Joel had been practicing for his gym concert. They all had to appear in 'costume'. Joel turned up dressed at 'Jack Sparrow'.

We had such a fantastic holiday and it was great to catch up with everyone.
It will be a while until we return again, with us looking to build our house in 2008.
So it's back to reality, back to the summer and the beach.

The kids going crazy

Anne and John came down to Clare for our last few days.

Having a great time at the park

A nice picture of Toby

Libbie was desperate for Uncle Iain to take a photo of her shoes.... So there you are Libbie, your shoes are on the web!

I thought Mollie would miss the Australian weather, but it gave her the opportunity to increase her wardrobe.... women!

Back to Suffolk to meet up with Anita's family. It was great to catch up with the twins. Mollie and Joel had a great time. It was a shame it was cut short.

After two and a half years, we go back to see Iain's family.
Dad took me to see Leicester play and I was glad to see that nothing had changed - we are still sh*te !
It was great to see everyone and to see how quickly the kids are growing up - albeit a little heavy hearted to see what we are missing out on. Also, to see everyones glee knowing that Joel had a return ticket...

On to sunny Leicester.
After almost a week of running around Reading, we were off to visit the family back in Leicester.
Reading was tough in that there were far too many nice people and not enough time to see everyone, or see people more than once - so sorry to everyone who we would have loved to see more of - and a huge sigh of relief for those who had seen enough of us already :/

Anita back with her buddy

We were very lucky to be able to stay with Lindsey & Pete's mansion when we stayed in Reading.

Meeting up with Neil, Claire, Emilie & Jacob.

Since being in Australia, Mollie has always talked about missing her friends back in England.
It was great to see them playing in the garden with Matthew and William.

It was fantastic to meet up with Buscot Babies. Amazing to see how grown up everyone has become in the past two years.

On to Reading.
First stop was to meet up with Sarah, Mike, Emma & Lucy.
Poor Lucy had to spend an hour playing hide & seek with Mollie - with Mollie hiding in the same spot every time.

Mollie earning her keep - and there's a lot of lawn to mow...

On to England.
Our first stop was to Jackie & Andy's in Suffolk.
Our first weekend back, we got to see Thomas the Tank Engine - even having a ride on Thomas.

We also had time to explore Hong Kong

We stayed in the Disney hotel, which was fantastic.
After we had spent the day at the park we spent some time in the hotel and Donald turned up.
Joel wasn't too keen being hugged by a giant duck.

A nice picture in front of the Disney castle.

Mollie & Joel loved the 3D theatre. The movie was really good, with everyone getting wet as you are watching it.

HK Disneyland was really good, we had a great time.
The park is not as large as the parks in the US, but it still had the mandatory ride on the tea cups.

Joel too got behind the wheel - thankfully, there were no pedestrians for him to mow down.

Autopia, where Mollie got here driving licence.

Hong Kong Disneyland.
The first stop in our month off.
Everyone was looking forward to seeing Mickey Mouse - even if he did talk Cantonese!

I took us quite a while to get up and back down again, and we made it down just in time.

From the top - Palm Beach.
(Where they record Home and Away, so I'm told...)

Finally, we made it.
It was a long way up, but we did it.

The weather was really nice at the weekend, so we decided to scale Barrenjoey lighthouse, at the very top of the Northern Beaches.

Mollie's first solo ride.
For only the second time of riding her bike, Mollie realised that Daddy wasn't holding on, and never looked back!!!
This is her, on her second solo run.

Finally!
It's taken us a few months of searching around the Northern Beaches, but finally we have put pen to paper and purchased some land!
We were looking for an easier life, but this land is in a great area and is fairly close to the city and Manly beach.
All we need to do now, is build a house....




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16 days until we leave for Blighty. Can't wait!

I've never seen this, so was really excited to see what the plane was going to write.
Boy, was he a slow writer!
I think this sentence finished with "I've got it caught in my zipper!"
... I think.

Second day of Spring - Mummy's birthday.
A trip down to Watsons Bay, and the weather was great.

The local Cocky's.
We have loads of these hanging around our house and the funny thing is
that the cat is scared of them :D

Joel has really started to get into his swimming lessons
- especially now he has goggles like Mollie...

Joel's birthday.

Both Mollie and Joel had a great time on the quad bike and the scrambler.

The boys in the 'bush'.
We had a great time in the country, although Daddy was pleased to get back to some good old concrete and a mobile phone signal... :)

Mollie on Dolly. Mollie also had a great time and even tried trotting.

Joel enjoyed his riding lesson, albeit a little "bumpy".

The kids had a great time with all the animals.

As we are 'Billy no-mates', instead of having birthday parties, we decided to go north of Sydney and stay on a farm.

Joel's birthday at 'Day Care'.
Mummy made smiley face cakes for his class, which went down well.

Mollie had her school sports day and had great fun.

Don't judge the book by the cover... Joel did actually love this ride, just didn't want to show you guys!

Joel's favourite also.

For her birthday, Mollie wanted to go to Luna Park. The fair on the north shore.
One of the favourite rides, the carousel.