Christmas Day 2013

The day started very early, as the grand kids asked us to come over very early, as they weren't allowed to open their presents until we arrived.

So to comply with their wishes, i set the alarm very early, and headed over to their place. And guess what......they were both sound asleep!!

They woke soon enough though, with a gentle nudge from their Dad!

Being they are older now, they knew what they were getting, as they had put in their requests early. 

I cant believe how quickly they grow, it seemed like only yesterday that we were putting out milk and cookies for Santa, it was all so exciting back then.

Both the boys got a new top of the range scooter each, and their Grandad just had to have a go, deciding he could do a "trick" just like the boys do. Must say it just didn't look like a "trick" to me, but he loves the boys, and has lots of fun with them.

Mel was given her present from Mark, 

As you can see....she was so thrilled...she has waited a long time for new saucepans!!!

And best of all for me...Mark, Mel and the boys, bought me a new camera!! I am so thrilled as i have often mentioned in this blog that the camera i was using was just not up to the job.

So now i have a lovely camera that does a fantastic job. I cannot stop clicking!!

We had a lovely lunch. Mark had done a fantastic job cooking pork with its very crispy, crackling with all the trimmings, and Mel had baked a banana roll and sticky date puddings. It was all so yummy!! 

The guy up the end in the orange tshirt is Eds brother Ronny and his partner Charmaine next to him. 

It was a lovely warm evening, so we took the kids down to the beach to try out their new scooters at the skate park. It was such a nice evening, with lots of people out and about.

Geelong have done an excellent job of improving the water front. They  commissioned a lady called Jan Mitchell in 1995 to transform 100 plus reclaimed timber pier pylons into works of art. 

They depict lifesavers, families, footballers, town bands, fishermen, sailors and more. It takes about 2 hours to see them all. We didn't see them all, but i took a few pictures of different ones.

This beach is called Eastern Beach. Its part of Corio Bay. It is not a surf beach, but you can swim if you are brave enough to dodge the yukky seaweed. At low tide it can be a bit whiffy on the nose as well, but its very popular, and as i said, the city of Geelong have done a great job. 

We came down here on the 20th of December as it was Noah's 12th Birthday. All of Mel's family came down with their kids, and we all had fish and chips here, which is also part of Eastern Beach. 

Although it was quite chilly with a strong wind coming off the water, the food was really nice, and we will go back there when the weather is a bit warmer. Its was really nice. They did provide lots of blankets for everybody, which some of the kids took advantage of, as we were up on the top deck, up the red spiral staircase.

Cunningham Pier, is a very old pier that's not used any more for ships, but they have built a restaurant on the end of it and one of the Geelong football players owns a nightclub up the top. A lot of people fish on the pier now.

This shot of the "Pier" was taken just on sunset, the colours were lovely.

So that was a great Christmas Day shared with our family.