The Durants from the north came to visit! Kev's brother Brett and his beautiful girls, wife Val, daughters Haylee and Kacie, took a road trip from Mackay QLD all the way to Canberra. They spent the long weekend with us and it was great. We spent Saturday out on the town. Started with Questacon, then the Floriade flower display, Mt Anislie lookout and an Army concert
at the War memorial "Beat the retreat". All of it was great fun and so much more to be with family. Thank you for coming to visit Brett, Val, Haylee and Kacie, we love you guys!

Aleeya turns 30

While the big guys manned the BBQ, the little guys were mainacs in the backyard. The little girls searched for the cat, Ernie (who didn't hide successfully), while the Ladies leisurely sat back, ate and drank. Kev did a great job putting togehter a birthday BBQ, with chicken swekers, pork ribs, salads, BBQ corn and hotdogs for the kids. The day was stunning and now the day after is foul, so we picked the right day for it! Thanks to my friends and family for the wishes and pressies, I love you guys!

September has always been a big month for the Durants, with 2 birthdays and a wedding anniversary. So this September was bigger than ever. We had 2 great opportunities to dress up. Firstly our friends Kel and Naomi had a beautiful wedding on the 2nd and they had a perfect day for it. Secondly the Air force contingent of Kev's course had a cocktail party, another wonderful excuse to dress up and go out without the kids. But snuggles are always welcome at the end of all the busyness.

We visited Dubbos Western Plains Zoo in the July School Holidays. It is 5 hours drive north of Canberra. It's an Amazing place with all the Aussie animals and so much more. The zoo's goal is to help breeding of endangered animals, so they will be around for everyone to enjoy, always!

June 2006 - Photo Update

Just thought I would post some miscellaneous
photographs just to catch you all up on our going's
on.

Family pile up on Aleeya.














Our little kitty, Ernie. He is five months old
full of mischief. Shoey and Ernie are the best
of mates.














Shoey and our friend Sharon playing with Ernie.














Shohanna knows how to whip up a tune.
The hairbrush microphone is good enough for now.




















Dad's mode of transport to and from work. He is
getting a little chilly in the mornings these days.
















Findlay ready for his first day of School - Feb 2006

















Findlay's swimming class.

Findlay's 5th Birthday (6 Apr 06)

Of course we had a party with a treasure hunt.















and we had ice cream cake















and Fin got lots of presents including a superman
scooter that he had been asking for since before
we left Seattle. His getting good at riding it now.

Shohanna's 1st Birthday

Shohanna turned one on 11 May 06. We had a little party with some of our friends here in Canberra. Shohanna's grandma was also visiting at the time which was special for us all.

The Return to Australia Trip

Well we finally arrived back in Australia after a short 6 night stopover in Waikiki, Hawaii. It was beautiful and very relaxing, though we didn't get to the beach as much as we would have liked.

The flight to Sydney in Business Class was hard. As you can see Shohanna was pretty cramped in her own seat, well she couldn't fit all her toys on with her unless we extended the foot rest.

We ended up in Brisbane that following night having lost a day due to timezones and our planned accommodation did not work out so we stayed in a budget hotel and sweated with the high temperatures and humidity overnight.

We then bussed for a couple of hours out to Toowoomba where we met Kev’s Dad and Sister, Helen who then drove us a further couple of hours to Helen and her husband Gavin’s cattle farm. All Kev’s family including all Fin and Shoey’s cousins on that side of the family were there. It was a fantastic family time after 3 years away.

We also were reacquainted with the Aussie wildlife. Yes this is a Brown snake that decided to venture too close to the house. One of the niece’s saw it and we quickly decided to make it a dead type of snake.

Shohanna also found she's a pretty good boogie boarder. She loved the water in the pool much more than the water at Waikiki.