Welcome, 2009!

The week between Christmas and New Year was a busy time for us.

Not only did we have Margaret staying with us, Dad also decided to join us for a few days before driving back to Qld (via Canberra). And he brought the family Xmas present down - a Wii!

The girls love Wii-ing. Jemima spent three hours one afternoon practising her bowling, batting, skiing, ski jumping, snowboarding...... and hula hooping. Dad has the video. I managed to get on it one morning and score the top three records for most of the games - just as an incentive for Caitlin to beat me!! And she has.



Dad did a lot of work on our computer whilst he was down here. I no longer have any of the familiar programs, he installed "better" ones that I'm getting used to gradually. And he took away a lot of the crap that had been sitting on the machine since the day we bought it (about 5 years ago). But it's working a lot quicker these days!



I had the misfortune of having to work days during this week, but Michael ably entertained Dad by driving him around the countryside and making regular stops at the pub for watering. Michael allegedly suggested that they drive out to Merino to see the ghost town, Dad told him not to bother because it was just "more hills".

We all had dinner at the pub on New Year's Eve. We were also joined by Unclepeterrice, as Mim calls him. Dinner and a show, Coleraine style again. Michael ordered the crumbed scotch fillet, it had to come out on two plates (plus a third plate for Michael to get his vegies on).

Michael's meal

The music was loud and very country, but apart from that, it wasn't too bad. I was the designated driver that night, so I dropped Margaret, Caitlin and Dad home around 10.30pm. Mim, Michael and Rice were still playing. By the time I got back to the pub (11.30), Mim had migrated upstairs to "the girls" and Rice was being chatted up by a salsa dancing nurse. Really wish my camera had batteries working then! We saw the new year in and finally persuaded Mim to leave around 1.30am.

Poppy, not looking happy with the music

Ready, aim
fire!

The next day we bid farewell to both Dad and Rice and the house seemed a lot quieter after that.