Day 246 - Father and Son

Before I finally got this cute shot, I did get a rather amusing series of Dale and Henry while trying to get them closer together for a Father / Son shot. With Henry in the bath and Dale out of the bath, it wasn't easy!

Day 218 - Cake!

Dale finally made it home this afternoon after his extended weekend away. I was in the middle of making his birthday cake when he arrived. I made a lemon cake that was split and had a marscapone cheesecake filling and topping and I have to say that it was pretty good. Henry has turned into such a birthday cake fiend in last week it isn't funny! With my birthday coming up, there is no end in sight to the cake!

Read more about Dale's trip away here.

Day 216 - Happy Birthday and Bye, Dale!

Today is Dale's birthday and for a whole week and for a bit he will actually be 37 and I will only be 36! It was an early start for Dale today who left for a ride down to Melbourne with his friends Andy and Pete.  A football game and some debt collecting are apparently a fun way to spend your birthday, according to Dale's face this morning!? By the end of the day it seems that both missions were successful. Happy Birthday Dale!

Day 207 - Dale the Hand Model

I have taken quite a few photos lately using lollies as the subject. They have great colours and then you get to eat them! After trying a few different ways to photograph jaffas as a heart shape, I think we nailed it. Apparently this pose was very taxing for Dale and I will just advise you that eating the majority of a packet of jaffas can give you a headache!

Day 187 - TV Dinner

Dale is away at the moment on a 5 day trip on his bike... no doubt you will be able to catch up on his blog when he has a chance to put up some pics. I have enjoyed the last couple of days with Henry a lot and I have tried to make our evening routine as easy as possible... therefore I let him watch a little television at dinner tonight (foregoing The Project!) He enjoyed watching The Night Garden and I somehow captured one of those moments when he looked at me as if to tell me that part was really funny!

Day 168 - Distraction

We took Jenna to karate practice this morning. For a more comprehensive photo and description of the sport, perhaps read Dale's blog here. I, however, didn't get a great pic of Jenna with her not being in the front row and me not wanting to be too obtrusive! Henry was very quiet during the class, which I think baffles him a bit, what with all the outfits and sharp yelling noises! Towards the end, he needed entertaining and I think that his Daddy fit the bill particularly well.

Day 166 - Cuggles

Although bedtimes are sometimes difficult, we do get lots of cuddles (he says cuggles) and kisses from Henry before bed. He is still learning to master the pout and sometimes they are slightly damp, but we wouldn't change that! Here's Henry giving Dale a kiss at story time.

Day 113 - Down by the Wharf

Ice cream was on the agenda for this morning, after Dale had promised Jenna one on Saturday morning. She certainly wasn't going to let him forget that one!

We took a little drive down to the Marina where we had a look at all the fishing boats that were around and where we took a lot of photos in our attempts to be a bit artistic! Dale really was... check out his cool photo at Another Project 366 Sheep Joins the Herd.

Anyway I particularly liked this one of Dale and Jenna, because it wasn't great weather and the sky looks pretty dramatic.

After ice-cream, a wander and a pit stop to buy some local smoked prawns and mussels, we were on our way back to Canberra.

Day 101 - My Own Gardening Assistant at Last!

Dale didn't need a whole lot of convincing to take today as annual leave, his only problem was that the day was intended for doing gardening. As day care was available to us, Henry left us to our own devices for the day as we finished off getting our front yard into order. Last holidays I laid down pine mulch in half of the front garden and it has worked really well as weed control. So today we did the front half which is the most visible to the street. We got through 3 cubic metres of the mulch which surprised us, all laid down on about 50 copies of the Sydney Morning Herald. And Dale hardly complained at all... well maybe just a little...

Day 94 - Quick Recovery

Somehow I have gotten out of taking Henry for his last two lots of vaccinations. Today Dale took him for his latest round and when I asked later how it went, Dale noted that Henry did cry but he got over it very quickly and I do think that this photo with his Daddy demonstrates that! Now if only he could get over the pain of his latest teeth we would all be sleeping a little easier!

Day 84 - Helping Daddy

Dale went and bought a high pressure hose this morning and this afternoon he tried it out on his dirt bike. Henry loved catching the fine mist of spray and hung around Dale and the bike for quite some time having a few giggles. I have many plans for Dale's new toy! Already I have cleaned some of the sandstone around the steps and the back of the house and have firm plans for the patio and the gazebo for a big cleaning day in the holidays, which aren't far off!

Day 72 - Dale's New Car for 2012

After a long day driving home from Melbourne, Dale finally arrived home with the BMW that he has waited weeks for. As always we needed the traditional car photo to be taken and I have to say that I am sensing some deja vu. Check out a very similar post to one I wrote last year here and you will see that Dale is still keeping up his average of one new car per year!

