Greetings to you during this holy and festive season. Another year has rapidly marched by for us and this letter to you is a good chance for the Lindorff family to reflect on what events took place over the course of the year. Not surprisingly, we are all a year older, especially apparent in Charlotte and Bethany. Charlotte is now 3 ½ years old and Bethany turned 2 in late October. They play well with each other (most of the time!) and now that Bethany is speaking clearly, Charlotte enjoys her company during sessions of ‘doctors and nurses’, ‘reading classes’, ‘dress-ups’, and pretend shopping. They now both enjoy a day per week at the child care centre, which they affectionately refer to as ‘Indoor Park’.

Mum and Dad are doing okay. The year has been busy (= hectic) and the terrible ‘twos’ and ‘threes’ have been trying at times. Helena has now finished her job with the Dept. Primary Industries and the Catchment Management Authority working on the Grow West project, where she was working as a contractor to them for the past few months. Also as a contractor/consultant, Helena helped organized a sustainability festival for the Moorabool Shire Council. Whilst currently having a break from paid work, there is plenty of opportunity for work on the horizon and working a day here and there has generated some variety in Helena’s days through the year and also enabled her to maintain a professional interest in the environmental scene.

Work has also changed for me a little bit. Still with Trust for Nature, in February this year I moved into the role of Regional Manager for the Corangamite region, departing from the same position in the Port Phillip region. I have also been kept busy with 3 days per week of computer mapping and database work for Trust for Nature. I am enjoying working in Corangamite which encompasses the districts of Geelong, Colac, and the Otways through to Port Campbell. The traffic across Melbourne was a nightmare last year, so I’m glad to be done with that!

HOUSE UPDATE

Sadly, we must report that the house is still being completed and perhaps it will always be a work-in-progress. Actually, we are not far off completion, with the decking just needing the wires installed for the balustrade, and blinds now installed throughout the house. Hopefully next year we can report on the fitting of wardrobe doors in the bedrooms, but with the purchase of a new car, we had to rationalize our expenses. Yes, we’ve let go of the trusty Holden Commodore just days before its rego renewal this year and upgraded to a larger vehicle that will accommodate all our ‘junk’ when we go on holidays. With a gas tank in the boot of the Commodore, very little space was left to cart all our gear. We now have a Holden Frontera, a medium-sized 4WD which has been converted to gas with the gas tank under the car! The boot space is great and the 4WD feature has already proved useful, including during our trip to the Little Desert.

THREE NEW ARRIVALS

This year brought three new additions to the extended family. The first child of Naomi (Chris’ sister) and Justin Roguska arrived safely into the world on the 25^th April. His name is Joshua and 8 months on he is a solid young man destined for big things.

Also on the 22^nd of April, Helena’s brother Josip and his wife Melanie had their first child Lily. She may have started off small, but within months Lily stacked on the pounds and enrolled in sumo wrestling classes. Well not quite, but at only 8 months she is wearing toddler nappies!And my Uncle Kevin and his wife Leanne brought Lachlan into the world in December. We all hope to meet him soon.

HOLIDAYS

Our holidays this year were memorable. In June, Helena and I headed off to Cairns for a week without the girls. Helena decided not to celebrate her 30^th birthday with a party— “Too much organizing to do”, she said. So instead we flew up north to sunny Cairns. Well, it was worth the trip and hopefully if the grandparents are agreeable we might do a childless holiday again next year!! In September we headed to Bright to join my family for their yearly holiday. How green is this part of the world?! We also took the opportunity to visit Helena’s cousin Katarina and her family in Mt. Beauty. The girls had a go at catching trout and salmon at a fish farm. Needless to say, we had a nice feed of fish that night. In November we spent a couple of nights in a resort on Phillip Island with Josip, Melanie and Lily. The weather was mostly terrible with torrential rain and howling winds, but we managed to visit a few places between showers, including a large maze and puzzle centre, a fur seal hang-out (visible only with high-powered binoculars), and a walk around Swan Lake.

For our 6 year wedding anniversary we decided to treat ourselves to the theatre. So a trip to the big smoke was organised on our actual anniversary, 30^th November, to see the musical ‘Wicked’. It was a very impressive set with nice special effects. The story also gives one a different perspective to the Wizard of Oz.

Our fourth holiday event was actually a work trip, where family members were also invited. We spend two nights at the Little Desert Lodge where there is a captive breeding program for a number of animals including the rare Mallee Fowl, Bandicoot, Betong and Sugar-gliders. A well-catered Christmas dinner was enjoyed on the Thursday night.

We hope you are well and have had a memorable year. Have a holy and safe Christmas and may the year 2009 bring you joy and prosperity.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ‘SMILEY’ – BETHANY!

Our little baby has turned two on the 21st October. It seems like it was only yesterday that we were rushing to get to the hospital. Time flys. Our little princess shared her day with family and friends at Jollys Rd. I was a little apprehensive of having so many people over but everything went smoothly. I’m a bit rushty in the entertainment area. Mum and dad entertained all the time when we were younger, still do. I remember spending hours the day before and on the day helping mum cook and set up for whatever event was lined up on the family calendar and they were big parties of 40+ people.

