I want to help make a difference!

On February 21st I signed up for the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer. I chose the Los Angeles event as the San Francisco one is in July when I will be across at the other side of the country. I will be joined on the walk by Heidi & Kathy - we are all tentatively excited! We will walk 26.2 miles on Day one, and 13.1 miles on Day two (that's a Marathon and a half people!!!)

My motivation for doing this is my friend Julie, at 36 she is fighting secondary Bone Cancer. Her Breast Cancer was discovered 2 years ago and had spread to her hip bone by the time it was discovered.
This is her blog if you are interested http://joolssutton.blogspot.com/

To participate in the walk I need to raise $1800 for the cause. Once all the checks arrive into my account I will be on just over $600. I can only achieve my goal with help from my friends and family. Thank you to all who have already donated. Please donate to my cause online www.tinyurl.com/AndieAvonwalk

My 20 week training plan begins on April 25th. Until then I am keeping up with my regular gym routine and gradually building up my walking outdoors. I am at the point now where I need to get some walking / running shoes better suited to long distances. At the moment I am wearing regular cross training shoes and starting to feel the burn on my feet!

Happy 2009!!

Ok guys, 7 weeks into the new year I finally get around to wishing you all a Happy New Year!

I'm not going to beat myself up about what I haven't Blogged about - instead I'll give you a condensed version and then get on with the "here and now"

Since my last post we have a new President. I was very grateful to be over here and witness the whole democratic process first hand. It was really quite riveting - I became more of a news bore than I normally am! Election night was fun, I spent most of the time having an online party with Claire and Emma. 2 of us were routing for Obama and one for McCain (you were a fab loser Em!!)

Kathy and Joe moved back into their house the week before Thanksgiving - which was so amazing as they were hosting Thanksgiving dinner!! Nunu, you were a trooper!!!!

My mum and Phil's parents arrived just in time for Thanksgiving. We had the most wonderful dinner with Joe & Kathy and their family. When you can eat Al fresco in November life is good!!!!!!!!!! Great Job Kathy and Joe!
Nunu left just after Thanksgiving - we were very sad to see him go. We got so used to having him around (2 whole months!!!)

Then came December, mum headed off to Florida closely followed by myself, Kai and Merl & Joyce. Phil and the boys joined us once school and work were done, Heidi also arrived the same time. We went Mickey mad for about 2 weeks and then the tourists began to arrive And the parks got so busy. That's when we backed off and spent some time relaxing by our lovely pool.
Christmas in Orlando was great. We went to Raglan Road (the Irish Pub in Downtown Disney) and had a traditional-ish meal.

On New Years Eve we started heading into Downtown Disney but it was so busy that we turned around and went back home. Instead we had a quiet night in heading outdoors at midnight to watch all the fireworks. A very nice night indeed!

We got back to California on January 6th to the news that our Visa had been renewed for another 3 years (YAY!!!!!!) Hopefully our Green Cards will be through before we have to go through that whole painful and expensive renewal process again! Heidi came back to California with us for what should have been 11 days. Unfortuantely (or not!) she had to get a Dr's note to delay her flight home for a week.

Ok....that's November, December and January watch this space for February....

Joined the gym!

Well we did it at last! 2 weeks ago we joined a wonderful gym. For me it's been about 3 years since I went to one on a regular basis, for Phil & the boys it was a new experience.
Everyone is enjoying it a lot with the exception of Kai. Unfortunately he doesn't like going into the creche so we are trying to ease him in gently at the moment.

Yesterday Brian (aka Nunu) arrived from the UK for his 2 month stay. He seems very happy to be here, and we are very happy to have him over.

Well, that's all for tonight. Short and sweet as I'm going to drag the guys off the computers and get them in the hot tub!

Back soon!!

This is my promise to myself that I will be back blogging on the next few days!
It seems that we've been so busy, but that's no excuse because all it means is more to write about.
Sooooo, watch this space - I'll be back very soon!

Building a trampoline....

On July 17th we bought a trampoline for the boys. We didn't think it would be such a challenging task to build it.....Heidi & I estimated we'd have it done within an hour. We started at 3pm.

Hmmmmm, 12 ft is quite large when it's a trampoline in your back yard!

Looks as though it's going to be a tight fit!

With the help of Howard we managed to get the springs connected.

Taking shape now.........

Albeit the wrong shape!

Just checking those joints!

Yep! All secure!

Can I bounce bounce please?

Kai got the wrong idea about the safety mesh

Kai finally gets his bounce at 10pm!

Kai & Phil

Howard, Greg & Kai test out the trampoline.

Zack is still recovering so he can't go on just yet.

July 15th 2008 - Zack & Nanna Janice have their ops

On July 15th Zack & Nanna Janice went to the California Ear Institute for their ops.

Zack in the waiting room

Nanna in the waiting room

The staff at the hospital were amazing! They looked after myself, Heidi & Kai while we waited for the patients. We were a little hungry as we hadn't planned very well and took nothing with us so they made us a lovely chicken meal. Kai was treated like a little VIP with his very own 60" TV to watch and pillows, blankets and refreshments whenever he needed them!

This is Zack in recovery after his op.

We tried to get some pictures of Janice but the nurses wouldn't let us. You could just tell they thought Heidi was a total nutcase for even asking!

Both operations went well. Nanna had an immediate improvement in her hearing. It will take a few months to find out wether Zack's operation was a success.

Zack gets straight back into what's important the day after his operation!

Weekend catch up..

Just a quick catch up from the weekend as I was having too much fun to post at the time!

We have had so many hot days - the only way to cool down is by playing with water! We got a water slide for the garden and the boys had so much fun with it.

Heid, Mum & I went wine tasting at Wente http://www.wentevineyards.com/default2.asp and Tamas http://www.tamasestates.com/ on Saturday. We had a great time and both Heidi & Mum were very impressed with the local offerings. Heidi disliked wine prior to Saturday (but that was because she'd only ever had nasty stuff before!!)

Kai learned he had some Rock Band talent........

......and we had Alvin, Rita & the girls over for a BBQ and a bounce!