London Mob visit (1)

Somehow the London mob survived their 4 days of torrential rain in Sydney last week. They still got around, but often under duress. Visits from Ollie and an outing to the (undercover) zoo at Darling Harbour must have been a welcome distraction from the weather.

We were all so excited to see them arrive in Canberra on Friday - travelling in style from Sydney in a true blue Aussie UTE ..... and clear warm(ish) weather here to greet them!

The whole extended family met up on Friday night at our place - so much to celebrate - and also Angus's birthday. We were all beside ourselves to be together!!

It's been years since we were all together - but instantly it felt like we'd never been apart! Even the kids who were mostly too young to even remember the last time they'd met were instantly at home with each other.

Ivy took some of the best photos of the night ......

We ordered in some delicious food and spread out in our building's common room over dinner. Afterwards, Ivy kept us entertained with some of her best card tricks. This girl certainly knows how to hold an audience.

Back upstairs Angus played along with "Happy Birthday" time. Ollie delivered a beautiful brotherly speech - that this gorgeous young man so richly deserves ....

 

We ended off the night in characteristic fashion - with a hand stand-off (the last one was 7 and a half years ago in the back yard of that Airbnb in Randwick). Neither Davey nor Ella had lost their handstand schtick - although Ella could hold hers for much longer!

Ivy wasn't in the Randwick hand stand-off but she was certainly in the game in this one......

This was the absolute money shot of the night (thank you Angus). Such a happy, memorable, unforgettable night - our hearts are so full!!

Houses, horses and welcoming family

By some strange coincidence we have two family houses up for sale/auction at the moment. Rod's house at Jerrabomberra is being auctioned this coming weekend and our former house at Mawson is up for sale/auction two weeks later on the 6th September. 

It's exactly ten years since we sold our Mawson house and the same agent, Brett Hayman, handled that sale and the current one too (as well as Rod's house now!!). We're all hoping Brett can work his real estate magic and sell Rod's house easily and well this weekend.

In between trips back and forth to Coogee we were able to spend a few hours last weekend watching Abi and Sammy compete at Equestrian Park as members of the Canberra Lakes Pony Club - in two jumping events - the 70cm and 80cm.

Sammy is as cool as a cucumber travelling to, and competing in, pony club events these days.

He jumped well in the 70cm event but Abi said he was a bit "too lazy" and hard to get moving as fast as he usually runs. She said he was much better in the 80cm event and she was really happy with how he jumped and responded to her directions. 

We thought they both looked amazing in each event and over all those scary looking jumps!!

We're looking forward to more of these pony club days. They are great fun for us to be a part of too.

Last Monday it was back up to Coogee for two nights. We wanted to finesse a few things in the apartment before the arrival of the London branch of the family and shop for a few more odds and ends we needed to make the place home. We cooked our first proper meal on Tuesday night in our beautiful new kitchen. The first of many more to come, no doubt.

It was back to Canberra on Wednesday and another 3 nights there before heading back to Sydney again, ready to welcome the London mob for their 5 night stay in Coogee.

We arrived to unaccustomed sunny weather on Saturday. We took a late afternoon walk along the beachfront and admired the clarity of the winter light in this beautiful part of the world.

I sent these beach pics to Davey - by now the family had landed for their overnight stay in Singapore before the final leg to Sydney. We received this pic back from them ... happily checking out the amazing shopping and eating at Changi Airport Mall. We thought they looked amazingly fresh after that nightmare 16 hour leg from London-Singapore.

They landed in Sydney yesterday afternoon - a few minutes early and they were with us in Coogee, to much excitement, barely an hour later (betcha couldn't do that in London!). The London mob were still firing on all fours last night despite their jet lag as we did over all the foodie delights of Coogee Bay Road together.

Everyone slept well and we took advantage of clear weather(?) this morning, walking along the beachfront to our fave Barzura for a long brunch session together. 

 This girl already looks like she belongs in Coogee!

The rain started an hour or so after we settled in at Barzura and really started to pour......... just like it has been for the past month or so!!

Around noon Rob and I left the London mob to enjoy this rainy start to their Sydney stay. We drove back to sunny skies in Canberra with big hopes they can find things to do at the beach, in between heavy rain showers and cold winds!!! We'll really look forward to seeing them again in Canberra at the end of the week. 

Moving back in

The last week or so of July was an intensely busy and stressful time for us .... Rod's house went on the market which involved us in lots of paperwork and hands on action getting the house in top condition. We also moved Rod into his new home at Aranda (aged care) on Monday 28 July which involved doing hours of finance planning and analysis alongside some very stressful decision making and more paperwork. On some days we just wished this phase of this unexpected year could be over!!

But, in the meantime, our Coogee reno is finished - and thankfully, (and joyfully) we were able to move back in last week - over 5 very wet, windy and cold winter days in Sydney.

We achieved so much in these 5 days - doing a complete clean and unpack, ordering (and having installed) new kitchen blinds and getting a sleek new fridge delivered. We are so thrilled with the outcome and grateful to neighbour Greg who oversaw and managed the whole 4 and a half month long project along with his team of talented tradies. We think it all looks beautiful - and we could not be happier with our new Coogee apartment!

As a final surprise Greg restored the brass doorknob on the bathroom door to its original glory for us - a sign of the old alongside the brand new.

We've worked out its been over seven years since we've been truly "at home" in our Coogee apartment. We moved everything out in April 2018 so we could rent it for a few years (and use the rental income to fund this renovation). We ended up renting it for longer than intended due to all the pandemic lockdowns in 2020 -2021, so it wasn't until September 2022 that our tenants moved out and we could move back in - ready to get the planned renovations underway as soon as possible. 

That didn't happen as it turned out as 2023 was a crazy year for finding available tradesmen and building materials, and our builder Greg had a serious workplace accident and was out of action for MONTHS. By 2024 we all got distracted by the disruptions (and damage) caused by our major window replacement project and Greg's own bathroom renovation in the unit next door. 

After all these delays it almost came as a shock when Greg announced he was ready to start our job at the beginning of this year. So its been a full seven and a half years since we've been able to really think of our little Coogee place as "home". It's been nice to zhoosh up our other rooms in the apartment as part of the process too.

In amongst our stressful days leading up to the 28th (and Rod's move to Aranda) our zygocactus plants in the winter garden decided to have their best flowering season in as many years. They are such hardy plants.  Hopefully its a sign of better times ahead for all of us.