Astrid has something she'd like to share........

Astrid has a little secret she'd like to share. She has been doing such a good job that we are promoting her come October! She isn't entirely sure what her new job description will entail or how she will feel about it when the time comes, but for now here are a few of her thoughts on becoming a big sister........

Favourite Photo Friday - 31/5/13

This weeks photo is bought to you by the letters B for bribery, C for chocolate and P for Pancakes!

So a certain young lady hasn't been sleeping that well lately. Lots of waking up screaming hysterically, from what appears to be nightmares.  It's making us all a little tired, especially when it's taking her hours and hours to go back to sleep each time.

The other night the adults hadn't even gotten to bed (despite it already being late) and she was awake screaming. After a couple of hours of sitting with her and taking it in turns to get her to sleep she was still awake and having a tantrum about me not wanting to spend the entire night sitting in her room with her while she chatted.  I had given up and had gone to bed and was trying to ignore the almighty tantrum going on at the other end of the house during the wee small hours of the morning.

Anto took his turn to go down and have a discussion with Miss A.  After not too long he reappeared, she was quiet and we all went to sleep.  The next morning we all managed to sleep in til 7.15am. Bliss in the sleeping department given we'd been up very, very late but not so good when Anto has to leave for work by then.  At any rate I was happy we had all had some sleep.

Next thing I know Astrid is requesting her chocolate pancakes.  Apparently dad had promised choc chip pancakes for breakfast if she slept :) Well it worked, so no complaints from me.  Antony then had to make the pancakes so he got to work very late that day!  Astrid thoroughly enjoyed her bribery as you can see from this weeks pictures..........

 

 D7000 with Nikon 35mm f1.8
ISO 400, focal length 35mm
Exposure: 1/100 @ f/2.5

Autumn colour

The last few weeks have seen spectacular Autumn colours in our garden.  We have a heap of deciduous trees planted throughout the garden. Firstly because they are pretty, secondly because they grow well in our climate, and thirdly because they work well on the North side of our house where they shade in summer and let light through in Winter.

I have been a little slack with taking photos of them this year, but they have put on a good display so here is a collection from the last couple of weeks........  I haven't enhanced the colours on these photos at all. This is what the colour actually looks like, no photography trickery here!

The Forest Pansy, Manchurian Pear and other tree I can't remember the name of (the red one):

Our grouping of Japanese Maples:

I love how these have lots of different colours simultaneously

The Chinese Pistachios:

There are still a reasonable number of leaves on the trees and the colours are still lovely. Another week or two and they will all be gone and I'll have to get around to cleaning up the big piles of wet leaves on the ground...... the definite downside to lots of decidious trees!

Favourite Photo Friday - 24/5/13

Today's photo is another from our Europe trip. This was from our trip out to the famous Le Mont St Michel, the Abbey built on a rocky tidal outcrop off the Normandy Coast.  We traveled out there and stayed overnight on the Mont and it was certainly a fantastic experience.  The weather was less than favourable while we were there, with lots of rain and grey skies (and it was cold!) but the scenery was spectacular and worth all the travel to get there.

This is one of my favourite photos from that trip, taken as we were coming back from a very delicious lunch in the nearby town, for our last wander around Mont St Michel before heading back to Paris.

D80 with Nikon 50mm f1.8
ISO 320, focal length 50mm
Exposure: 1/100 @ f/11

On our bikes......

Regular blog readers might recall that while in Paris we did a bike tour of Versailles.  It was Astrid's first time on a bike (and my return to a bike after a very long hiatus) and we all had a ball.  It was a full day tour and Astrid had never been in a bike seat before and it was a bit of a risk taking her out all day but she loved it. You can read all about our Versailles bike adventure here.

For Christmas Astrid's Grandparents thought they would get her a seat to go on Anto's mountain bike so she could go for rides with us.  We have only just gotten around to actually getting the seat, however!  Better late than never though. Once the seat had arrived and Anto had installed it, we promised Astrid a ride.

First we had to go out and get her a helmet. We ended up with a Dora the Explorer helmet as that was the only one we could adjust small enough to fit her, but after some initial resistance to the concept she decided she loved it and was happy to walk around the house in it all day.  Then we decided to do a test ride on the bike up and down the street to make sure the seat was adjusted properly and Astrid was happy in it.

Well, it was a hit.  She shouted 'go faster Dad' and tried to push Anto along.  After their 5 mins of practice riding Astrid asked for 'more fun please'.  I think she likes the bike seat!

The next day we took our bikes on the car down to the lake and had a little ride around.  Riding near our house is a bit fraught with danger for me as we live on the top of a big hill, and unlike other members of the family I don't ride often, and I don't do hills (yet)!

Riding with dad seems to be Astrid's new favourite activity and we've been aiming for one ride a weekend together. Of course coffee and/or breakfast are an important part of any riding experience.  I must take the SLR out to get some good photos one morning.  I managed to ride and take photos at the same time when in Paris, but I was also under the influence of French wine and cheese. Back in boring old Canberra it hasn't been quite the same experience!

Newborn Cuteness with Benjamin

Good friends of ours Rob and Amy have just had their third child, Benjamin.  I was lucky enough to be able to do some newborn photos of Benjamin the other day, when he was just 7 days old!  Newborns are so gorgeous, cute, tiny and squishy...... and all the better when you can hand them back to their parents!!!

If you want your daily dose of cute here are a few of my favourite photos of Benjamin. Let me know if you have any particular favourites from this bunch......

Looking all awake and alert

With mum (who despite her protests looks pretty good for having just given birth)!

Sleeping like a baby

Tiny hands and feet

Some lovely black and whites

Coconut and Lime Syrup Cake - all for Grandma's birthday!

Astrid and I recently made a coconut and lime syrup cake together.  Astrid is a huge fan of baking, as long as it involves mixing and bowl licking. The bowl and spoon licking is definitely the best bit!

We decided to make the cake as it was Grandma (aka Lorraine's) birthday.  I've been meaning to make this cake for awhile and this seemed like a good excuse.  The recipe is on my recipe blog, here, and it's dead easy. Astrid could pretty much make it on her own!  I did find the syrup didn't quite make enough for my liking and have since doubled and tripled the syrup mixture in subsequent attempts.  We have plenty of limes on our lime trees at the moment, so there is no shortage of lime syrup to be made.

 After a nice meal out at a local Indian restaurant to celebrate Lorraine's birthday we came back to our place for cake and coffee.  Astrid was happy to give Grandma birthday kisses.

But she was even happier to help her blow out her candle and taste the finished product.  It was delicious with cream, and I might have eaten a few slices myself.