Stephen Wilkinson

Ridiculous - its been another 18 months...

2011-11-22T04:25:00.001-08:00

But I suppose blogs are out and facebook and tweets are in. But think I might need to resurrect this somehow.

How long has it been?

2010-04-29T04:55:00.000-07:00

Ridiculous! Its been 2 and half years since I posted on this blog. I blame facebook. I wonder if anyone is still subscribed? Do email me at stephen.wilkinson@gmail.com if you get this update! I only wentr to the blog site as we are now looking for a nanny\au pair as Rachel has returned to work fulltime as of last week and we are struggling!

Jemima is here!

2007-09-21T03:58:00.000-07:00

For those who do not already know Jemima was born on Friday 14th, weighing in at a healthy 9lb 6oz.

I would have posted this earlier but for the last 3 days we have been internet denied at home.

All is well. Rachel came out of hospital on Tuesday and Jemima has slept well for the last 2 nights - obviously waking for feeds but only 3 times per night which is manaeagable (so I am told... I am asleep !!!)

Photos are here on Flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/10490034@N04

and on Facebook.

We'll try hard to keep posting on her progress as I should think time will fly by with 3 little ones now in the house!

Cheers

Stephen

Really need to post soon!

2007-09-06T04:20:00.000-07:00

Will get off fat bum doa proper post v. soon. Baby number three due 14th September so will definitely get some piccies up then! Apologies!

Quick pic of the girls watering veggies in the garden...

Maddy's Birthday Weekend

2007-07-25T05:01:00.000-07:00

Maddy's Birthday weekend in June...

The Cake (or lots of little cakes...)

Making the cake...

Can anyone else see Catherine in this?? ("I'm sitting down to enjoy my lunch...!")

A spot of Golf whilst...

Daddy and Uncle Steve play some golf

Feeding the animals at the Brookfield Show

Fair ground at the Brookfield Show

Some photos - Easter and 4-wheel driving in the bush...

2007-05-18T18:01:00.000-07:00

Girls ready to hit the beach at Casuarina at Easter
http://maps.google.com.au/maps?om=1&msa=0&msid=102493010635674018200.00000112a21c12b8e811b&ie=UTF8&ll=-28.267194,153.571014&spn=0.207433,0.152435&z=12

The beach...

Imi keen to get in the water!

With Kirrily and Peter - they have the Rangie...

The Sunshine Coast Hinterlands

Bunya Mountains

2007-03-20T00:42:00.000-07:00

We have just had a lovely weekend in the Bunya Mountains (about 3 and half hours north west of Brisbane) to celebrate Mum's 60th birthday.

We headed off on Sat morning and stopped off in Toowoomba on route for lunch and to give the girls a bit of a run in the park. This is where Mum was raised and it brought back lots of memories of childhood visits to the grandparents.

The Bunyas were great. Stephen was impressed by the drive out there with the long, straight roads (some still untarmaced) and very dry countryside. We drove through some real one horse towns - some without even a local pub!

We stayed in a lovely four bedroom house with fireplace and pool table and a lovely view over the valley. There were wallabies everywhere, many with a joey in their pouch.

On Sunday we did a lovely 4.4 km walk - Maddie walked the whole way! That evening we went our for dinner to celebrate.

So a lovely weekend. The nights and early mornings were very cool but we had beautiful warm days. Thinking of it as a possible location for our Xmas in July as it has even been known to snow!!

A few photos from Imi's birthday

2007-03-16T16:19:00.000-07:00

Imogen's cake - or rather cakes made by Rachel's fair hands!

Maddy on her bike she got for Christmas

And Imi on her trike!

We are pregnant again!

2007-03-12T04:37:00.000-07:00

Apologies for the delay between posts - our camera is broken again, has gone back to Sony for the second time in as many months so no photos to post. I also have been waiting for the 12 weeks scan before I posted our news. Rach had scan today and all is good. Due date is September 20th. All very exciting. Was going to scan in scan photo but it is one of the 3D ones where the baby looks all a bit alien!!

