One Heck of a Red

With all the travelling back and forth to New Zealand that Tara's been making, we've been earnestly searching for a great Pinot Noir that we had recently with our neighbours Stephanie and Adam. And it's been like beating your head against a brick wall, which is an especially painful experience when you're tastebuds are screaming out demanding the sweet satisfaction of this gorgeous wine.


The wine is made by a young winery out of the Central Otago region in NZ. Being young, they are best described as a boutique winery. We were told this is why it is so hard to locate. Well, that's what we were told by those who didn't carry it.

Fortunate for the deprived tastebuds, a retailer was located. And the REAL reason for the difficulty of the search was revealed. Turns out our little bottle of great Pinot Noir was recently voted the Top International Pinot Noir at the International Wine Challenge in London. That's right - we were only searching for The Best Pinot in the WORLD whose vintage had been sold out. That'd be a about right.

Suddenly, the purchase of two bottles doesn't seem enough. Especially with how smoothly the bottle we saved for ourselves went down last night with Stephanie and Adam.

Now the search begins again. So, please let us know if you come across a bottle (or 6) of the 2006 Central Otago Pinot Noir by Wild Earth. We won't blame you if you drink it straight away.

Looking to Buy Property in Brisbane??

Well then, friends, you've come to the right place!

We recently learned that our unit is FOR SALE. That's right. Our delightful 3 bedroom, 2 bath, 2 car-space unit in the affluent suburb of Ascot (well, the Doomben side of the suburub, not the really, really affluent side of the suburb) is for sale. Want to check it out? Sure thing, mates. Go here or here.

What's the price, you say? Who knows! It's not listed anywhere. But, we know that there's another 3 bedroom in the complex that is (still) for sale after orginally asking $515,000. (Yes, you read that correctly.) They've now dropped the price down to the bargain basement price of $450,000. (We say bargain only because we were told it was a bargain.) It's still on the market.

Either way, it's no matter to us. We were likely to move from the complex anyway. The resident managers have proven themselves quite unreliable and pretty untrustworthy (lying to us) and we've learned about how they're operating their business. And, well, it just doesn't gel with us ethically. And while it doesn't effect us on a day-to-day basis, we're not comfortable here anymore.

Plus, the little ones told us they wanted us to move to a house next. And, in a quite seredipitous way, we think we've already located a gem of a house just 2 suburbs further north. Still working out all the details now (like can we actually rent the place for 2 years or longer), but we should know in a matter of a week or so if it will work out! When we know for certain, we'll update you all.

Being Bir-Day

So, if you were our newest family member.... just what would you so to endear yourself to the family? Let's ask Bir-Day - the newest member of the Brisbane Balmforths.

Look cute? Check.
Be playful? Check.
Give cuddles? Check.
Bathe in sunbeams? Check.
Hide in the furnishings and sneak into the liquor cabinet? Check and double Check!

School Fete Time

Last weekend was Poppi's school fete. What a day! Of course, the day really began the night before with questions of "How much longer til the Fete?" repeated every few seconds minutes. Our children were so incredibly excited, we were even surprised they managed to fall asleep.

As with most fetes, each family was asked to contribute. We contributed Fudge (no, not our "famous" Peanut Butter Fudge - too many possible nut allergies floating around at schools). 2 kilos of fudge to be exact - Milk Chocolate fudge buttons (where we learned to NOT try and be fancy with fudge - it just doesn't work), Dark Chocolate fudge and White Chocolate fudge. (We even tried (and failed) to make White Chocolate & Maple Fudge. And this is where we learned that shortcuts in fudge (ie using sweetened condensed milk instead of buckets of sugar) is not really a good idea.)

On the day, we did our best to get to the school at the exact minute the fete started, but we were a little delayed. But, it took no time at all to make up for the few precious moments that were wasted driving in the car. Poppi & Hunter rode spinning teacups, a precariously hung (and somewhat dangerous looking) carousel. And!!! The children had a million trips down the big slide with the burlap sacks. In fact, that slide was the highlight of the day and the scene of much negotiation about how many trips would be made.

(We didn't have the camera with us -DOH! But, here's a few happy snaps captured on the camera phone. Enjoy, despite the quality!)

Gymnastics is in his Future!

Miss Poppi Clare has been taking gymnastics classes as school on Friday afternoons. She seems to be enjoying herself. From the times we've been able to attend and watch her learn, we can see that she's really taken to the beam. And over the course of the weeks, she's made some really fantastic improvement in introductory vaulting. We are, of course, so very proud of her!

Hunter attends as an observer every Friday as well. And boy oh boy is he picking up some really fantastic tricks. His favourite? The Cartwheel. And he'll show you just how good he is at them - anywhere, anytime, for anyone who will watch! That includes the front room, the shops, the park, wedding receptions, other people's houses....

