2010 - the year that was Prep

Bennett is 6

Bennett getting ready to go out for lunch on his birthday.

Bennett loves his new skateboard from Aunty Kayleigh and Aunty Grace.

These are the Mario lolly bags....

And this is the Mario birthday cake!

Surfers Paradise - Mum & Dad's 10th Wedding Anniversary

Boy's weekend

Bennett has just come back from a lovely Boys Weekend on Phillip Island, with his "uncles" Alen, Cameron and Simon. We played lots of fun games including... mini golf, football, cricket, drawing, frisbee, boomerang, DS, string games and even went to the beach.

He also had a good time seeing his relatives as you can see from these pictures. We hope that Granny Brereton's hand gets better soon.

His favourite thing about the whole weekend was his lovely Rainbow Road wig that Uncle Cameron gave him as a present.

Bennett is looking forward to the next Boys' Weekend and thinks we should have one next weekend.

If you have Facebook and are friends with Stephanie, there's more pictures at http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=116303&id=656822543&ref=mf

Road Trip Part 5 - Canberra and Home

We arrived in Canberra in the evening and stayed out our ex-housemate Mel's place. In the morning we headed off to the War Monument and Museum, but it wasn't particular kid-friendly so we headed to somewhere we knew was kid-friendly... Questacon! This was actually Bennett's favourite part of the whole trip and he had a great time with all the hands-on activities... his favourite being the electronic / computerised LCD wall which captured your moving image and transformed it into some wonderful digital displays. We were there for hours and by the time we finished we were very tired and went back to Mel's to rest until we all went out later for a wonderful Indian meal.

In the morning we set off to Melbourne. We were keen to dodge a load of the roadworks we encountered on the way so detoured via Yass, Harden, Wagga Wagga and Holbrook before rejoining the Hume Highway. We got back to Melbourne late, and had a visit at Ama and Pa's place (so Bennett could see what they brought him back from Vietnam) and then home to see the puppies who we missed very much. We were feeling very tired and blah by the end of the trip... mainly from the patchy sleep and dodgy diet, and are only now starting to get back to some degree of normality! It was a great trip, we met some good friends, we brought back a big stash of CDs, books, and Super Mario Bros merchendise... and really enjoyed the time away.

Road Trip Part 4 - Blue Mountains

After Newcastle we headed off to the Blue Mountains. We stopped and had a good look around at the shops in Lithgow and Katoomba before finding the B&B in Wentworth Falls at which we were staying. The following morning we headed out to the actual Wentworth Falls and a bit of a bushwalk. The views were stunning and Bennett did a good job of walking up and down the paths.

When Stephanie was little, she fell off a walking path on the Blue Mountains after being told not to run on several occasions. Paul and Bennett had a fine time pretending to fall off the paths Stephanie style.

After the Blue Mountains we grabbed some Krispy Kreme donuts at Penrith and then had a fine afternoon visiting Stephanie's Grandma (who Bennett calls Auntie Sylvia, despite the fact she's he's great-grandmother). She gave Bennett a soft yellow toy cat which he named Hannah Montana.

Road Trip Part 3 - Newcastle

In Newcastle we were staying at Stephanie's aunt's place because she was overseas in Scotland. Bennett was pleased to discover they had a Wii and much time was spent playing that. After the busyness of the trip to date, there was a bit of downtime in Newcastle as we took it easy. The highlights in Newcastle were catching up with Naomi, Stu and 5 week old baby boy Eli, going to visit the Smithies and see Jessica's baby Noah for the first time, as well as a trip out into the Hunter Valley where we picked up some wine at Sobel's, played aqua-golf, and picked up plenty of goodies at the Maitland market.

Road Trip Part 2 - Sydney

First stop in Sydney was Luna Park. Bennett met up with one of Stephanie's Internet friends and her daughters and had plenty of fun, particularly at Coney Island. The following day Paul went off CD shopping and Stephanie and Bennett went to the Art Gallery and did some shopping. For dinner we went to China Doll at Wooloomooloo where one of the chefs, Frank, had recently been a guest judge on Masterchef Australia. Although Bennett was disappointed that Poh and Julie weren't there, he thought it was cool that Frank was there and had a bit of a chat with him and scored the meal 9 out of 10. The staff thought it was nice seeing a lovely boy at their restaurant so gave us free drinks and free dessert. Another day in Sydney we went to the Powerhouse Museum, did some shopping and then took the boy to Bondi Beach where he defied the elements and had a swim. We had pies for dinner at Harry's Cafe de Wheels. Bennett was also a big fan of Mariner's Court, which is where we were staying whilst in Sydney. The main reason he liked it was of course the buffet breakfast!

Road Trip Part 1 - Wollongong

It was a long trip up to Wollongong through roadworks along the Hume Highway but we stopped off at different towns along the way and made a day of it. We were staying with Michael, Jo and baby Kane in Thirroul, just north of Wollongong. It was great to see them all and to see how they're going as a family. While we were there, Kane had his first birthday and had his rellies around for the big day. They also had a Wii which was of course very popular with young Bennett.

Whilst in Wollongong, we also went to the Nan Tien Buddhist Temple which was really nice. Stephanie really enjoyed the kumquat tea at the Tea House, so will hopefully come to the FGY Tea House in Melbourne one day to have some more.

Bennett also had a good time visiting Stephanie's cousin Hannah who lives at Tahmoor, which was about 40 mins away. Hannah also had a Wii, which Bennett was quite fond of. She also had a cool little bunny called Fuzzy who is alas no more.

We had a great time in Wollongong and not for the first time, Bennett didn't want to leave where we were. However, whenever he'd get to the next place we were going, he would love that too!