Oct 2007

Saturday October 13th was the CFA Annual Banquet, celebrating the fire brigade and how much they rock. I will now precede to tell you all about it.

Well, when I got there, I sat at our table next to my Aunt Susan. Here we are.

I was also sitting next to James.

Also at our table were Stacey, James' friend Orson, and Mark and Nicki, though they were running late and had not yet arrived.

Stacey, as it turns out, had organised the event, so they gave her lots of flowers.

James hosted the night. Here he is, hosting.

When I got there, I found out that they were having a raffle! Raffles are fun. Tickets were 3 for a dollar, but as I had only a 20 and didn't really want to buy 60 tickets, I went to the bar to break it. I returned with a raspberry vodka and 3 fives. I bought 15 tickets and sat down with my drink. And just in time! Because then we all stood up and toasted the Queen, which I thought was pretty fun. Here she is.

I didn't win any prizes after the first round of raffle giveaways, so I bought 15 more tickets. Then we had dinner. I had lamb. It was good. And then they called out more raffle winners and...Kate won! Woo-hoo! Here is my new plant and candle set.

Then James got up to resume hosting duties. He announced that his cousin had come all the way from America to the banquet and that I had made a special request. Apparently, I wanted more than anything to have my picture taken with a bunch of men in uniform. This was, of course, a fabrication on James' part, but the men in their fire uniforms all stood up and we were photographed. We're facing the official photographer, so this picture is just from the side, but hopefully I'll get a copy of the other photo sometime.

After we sat down, some guy wanted to talk to me because I was American. He was kinda annoying, so hopefully he won't read this. But he kept mocking my accent, and not in a good-natured way either. Not really the way to endear a girl. But luckily he went away after a while and I resumed my meal.

Then it was dancing time. I was enjoying talking to Mark and Sue, but then annoying guy came and yanked me out of my chair and said I had to dance with him. I didn't particularly want to dance with him, so I stood next to him while he did some weird air guitar thing. And then he went away. So that was good. But then I decided that as I was up and on the dance floor, I would dance anyway. Various people hijacked my camera and photographed this. So here I am.

The Macarena

I think the next two are from the Nutbush. I don't look like I'm having much fun in the second (though I was), but James more than makes up for this with his enthusiasm.

Myself, Mark, and James on a dance break.

At some point during the night, Mark, Stacey, and Nicki photographed themselves with my camera. Here they are.

Finally, it was time to go home. Mark and Nicki didn't want (or weren't able) to drive, so they came in our car. Except they didn't fit, so we broke the law.

But after we dropped off my Aunt Susan, we all fit. So here are myself, Mark, and Stacey in the back.

Then we went back to James and Stacey's. At about 2am our time, Mark and James decided they had to know, right then, what baseball team my dad went for. And they wouldn't believe me when I said that he really didn't follow the sport. So they decided to call my family. So that was interesting. So, family, I hope this puts that interesting call into the context of the rest of our night.

After that, I went to bed. And that was the night.

About three weeks ago, I went to James and Stacey's for the CFA Family Fun Day. CFA being the Country Fire Authority, which they are both involved in.

So, the family got in the car and drove about an hour and a half to Rochwood Winery, where much fun was had.

There was food, games for kids, and, strangely enough, lots and lots of country music. Even a performer from Nashville!

When we got there, the security people took our umbrellas, saying they were not allowed. Apparently umbrellas are a danger at large gatherings? But they later gave them back, deciding it'd be safe after all.

This was a good thing, since it rained!

But then it stopped. Hooray!

Here is a picture of Myles chilling out on my lap.

At some point in the day, I noticed that there was a giant kangaroo and giant koala wandering around. I later learnt that they were Ranger Roo and Captain Koala. I was so excited!! I wanted to have my picture taken with them. But I couldn't get close enough to them. Too many kids!

So I convinced Amity that it was actually her who really wanted her picture with the giant animals. She asked if I would please take her to be photographed with Ranger Roo and Captain Koala, and I kindly obliged.

Off we went!

Ranger Roo!!

Captain Koala!!!

Also, at some point during the day, Amity had her first try at drinking out of a big girl cup (as opposed to bottle). But she couldn't get it to work and was sad. I think she can do it now though But anyway, I thought I ought to capture the occasion, so here it is!

