Cambodia bound

Well - we've got our last sleep in Mt Beauty tonight before we head off to Kuala Lumpur for a night - then Cambodia for 14 nights, then Kuala Lumpur for a night, then Singapore for 4 nights, then 2 final nights in Kuala Lumpur.

I very much hope to be able to keep my blog up to date....if I can't I'll be a busy girl on my return!

See you on the other side of Cambodia....and the other side of turning the wonderful figure of 50! Half a century...I can't believe it!

Ken the Kiewa Valley Kookaburra

We had a visitor overnight! The kinder have this gorgeous little furry (stuffed) Kookaburra and each child gets to take Ken 'home' for a night or a few days. Well - today was our turn.
Eb was really excited. We took him over to Bright where he came to the Physio with us - then Eb had an Ice Cream with him and then we came back home (via 2 ...now...dead snakes on the road!)

I took a photo of Eb asleep with Ken and then the next morning I took one of her enjoying sharing her pancakes (complete with honey and 'sprinkles'). We then had to write in Ken's 'diary' telling of his adventures.

It was a great thing to do and Eb was very sad to part with Ken - but it did make Kinder drop off MUCH easier!

Uh Oh...injured

Poor little Eb's been in the wars - she seems to have been accident prone since she had her inoculations for Cambodia on Wednesday - today she jumped up onto the couch and didn't realise there was a plastic tub there and she scraped her eye on it - yes, there were tears! but she really coped very well. Can't part her from her Pooh Bear band aid now though!

B&B Update

Well - the Kitchenette is finally in the B&B! I'm so excited! Now I don't have to intrude on guests each day to do their dishes and they are able to be totally independent if they want to. I've enjoyed doing the B&B so much - 26 guests from Easter to New Years Eve in 2009 and I've just taken my 13th booking for 2010...and none yet for the ski season!
Here's some photo's for you to enjoy.

Down the river...probably for the last time this summer...

One more evening of fun! I didn't really feel like going down the river - but I'm so glad we did. Eb had so much fun again playing with Sarah and Meg and I got lots of cuddles from sweet little Lily Grace!

Our little show girl!


'Helping' Daddy get ready to fish


Danelle and little Lily Grace

The beautiful area we live in.....

Often I feel so blessed to live in a little sleepy hollow like Mt Beauty. But when I go for a walk I experience that feeling more than ever. The beauty of this area takes my breath away and brings a quietness to my soul. Enjoy some of the photo's.....

Some exercise!

As ashamed as I am to say it but.....this morning we FINALLY took Eb to the lake to try out her new Dora bike properly! She had a ball and did so well - won't be long until we can take the training wheels off - her legs just need to grow a bit more!

The absolute joy this little girl brings

There are so many changes happening.
This week, for the first time, when Eb slept in with me while Graham was away, she woke and said in a sad little voice 'where's my Daddy?'. It was so sweet to hear. She is really starting to miss her Daddy when he's not around.

This morning, as I watched her dancing away in front of the mirror as we lay in bed in trying to wake up I thought back on the precious little girl that came to us three years ago. She was so, SO quiet. Now we have this beautiful, effervescent, spontaneous, little chatter box! The richness that she has brought into our world defies words. She is sweet, she is loving, she is filled with joy.

And I have to laugh! When I put her to bed tonight - this is how she wanted all her 'friends'! Not sure how some people would 'analyse' it....but I just smiled!

Chinese New Year

Today we celebrated the day of love...Valentine's Day....and Chinese New Year - two wonderful occasions to celebrate. We wouldn't be celebrating Chinese New Year if it wasn't for the fact the we celebrate Valentine's Day! My valentine is such a wonderful, caring and loving man. I'm very blessed. We went to Church first and then went and celebrated at the local Chinese Restaurant. It was a lovely meal which we enjoyed with our friends Dwayne, Susan and Sarah. Sarah came back to spend tonight and tomorrow night with us again while Dwayne and Susan head down to Melbourne to attend Local Adoption Education Groups.
So, we had plenty to celebrate and we thoroughly enjoyed our day! ....and so did the girls :)

Kinder with me as helper

Because Chinese New Year is approaching I have dressed Eb up a bit this week. I have also organised some activities for the children to do - I really enjoyed it (considering I was not feeling brilliant myself....). Eb was SO happy that I stayed. I worried that it was a bit soon - but I just have to do what I have to do. They do such wonderful activities with the children and it was a delight to observe and to help out. I'll be helping a minimum of once a term - maybe more if I can.

