It's been too long...

..and I feel I am neglecting my blog.  Things worthy of note:

• I have 8 working days left at work for a company who I joined at 17 and have been with for 15 years.  I used to love, love, love going to work.  Two things have changed that.  Having Finn & Isla, who I would much rather spend my time with in their formative years.  Also, it's not the place it once was.  Things have changed for the worse at a place where I felt we were once making a difference with innovation, effort, ideas and imagination.  Now we are making the wheels turn for an organisation who does not appreciate the effort it takes to make that happen or the people involved.  When I leave I will be sad for the place that was 4 years or so ago.  I will also miss some of the people who I have known for a long time now.

• I have a very exciting party planned for Finn tomorrow at our house to celebrate him turning 3.  Finn's birthday is actually next week but we are going to London on the train and so his party is tomorrow and the weather forecast is great!  I am hugely relieved as the birthday plans are all based on the sun shining.  Andy has cut the grass to within an inch of its life.  I have made 2 teepee's and put up 2 tents on the lawn to fill with a blanket and toys for some den fun!  Trampoline and water table poised and ready for action.  A huge brand new New Holland tractor is lined up and ready to be parked in the field for the children to climb all over and explore.  Bella, the pony is going to be kept in on the yard for tiny hands to proffer carrots at her.  BBQ food all ready to go.  Lengths of bunting made to string across the patio.  Bubble machine stocked with batteries and liquid.  Bucket of ice and beer ready on standby!  It's going to be a good, good day tomorrow.

• Andy has studied ferociously for 18 months now and yesterday it came to fruition as he was successful in getting his MCITP:EA (using last years' MCSE 2003 as a jumping off point).  Much kudos for all the studying and hard work.  I am so, so proud and pleased for him.  He said he was going to do it and he has.

• Finn is thriving on independence at the moment.  He revels in the discovery that he can do something by himself.  At the moment he loves getting into the car and then his car seat on his own!  He is so pleased when he tells me his latest conquest.  However, he still fights me and wants me to put on his shoes! Finn & I talk about moving to Australia quite often.  He is really looking forward to a new house, our 'tainer arriving and getting all his toys!  I taught him today that we are going via Singapore and to hear his little voice pipe up that we are going there on a plane makes me melt.  I love that he is starting to get a concept of the world around him.  He remembers America last year and it is great to hear him talk about it.

• Isla is the epitome of gorgeous, girly, chubby sweetness.  What a girl she is.  She totally embraces hair clips, bracelets, hair bands and anything 'pretty' as she puts it.  I love it.  On a Friday, Finn goes to nursery and Isla & I shop.  What fun we have.  Isla's thing at the moment is to put whichever her chosen toy at the time into the nearest water container.  Be that the bath, toilet or even a mucky old water trough on the farm, she cares not.  Lovely....!

• I miss having our own home.  I miss my things.  I miss being able to potter around in our own space and take a whim to make or bake something.  I miss baking my own bread (our bread maker is in the container).  I miss having a study and being organised with our infrastructure in general.  I miss being the master of the kitchen!  I love having company and family around all of the time.  I love the greenness and countryside that we live in now.  I love the farm.  I love the garden and the children in shorts and t-shirts.  I love the sun and the warmth.

Thoughts from far away

I am touched.  This is what I came home to today.

It was my birthday on Monday and someone special far away in Perth remembered me.  How lovely.  It is even more special as he lives so far away and he contacted a florist nearby and had these lovely balloons sent my way to make me smile. And they did.  Love you Marky.  Can't wait to see you on the sunny side.

I had some girlie time with Isla on Monday afternoon and captured her discovering the perfume of a daisy.

She delicately plucked daisy's from the lawn, sniffed and then passed to me for sampling.  She was so pleased with her discovery.  We wandered down the drive and admired the gorgeous Montana clematis rambling over the old garden wall which is on the cusp of full bloom.  So near but still very beautiful.

Finn looking pensive after an afternoon of examining bugs.

Happy days.

We go to Cornwall on Thursday and I'm hoping for warm, sunny beach days - any chance Mr weatherman?

One door closes...

...but the next one hasn't opened yet.

No, your eyes do not deceive you, I am in fact making a post!  I've not done any recently as, unlike Sarah, I couldn't think of anything that I really wanted to talk about and didn't want to just blether on - perhaps this makes me a bit shallow?  Hmm.