Day 55 - Father Daughter Bonding

As we cooked a later than usual dinner tonight with Mum and Dad visiting, everyone seemed to end up in the kitchen. Yes, we do still have to paint the outside wall of the pantry! Dale and Jenna were bonding in this picture over some Maths. Jenna always likes a bit of a challenge in the area of Maths when she is bored and with 4 available adults to provide some challenging questions, she turned to her Dad for a few explanations. If you know Dale and his Maths skills well, you may think that is kind of ironic... considering that there were 3 other available adults!

Day 50 - A Love of Reading

My photo today is courtesy of a photo competition Jenna is entering at school, which I think is being run by the school librarian. From what I could gather, the theme was families and a love of reading, so Jenna set up the shot today and this is one that I snapped of her, Dale and Henry reading together. I don't think Henry was 100% sure of his role here, as he did roll away a couple of times, but he did have many giggles! Jenna is a great reader and I hope that Henry will be too some day - the signs are very good so far. 

Day 45 - The Ongoing Battle... Dale Vs his MIL

Can you see in this picture of Dale, the very slight smirk on his face? Yes Dale is playing Words with Friends, with my Mum again... Mum thinks she will beat him one day, but clearly from this picture, Dale thinks otherwise. Dale is exceptionally good at word games, which doesn't surprise me, as he is a good writer as well. I often hear Dale let out an 'evil laugh' when he is busy with his iPad... It is always a fair indication that the game is going well on his side!

Day 36 - Water Babies

With the lure of a trip to the Leisure Centre at Stanhope Gardens promised to Jenna, she was quite agreeable to yesterday's car shopping. Of course this morning, we were quite obliged to go swimming, even though I think we were both feeling a bit lazy! Henry hasn't been swimming a lot yet, but as you can see, he had quite a bit of fun today! It's interesting to compare to the photo on my blog last year that you can see here: Day 16, 2011. Although he didn't get into the wave pool, when it was going, he loved watching Jenna and his Daddy playing around in the waves. In fact, Henry rarely let Daddy out of sight at the pool today... I think he senses who is the strongest swimmer!

Day 35 - Car Shopping

So with the boat sold in the morning, the afternoon was left open for a bit of car shopping for Dale. With a bit of an idea of the car he wanted, we went and looked at two; one in Thornleigh and the other in Leichhardt. I enjoyed the drive from Thornleigh to Leichhardt, as we came into the city the opposite way that I am used to. Driving over the Harbour, we saw the Diamond Princess docked and waiting. I don't think I have ever actually seen such a huge ocean liner like that - absolutely huge, but I wasn't ready with my camera! I did take a bunch of interesting shots, however crossing the Anzac Bridge and this is one of them. Although we did not drive away with a new car, Dale did get a better idea of which car he wants and Henry had a great afternoon playing with Nanna and Opa at home!

Day 26 - A Quiet Night with Sherlock

Dale and I had the rare opportunity to go to the movies tonight to see the second Sherlock Holmes movie, Game of Shadows. The cinema was pretty empty, actually, make that totally, so we got first pick of the seats before anyone else showed up (and there were only a few). As with the first Sherlock Holmes movie, Robert Downey Jr's character was hilarious, and although I sometimes found the special effects a little distracting, I was enjoying it, until I realised I could hardly keep my eyes open! Maybe we will have to wait for the DVD for this one!

Thanks to Mum for watching Henry!

Day 13 - Donna Hay's Pavlova

After being very happy with my first ever 'white' pavlova a couple of weeks ago, I decided to make another since I had 4 egg whites still left over from making ice-cream earlier in the week. I say a white pavlova because I had only ever made Nigella Lawson's chocolate pav (which I have made very regularly  over the years.) I used the Donna Hay recipe on the side of the cornflour box to make this. I am yet to try another recipe given to me by Sue at work for Flo Bielke-Peterson's pavlova, but it only needs 2 egg whites and I had 4 to use up. We took this one with us, in the car, to Sydney for dinner tonight. As I was occupied with Henry, Dale decorated and proudly presented 'his' pavlova to the table. Thanks Dale, it was delicious!

Day 3 - Hi Jenna!

If you squint a bit you can see who Henry saw in the water. There is Jenna out with her boogie board and Henry is giving her a little delayed wave. We arrived at Eden early afternoon, for a visit with Dale's Mum, Glenda, and it was almost straight down to the beach to grab a couple of hours play before dinner. We dug in the sand and built a few sandcastles, Uncle Dion dug a hole to hide Henry in, Dale and Jenna braved it in the water and Sawyer (Dion's little dog) ran up and down the beach barking at the waves; a good afternoon had by all.

Oh, and as Dale pointed out - a happy 3rd anniversary to us on the third day of 2012!