Taronga Zoo, thanks to work

Hi all,

just a quick update, spent and enjoyable and cost free day (thanks to my employer) at Taronga Zoo on Sunday (28/10).

Aimee, Rose and I had a great time. We caught the train to Circular Quay, then the ferry, then took the zoo cable car to the top and wondered on down to the seeing the animals to the work sponsored lunch area.

A nice day and a great turn out for work really. I have uploaded some pics to the photo album.

cul8r.

F1 season end and Aimee

Hi again,

The 2007 F1 season completed at Interlagos on Sunday. I got up in the wee hours of Monday morning to watch it here - coverage started at 2.45am. It certainly was a thrilling end to the season with 3 drivers in contention for the championship. In the end, Kimi, who was third place before the race got the drivers championship - great result and congratulations to Kimi. Kimi actually had more wins this year - 6, while Lewis and Fernando shared 4. Great consistent season from Lewis, shame it fell apart in the last two races - but he does have time on his hands and will undoubtedly (provided the team follows) win championships.

As for Mark Webber, what can he do but to keep trying. The two red bull cars look very encouraging in terms of pace, just fail in the reliability mark - bleeding edge gearbox and hydraulics I guess. Hopefully, next season - the gremlins will have moved on to another team. Interesting how the customer Renault team did better than the factory team at Interlagos, though the engine is just one of many components I guess.

Here's a pic of Aimee and her "sunny glasses" I took on my N80 the other day - I like it cause it's cute. :) Click for a close up.

Zane's second B'day

Hi again,

Our nephew Zane turned 2 last week, his birthday was last Saturday.

Aimee enjoyed herself being the only girl at the party and enjoyed playing with Zane's toys. She also enjoyed the egg & spoon race and singing Happy B'day (well the hip hip hooray part at least).

We all enjoyed the "Thomas the Tank Engine" cake :)

It was a fun day, have a look at some photos of the day at Cindy, Brad and Zane's Blog.

cul8tr

Close call for China Airlines 737-800

Hi everyone, had to share this - I was just catching up on PPRUNE forums (Professional Pilots Rumour Network) and came across this post. Watch the video, the pilot uses all of the runway, and then some :o A close call for CAL trying to save face after losing another 737-800 at Okinawa 6 weeks ago


also, check out this low flying A310 at a Portugal airshow recently - another close call.


cul8r.

Rose's Birthday

Hi all, how was your w/e?

We had a busy w/e, it was Rose's Birthday on Saturday. The day started with Aimee and I singing Happy Birthday...hip hip... hooray. Rose opened her present... which she liked - she chose it :) For lunch, we went for a picnic at Nielson Park in Vaucluse with Lars, Jeff, Kitty, Thao and Craig (also his b'day).

The weather was nice - initially :( - Aimee and I were making sand castles on the beach with Kitty and Jeff when a wind storm blew up and it got cold and cloudy very quickly (dropped 10 deg C). Rose, Thao, Craig and Lars were copping a sand blasting at the picnic site just behind the beach at Nielson Park - so moved to a sheltered location, and at least finished out picnic lunch as the rain started. :(. So, Kitty & Jeff invited us all back to their place for coffee and cake cutting (luckily Thao was organised and brought a cake). Anyway it was a fun day, Rose and Aimee enjoyed themselves - I hope...

Sunday was just a hectic, our other friends Christine and Vic were coming for arvo tea with their daughter Hope (4+ months older than Aimee). So we dropped Aimee over at my brother's place to play with her cousin Zane (also 2) while I was to do the garden and Rose finishing baking a cake, biscuits and cleaning up. Between watching the first 45 mins of the Bathurst 1000, picking up Aimee and the Gardening I ran out of time - Chris and Vic turned before I could shower. A quick shower later, avro tea and a few beers, Vic and I watched the very exciting final 30 mins of the race due to rain and a safety car.

We also went for dinner last night to Aqua Vista with my family to celebrate Rose's Birthday. We rushed home to bed, it was paste Aimee's bed time, and I wanted to get up and watch the replay at 1am of the Chinese F1 GP in Shanghai. What can I say, F1 races are the best when it's wet - the rain closes the field up and adds another variable to team tactics / luck.

anyway, have I bored you yet? cya next time.

Aimee met the boys

Hi,

just a quick update, Luca and Marco will be out tomorrow, so last night we visited Mariana and Renato in hospital to give them a few things they'll need when they do get home. We kept telling Aimee the boy's names and to be gentle and quiet and that this was the first time she would see "the bubba's"

Anyway, she was so intrigued, I held over the boys who were sought of asleep - she starts of by patting herself on the chest and repeating her name - so as to introduce herself. Strangely - the boys did not respond :). It was so funny to see....sorry - boring tidbit to most, interesting to me.

As we left, she yells out, "see ya boys".

time for a blog (read "catch up")

Hi,

Got to hold Marco last Thursday night, he had just been moved from the humidicrib - it reminded me how tiny Aimee was when she was born and in the "same place". I look at Aimee now and can't believe the transformation in 2 years. Here's the latest pic of the two boys - Luca and Marco. I didn't mention before, Rose will be Luca's godmother. Both boys are well and should come home later this week or early next.

We got back last night from the farm, we all had a very relaxing w/e, well I did :) Rose's family were all there. The boys were busy installing a water tank and a pump line from the river to the house - I did very little to help as I was avoiding the sun - lame excuse I know. The weather was hot and sunny, I'd hate to see how hot it will be in Summer. Aimee has taken to the ATV, she likes going for rides and scaringly enough now knows how to start it. Will have to keep an extra eye on her now. When I get a chance, I'll youtube a video of her riding the ATV with her cousin Ryan.

Even though we were at the farm, I see from our weather station that the weather at home was nice and hot over the long w/e too. If you're interested, be sure to check out the weather site, I've added a tonne of information provided by the weather station and extracted by Andy Keir's FreeWX software.