Kinder play in her Chinese outfit...




One very happy little kinder girl!


Children dancing...


Teacher Elene acknowledging Eb's heritage....


Eb and Kai mesmerized....

First playdate for 2010

Eb's friend from Kinder - Kai - came over for a play after Kinder today. Kai is the person Eb speaks about the most and they played so very well together. We started with some cooking...which was lots of fun for them...although the eating was every bit as good! You'll see the delight on their faces...and the mess I was left with! I love it!!!!

Time for a dip....

It's been very hot here - not as bad as last year...but hot all the same.
We've had our little friend Sarah staying with us last night and tonight so after I picked Sarah up from school I took the girls to our friend's pool. Eb and Sarah had such a wonderful time - Eb is getting much better in the water. This pool is quite deep so I spent a bit of time 'teaching' with Eb and then let her go in the ring. We are SO blessed to have access to this beautiful pool! It sure helped me cool off too :)

Camping fun...

Graham had to go to Abbey Yard near Lake Buffalo to do some plumbing. He needed to be there for 2 nights so we decided to join him. We had to take two cars so I headed there after Kinder had finished Thursday.

I had no idea the people who Graham was working for would be there - but they were and it was SUCH a treat for Eb and for me. I was really very exhausted. I've been working long into the night to catch up on Graham's business and the B&B's. Having these wonderful people there and having them embrace Ebony the way they did left me speechless. The are truly precious people. I got a few hours completely to myself on the Friday and a lovely sleep for a few hours on Saturday. All because they were willing to just let Eb 'chill' with them. She helped a lot and I have some lovely photo's below of some of the things she loved doing.

Sadly, Thursday night it bucketed down! The poor camper trailer tent still isn't seasoned and it dripped over Eb's bed (and on it!) but not enough to wet here. Needless to say the next day (thankfully the sun shone) I had to spend some time drying things out. Seems every time we've taken the camper trailer it's either been freezing or very wet! We'll have to break that soon :)

The only bad thing about the weekend was the 'jumping jacks' (if you've never heard of them, click on the link...they are horrible. I coped a bite a number of years ago and after 3 months I was still suffering with terrible pain and itch and had to have a biopsy done to remove the 'stinger' that had been left behind. Sadly there are plenty of them on this property and I didn't come prepared. Eb only had crocs and thankfully I put in one pair of socks! So - needless to say she sure didn't cut it in the fashion stakes...but she had a ball!

We were stunned when she really cried very, very sad tears when we told her we had to pack up and go home. Now THAT has never happened before! My heart wept for her :)

These are some photo's of "camping Ebby style"....










Eb and Di (the wife of the couple who own the land)....Di was so wonderful with Eb


Our camp for a few nights...we even had baths in the river although we were lucky enough to have a toilet!


This is an absolute favorite from the weekend. Les is Malcom's Dad - he's 80 years young and still does SO much - he's amazing and he took to Eb like he was his own Grand daughter. What a special man he is...


The flower of a pumpkin.... (camera experiment..)


and a thistle...


Hard at work...


My girl on the mound of stones she named her 'castle'


....up on top of the castle with her gloves on....


Having fun with Daddy...


Beautiful sunset.....


Around the fireplace...


Malcolm teaching Eb how to cook pancakes.....


Eb eating her yummy bush pancakes...




She loves pancakes with honey and 'sprinkles'!!!


Climbing back onto her 'castle'...


A game of cricket with Daddy.....


'Come on Daddy...get it right!'