MISS CAITLIN

Brandon Cannot Find His Atlas!

I wonder why!

Patrick turns 11!

Patrick enjoyed his day very much. He awoke to his favourite breakfast. Then opened his gifts, which he was apparently thrilled with. Then he played a while then went golfing with his dad whilst I prepared his Birthday Dinner Feast and Brandon made him a chocolate fudge cake. He was very appreciative of spending the day with his family and of all his gifts. He is a sweet boy!

Happy Birthday Pat.

Little Miss

A typical expression from our Little Miss Caitlin who is currently exercising her right as youngest child to exhibit obnoxious and downright selfish behaviour much to the exhaustion of her parents.

Patrick and Redd

Patrick and his very lovable dog, Redd whom he mostly remembers to feed, occasionally remembers to give water but always remembers to love!

Kids Eye View of London

I'm always surprised when I look through the eyes of my children. They astound me, make me laugh. I simply adore them. Here is a look at London through photographs the children have taken.

Patrick's Double Decker bus view of the red telephone box. The box was to become our life saver. We got separated in London and I was able to use the red box to call Kevin on his cell phone and meet up again!

Pat's view of the tower that holds Big Ben.

The kids and Kevin went on The Eye whilst Norman and I visited Westminster Abbey where we saw tombs of many great (or not so great) Queens and Kings including Queen Elizabeth I and Mary Queen of Scotts.

The Poets corner was extremely interesting with memorials to Jane Austen, the Bronte sisters, Charles Dickens and many more.

Brandon took this photo outside the Tower of London. Infamous home to many a scandalous murder and beheading!

It is also the home to the crown jewels which Kevin insists are completely fake!

It was here that we also met our first and only Beefeater and we witnessed the guard changing outside the vault where the jewels are kept.










Caitlin took this photograph of Janette pointing out the sights of the English countryside through the English rain.






This was on our drive up to The Cotswolds and the Lake District.



We are on our third day in Edinburgh and it has rained everyday. Makes us feel at home!






The homes range from sprawling country estates to row housing.

Just another day in the Beilby family. Caitlin decides that she wants to volunteer to work at "Paws" - the local shelter that hosts kittens and bigger kittens until such time as a generous human will adopt them. So...we embark on the walk to the cat sanctuary for some unknown reason with our cat chasing, slightly neurotic, not completely bright but lovable dog! As we approach the "Paws", Redd decides to attack the lovable creature basking in the the summer sun on a chair outside the shelter. Much to the cat's credibility, it fought back and gave Redd a couple of nasty scratches on his nose.

So...despite the drama, the shelter owner agrees that Caitlin and her friend Annabella may help out in the shelter and puts them to work immediately scooping poop and feeding the 30 or so kittens they house here.

I'm very proud of her. She worked very hard, despite the smelly poop and feral kittens jumping all over her.

Nina Turns 40!

Well, it was inevitable but a relief now the anticipation and anxiety about hitting a big one is over. I spent the morning drinking tea. Then my Caitlin fixed my hair with the most wonderful arrangement of gold and brown and black clips.

Then Brandon made me Scrambled eggs with just the right amount of salt and pepper which I indulged in whilst watching the morning news. Patrick and Caitlin went down the street to get a a Latte. Just perfect!

Caitlin and I took Redd to the park where I pushed her on the tire swing and then we swung together until motion sickness (or maybe the scrambled eggs) got the better of me and we decided to walk around the river which was glorious!


Back home I was showered with flowers and gifts from Oz. Yeah! Thank you.


Then I got ready for lunch whilst speaking to my mum!

Lunch was at Ricardo's Italian. My friend Michelle got me the cutest martini glass so I just had to put something in it!

Thank you all my special friends for their phone calls and email messages. I feel very very lucky to have such thoughtful people in my life.

Funny cards...thanks for making me laugh.

"At 40, a healthy diet is more important than ever."
Open card..."Better have a glass of red wine in between margaritas...and remember to eat the celery in your Bloody Mary!"

"Like a great wine we get better as we get older."
Open card...Or rather, as we get older, we feel better with lots of great wine!"

"Do you know what it means if a man is in your bed gasping for breath and calling your name?
Open the card..."It means you didn't hold the pillow down long enough! Have a killer birthday".