Anyway, even I ought to be able to make something out of leaving my job of the last 9 years, which I did yesterday.  I started at the Avon and Somerset Constabulary in May 2001 as the Exchange Administrator and have been part of the 3rd line Windows Server Team since then, although becoming seconded to SouthWest One mixed things up a bit :-|

When Sarah and I had fully decided to make the move to Australia and were sorting out our timeline, we agreed that I'd stop work a while before we actually leave so I'd have the time to update my IT certifications - there are four that I really need to get done and two more that would be 'nice to haves'. 

I've already talked about the day when I handed my notice in, about three months ago, and yesterday came around pretty quickly but it didn't seem to arrive with a bang - more of a whimper!  I went to bed the night before without any major excitement/concerns about my final day, I got to work at about the same time as usual (albeit with a load of cakes as per tradition), I actually did about three fifths of a days worth of work (final documentation, mostly), had the usual exit tradition of everyone gathering around my desk while a senior manager talks about my history (which was fine) and then watched with the team while my countdown timer (which had been counting down for 31 days on the 40" monitor behind me) ticked down to zero.  A few handshakes and hugs later and I'm out of the door and on my way home.

Would you trust your IT to these people?  Note the countdown!

I don't want to cast aspersions re my relationship with the rest of the team - we all get on really well and I'd certainly count them all as friends rather than colleagues, and I know that at least a couple of them regularly read this blog so I'd better be nice (haha, not really!), and I know I'll be seeing them at least a few times before August but I did think that this fairly major event in my life (this was one of only two major jobs I've had since I was 18, after all) would have more of an impact on me than it apparently has... maybe it's too soon yet to make any assumptions about the medium-term.  The next few weeks will probably feel more like normal time off but as those weeks pass and the social aspect of work gets further and further away I might start to miss/think about my old workplace more... I don't know, perhaps as I said at the beginning I'm basically just a shallow person but I hope not... :-(

The last time we were all together at work

[Phew, this is all a bit bleak, I'd better end on a high note]

But... the good thing about now being an unemployment statistic is that I get to spend more time with the wee ones, Finn and Isla.  Tuesdays and Wednesdays are now going to be spent looking after/entertaining/providing for them as those are the days that Sarah works.  Today was my first day and they and I had a great time!  Isla woke me up at 0615 so we had a bit of a chat and a play before I got Finn up so we could go through the usual (but more prolonged as it's me in charge, not Sarah) ritual of getting washed, dressed and breakfasted. 

Tuesday is one of Finn's nursery days so I drove him there and then went on to Taunton to have some Isla and Daddy time which we don't get to do very often.  It was a lovely sunny (but slightly nippy) day so we went to Vivary Park and spent an hour or so on the swings and climbing frames there, followed by lunch in the local Subway.  I then picked Finn up, went home and put Isla to bed so Isla/Daddy time turned in to Finn/Daddy time and we had a fab time on the farm 'helping' Uncle Steve.  A slightly fraught tea time (with me cooking, urk) was finished off with a nice bit of triking on the patio and that was us all done - good times and I look forward to more of those :-)

Oh, and I washed four work shirts this evening - I guess I won't be needing those for a while...

Andy

Reality bites.....well, a little nibble

It's all go here for the homeless nomad Stewarts!  Andy (lucky boy that he is) was granted a permanent residency visa for Australia yesterday.  All thanks to my Mum being a '£10 pom' back in 1970 and chancing her arm on a 6 week sail to a life Down Under and then of course having me (which is where Andy is really lucky!).  I can't believe it really as it has been pretty straight forward for him to get the visa - he applied the 1st week in December after a frantic 2 weeks of evidence gathering of our relationship as the house had sold.  A case officer was assigned the next day and medicals and a police check asked for as expected.  No further evidence was required, we did include quite a lot though and we have been together 7 1/2 years, married for 5 and have 2 children.  It's quite hard to get into Australia now and non shortlisted skilled workers are being delayed until 2012!  Of course they still have to pay the money up front and play the waiting game.  It's pretty pricey to even apply and if they knock you back that's your money gone!

So, all in all I think we are pretty fortunate to have a relatively smooth path to Australia and it's nice to have another task ticked off the list.

Now in a truly indulgent moment of appreciation of the littlies of the Stewart family here are a couple of pictures from the month of January.

 

Wow!  What a train set.

In London - it was very cold!

