For Aunty Judy and Hannah

Summer has come with some lovely warm days. I could finally put Carly into the gorgeous dress you gave her. She looks so pretty in it.

Mitch and Dad also went down to Perisher Blue for the last of the decent snow. Mitch did well, except for when he disappeared over the side of the mountain. Dad was behind and said he truly thought Mitch was done for. As it turned out, Mitch, after somersaulting for some time, was launched back into the proper skiing position. The man on the chairlift above yelled, "Looked good from up here!!". Mitchell's expression post crash can be seen above.

Mitch and I doing washing up at the Hospital. The staff were on strike so the executives put together a roster. We discovered that people a) don't take their medication b) forget to put their hearing aids back in and c) don't eat speech pathology thickened fluids and mashed food.

A couple of pictures of Bundes. He sees Dad as his master, Mum as his servant, Mitch as his friend, and Matt and I as accessories to his comfort/possible friends.

Updating from Brisbane: Mitchell just graduated from high school. It was a "girls choice" formal, and Mitch was asked by the girl in the photo, Christine. He's currently up at the Whitsunday's on the church schoolies trip. I believe they are experiencing mildly cyclonic weather.

Spring

It is so nice to have some sunny days to get out in the garden. Carly loves being outside and Damian loves to water the garden.

Hop-along Halloween

The girls were cowgirls this year for Halloween. Hana was excited to learn that the sheriff's badge on her costume meant that she could tell people what to do, and help people in trouble.



Every cowgirl needs a trusty horse, although this one looks a little sleepy.

Just thought I would put a couple of photos on. Carly and Damian are growing so fast.

Sunday clothes and more

Here are a few new pictures of the baby.

Will in the fancy Sunday outfit my mom made for him.


He's starting to grow into his car seat.


Looking bored.


Hana at Pumpkin Land. Her preschool went to the corn maze and playground on a field trip, so Lane, Will, and I tagged along. There is nothing more insane that trying to keep track of a four-year-old in a corn maze crawling with 100 other four-year-olds.

Baby Will

Here are a few more photos and video of baby Will.

Introducing William Butterworth

Will was born this morning (September 18th 2008) at 8:23am, weighing in at 7 lbs 2 oz and 18.5 inches. You can call him William, Will, Wills or Booie (not sure how you would spell it but this is what Lane called him.)

Finally Back Online

My computer crashed the day before we left England, and I haven't been able to get any photos posted until now. So finally, here are some pictures of our two-week camping adventure through Scotland. We started in the Lake District, then went on to Linlithgow, Edinburgh, and Stirling, up through Inverness and Loch Ness to Gairloch, and then back down through the Trossachs, with a stop through the Stirling Highland Games. It was really one of the best trips of our lives.

The Lake District

Before we actually made it across the border into Scotland, we visited the Lake District, which is famous for its connection to the Romantic Poets (I never really liked any of the Romantic Poets - too long-winded. But I learned to appreciate them while there.)


Setting up camp. It would be days before we saw this kind of sunshine again.

On the boardwalk at Lake Windermere.

A very cute swan...

...that later attacked me for my fish and chips.


Strawberries and cream at sunset.


View from the tent, towards Lake Windermere.

Andrew at Dove Cottage, one of Wordsworth's former homes. Lane screamed here, too.

Edinburgh and Stirling

We camped in a town called Linlithgow (where Mary Queen of Scots was born), a little ways outside of Edinburgh. We set up camp, had lunch, and then left to explore the town. Since there are no bears or other life-threatening wildlife on Great Britain, I wasn't too concerned about safeguarding our food. Which was a mistake. When we got back to the tent, we discovered that a man-eating squirrel had chewed its way through our window and attacked our leftovers. Hana was traumatized, since it ate through her side of the tent. We wound up cutting off one of the mesh pockets inside and sewing it over the hole for her. But the whole rest of the trip, she kept one eye trained on the window as she fell asleep.
Cooking in the rain, again.


Walking up to Edinburgh Castle.

This claymore is about as tall as Andrew is.

Hana and Andrew watching the One o'Clock Gun at Edinburgh Castle. In the past, this is how the city would measure their time and synchronize their watches. Why 1:00 p.m. and not something more logical, like noon? Why waste 12 rounds of ammunition when you can wait an hour later and use only 1.


Hana and Lane found this hut in the woods by our tent.

Falkirk is right on the way from Edinburgh to Stirling, so we thought we'd swing by to visit this very famous battlefield (i.e. William Wallace, Braveheart). First, we wandered for an hour following the signs to the Falkirk Wheel, which seemed like it might be neat enough. Then we got suckered into following the signs to the Falkirk Mariners' Centre (I thought it would be a museum honoring some sort of Scottish maritime tradition - it was just a rec center). But we had absolutely, positively no luck finding signs to the battlefield at Falkirk. In fact, no resident of Falkirk seemed to have the foggiest idea what we were talking about. Finally, Andrew came across a man in a park who gave us a few sketchy directions towards some sort of monument to the battle. At long last, we found the elusive marker, which quite decisively reads "the Battle of Falkirk was Fought Around Here...." Brilliant.

Cromwellian soldiers. The school kids on their field trip thought the stories of piking people through the eye were great. Hana wasn't so sure.The William Wallace Monument in the distance.

One of the courtyards at Stirling Castle - which is considered by some to be the most haunted castle in the world.

Gardens at Stirling Castle. I don't know why we even pretend we can have a real garden like this out West. It's totally futile.