The kids and I went to Marrakesh Moroccan restaurant for dinner to celebrate. We sat on cushions and ate with our fingers which the kids adored! We had our fingers washed then rubbed with rose scented oil. I wasn't certain that they would enjoy the food but they LOVED it


Most of all they liked the belie dancer. Especially Patrick whose eyes opened wide as she sashayed along side of him! Caitie was determined to put a tip in her skirt despite her wiggling bottom and she eventually succeeded much to the joy of the diners.

After dinner, the kids and I met Kerri and her son, Sean for photographs down on the dock by the river with the city and the setting sun in the background. They should be incredible and what a wonderful gift and memory of my day.

When we got home (10pm) my neighbour turned up with more flowers. Oh my gosh! I have just had the most perfect day. Thank you all and goodnight.

MR WHITE HAS GROWN!

It is amazing what a diet of regular exercise water and pure bred mice will do for a snake!



Mr White is now gorging himself on Adult sized mice. It's incredible to watch him although lately he has taken to dragging the creature into his den for a private dining experience.

He likes to exercise everyday. He has taken to slithering down the stair case which he enjoys.

Even though the rest of us have tried to be friendly with Mr White, he loves Brandon best and actively seeks him out. Although he is not unkind to us, he just freaks out a bit and feels safer with Brandon, his buddy.

The photo above shows Mr White and Caitlin

approximately one year ago whilst in this photo Brandon holds Mr White up so that you can see his full length.

Daddy Daughter Dance

Kevin and Caitlin attend the annual Daddy and Daughter dance attended by the Portland Princesses.

Indian Beach

In the heat of summer, a balmy and humid 90 degrees F, The Beilby's decide to spend the day at Indian Beach on the Oregon Coast only to find that here it is only 55 degrees with 50 mile icy winds.

This, apparently, does not deter Beilby children from swimming in the freezing arctic waters. I pointed out that the only people in the water were surfing in full body wetsuits, but that only encouraged them to swim until there was no feeling left in their legs!

Nina Graduates

Finally, after two years of blood and sweat, I have graduated from Mt Hood Community College with an Associates Degree in Professional Photography. Not only that, to my surprise, I was valedictorian as well! Double honors and top of the class!

Kevin and the kids as well as my good friends, Jan and Renee came all the way out to Gresham to watch the ceremony.

Thank you to mum and Nana and Kevin and Jan and Renee who showered me with lovely congratulatory gifts. It touched my heart to be made felt so special.

I am pleased to be finished but a little anxious about entering the "real world". Still not certain about the direction I want to take but I think that shall become clear very soon.

SEE SELLS SEE SELLS BY THE SEA SAW!!

Caitlin had a very exciting day yesterday. Firstly, she finally lost her other front tooth. No 'she sells sea shells" is quite a challenge and we had a good laugh at the dinner table!

Caitlin's class also got a visit from the chanel 6 weather man who then put their photograph on the news that night.

We also had a short spell in the afternoon when we couldn't find her. Caitlin was suppose to come home on the bus after school but instead went to an enrichment class that we thought wasn't until Thursday. Luckily, she was sitting in the office at school when Kevin called to find out if they had seen her.

Patrick Gets Stitches

It seems we are becoming quite familiar with the ER at Mt Scott!

This time, Patrick was helping his dad in the garden, picking up debris and putting it in the big recycling garden waste can.


He was wheeling it across the garden when he tripped and fell to the ground and the full wheelie bin came down on top of him and opening up a large part of his face!






Pat is a tough boy so when he crys, we know it hurts. He doing well now. The hardest part will be keeping him from busting open the stitches! We have had to stop him several times from doing sommersaults on the trampoline and rumbling with the dog!

Caitie Ski's Calgary

After a few attempts at the smaller hills, the determined Miss Beilby finds herself skiing on the big hill at the park where the Calgary Olympics were held. Whoo hoo!

CALGARY ZOO

Today we visited Calgary Zoo. It was OK as far as zoo's are concerned. Pretty dificult to appreciate other zoo's when you have been brought up in Sydney with one of the best zoo's in the world.