And at only 3 years old (ok, nearly 4) he has The Cartwheel down pat - even better than his big sister! He's even figured out how to do them one-handed. And thanks to some "coaching" by dad, he's got himself a pretty decent HandStand, too! He was pretty keen on watching the men's gymnastics during the Olympics and reckons when he gets big and strong, he'll be able to do what he saw those young men doing.

And it looks like he'll be starting some actual gymnastics classes like his big sister in the new school year. We just can't wait to see how he goes!

Poppi's Sports Carnival

We seem to have a shortage of batteries around the joint lately. We find ourselves stealing the AA's out of the camera(s) to power the wireless mouse. Or the motorised (noisy) Thomas the Tank toys. Or the remote. Or one of a couple of dozen other things in the house that require AA's. And when we don't have enought to go around - boy do we hear about it!

Poor Miss Poppi is quite disapointed in our power shortage. It is preventing her from powering her own (Fisher-Price kid-bashing-friendly) digital camera and taking photos to her heart's content. For that matter, it's also hindering us from taking more current photos. (Aren't you glad we have about a year's worth to catch you up on instead?)

Nevertheless, prior to our current portable power deficiency, we were able to attend Poppi's first Sports Carnival. She was very excited to participate in all of the events. And we're quite certain she had a ball with most of the events - Hopping with a ball between the legs, Egg on a Spoon Race, Obstacle Course, Relay Race, 3-Legged Race and the like. Except for the big run at the end - she was quite happy to take it easy. We figure she was just thinking slow& steady wins the race. Too bad it was a sprint. :-)

Poppi's Class lining up for the first event

Poppi's Class after the Big Run event!

Sharin' Some Love

Poppi & Hunter spent the local public holiday with us this week. You could say we spent it by stayin' in and sharing some love around the house. We played games together, did some baking together and just enjoying each other's company.

So, we thought we'd share some of the warm fuzzies from the day with all of you!

A Little Experiment in the Bathroom

Haven't you always wanted to know exactly just how much water your standard bath-tub will hold before it goes over the edge?



Well, our kids have braved the depths of their own domecile to find out for you! (Or maybe, just maybe, it's Dean's latest and greatest solution for actually getting them into the tub when asked.)

I Can Dress Myself!

So sayeth Hunter.

And in what, we are certain, was a moment in which he channelled his best 80's Miami Vice / Don Johnson self - here's what he came up with.... Oh yes.... I can dress myself indeed.

Hunter Style Tip #1 - Why pop your collar to look cool when you can just open up your shirt?!?! :-)

"Poppi & Hunter" by Warhol

Mini-Golf, Anyone?

I can remember many times as a child going to play Putt-Putt with my folks. I remember being quite bad at the game. (Go figure.) But, more than that, I remember always having fun and lots of giggles.


I am happy to report that not much has changed in the world of mini-golf since I was a child. I am still quite bad at the game, but it is still lots of fun and brings a smile and a laugh to everyone. In fact, it's probably more fun now to be the adult and watch the kids giving it a go and having a ball.


Some months ago, we took the littlies down the Gold Coast (thanks to some discount vouchers) and had an afternoon of mini-golf fun. Both kids did great - even scoring a few Hole-in-Ones!

And, of course, like any REAL golfer knows, you don't really tell the truth on those stroke cards. Well, that would just be silly, wouldn't it? So, our young Tiger-in-Training, when asked how many strokes it took him to make the above shot (knowing full well that the count was at least 10) had this to say....

Playing with the Art of Giants

Recently (ummm... like December - January) GOMA here in Brisbane had a fantastic exhibition of Andy Warhol's art. When Poppo Bill was here in Australia for Tara's university graduation, we had a quick visit to the exhibit. During that visit we learned there was quite an extensive (and free!) portion of the visit dedicated to getting kids hands-on with art.

So, one weekend during the run of the exhibition, we took the kiddos to the museum for an art-filled adventure. (We were quite limited in the photos we could take - thank you copyright laws - so there are only just these few to share.)

Hunter's Thoughts on Hooters - Gold Coast

'Nuff Said.

Say Hello to the Newest Balmforth!

Wow! We've been away from the blog for nearly a year. Goodness. Well, we're back now and first things first - please join us in welcoming our newest family member.

Say Hello to Bir-Day!

Bir-Day (age 3) adopted us (Dean) when we went to the RSPCA in May this year. According to the kids, she has "special knees". And those "knees" required us to undergo some semi-intense scrutnisation before we could bring her home.

But home is where she is - Indeed! She settled straight into life as a Balmforth straight away. It has taken no time for her to rule the roost! Dean is her favourite human and she is so incredibly patient with the kids. And the kids loooooooooooooooooove her. They can't wait to get to play with her over each visit.

Without a doubt, she is the funniest, most loving cat any of us has ever met. And in saying that, she has a really "familiar" personality about her. Both Dean and I feel like we've known this lovely little girl for quite awhile. We're just trying to figure how... Reincarnation, anyone?