In other news it was Brisbane hottest day of the year yesterday. Was 37.9 degrees and at lunchtime I was going around a golf course - brought new meaning to the word sweltering... By 10pm at night it was still 30 degrees in our kitchen... thank god for aircon!

And Tommy - as I write this I am enjoying an Evans and Tate "Salisbury" Botrytis Semillon 2002. Very nice if a little over sweet!

Fraser Island and Stevie's B'Day

2007-02-09T17:01:00.000-08:00

We have just returned from a trip to Fraser Island with Mat (Imogen's godfather from the UK) and Alice (Mat's Australian girlfriend). http://www.fraserisland.net/

We had a wonderful time and the boys really enjoyed the four wheel driving. Mat did a brilliant job as a novice off roader and the mighty Paj with Stephen at the helm was unstoppable (even wearing a pink sarong and looking particularly fetching). We had to rescue a group of local aboriginals and were invited to an evening of traditional dancing however we felt the journey up the beach at high tide was too risky.

The girls enjoyed swimming in the freshwater lakes and Mat and Alice were very good with them - Mat making a particularly well engineered drip palace sandcastle.

Stevie's birthday was on our last day there so we had time for a quick bit of cake before we made the long journey back to Brisbane. We are having a BBQ this evening with friends to celebrate.

Maddie's first day at C and K

2007-01-31T03:33:00.000-08:00

C and K being Creche and Kindergarten. She is starting to attend three days a week (hoorah) although only from 9 til 2.30.

Her little friend Angus is also going to the same C and K.

And Imogen (and her little friend Ioan) wish they were going too!

The "local"

2007-01-31T03:23:00.000-08:00

I have found in Australia the equivalent of the local pub.. it has only taken me a year to do so as it is a well kept secret. It is however the local Bowls Club! Have been going for last few Wednesday evenings with members of Rachel's extended family. All v.good and just like the local pub back in England. People remember your name and there are loads of hammered retirees.

this is where we this evening

http://www.geocities.com/westtoowongbowls/

It was however bleeding hot and am now in shorts and t-shirt pouring with sweat.

Had a look at Rachel's step Dad's new car. Range Rover Sport. Very nice but will see how many times I have to pull him out of the sand at Fraser Island this weekend!!

Australia Day update

2007-01-28T16:48:00.000-08:00

Can finally post from where I am now working so will endeavour to update this more regularly.

Last weekend was Australia Day weekend. Friday was actually Australia Day. Went to BBQ at Ken and Susan' s place. All good, a little hot (32c but felt hotter next to a barbie with not much breeze) and I find I am constantly having to watch Imogen like a hawk as she is at the age where she finds it amusing to do exactly what she should - be that pinching other children, climbing anything she can, throwing things etc etc...

Left there at 4pm ish and went to Mat's (Mat Hardy) girlfriends (Alice) sister's (Fiona) house for dinner. Again all good. Mat is over with Alice, who he met in London, for a month. We are trying to convince them to move here but not sure this is working!

Saturday was 34c, hottest day so far this year. So spent a lot of the day in the pool. We also had 2 little boys to look after - Angus and Ioan - whose parents (Michelle and Paul) were out for their anniversary. The boys stayed overnight, and it was a good demonstration of how hard it would be to have 4 children!!

Then Sunday I went shopping for our trip to Fraser next weekend with Mat and Alice. http://www.epa.qld.gov.au/projects/park/index.cgi?parkid=1
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fraser_Island
and bought tarpaulin, tent poles etc - the idea being we can drive miles down the beach and set up a shaded area with the tarp, poles and car... have never done this before but it is what everyone else does so will give it a crack... Will let you know how it goes!!

Will et some more photos up soon but have to do that from home - and we fogot to take the camera out with us on Australia day. We will have Mat with us on Fraser so rest assured there will be thousands of photos...

31 degrees at 7am..

2007-01-24T00:47:00.000-08:00

Just thought I'd share with you that it was 31 degrees in my kitchen this morning at 7am... which is hot...

Christmas 2006

2007-01-22T04:24:00.000-08:00

Rach and a bit of beach cricket.. Aussies winning again !

