Remebering Nanna

Today is Nanna French's 100th birthday. Unfortunately she passed away on 17th June 1996. I have happy memories of staying with Nan and Pop on their farm in Northam and having to listen to "Blue Hills" on the radio every lunch time. Nanna liked to dress nicely, play bowls and travel the world (which she did). I am a proud quarter share owner of some of the teatowels she collected on those travels.

But my fondest memory of her is she ALWAYS got her makeup compact out and powdered her nose (wish I had a photo).

She was a very proud Great Nanna and we are lucky to have this photo of the 4 generations...

Bon Voyage

After months (maybe even years) of planning the day had finally arrived for us to all bid farewell to Nicole and Ant for their 4 month holiday overseas. We took Nicole to Perth along with her boyfriend Daniel. Janelle met us there. First thing was for Nicole to sort out a new lock for her backpack as we couldn't unlock the one on it (lucky this was sorted out before they went!)...

Quite a few of their friends and Ant's parents had also come to the airport and we all had lunch at Dome (not the best food). A few photos...


Then it was time for lots of hugs and tears as we all said our goodbyes...



And off they went...
Arriving safely in Milan Italy via Singapore 24 hours later.

Happy 70th Birthday

Today is Dad's 70th birthday!! A brief look at his journey...


Happy 70th Birthday Dad and Pop - Lots of Love from all the family!

Celebrating 70 Years

On Easter Saturday we surprised Dad with a lunch to celebrate his 70th birthday. We took him to the restaurant Catch 22 in Mandurah where we were joined by his sister Carol from Canberra and his 2 brothers and various inlaws and Rodney, Julie, Lisa and Toby.

I finally got to give him the photobook I had made...

And the quilt...After a lovely meal we had birthday cake...

Some photos... the Grandies...

Siblings - Rex, Carol and Neil...

It was a most enjoyable day and one we are sure Dad will long remember.

Easter and Anzac Day Long Weekend

With Easter Monday falling on ANZAC day this year we got an extended 5 day Easter break. It was a busy time for us - here's what we got up to... First up was the traditional Good Friday breakfast of loads of yummy hot cross buns. Janelle arrived from Perth mid morning. In the afternoon we took a drive out to Gnomesville in the Ferguson Valley. We hadn't been out there for a while and were very surprised at the increase of the Gnome population...


That night Nicole had a "Pimps and Hoes" party at her house as a farewell to her and Ant. We were allowed to take some photos of them dressed up before it got too messy...Nicole was "Nurse Feelgood"...

With new boyfriend Daniel...They all had a great night.

On Saturday we all travelled to Mandurah for a surprise early 70th birthday celebration for Dad.We had a lovely day with extended family members at Catch 22 restaurant.
Easter Sunday started with a yummy bacon and egg brekky followed by our annual easter egg hunt (yes they still argue about who has the most!)...

In the afternoon Dad took Sarah and I Geocaching. We went out near Dalyellup and followed all Dad's directions and found nothing, look at the expression of frustration...

It was a nice stroll in the bush anyway... Janelle travelled back to Perth mid afternoon.We had a scrabble challenge that evening with Sarah the winner...

She scored big with word "Laze".

Only Janelle managed to get out of bed early to attend the dawn ANZAC service in Perth which she really enjoyed. Dad, Peter and I went to the 11am one here...

There was a great turnout and its always nice to pay your respects.
After lunch we went over to Busselton to see Mum and Dad J and have afternoon tea with them. Dad J got his medals out he had received from his time with the Air Force in Darwin in the 1940's...


On Tuesday Dad went to Perth to attend a cousins reunion and Peter and I went back to Mandurah to have lunch and a catch up with Loise and Glen. We went back to Catch 22. A very nice long weekend.