keep any of them. But Mollie has been given the task of choosing and growing the replacements.

Pinch me, is it really happening?

Joel's first day at school. It all went smoothly, with no tears.
The hardest part was to stop Mum doing kart wheels through the playground!

During the summer holidays Anita, Mollie and Joel got fly back to Perth and visit friends.

Being English I still struggle with New Years Day on the beach... Happy New Year.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

We all hope you have a healthy and happy year. I plan to. :)

Any opportunity to hit the water.

Likewise anyone with a boat set anchor in the harbour to get a good view of the fireworks.

New Years Eve.
Mollie wanted to test out her new Heelys and so we went to Taronga zoo for the day.

Christmas lunch at Maria and Andy's in Seaforth. The weather was great and so it was lunch outside and the afternoon in the pool.

Likewise, Santa understood Joel's obsession with Mario Kart and got him mini karts with all the characters. Another happy customer for Santa.

Christmas Day.
Writing to Santa obviously works! Mollie got her requested turtles - how good is that! :)

Ms. Stella and Ms. Roberts, who Joel will miss.

Joel's Graduation.
At the carol concert Joel had his graduation, with it being his last week at daycare before going to school in January.

Joel's Christmas concert.
To get everyone into the Christmas spirit, Joel's daycare had a carol concert, a party and a visit from Santa.

Finally, Dr Evil (Warringah council) has been defeated.
We now have planning approval on our application and so have the green light to start, well almost.

Just when our local council thought they had the upper hand, with their evil plans to rid the Northern Beaches of new houses.... We have our own "laser" in the form of a lawyer who says we have a rock solid case and has threatened legal action against Dr Evil and his evil henchmen the Development Application team.

One of Anita's friends Emma came over from Perth for a long weekend and some serious shopping!