Ice creams on the beach on christmas day.. not that you can see me but I had Rum and Raisin flavour which, not unsurprisingly, tastes just like christmas pudding !

The turkey - if this picce comes up sideways its not my fault!!

Cooking...

2007-01-22T04:20:00.000-08:00

Imogen helps with making pudding for our Xmas dinner for expats...

Straddie....

2007-01-22T03:57:00.000-08:00

One of Straddies deserted beaches a few weeks before Christmas...

Better late than never...

2007-01-22T03:36:00.000-08:00

A few piccies from the last couple of months... Girls smiling for the camera and one from Charlotte and Steve's wedding... late on in the evening, an hour or so before Rach falls over, literally !!

Dreadful...

2006-11-24T15:45:00.000-08:00

Well the last 2 days have been dismal from an Englishmans point of view... so we write this test off... get some batting practice in over the next couple of days and come back strong for the next one!

Like some glutton for punishment am going back into the fray today, with Rachel, and I only hope that some Barmy Army fancy dress will keep me entertained. Or may be a cheeky double ton each from Pietersen and Bell...

Ashes Day 1

2006-11-22T14:12:00.000-08:00

Just awaiting my cab to take me to Day 1, 1st Ashes Test 2006 at the Gabba... looking forward to 30degrees and lots of free flowing beer...

Hello Hello from Rachel !

2006-07-18T15:28:00.000-07:00

Hello! Hello!
Hope this finds you and your families all well. Have not been intouch for a while so thought I would send off a bit of an update.

The girls are both well. Maddie is really enjoying her day care at Little Cribb Street (Mondays and Tuesdays). She attended her firstballet class the other day. It was one of the most gorgeous things I have seen in a long time. It brought a tear to my eye watching allthese little three year old girls dancing around. You could alreadytell which ones will be the good ones and which ones will be movedonto Jazz or karate or something. Let's just say I shan't be spending too much money on ballet kit!

Imogen's continues to challenge and delight at the same time. Herlanguage is coming along very well (although I don't think anyone elsewould get what she is trying to say). Mum still absolutely adores her and constantly spoils her with warm milk and cuddles etc (much toStephen's annoyance!). They have a really love bond which I am sure started when Mum was over after her birth. She runs everywhere and is into absolutely everything - drawers, powerpoints, rubbish bins etc.I don't think I ever realised how easy I had it with Maddie!
Stevie seems to be really settled. He is contracting to the biggest bank in Qld (not very big!) and is based in the City. So he is really enjoying being in the heart of it all rather than being a bit in theburbs. They are really delighted with him and there has been mention of jobs with both Microsoft and the bank. His contract is until endof October so I guess we just wait and see.

The Mercedes you will be amused to know is still in the garage being fixed and the cost of the repairs is currently about two times what weactually paid for the car. Stephen and his luck with cars continuesbut it keeps him happy and me somewhat amused and exasperated at thesame time.

I am well. Life here is pretty good apart from the expense of things. I now have a pretty good circle of friends and our social lives arepretty busy. I don't think I have watched so much sport in my life but it always seems like a good excuse to go to the pub! We had our four year anniversary last week and went to a nice restaurant and then stayed the night at a hotel in the City. We obviously drank too much,got back too late and then returned to our children more exhausted than ever. One day we will learn our lesson!

We had a big Christmas in July party recently so that Stephen could have his cold Christmas celebration. It was a fabulous night and reminded me of the old TW nights. You were all sorely missed!

Other than that, no real news. We continue to think of you all oftenand wonder what you are all up to. We are all so terribly excited about our return trip that seems to be getting very close now..

See you soon

Rachel

Finally some more piccies !!

2006-05-18T04:47:00.000-07:00

We have moved, took an age to get broadband access and lost the camera for a while but have found it now.. lots to tell everyone but a few pictures for now...

2006-05-18T04:45:00.000-07:00

The new house in Paddington

2006-05-18T04:40:00.000-07:00

Fundraising family Wilkinson - Rach having just completed an 8km run and Stephen, Maddy and Imogen with help from Angela, Steve and Charlotte having completed a 4km walk

2006-05-18T04:37:00.000-07:00

The view from our deck..