Mark's Stuff

Dear Connie, from the day we brought you home you were trouble. Deaf as a doornail, and barking at any and every other dog you saw. Fighting with Sam over food, and scratching almost right through our back door. But we loved you all the same. You will no longer meet me at the front door when I come home, and no longer be ready to jump onto a blanket or cushion as soon as someone else gets up. You have brought years of joy into our lives, and I hope we brought the same to yours.

Good bye, Connie. We will miss you.

Taking advantage of possibly one of the last real days of summer, we headed down for a day in Sorrento with Rob, Shal and the boys. The kids had an absolute ball all day, starting off with a friendly drag race. Despite the handicap of a trailerload of manky water and dead dragonflies, Bailey got off to a quick start and Pia never managed to make up the lost time.

Enough of this bike business, after lunch it was down to the beach to make Dad (aka Mark) & Dad (aka Rob) push the S.S Inflatable around the shallows while the kids bounced up and down with the waves. Should have taken a video of this, so when the kids are older we can ask for pay back!

And what’s a trip to the beach without building (and more importantly, demolishing) a few sand castles!

It looks like all the practice with her cart has paid off!
After a few attempts, Kirsty and I finally managed to catch Pia taking a few steps on camera! I reckon she’s been walking behind our back for a few days now, but we finally got her red-handed!

Kirsty, Pia and I took a couple of weeks off to chill camping in Gunbower State Forest near Torrumbarry on the Murray, and fulfilling my duty as a loving father took plenty of pics of Pia, and not too much else (Pics in my gallery), except maybe this local inhabitant chillin’ out too!

Pia still loves her broccoli, and eating in the great outdoors makes life easier for mum and dad coz we don’t have to worry about cleaning the floor after Pia decides that its fun to taste and toss.

Yes, yes, that’s a caravan in the background. We borrowed my parents’ van for the trip. Yes, we cheated. We weren’t really camping. But it was nice to have cupboards, hot water, and a freezer!

And when she’s not eating her veggies, she also loves to suck the goodness out of a juicy chop or steak. Or emptying out a bowl of pasta and bolognaise sauce just to see what happens. Usually ends up with a lap full of food and then a bit of a snack for the dogs.

Of course after tipping a bowl of bolognaise sauce over your head, its bath time! Although not entirely effective after splashing water all around the tub and picking up handfuls of mud to play with. But bath time’s not about getting clean, it’s about getting wet and having fun!

Just to prove that I can take pictures of subjects other than Pia, here’s Dion & Amanda’s son Jett after a covering his tummy with a a couple of slices worth of watermelon juice. Being a kid is all about getting dirty and not caring.

Pia’s not quite old enough to be a legal observer, so on the days when it was just the three of us we couldn’t do any real water skiing, but that doesn’t mean that Pia can’t start learning on dry land. Maybe she’ll start skiing before she starts walking.

Every day the temperature was in the mid to high 30′s, with a couple of days hitting 40, but probably the hottest day we had was the very last day we were up there. Just the right weather to be packing up in. Not! At least Pia and grandma were keeping eachother company in the little shade that was left after all the sunshades were taken down.

(and froop.net’s first video)

One of many presents from Pia’s first Christmas was her very first laptop, courtesy of grandpa. Other presents also included a Tupperware Shape-O, mobile phone, a dial phone, a set of wooden blocks, a fluffy puppy, a twisty abacus thingy, and you’ll have to ask her mum for the rest!

I figure now that since we have the technology, and now also the subject, I should start taking a few vids. Only short snippets, we all know how boring home videos can be!

So to start it off, here’s one of Pia playing with her laptop. Or is she just trying to tell us that she’s finished playing?