The Many Faces of Zach

Say Cheese!

Thinking....

Awe, Mom, do you have to take one more picture of me?

Really, I'm getting tired of this...

Okay, maybe I'm just plain tired.

Dad's Lil' Mate

Zach has become Dad's best mate during the day while Mum is at work.

When their not taking walks on the golf course they get a chance to watch a little Cricket while having beer and bics (cookies).

When they go out to run errands during the day Zach loves to be high in his backpack so he can observe the world.

But luckily for Dad, Zach can be a good bloke and entertain himself; even best mates need a little time on their own.

Mum's Lil' Gardener

Maybe it's the hole in the ozone layer, but we have never had a more productive garden than our little plot that we put in here. Even with Zach's insatiable appetite for tomatoes we simply can't keep up with them right now. These are the tomatoes we picked before dinner tonight. There will be just as many tomorrow night.

Zach has become good at supervising Mum as she tends to the plants.

He usually sits in his stroller and talks non-stop while Mum waters and weeds the garden.

He also has discovered that fresh green beans are tasty!

Yum!

Strong Mountain Man

We spent the first weekend of 2009 in the mountains enjoying the cool breezes and breath-taking views of Mt. Buffalo National Park. An intrepid crew (Dawn, Alan, Morgan, Lauren, and Alan's folks joined us) gathered for hiking through the woods (a.k.a., bush walking).

The wildflowers were magnificent!

The vistas majestic.

We all enjoyed getting a little altitude.

But it wasn't all smooth sailing... The boulders were enormous! We were lucky to have Brett along to clear the big rocks from the trail!

After his Atlas-esque acheivement, Brett had to show off his new t-shirt! Carting Zach around all day has earned him his new title, Mr. Strong.

Summertime Living

With the New Year officially here, summer is in full swing Down Under. Ninety degree days are predicted for the rest of the week, so we'll be looking for ways to stay cool. The up side to hot weather is beautiful mornings for breakfast on the patio.

Plus, the garden loves the heat. Tonight we enjoyed a summer feast of green beans, tomatoes, zucchini, and dill sauce on salmon, all fresh picked from the garden this evening (except the salmon).

Zach loves the fresh produce. Especially the tomatoes (pronounced to-mah-toes). Notice the tomato seed on his lower lip; he's saving that for later.

The swiss chard (or silverbeet as it is known here) is fun to play with but not as much fun to eat according to the babe.

Vertical is the New Horizontal

(Subtitle: You Can't Keep a Good Man Down)

What a difference a week makes! Last weekend Zach was mostly content to sit on the floor and play with toys or crawl around the living room to look for his books. When we offered, he would hold onto our fingers and stand or walk with varying amounts of enthusiasm, but otherwise had no interest in pulling himself up to standing. Then on the morning of Christmas Eve, Mom got quite a startle when she walked into Zach's room early in the morning to find this:



Zach standing up in his cot! We have no idea how he figured out how to do this, although Dad claims to have taught him the basic steps to accomplish it. The problem with this new skill is that he promptly crawls up the side of his cot every time he is put down for a nap or at bedtime and now refuses to go to sleep. He almost fell asleep standing up the other night!



Now he is pulling himself up to standing with every opportunity he gets.

Too easy, as they say down here.

With his vertical accomplishments, he's also discovering new places to play. (Our life has just gotten a whole lot more challenging!)

As you can see, he's quite pleased with himself.

Human development is absolutely amazing!

(Laura, thanks for the great title for this post!)

Christmas day

Wishing a very Merry Christmas to all our friends and family!

Christmas day started with Santa leaving presents by the fire place since he couldn't find our tree. Pine trees are hard to come by in this part of the world.

Zach enjoyed opening his presents and playing with all his new books and the new toy Santa left for him. Even the wrapping paper was fun to play with for a while.

Then it was off to to join friends for a traditional turkey dinner outside on the patio.

Zach enjoyed the turkey and pumpkin (squash), but his favorites were the dinner rolls that dad made (a.k.a., Brett's buns) and the blueberries for dessert.

Like any Christmas meal we all ate way too much food and needed a good walk around the lake to make room for traditional English Christmas pudding.

It also gave us a chance to marvel at the spectacular sunset on our Christmas Down Under.