Isa, Sander and some more Samuel, of course...

This weekend we had an impromptu visit from Isa and Sander. I went to school with Isa many moons ago in Braunschweig and she was passing through Canberra with her partner Sander. We had a lovely weekend and it was a great chance to reconnect with an old friend! What's more, little boy was quite taken by them both and will surely miss them.


Little boy hanging out at home with Isa.


Catching up on Isa's and Sander's adventures in Canberra.


Navigating the various obstacles on the path up Mt Ainslie.


Samuel explaining Burley-Griffin's grand plan to Isa from the top of Mt Ainslie.


Super Sam having some well earnt banana after the walk up Mt Ainslie.


Samuel is now eating 80% of his meals by himself. If it sticks to the spoon, then he's not to keen on any help.


Tasting the South Aussie white from Isa and Sander.

Turning into a toddler?

Our little boy is turning into a toddler! He may well still be a
waddler right now but he's definitely on his way. Have a look
at the clips below.


Run little boy run...


Little groover!

Samuel's first birthday - Sunday, 14 October 2007

Why does this little boy look so proud of himself? Well, because he's one year big, of course!


Drooling over the birthday cake! Yum.

The centre of attention for a change!


Going for a birthday stroll.

Make a wish little man...


Ah...pbwwww...pbwwww...out goes the candle!

The birthday boy's perogative- sticky birthday cake fingers!

Our Seychelles Sojourn

Hannah, Samuel and I have just returned to Canberra after two weeks in Dubai and Seychelles. I started the blogging process in Dubai but unfortunately ran out of time to complete it. As many of you will know, we returned to Australia and moved straight into a new house which is full of moving boxes and still undergoing some minor works. As such, it'll be a week or two before we get the computer set up at home and finish documenting our travels. In the meantime, here is a taste of our time in Seychelles.


Mahé's beautiful Beau Vallon beach.


School Seychelles style.


One of the local school boys monkeying about.


Cute.






Picnicking at Beau Vallon.

Samuel having breakfast on Grandpa's lap at our hotel.


Samuel and Trevor the tortoise enjoying dinner at the Pirates' Arms restaurant in Victoria. From what we could gather it is the only restaurant open in Victoria on a Sunday evening.

Grandpa Fred and Grandma Jen were kind enough to babysit Samuel for a day while Hannah and I did a scuba course and went diving. The photo above is of Grandpa and Samuel on Beau Vallon beach awaiting our return.


Diving in Seychelles. Gee shucks...

T'was a lot of fun! This was Hannah's first dive and she thoroughly enjoyed it!

The Sir Selwyn Selwyn-Clarke Market in central Victoria.


A marketier meticulously arranging his fruit and veg.


Voila...


Oh, what a lovely bunch of mangoes.






This handsome bird was watching over the market.


...and here he is choosing his dinner.

Samuel negotiating a boat trip to Cerf Island at the Seychelles Tourism Board.


The trip that Samuel was arranging in the photo above was a half-day trip from Mahé to nearby Cerf Island on this dinky little glass bottom boat. Five adults (Me, Han, Mum, Dad and the local skipper) and Samuel made for an interesting ride. Along the way we fed some fish, had a snorkel and on Cerf Island we had lunch at one of its two hotels.


The Seychellois national flag flying over our little boat and Victoria Harbour.


Our skipper preparing the boat.


The skipper of our little boat. Now, who said pirates don't roam the Seychelles anymore.


A typical sight from our boat trip.


En route to Cerf Island we stopped a feed the fish. Swarm after swarm of these black and white fish appeared to nibble on the bread. Samuel loved it and couldn't take his eyes off the fish (see below). We also stopped and snorkelled for about 45 minutes nearby. Grandpa Fred stayed on-board to babysit the little boy. Unfortunately that didn't leave him with any free hands to take any pics. Hannah, Mum and I had a great time spotting the local marine life and diving down to the coral.


Ooo fishies, fishies!


Hard work this fish feeding lark.


We were shown how to catch a fish with only a piece of bread and your bare hands.


The view from Cerf Island back to Mahé.


Mum having a laugh along the way.


Cerf Island.


Little boy drinking from a straw for the first time on Cerf Island!


Samuel letting Mum know that he'd spotted me!


A local Cerf Islander.