A road trip to visit Grandad!

 Stopping to see the sights along the way, yes, it's the Giant Koala!

 We did a bit of sight seeing with Grandad too, enjoying some time out...

 Now here's a good name for a bakery...!!

And lastly, we went to see where the Murray meets the ocean.  We had a beautiful lunch and a bit of a walk on the beach.  We had a fun week with you Grandad!

Meeting our school buddies (in 2011 ready for 2012)!

It was teddy bear day at school with meeting Jack and Lucy's buddy's - you can see from the smiles it all went well!  We were very lucky to have some great buddy's that helped with the kids having fun and settling in at school.

A generous offer of help

In late 2011, we were very generously given a brand new hi - low bed for Jack through a very kind friend of a friend.  This bed goes high enough for Craig and I to be able get Jack dressed without having to bend over and strain our backs - it makes such a difference to our daily routine!  And as you can see, it's quite popular with Jack and Lucy too!  Lucy loves getting up and having a snuggle with Jack and 'going for a ride', it's lovely to see them have fun together - even if it is with a hi lo bed! 

Our biggest loss...

Probably the main reason for my lack of updating our blog is because on the 11/11/2011 we lost my dear Dad to cancer.  It was such a difficult time for our family as he was so loved and it seemed to happen so quickly.  He was such a wonderful father to me and played a huge role in helping me become who I am and how I manage the challenges in my life today.  I am so deeply grateful for the fact that I had him as my father and miss him every single day.  This is one of my favourite photo's of him and my beautiful girl - devastated that they won't get to spend more time together as they adored each other.  Life is far too short...

Well, obviously it's been a long while since I've updated this blog and so much has happened so I will now attempt to roughly get everyone up to speed with our lives!  Here goes....!

Melbourne Marathon 2011

Here's Jack at the start line - he licked that balloon round the whole 3kms I think!!

And here is the gang of "Team Jack" - getting ready to get going.  Sam joined us on the 3km walk after she'd already run the 10kms that morning!  (Craig ran the 10kms too but decided to sit out the walk...!)

 And here's the junior gang of Team Jack (yes that is Lucy in the rabbit hat in the pram, she pulled an injury before we even made it to the start line and couldn't possibly walk anywhere ... her fathers pain thresh hold I suspect?!)

 We did it!

And lastly my gorgeous friend Sam with our Jack, she is such an awesome support to us and is a huge supporter to CPEC to which we and they will always be grateful!  With your baking and persistence in kindly asking your friends and family for donations Sam, you reached the goal of $5,000 - you're a star and a legend and we love you!!

Thanks to all the Mullan family and our friends Stefania, George, Roly, Jo and my Aunty Cheryl for volunteering for CPEC too - awesome awesome effort!

Jack the North Melbourne fan!

September at kinder saw the need for a footy dress up day so Jack was decked out in his North gear!

Then we thought we might give the real footy match a go, so it was perfect that the Saints v North Melbourne came up in the season for a game at Etihad Stadium. 

Jack absolutely loved the game with lots of yelling from the young man!  Was very funny.  He tends to get excited and squeal in inappropriate places sometimes (for example in a lift full of people where he squeals with delight at the top of his lungs and everyone jumps about 3 feet!) and I have to tell him that it's not the time be doing that.  Whereas at the footy, it was wonderful to be able to tell him to go ahead and yell and squeal his little heart out!

We also bumped into Uncle Bruce while we were there.  Such a great day and we'll be sure to go to the footy much more often next year!! 

Jack loses his first tooth!

One of the most exciting things that happened in Utah was that Jack lost his first tooth!  It was very wobbly before we left and he was getting really good at wobbling it himself (seeing as Lucy thought it was pretty cool and didn't mind giving it a go herself!).  Then one day it was hanging by a thread and Grandma Sue pulled it out (I just couldn't!) and bingo bango, we have our first tooth!  The tooth fairy was very fair and possibly keeping in mind the exchange rate, paid $1 in US and $1 in Australian dollars - then Grandma Sue threw in another $5. 

Our little boy is definitely growing up!

The Mullan Family trip to Utah USA

Back in May, my youngest host brother JR (from when I was an exchange student 19 years ago!!!) was getting married so Craig and I decided we would make the trek to Utah for the wedding and to see my host family again.  We thought long and hard about it and decided we should take these opportunities while Jack is still young and relatively easy to manage with us being able to lift him and transport him etc. 

 Jack absolutely loves any kind of transport and planes are no exception.  It took us 14 hours to get to LA with VAustralia (who were sensational) and the kids were awesome. 

It took us a bit to settle in to the change of time zone but we finally got there.  And one of the first exciting things that happened was that when Grandpa Len came up to meet us, he brought with him a surprise for Lucy and Jack - an esky full of snow from his house!  Lucy just loved it!!

And before we knew it, snow balls were flying and here's one headed straight for me!!

 Over the next week, Craig tried to hunt down a decent coffee - in the end he was trying to tell this coffee lady how to make a latte like we do!  It came complete with an umbrella - very funny!

 Grandma Sue and Lucy did some decorating of Lucy's new charm box

 And then it was time for the wedding!  JR & Tracy were kind enough to let Lucy be a flower girl, here she is below with her American cousins Sydney and Shelby!

 Lucy and Shelby hit it off and were almost inseparable - was lovely to see!

 Here's Jack and I with Shaun and Laura (my host sister) who are Sydney & Shelby's parents

 And Lucy trying out being a bride with JR!!

 My lovely host mum Sue - it is so wonderful having another mother as lovely as her!

 One of my best American 'mates'  and all around awesome chick from high school, Kiyo

Sue and her husband Len, a little more light hearted after the celebrations!

 We went swimming with Shelby and Sydney and Kiyo's daughter Aree

 Craig did a 3 mile fun run in Tremonton!

 Jay (my uncle, Sue's brother) took Lucy and Craig down to his pond to do some fishing.  He even had a skunk in a trap that he had caught - Lucy thought that was pretty cool!

 Uncle Clint (Sue's brother) took Lucy for a little ride in his tractor to feed the cows

 We had such a great time!

 We went to Salt Lake City and went to the Children's museum with Shannon (my host brother), his partner Kristy and their daughter Addie

This is the beautiful view from Sue's house - there was still some snow on the mountains and in the sunset, it just looks so amazing.  It feels so wonderful to me to have a second place to call home.  I'm so glad we went, we had the greatest time (although it went too quick) and hope we can see our American family again soon!  (All visitors welcome - so hurry and come visit us you guys!!)