And that was the family fun day! Yay!

It's time for a baby post. Prepare for cuteness.

Here is me burping Amity.

Here is Myles smiling and being cute.

Phillip holding Amity.

But then she got sad, so he gave her back.

On another occasion, the twins came to visit Pippi's house! Here they are asleep on her bed.

Then Myles woke up, so we had a bit of a photo shoot. First, I held him up next to Flopsy bunny, to show how they're about the same size.

Then we did the myspace picture.

And the emospace (thanks again, Jonathan, for teaching me these terms). Myles was really cooperative and knew just where to look.

Here are the babies playing together! Note how they can hold up their heads and everything. They'll be walking in no time.

Here's Myles playing with one of the giraffes that Pippi and I gave him and his sister before they were even born!

Finally, we'll end with an Amity photo-spam. This occurred when I was trying to get a picture of her smiling, but I kept just missing it. I finally got her smiling, but with my finger in her mouth, because she wanted something to suck on.

Well, one weekend, a few months ago or something, I went to stay with Mark and Nicki, who live a few doors down from James and Stacey and babies. Though at this point, Mark and Nicki had very little furniture, so I actually slept at James and Stacey's. But spent most of the time with Mark and Nicki. Mark being James' brother and another one of my cousins. I hope everyone is more or less clear on who everyone is, I know there's a lot of them to keep up with.

Anyway, on the Saturday, we picked up some Fish and Chips and had a picnic by the beach. A famous beach, or one my mom likes a lot. Mother's Beach or something like that. Here are a few pictures.

Very pretty. Then on Sunday, we went to have lunch at the Royal Hotel. I couldn't get anymore of it in the picture because if I'd stepped back any further I would have fallen off a cliff. But it was very pretty, so here it is:

We did other things that weekend, including going out to dinner and seeing Chuck and Larry, and visiting Mark's grandmother, and watching Nicki's brother play footy, and going to a pub, and then to a nightclub, which I didn't really enjoy all too much. The latter, I mean. But the rest was awesome fun, I just have no photos.

Another time, the Friday before the Grand Final, I went to see the AFL parade. The AFL being the Australian Football League, being the most popular sport in Victoria. It's different both from soccer and American football, and is around here known mainly as footy. The Grand Final is the championship game and the Friday before they have a massive parade downtown. Here are a bunch of people at the parade who should probably be at work.

I also captured some videos of the parade, mainly to get the team songs, because they were fun! I know videos never seem to work when I embed them, but I think these videos will work. I've figured out that the reason videos weren't working before was because I had set them to private. That would explain why I could see them but no one else could. Very smart of me. Anyway, I've gone back and fixed the old videos I posted. For your viewing convenience, they are located in entries: here, here, and here. Enjoy.

Port Adelaide Power's Team Song

Geelong Cat's Team Song

A Random Snippet of Speech

The Lord Mayor of Melbourne. I like the way he claps.

Finally, another time, a few weeks ago, over spring break, I went to see Phantom of the Opera with Emily at the Princess Theatre. As I was a loser, I totally forgot my camera, so I don't have any pictures actually from the day. But I went back later to take pictures. In 20 years, I probably won't remember they were taken a week later, so we can pretend.

The end! For now.

I forget exactly which day this happened, but it was during my school placement, so either the last week in August or the first in September.

I'd just gotten out of school for the day and had taken the 112 tram to Fitzroy Street, where I was waiting to catch the 96 tram to go home.

Here I am!

At the corner of Park and Fitzroy. Waiting for the 96 to St Kilda Beach. Stop number 134. Very nice sign.

There's my tram! Ooh, it's one of the really new, super fancy ones. Get excited!

Here's the inside of my tram. It's pretty empty.

So I began the second leg of my trip home. But when I got off the tram, I thought to myself, "Today is a beautiful day! It really feels like spring! Let's go to the beach and build a sandcastle!"

So off I went.

But it wasn't really THAT warm, so I didn't want to get actually wet or anything, so I didn't go that close to the water. The result was that I was working with only somewhat moist sand. But I think I still built a pretty nifty hill/castle.

Then I thought that I really ought to get a picture of the builder with her wonderful creation. But as there was no one else around, I was forced to try a self-photo. I'm really bad at those. Here are just a few of my attempts.

And that was my sandcastle. Ta-da!