Calgary, Banff & Lake Louise

March 19, 2008, the Beilby family find themselves in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. We came here to obtain new visa's that are issued only to Australians (an"E" visa) which give us more flexibility with work and other benefits.

So far, we have found Calgary to have many similarities to Sydney such as coloured money, dollar coins, the outrageous price of food, the array of older cars and the hoards of Aussies and New Zealander's that are here! It differs in that it is very plain, unadorned with scultpures or plants, the city is small and quiet, almost derelect. Oh, and as I write it is -8 degrees!

In complete contrast, Banff is a bustling city abound in wealth. A charismatic town, nestled amongst the imposing rocky mountains and surrounded by crystal clear lakes and rivers it isn't any wonder that it attracts visitors from all over the world. After the 35 minute search for parking, we took a leisurely stroll along the main street and then had lunch. We then toured the beautiful Vermillion Lakes which surround Banff. We were so excited to see some feasting Candaian Geese, a frolicking Bald Eagle and a fierce looking Coyote. We then headed to the glorious Lake Louise where Kevin and the kids skated on the lake outside of the beautiful Fairmont Hotel.

COLLEGE ALMOST ENDS

Oh my gosh! This term I took on 17 credits toward my degree. That is more than a full time load. Then add in kids, a husband and burgeoning photography business into the picture and you have one little fire ball of built up stress and anxiety. There were many sleepless nights and lots of hard work but the term is over. So far, the hard work has paid off. Hopefully now everything will get back to normal. I have one more full time term and then a couple of classes to complete the degree. Yeah!

BRANDON AND HIS SNAKE

Finally we were able to get a photograph of Brandon! Here is is with his beloved snake, Snakey (alias Mr White)!

CAITLIN LOOSES BIG TOOTH

Caitlin has been steadily loosing teeth for quite some time now but this big one puts a rather nice size hole in her head!

The boys are loosing their molars too. Brandon lost 5 teeth in one week. Between the three of them, we lost about 12 teeth in 8 days.

Needless to say that we are serving a lot of soup for dinner!

UPDATE

February has been a crazy month!

Brandon is at school until 4:30pm and it's dark soon after so we do not have so many photo's of him but we'll try to get some soon.

School is a challenge for Brandon but he is trying to get his grades up this quarter by going to school an hour before it opens to get his work done or re-do work he missed or did not pass the first time.

Caitlin and Patrick just had their 100th day of school for the year and are already talking about summer break. Patrick is about to sit the State tests which begin Monday.

Nina has three weeks left of this term. So far all "A's" but PE is the biggest challenge (can you believe it!) She is taking Tai Chi (not so bad) but Kombatan (Phillipino Martial Arts) is quite the challenge. Lots of fighting with sticks. Tuesday she was all but knocked out when her stick bounced off her 300lb 6 foot opponents stick and hit her in the head!

Kevin just returned from a whirl wind trip to Halifax, St John, Montego Bay, Atlanta, Toronto, Halifax again and home. He was gone for two weeks and by the time he returned, we all got sick.

That's all for now. Wish you all well.

Natural Wonders

The kids were very excited this week. We had an incredible lunar eclipse then a glorious rainbow!

Kids Play

The sun fought off the horrid black rain clouds and won today! I got some well derserved vitamin D whilst the kids played at the park.

The kids thought it was summer in contrast to the cold we have had lately. (It was only 10 degrees celcius.)

We went to Fields Park and the kids played basketball but the big favourite was the tire swing. Pat likes to swing the girls so hard and fast that he falls over.

The Beilby Christmas

As some of you are aware, The Beilby family does not indulge in the over commercialized event that Christmas has become. Instead, we choose to reconnect by spending countless hours in a car followed by eating and sleeping together to the point where we cannot wait to get back to our own and reality!

This year, we headed north to Everett, Washington, the home of the Boeing "Future of Flight" centre, the largest building in the world (approx 75 football fields), manufacturing facility and home to the new 787 "Dreamliner". Our informative tour took us through the facility where we witnessed work on several planes in various stages of creation.

Ah! Christmas in the magical land of Leavenworth. What a treat. Leavenworth is a quaint Bavarian style town East of Seattle at the base of the Cascade mountains (around 6 hours from our house).