Happy New Year

It was a year ago today...
1. That the temperature was about 40C at midnight. We watched Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers on DVD, then went outside at midnight to scan the sky for fireworks, only to be greeted by a hot, hot wind. It was the hottest night I could ever remember.
2. Our boy walked for the first time. He hasn't stopped since...

Kiss kiss...

Where's Ari?

Ari and his (bearded) Daddy

Just because I like this photo

I love my Christmas toys!

Christmas

Rob and I are not Christmasy people at all. Which makes getting excited about Santa Claus and Christmas trees a huge challenge. We flirted with the idea of getting a tree this year, but were bamboozled by the range on offer and made a hasty retreat, promising to make a better effort next year. So Christmas for Ari this year really meant a whole lot of great food and a pile of great presents. His haul included a train set, golf sticks, dump trucks and a swing. We built him a fantastic sand pit to continue his obsession with "diggy-digging".
The highlight of Christmas for us was undoubtedly Ari's reactions when he unwrapped his presents - always shrieks of glee. He even played "pretend eating" when he unwrapped a cup, bowl and plate set. Very cute.
Next year Ari will be fully aware of Santa, carols, reindeer and the works, so we'll have to get our act together and get festive, I think. As cynical as we are of the whole guff, there is something magical about Santa Claus and the anticipation of Christmas.

Aunty Lol

Ari has allocated names for most of the special people in his life - Mumma, Daddo, Nanna, Poppa. But poor old Aunty Lauren has been left out - until now. Lauren is a hard name for a littlie to get their tongue around. Last night, he christened her "Wol Wol" (or "Lol Lol").

Birthday madness

I'm in the process of planning Ari's 2nd birthday party. My first attempt at a guest list has come up with an absurd number of potential partygoers. Yikes.
Both Rob and I are nervous party hosts and Ari's first birthday did little to alleviate this. After erecting a sunshade and preparing a BBQ lunch, it proceeded to pour buckets of rain ALL DAY.
By mid-afternoon, our house resembled a nightclub, we had so many people crammed in. It was a great day and Ari had a blast, but the rain thing was a bit of a bummer.
This time around, my aims are simple. That we invite everyone we want to and that it requires as little work as possible, so we can actually talk to our guests.
So a morning tea in the park next to an ace playground is what we are thinking. Now all we have to do is pray for NO rain...

No more oldie rock for me

A colleague recounted his recent experience at a Pearl Jam concert. It was at Rod Laver Arena, possibly the most polite of Melbourne rock venues. He said he knew times had changed when the guy next to him offered his bag of jelly beans.
And that basically sums up what's wrong with a lot of rock gigs today - the audience.
Perhaps I should have remembered this before forking out $100 to see Elton John at the oh-so-sanitary Rod Laver Arena last night.
I'm no Elton nut (unlike the guy I spotted sprinting along the concourse, expensive program in hand), but he's made enough memorable music for me to ensure I see the guy live at least once.
(My sister) Lauren and I knew our plan for some old time rockin' out had gone horribly wrong when we sprinted up to our back-row nosebleed section seats to find a 75-year-old nanna on one side of us and a monotone-singing middle-aged man on the other (his one-key versions of Tiny Dancer and Goodbye Yellow Brick Road were particularly memorable).
Elton was great - he sang all the hits, threw in a few newies, chatted amiably with the crowd. But the audience was certainly the most lifeless I have ever seen.
Polite applause was the order of the night. Any deviation was not only frowned upon, but policed.
"Whoos!" were greeted with dirty looks from three seats down. A couple who got up to dance (old time style, mind you) on the floor were ordered back to their seats. Half a dozen people on the middle concourse who had politely chosen to dance in a spot where they would block NOBODY'S view were moved on regardless. We joined them during Saturday Night's Alright, but fled the scene as the security guards approached from 9 o'clock. What a jib.
I know Elton John is hardly going to incite a moshpit, but attending a rock concert that has NO atmosphere is not my idea of fun.
Put it this way, I saw Neil Diamond last year and was safely the youngest person there. And it was a party compared to last night's fiasco. Those Diamond fans know how to rock out!