Somebody pinch me !!

Ok - 2 weeks ago we got this......

And then last Wednesday, we got this:

We were a lot shocked....!!
We are happy, but numb!! Still getting used to the idea!

Today I am 9w 1d. Due 2nd Sept :) Which happens to be Father's Day! We have a Christmas Baby and a Mother's Day baby so this is only fitting!

Just hope this little critter stays put......

* Princess Isabella's Party *

Today Isabella had her 5th birthday party. We always wait until after the new year to have her party as the silly season seems to have tapered off a little!


Isabella asked for a princess party with a castle cake this year. Naturally, I didn't expect anything else!

She also made it quite clear that she didn't want any boys at her party this year... quite clear on that. But I did manage to persuade her to invite one other little boy so the twin brother of one of her closest friends had someone to play with! Then of course there were the younger siblings so there ended up being a handful of boys anyway. All up I think we had 25 kids here....! What was I thinking!

It was a fun day and all the kids seemed to have a lot of fun. Despite the skies going very dark right on start time and a couple of bouts of rain fall. The kids didn't care and when it stopped raining they were back in the yard. And of course, right at end time the sun came out! LOL


The kids played pin the horn on the unicorn, pass the parcel and we also battled with a pinata that didn't want to bust!! With a bit of help from Dad we finally bust it! (Although I had to hold it in the end as the first thing to break was the hanger!).


The castle cake was fun to do! Took me all night to decorate but it was worth it... I love dabbling in novelty cakes. Isabella's face in the morning made it worth it too. She couldn't believe it was for her!



After a busy day we sent all the kids home 'sugared up' and put Bella and Alex to bed early, and Rick and I weren't far behind!

Swimming with Dolphins

Today, Rick and I drove down to Sorrento so we could go on a Polperro Dophin Swim~! I bought him a voucher last christmas and we hadn't had the chance to go down until today. It was a struggle to drop the kids at my sister's house and get to the pier by 8.00 but we *just* made it!

We boarded the boat and made our way out into Port Phillip Bay. It was a beautiful 35 deg day but with a lovely sea breeze so we weren't hot at all while on the boat. The first destination we arrived at didn't have any dolphins but we did see 3 great big fur seals casually playing in the water! They let the swim ropes out and everyone jumped in to get closer. They stopped the boat and everyone could swim over to the seals and float around them. It was great! Rick swam between them and they just carried on doing their thing. I couldn't believe how big they were!


I didn't swim today but instead opted to 'observe' on the deck of the boat so I could take video footage and photos. As it turned out, this was ideal as everyone in the water missed getting photos!


We then went to a new location where we found dolphins! It was amazing to see them in the wild! There were only 2 or 3 here but the swimmers still managed to get close to them and see them swimming below and alongside them. After about 10 minutes they moved on and so did we.


We went to another location and fortunately were inundated with a whole pod! That was simply breathtaking! All the tourists (mainly Dutch and a handful of Japanese) were all too busy watching them on the deck of the boat rather than actually getting in the water~! So the dive master kept yelling at them to get in the water but they wanted to get photos so Rick jumped in and was sooo lucky!

A dolphin came up to him and swam alongside him and had a look at him through his mask. He was within 2 feet of them and was so tempted to reach out and touch them but we were advised not to as it could frighten them away. Then a group of 3 came up and swam around him too!
Then of course everyone got in the water and they all got to enjoy the experience. This lastest for a good 30 minutes and seals joined in on the action too! It was a wonderful experience and to get that close to wild animals was amazing. People we know have been swimming with trained, domesticated dophins (at sea world etc) but is no comparison to actually swimming alongside a wild one!

Apparently we got lucky today. The dive master was telling us that this was one of the best dolphin finds they have had in a long time.


Rick loved his present and we were treated to hot chocolate and warm date scones (my fave~) on the trip back to the pier. We will definately be doing this again! Maybe next time we will take the girls when they are a bit older.

~Happy New Year & Happy Birthday Rick~

Well we celebrated New Year's Eve in style this year! Rick and his friend Greg put on a massive dinner party for us last night! We had about 10 people here and we had the best night.... great food, great company and great champagne! My 3 favourite things!


The food was amazing and they really went way out. We were very spoiled. The boys went on a cooking course earlier this year together and they put their new found skills to work for us all.

The girls started the night with Pina Coladas and moved on to champagne with wild hibiscus flowers! Very ooh-la-la! As the night progressed we had cowboy shots and after a mad alcohol run we ended up having all sorts of yummy shots! It was fun to let my hair down again! A few locals driving passed copped a few 'flashes' from some of the ladies... I of course, would never do such a thing! ;)


We also celebrated Rick's birthday (which is New Year's Day). Last year I made him a boob cake and this year he wanted to go just as classy with a similar cake. And yes, that is camel toe!! ugh! Did I mention how classy my hubby is! LOL Anyway, the cake was all about fun and it tasted bloody good too.


Happy Birthday to my big sister Tina too.... she celebrated her birthday New Year's Eve! Yes, it is a CRAZY time of year for us with 3 christmas' and 3 birthdays!

We hope you all have a super 2007! We had a few major health struggles this past year so we are hoping 2007 is a lot kinder to us. *mwa*