Charlotte’s Web

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.