The Birthday Party

So one of the main reasons we went to Australia this time around was to be able to throw Callum a birthday party. And today was the day.

With the number of people coming, we decided to have the party at the local community center instead of at Mum's house. So we went around to the center early and decorated like crazy in the theme of the party, which was "Monkeys" (chosen by Jen). We had monkey themed plates, cups, knives, forks, table centerpieces, balloons, blow up monkeys, plush monkeys, monkey toys and an awesome monkey cake made by my Mum.

Plenty of beer, wine and other beverages were on hand and Mum looked after the food side of things.

Callum graciously shared the spotlight with his cousin Alison as it was many folks' first time seeing/meeting her, so she attracted a crowd most of the day.

Late in the afternoon, we gathered to sing Happy Birthday and eat birthday cake. We decided to let Callum have his own personal cupcake. Originally we had wanted to give him a more baby-friendly cake with a lot less processed sugar etc. but that idea eventually went out the window. So Callum got a full blown bakery cupcake with all the sugar he could handle and figured out how to eat it like it was the most natural thing in the world to him. We were a bit concerned as to how he would react to such a large amount of sugar all in one go since he has not had much at all so far. He was crashed out dead to the world asleep in just over an hour after eating the cake, so it didn't completely send him crazy.

After packing up and cleaning up the community center, we headed back to Mum's house for the unofficial "after party", which basically consisted of the 5 of us (me, Jen, Shari, Leon and Mum) plus my new friend Gus (actually he is Leon and Shari's friend, but he, Leon and I drank beers together at the cricket on Friday, so that now makes him my friend also by Australian standards) drinking the leftover alcohol and left over food from the party. I think leftovers may actually be the best part of any party. Jen and I also got to go through the mountain of presents that Callum had received - we may need to buy a suitcase to get all of the extra stuff home.

Here are some photos from today.

Callum's 1st Birthday Party

Also, Shari has posted some photos over on Wregg Baby here and here including some videos.

Family Photos and Unhappy Gay Men

Since everyone was in town, we organized to have some nice photos taken this morning by Graham (of Ashwood Studios in Glenelg if you are looking for a photographer in Adeliade), the same photographer who took the photos at Shari and Leon's wedding and also Jen and my re-re-wedding. We met in the Veale Gardens in South Parklands.

We don't have the photos back yet, Shari will get them, and forward them on to us back in the US when they come in. I will post them when we get them, stay tuned.

We did take some of our own personal photos after the main photos had been taken since it was a sunny day and setting was nice.







Now, the interesting thing about the South Parklands in Adelaide is that it is a pretty well known gay hangout. Now, I was aware of this, but I had naively assumed that most of the excitement would occur at night time. Apparently, not so much. When we rocked up in the parking lot at 10am, there were about 4 other cars there, evenly spaced out, all with 1 guy in each car. It didn't take too long to figure out the game that was being played as there was really no reason for these guys to be in this isolated parking lot on a Saturday morning. As we waited for Graham to show up, several more cars, with one guy in each, showed up and the looks on their faces was genuinely priceless. I am guessing they were not used to seeing infants, parents, grand parents and great grandparents wandering around their favorite parking lot. When Graham arrived, I believe he summed it up best when he discreetly said to me "looks like we interrupted the morning trade".

Australia Vs The Bilbo Baggins XI

Today we participated in one of the great traditions in Australia - a day at the cricket. It was the first day of a Test Match between Australia and New Zealand (for our American viewers, a Test Match lasts a maximum of about 30 hours spread over 5 days). This was the 2nd of 3 matches to be played between the 2 countries this summer, and Australia opened a can of whoop-ass on the Kiwis in the first match, so we were set of a enjoyable day of kicking their butts again.

Btw, on the topic of "Kiwis", apparently it has become un-PC to call the New Zealand team "Kiwis" any more. Now they are the "Black Caps" (bet you can't guess why). This change seems to have occurred since I have been living in the US. You let a country make a couple of big budget movies and they suddenly think they are better than everyone else!

Anyway, the weather was overcast, which was actually good, because I have done a day at the Adelaide Oval (not the most inventive name, but at least they haven't sold out to sponsors yet) where it reached 40°C (104°F) and it is not that much fun. It even rained a little in the morning. But we had some ground sheets and picnic blankets to keep our butts dry. Adelaide Oval is one of only a few big sports venues in Australia (the world?) that still has grassed areas to sit in, instead of hard plastic seats.

View across the oval.

Jen with Alison.

Shari and Callum.

Leon and Alison.

Callum with the historic old scoreboard in the background.

Shari posted some photos from today over at her Wregg Baby blog as well.

Christmas In November

Tonight we celebrated Christmas since we will all not be together next month. We had a traditional roast meal cooked by my Mum and swapped presents.

Shari and Leon bought the two kids Christmas t-shirts for the occasion.



Later, Callum and Alison got to know each other a little better.

Hallet Cove Beach

We had some spare time this afternoon, so we headed over to Hallet Cove Beach. The beach itself is a little on the rocky side, but it has a great big grassed area and a playground to make use of. Not to mention the weather was a little inclement and a storm including thunder and lightning was rolling in over the ocean while we were there.

Callum's first time on a swing.

Presents!

So as you may have gathered from all of the stuff we did yesterday, we kind of ran out of time for present unwrapping - plus a majority of his presents were bought during the day, so that didn't help either. By the time we ate cake last night we and Callum decided that we would leave presents until today.

We handed the wrapped presents to Callum in his play yard and waited to see what would happen. He was too young at Christmas last year (barely a month old at that point) to unwrap presents, so this was his first genuine opportunity.

After a little tutoring, he got the hang of it.

And Finally ... Cake!

So after the Big Rocking Horse, and dinner at the beach, we got back to Mum's house and finally got to the business end of the day, the singing of "Happy Birthday" and the eating of cake.

I dare anyone to not giggle at this next photo. Priceless!

Dinner at the Beach

After the Big Rocking Horse, we headed down to the beach and had fish and chips and watched the sun set.

The Big Rocking Horse

Today turned out to be quite a long day in the end once we finished celebrating Callum's birthday.

The main plan for the day was to visit the Big Rocking Horse in the Adelaide Hills. Yes, literally it is a huge rocking horse that you can actually climb up inside of.



The horse itself is really just there to get people to visit the toy factory that is there. The toys are all old-school wooden toys all made onsite. We had decided to get Callum a present that wasn't part of a multi-national marketing and product placement campaign. Something simple, and traditional. The toy factory seemed to be the ideal place to find such a toy.

Between Jen and I and also Mum and also Shari and Leon, buying for Callum for Christmas and Birthday and Alison for Christmas, I think we helped the toy factory make its monthly sales quota in a single day. We bought Callum a large'ish train for his birthday. We also picked up a couple of things for Christmas. The train came assembled, so it will travel well back to the US. I will work to put it together as soon as possible.

On the way up in the car.



Some photos at the small rocking horse, next to the big horse.

200th Post

This is the super special 200th post to this blog.

Enjoy.

Happy 1st Birthday Callum!

The day he was born.

1 Month Old

2 Months Old

3 Months Old

4 Months Old

5 Months Old

6 Months Old

7 Months Old

8 Months Old

9 Months Old

10 Months Old

11 Months Old

1 Year Old