Callum In The Car

More random shots from Jen of Callum in his car.

Eatin' Time

The happiness during eating:

The aftermath:

Keebler Elf Poncho

Callum's Great Auntie Glennis sent him a very cute hooded towel for Christmas. Here he is modeling it for the first time.

More Walking Video

Jen grabbed this one of Callum walking around downstairs at the new place today.

Easy Day

We took it super easy today, my feet hurt so badly I can barely walk. I thought I picked wisely with my shoes yesterday morning, but apparently not. My forearms look like they belong to a heroin junkie with all the bruises, scratches and cuts on them from all of the boxes yesterday. Jen isn't faring much better.

We did run a quick errand after we finished watching Arizona beat Philadelphia in the football playoffs today (yay!). Jen snapped this nice one of Callum while they were waiting in the car for me.

No More Boxes Please

OK, this is the first post from the new house.

We have been moving since about 6am this morning and we are done for the day. All of our belongings are here, they are not unpacked, but they are physically located inside the house somewhere.

I was too busy to take too many photos, but I did get a couple.

Here is Jen vacuuming the now empty lounge room at the old place.

Here is the scene outside at the old place as they loaded the truck.

And here is the scene just as they started to unload at the new place. That is a 26 foot (8 meters) long truck that is completely full. The movers had to do some furniture gymnastics in the end to get all of our stuff in. If Jen and I hadn't also loaded a bunch of stuff into cars we would not have made it.

Bed now.

Farewell 10-L

Tonight is the last night in our apartment, which has been our home for the last 5 years and 8 months. The movers will be here at 8:30am tomorrow morning.

We went to dinner across the road at Stadium Brewing Company for one last time. We have lost count how many times we have eaten or had a drink at that place and it is where we held my 30th birthday party, so it seemed a fitting place to eat tonight.

We have been packing on and off for almost 3 weeks and the house still seems very full. We seem to have way more stuff than we really appreciate. Luckily the current place measures about 1,200 ft² (111 m²) and the new place measures about 2,000 ft² (189 m²), so we will have room for all of this stuff.

We will miss 10-L as it was the place we lived in when many significant things happened. Just a few that come to mind immediately:

• It was the place I came home too after my back surgery and negotiated gingerly for weeks afterward.
• It was the place I slipped on the stairs, just after my back surgery, the only time ever in living there that I slipped on the stairs, oh irony, how you mock me.
• It was the house we lived in when we got married - all 3 times!
• It is the house that we were in when Shari and Leon visited from Australia and stayed with us.
• It was the house we brought Callum home from the hospital too.
• It is the house that my Mum stayed in when she visited from Australia.
• It was the house that Callum spent his first and second Christmases in.
• Jen and I both turned 30 living here.
• Jen's parents and my Mum met each other for the first time here.
  

Farewell 10-L, its (mostly) been fun.

Darwin Awards Candidate

Another article from today's main newspaper in Adelaide.

http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,24915283-5006301,00.html

Can anyone explain why a woman was taking the erection pills?

Rude Australian Tourists

An article from today's newspaper in Adelaide.

http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,24915294-5006301,00.html

Jen will confirm that on our own travels, it has been the English that have shone through as the worst tourists.

Callum Is Packed

So for those who have not heard, we are moving homes this weekend. It really has been way more effort than we expected, and trust me, we were expecting it to be bad.

Luckily though, we found a box big enough for Callum, so at least that is taken care of.

Later he decided it would be funnier to see his Mommy in a box instead.

Crazy Weather Again

So, the last time I mentioned the weather a couple of weeks ago, it was because it was crazy cold for this area.

Now it is crazy warm for this time of year. It started Friday, in fact not until Friday afternoon really. We've had High Wind Warnings all weekend and they are expected to continue until Friday.

Also because of the extremely low humidity we have had a Red Flag Warning (ie. extreme fire danger) in effect all weekend. It was 88°F (31°C) on Monday & Tuesday and the same again today. Not bad for "Winter".

Conversely, Grand Forks, North Dakota recorded a low temperature today of just -37°F (-38°C). Just for reference, the average temperature at the North Pole this time of year is around -32°F (-35°C).

Happy Birthday Mum

Hope you have a great day in Queensland with Shari, Leon and baby Alison.

Crib Recall

Today the US Consumer Product Safety Comission announced a massive recall of baby cribs, and just as luck would have it, Callum's crib is included. It seems some of the metal brackets are prone to just plain not working anymore.

Here is full announcement:
http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml09/09093.html

We obviously will be requesting replacement brackets ASAP.

Callum And Vegemite

So before Callum can truly claim to be an Australian he needs to master the art of Vegemite consumption.

Most Australian kids (including yours truly) grow up on a steady diet of Vegemite sandwiches, Vegemite and Cheese Sandwiches, or the extra special Grilled Vegemite and Cheese Sandwiches. But to see the reaction of the nancy American's I know, who I have convinced to give it a go, you would think they were eating battery acid.

Tonight we felt it was probably past the point where the American Child Protective Services were likely to get involved, so Vegemite was on Callum's menu for the first time.

Here he is some extended coverage.


And some still shots.



All in all he appears to have given the proverbial "Thumbs Up" to Vegemite. Good on ya' mate!

More Walking Exploits

Bonus Points to you if you can figure out why he is carrying 2 wooden mixing spoons ...

Callum (Almost) Walking

While Grandma and Grandpa were in town, Callum decided to really start showing off his newly found almost walking skills tonight.

The Clowns

So today is my birthday. A time to reflect on years gone past and days of yore.

I hear many of you asking "What was Craig like when he was younger?", and usually I just ignore you, but today I found something that brought me back to my High School days in such a blinding flash that I have to share.

So, circa 1990-1995 there was a reasonably vibrant music scene in Adelaide, with bands with (super classy) names like The Bearded Clams and The Testeagles dominating the small local pubs. The high school crowd I hung out with was known to go and see these types of bands on a semi-regular basis - which of course also means we were getting into licensed venues under age an a regular basis (my Mum and I have never discussed this, but I am sure this will not be a huge surprise to her).

Anyway, one of the other bands that was a local favorite at the time was The Clowns Of Decadance. And through the magic of the internet (which effectively didn't exist for most people when this was shot) here is what they looked like.



Ah, good times!

Christmas Is Not Quite Over Yet

We were finally able to catch up with Jen's parent's today for a belated Christmas get together.

Once again, Callum was the center of attention with even more presents for him to unwrap. Here he is opening a present from Grandma and Grandpa.

And here he is opening a big present from his Aunty Natalie.