  

Looking very industrious.

Slippery when wet.

Love her.

Love him.

Exciting plans!

We are not even in Australia yet and still we have a social calendar to arrange as my very dear friend Marky announced his engagement and pending marriage in Perth later this year.  I am disproportionately excited about this upcoming event and am looking forward to going to a wedding with the children as they have not been to one before.  What is also very exciting is that Marky and his wife to be (!) Kat have asked for Finn & Isla to be page boy and flower girl and for Andy to be an Usher.  I am so pleased for Marky as he is a lovely person and he has met someone equally lovely.  Kat is a confident and entertaining person who is very personable; Marky is a lucky chap!  Finn took a shine to Kat straight away which is good sign.

It is rather nice to start planning things we are going to do this year in Australia.  This edding will mean a trip over to Perth for a week, it looks like flights are pretty cheap at around $200 pp which will mean we can pop over to Perth for a visit quite often.  Andy has a cousin in Perth also who we visited on our honeymoon in 2004 (who is over to visit us this weekend) so we can visit her aswell.  The Wedding is going to have large Vietnamese influence as that is the brides heritage which will be a lovely theme under the Perth sun.

Marky and Kat visited this afternoon for the last time while they are in the UK but when they left I felt happy.  Last time Marky left and I felt a bit lost for a while and obviously I missed him.  This time when he left it's much easier as I'm going to see him soon, where we can kick back and enjoy a beer together in the sun.

Here is a picture of Marky at our wedding, sometime in September/October I will post some pictures of him, Kat and us at his wedding!

Marky is the smart guy on the right!

I have a confession.  I am a lurker.  I have been a lurker for several years now.  I am trying to be a better participator of the information highway now and this blog is how I am starting.  I hope, as I become a better blogger that I will provide useful information on our emigration path as well as charting our life as we go.

Amen and goodnight.

Sarah

So much to do and time is ticking away

We heard today that our house exchange is going to be Monday or Tuesday next week.  When we first accepted an offer on the house the buyers were really pushing for an exchange before Christmas.  In one way I really want us to exchange as soon as possible as we then know it's definitely going to happen but on the other hand it means that we really start this journey (aside from the huge amount of money already spent on a visa for Andy!) and are committed to changing our lives.  I mean, I am already committed in my heart and mind but this means legally things will happen to us!

We have a rather dull but practical weekend ahead of us as we drastically de-clutter our belongings, as what is the point of shipping lots of bits and bobs that we haven't used for 12 months (read 4 years since we moved into our current home!).  We have the joys of clearing out the attic, which thankfully we have already made a good start on.   Then we have the challenge of having a good clear out in our study.   Hmmmm, Andy likes to game.  This means that we have large amounts of PC game boxes which may or may not have the actual CD in them.  It is fair to say that Andy is not good at putting the CD's back in the boxes - why for the Love of God, Why?  Anyway, we have some serious clearing out to do.  All this with a 2 1/2 year old "helping" and a 14 month old wanting to be carried!  Should be interesting, what should take 2 hours I imagine will take 6.  I have decided that to delay the trauma in the morning a little we will go and have hot chocolate and croissants for breakfast in our local Costas.  Finn is excited about this!

I am beginning to get fed up with the snow now as it is seriously impinging on my socialising during the day.  We cope as a country with snow as well as well as a one legged man does in a butt kicking contest.  It really does debilitate an otherwise developed and modern country!  It has been so cold here but we are starting to get back into the routine of life now as Finn went to nursery this morning (which was lovely for him, me and Isla!) but I did get the car stuck in the snow on the drive on my return.

I slipped into Australia dreaming this afternoon and fantasised about what we will make of our life when we get there.  I'm hoping that we can get a small boat quite early on to just potter around the estuaries and waterways - nothing too flashy but it must have some sort of roof to protect us from the midday sun.  When we went to Brisbane in April 2008 with Finn we spent some time in Noosa which was amazing and we hired a boat to explore the water.   I can truly say that was an amazing way to spend time as a family.

I aspire to spend days like that in the near future with Andy, Finn & Isla.  I can think of nothing better than getting up nice and early to be met by the Australian sun beaming, loading up our car with an eskie full of snags, drinks and salad, heading off for a day on the water with the boat on the back.  Cooking our lunch on the copious amount of barbies in the numerous parks, slathering on the sun tan lotion and splashing around in the water.  I can't wait.