Having a birthday in October you’re bound to have a nice day, so I thought. The day before was a hot 33degrees but a cool change that night fixed up my plans for having it outdoors. Well, we had the BBQ meal outside but we all ended up in the house for dessert. The sun didn’t even venture out that day but that didn’t bother Bethany who loved the attention she was getting from everyone, not to mention all the presents.

I’ve made a promise to myself that twice a year I’ll test out my creative skills in the cake decorating area. This year was funny. I decided I wanted to make a barbie doll cake. The one where the doll is stuck in the middle of the cake, with the cake being a dress. Well, the cake tin which was really a stainless steel mixing bowl wasn’t big enough to accomadate Barbie. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a cake tin bigger enough for the purpose. Chris suggested along will my father-inlaw that I should have chopped off her legs. That thought did cross my mind but couldn’t bring myself to get the hacksaw. So I turned it into a mushroom cake. Later on I found out that you can buy half dolls for this purpose. This might be next year’s cake.

Bethany would like to pass on her thanks to everyone for coming along to help celebrate her birthday and the lovely gifts she received – lots of books, clothes, pram, doll, pencils, music CD’s, backpack and racquet and balls.

Also wishing Marijana, Chris, Margaret and Claire a Happy Birthday too!

On the house building front, there is perhaps little more to report than last year. Whilst all of the structural components of the house were completed in 2005, we made cosmetic and functional additions to the house in 2006. With the mud-brick walls under cover of the verandah, we tidied up the walls and finish it with a light render and smoothing over – that is, until we ran out of fine rendering material.

Inside, I made some colour changes to the walls in the living area, changing the plain white to a couple of shades of green. Outside, we had quite a lot of gravel delivered, spread and rolled around the house and along the driveway between the house and shed. This has made a big difference, keeping the dust down in the drier months and preventing muddy patches around the house in the wetter months. We are yet to lay the decking, but this will come shortly – and won’t be a cheap exercise!

I’m slowly decorating the girls bedrooms, with some small additions to Charlotte’s room, like the Winnie the Pooh wall stickers, Ikea toy holder thing that hangs from the roof (christmas present from Auntie Emma) and curtains. Poor Bethany has a bed sheet as her curtain and gets blinded by the morning sun. I still haven’t decided what type of wardrobe doors I would like, so trying to keep the contents in the wradrobes tidy is a challenge, especially in Charlotte’s room and if my bedroom door is accidentally left opened, Charlotte has a field day with my shoes. We’ve been slowly plug away at the house each weekend, which has become a never ending project. I can relate to the builders of the great churches in Europe but I’m hoping to complete my master piece in my life time!

Once Melanie and Josip come back from England in August this year, we’ll be returning all their furniture back, which they kindly let us borrow (black couches, dinning table and washing machine) and than we’ll be sanding the floors again. I can’t wait to go furniture shopping. But I have to wait for at least a good 8 months. Once that’s done I’ll be ordering some nice curtains and doing away with that beautiful burnt red bedsheets that are hanging up there at the moment.

The entire Lindorff clan headed to the Otways for a 4 day holiday over the Labour Day long weekend. Margaret and Peter thought that they would take the whole family to a hoilday, after having received an inheritance from late Aunty Pat.

We stayed at a family retreat called Iona Cottages. There were two cottages and a large barn with accomadation and a general meals area. The placed is situated close to Johanna Beach. A very lovely place. I reckon the only place in Victoria that is still green. It has beautiful rolling hills (green!) and magnificant rainforests.

DAY ONE: We headed off on Friday afternoon and arrived there after 5pm. It took just over 2.5 hours drive from Anakie. We decided not to go along the Great Ocean Road (due to car sickness) and go straight through to Colac and down to the coast.

DAY TWO: Saturday was hot in Melbourne (reached high 30’s) but quiet pleasant in the Otways. We decided to head to the beach in the morning before it got too hot for the kids to be out. We found out that Johanna Beach is a fishing beach and not safe for swimming. Non-the-less the kids had fun playing in the sand and getting their feet wet.

Charlotte loved getting buried in the sand until she decided to rub her eyes that were covered with sand. She loved the water and couldn’t get her away from the waters edge.

DAY THREE: We didn’t do much on Sunday due to the rain!!!! Yes they got some rain. We went for a morning drive through the rainforest. After lunch we all headed to church in town and afterwards went blackberry picking in the church grounds. The blackberries made great pancakes for dessert that night.

DAY FOUR: We all headed up to Triplet Falls in the Otways National Park. It took us 1 hour to walk the loop through the forest of Mountain Ash and Myrtle Beech. The main waterfalls were spectacular to see and they had water running down.

After the lovely walk we headed off to the Otwat Fly for lunch. If you are ever in the area, the Otway Fly and Triplet Falls is a must see.

