Todd Family Christmas Picture

CRW_3576Last year we sent out a photo of the tin lids with our Christmas cards. You can see it to the left of these words. A seasonal theme and some (vaguely) smiling children, what more could you want?

This year we had a flash of inspiration. We were off to watch the England v NSW cricket game at the SCG. We thought it would be great to get a photograph of the youngest members of the family in front of the current Ashes holders.

What could go wrong? Well plenty as it turns out. Rather than describe the carnage I’ve put up a photo essay. Its called The 2006 Christmas Picture and explains why, if you have received a Christmas card from us it has come without any accompaniment.

St Dweezil

I may have mentioned before (here and here) my theory that giving your children stupid names is somewhat akin to child abuse. I’m glad to see that I’m not alone here and that noted teacher Frank Chalk has declared the 21st of November St Dweezil’s day to shame those who would foist absurd monikers on their offspring.

Remember parents, its not big and its certainly not clever.

SWMBO Nutbag

Further proof, if any were needed, that SWMBO is a nutbag.

We’ve had an upturn in the temperature around these parts recently, in fact a couple of days this week would have been labelled "scorchers" by any British red-top newspaper worthy of its salt. This morning she asked what the temperature was going to be today. On being told that the forecast says anything up to 25 degrees celsius she proudly proclaimed – "I’ll get my long trousers on then". When I raised a quizzical eyebrow or two she said "why, isn’t that cold then?" Completely teapot.

Like Son, Like Father

I think I know where JFGP gets his extreme fondness for television from. Me.

How can you not love a medium that gives us something like tonight’s episode of MythBusters which is apparently called "Whirlpool of Death".

If you are unfortunate enough to miss or otherwise not view this masterpiece you can read all about it here. I love Wikipedia too.

Going to the Chapel

Or, in this case, the golf club. I’ve put my photos of Mark and Sophie’s wedding up on flickr as this set. According to my count that means I don’t have to post another photo of the day until some time in late January.

Kiddies on the Beach

CRW_5840Kiddies on the beach. Hosted on Zooomr

Welcome to another photo of the day. This one is of our favourite boys and girls at Clontarf beach. It was a little hot so we had retired from the water and were sitting under the trees having snacks. Which was nice.

Of course, the snacks weren’t enough, and I did have to bribe the kiddies to sit still whilst I took a couple of photos. As you can tell from this picture it didn’t really work that well. But please do give me points for trying.

He Walks

CRW_5810The youngest member of the team has been standing for a while. At the weekend he took a couple of steps. Over the last few days he has gained confidence by the minute and today he has managed to string together quite a few steps at a time.

As far as we are concerned this makes him a walker. Good work little man.

Truly Classy

It’s a common theme in my adopted country that Australians quite like gambling. The oft used phrase is that Aussies will bet on two flys crawling up a wall. The culture of punting is certainly prevalent here, but surely even this is taking it too far.

Its a story from yesterday’s Sydney Morning Herald about ‘clubs’ building creches so that parents can play bingo and put money into poker machines without having to worry about looking after their children. To quote David Marsh, the general manager of Ingleburn RSL;

“Our trade is affected during school holidays, when our bingo and raffles really drop off. The main point of the exercise was to allow people to come here and enjoy those activities during school holidays.”

This would be outrageous if it wasn’t so funny. Even Backberner predicted this about five years ago. A couple had been convicted of locking their children in their car whilst they went for a bet in the local RSL. Apparently leaving children in a car in direct sunlight for a couple of hours is a bad idea. Who’d have thought it? Backberner interviewed a (fake) representative of a (fake) casino whose sole contribution to addressing this social problem was addressed by saying “The problem wouldn’t happen at our casino, the car park has a roof”.

Castle Ball Paddling Pool

CRW_5749.jpgWe bought the kids a new paddling pool. This one comes complete with its own bouncy castle. Emma provided the balls. Our bathroom provided the rest of the toys. It has seen some serious use this weekend, where spring has finally sprung and the temperature is in the very reasonable low twenties (centigrade).

I’m not saying our children are spoiled, but …