The Fly is a 600 metre long 25 metre high elevated tree top walk. The tree top walk ascends at a gentle grade through a magnificent stand of cool temperate rainforest featuring Myrtle Beech, Blackwood and Mountain Ash. There’s a 45 metre high lookout which has a fantastic view of the forest. I loved the Springboard cantilever which is suspended high over Young’s Creek. Chloe and Alison weren’t too impressed with me swaying the cantilever from side to side. I wouldn’t recommend the walk if you are scared of heights. It’s a great place to come and visit when it’s stinking hot in Melbourne because it’s really cool in the rainforest.

We would like to congratulate Tom and Gena on their wedding. They make a beautiful couple and we wish them happiness and love.

It was a beautiful reception. Unfortunately we didn’t go to the wedding ceremony which was held at the Croatian Catholic Church, Clifton Hill due to the hot weather (40 degrees). We thought it would be best if the girls had a proper afternoon sleep before we attended the reception, which was held at The Luxor Function Centre in Taylors Lakes.

This was an unexpected trip to the Melbourne Zoo. Chris’ work colleague, Greg Ogal and his family were down from Koraleigh, NSW for work and they threw in a few extra days of sightseeing. So we met up with them at the Zoo. We spent 5 hours walking around seeing the animals in their various enclosures.

If I had to choose what animal to be I would be an Orangu-tang. They have a newly built enclosure which is very impressive, well to the human eye, don’t know what they think though. The new elephant enclourse next to the Orangu-tangs houses three newest residents, Dokkoon, Kulab and Num-Oi. I sometimes wonder if these animals get bored with their small enclosures, I guess it would be the equivalent to human prisons, have some of the necessities of home (shelter, water, food) but not the freedom of the outside world (wild).

Charlotte enjoyed the animals and Bethany seemed happy to be lying in her pram with the occasional feed. By the end of the day we were all exhausted. Charlotte was generally good with a few whinging moments, but that was acceptable considering she didn’t have an afternoon nap. To tortour the sleep deprived girls a bit more, we went out for dinner in Fiztroy (The Standard – nice pub, looks a bit dodgy from the outside but really nice on the inside) with Chris’ boss, Mike and his family and the Ogle’s. Must say the pork belly was absolutely delicious. That distrupted my 8 week liver cleansing diet a bit. 

Our little princess no.2 is 12 weeks old and I can’t believe how quick it has gone by. The memories are still fresh of that day she came into this world, heading down to the hosiptal, cursing at the traffic for blocking the entrance to the hospital……

I call her ’smiley’ . She gives out free smiles everywhere she goes, providing that you don’t flash your false teeth, Vinnie!, give her a kiss with a prickly beard, Dad or have a loud voice, Mum, she’s ok. She gets a bit funny with other people holding her but when she’s lying down or in her pram she smiles away, flashing her 2 dimples on the right side of her cheek. She’s starting to grab onto things, loves talking baby talk and she’s become a thumb sucker. Very cute. Charlotte tried sucking the thumb but gave it up within a day, while Bethany’s not giving up her thumb for anyone.

We welcomed the New Year at Justin and Naomi’s place in Coburg. We had a lovely BBQ, with chicken and kangaroo thigh on the menu. I managed to stay up til midnight which is a struggle to do now days, especially when the alarm clock can go off anytime between 7 – 8am in the morning, calling out mummy and daddy every 5 seconds. This time the alarm clock, being Charlotte not Bethany woke me up at 6.30am. Waking up early after a late night felt like I had a serious hangover. Charlotte discovered the drums at Naomi and Justin’s place. Naomi gave her some lessons.

On New Years day, the Lindorff clan all met up at the Burrumbete Races, just outside of Ballarat. The girls (Charlotte, Lillian, Alison and Chloe) had fun visiting the animal farm and going on horse rides, a first for Charlotte. We thought she would start crying but she was laughing non-stop. Aunty Claire held her throughout the whole lap. Luckily she had her horse ride when she did, because a few minutes later the heavens opened up giving us a heavy down pour. We all got saturated. Something that Charlotte hasn’t experienced before. Poor Bethany got wet too, despite having the blanket draped infront of the pram.

Merry Christmas everyone. We hope you had a lovely Christmas filled with love, happiness and lots of food. We did the usual thing for Christmas, off to Chris’ parents place for lunch and my parent’s place for dinner . This year was a special one for our family. We had a new family member celebrate their first christmas, Bethany. Charlotte was very keen in demonstrating to her little sister how to open presents. She was very willing to give Bethany a hand in opening up hers as well.

Charlotte was very impressed with some of the presents that she kindly received. Like woof woof, the oversized stuffed dog , her tea set which she was very willing to share with her new doll named Lilly and the many books and puzzles, which she loves doing. Takes after her dad.

We attended the Whitehorse Carols by Candlelight concert at the Whitehorse Soundshell on Sunday 17th December with Peter, Margaret, Lillian, Alison and Naomi. The main reason for attending the concert which took us 1hr 20mins to get to, was to watch Naomi (Chris’ sister) singing in the choir.

It was a great event. There were plenty of things for the kids to do prior to the carols starting, rides, jumping castle and the animal farm, which was a hit with Charlotte. It was worth the travel. They estimated that 10,000 people attended the event.