Well, it's official - not only is christmas right around the corner, it is next door. What has happened to this year?? Each day passes quicker than the last and it's totally escaping us. We have been so unprepared this year and that is not something that we are used to and we will need to rectify next year.

Needless to say, we are ready to write off this year and get on with the next one (well February at least for a little break we have planned, not to mention a surprise trip for one of our nieces being bundled within that). We're totally burnt out, we have not had a 'holiday' in over a year now (not complaining as others have it worse but you can really feel it).

We've been having quite a few parties to attend at this time of year - engagement, birthdays, xmas. All we can say is that we don't plan on having kids between the months of September - December [not needing to mention that Beck has the months of September and October covered with the birthdays of her charges??]

Work has been going well for both of us and (not to sound like a broken record), its the same ol' same. Jon's learning more and enjoying more and Nat has been absolutely flat-out (more and more so).

Lately we have been thinking about renovating the house a little and/or moving.... we haven't quite decided what we want to do but we'll most probably scope out the housing market in the areas we prefer, for the next 12 months, and in the meantime just touch up the current house a little bit. Its been five years (which has totally flown) but the house is starting to show its age a little now (to us it does but to others it doesn't).

Anyway, we'll talk to you all shortly and in any case, wish you a Merry Christmas.

Update

Well, it's official, we are complete and utter slackers!!

We let life get past us so quickly and at the same time, don't even think about updating this page at all. Anyway, we hope that this can change and we'll be able to bring you more on what has been happening - though mostly mundane things.

Firstly, we both enjoyed a little bit of a 'long' weekend away in the Hunter Valley. We didn't want to have a packed 'timetable' so we decided to just go to the wineries that we wanted to and then relax and look around the rest of the time. After collecting Jon from work on the Friday, our first stop was at our accommodation: Potters Brewery. We were quite surprised at the niceness of our villa, wasn't what we had expected yet it fitted quite nicely. It is in a great location and you're situated just behind the pub so somewhere to chill out and relax and have a few drinks.

As most of your know, we aren't much of a drinker and in saying that - Jon's not a wine person and Nat's not a beer person but we compromised and Jon drank wine and Nat drank beeer!!

After checking in and having a little look around the place, we decided to go for a drive to Nightingale Wines in Broke (very nice wine/port/dessert wine - Craig and his wife are lovely. Though most people remember you when you say that the last time you went you wore a cowboy hat with a tiara and a feather boa with a group of gals). BTW, Craig says hello to all the girls and Nat told him that you will all be back in January!!

Anyway, as that is a bit of a drive out, on the way back we stopped at Bluetongue brewery. There's not much there at all to be honest but Jon tried the beer tasting tray and he liked it so much he ended up taking the tray and glasses with us :-) Should we say, walked away with them and if anyone asked what he was doing he was going to say 'I didn't want to return it and have a free middy so I decided to take it with me'.

By the way, we drove past Tempus Two and the stage is being built for Elton John's concert on December 1 - its going to be huge and busy for whoever goes to his concert!!

We went back to the villa and Jon enjoyed a little bit of a swim (nice pools that they have!!). We then went to the pub and we both had a beer tasting tray each. What can I say, these tasting glasses were huge!!! I liked a couple of them, we really thought that we would like the American Pale Ale but it wasn't nice and it was a bit spicy. We associate that kind of spice in food, not drinks. It was definitely an eye-opener for Nat but she did well in giving it a go and Kolsch had to be our favourite. We just lazed around for a couple of hours before having dinner there. Look, the food is really great but Potters bistro/restaurant area has really changed from a few months ago. The big black board with menu is no longer there (which is a shame) and their variety of meals aren't that many but the food is still great, so that is a plus. We even had a bottle of wine to share - well done Jon!!!

Anyway, we were shattered (not literally but more from tiredness and travelling) so we hit the hay very early and had 10 hours sleep. You can't even to pretend to sleep in for a little because it is light too early.

Anyway, the highlight must have been waking to the fridge turning itself off and having warm milk, so no brekky for us!!! Mysterious why it turned off but Nat re-set it and it was fine for the rest of the stay.

Anyway, after getting ready and it not being 10am just yet (as wineries don't open until this time), we went to the Hunter Valley Gardens/Shops - which is always nice to look around and have a little bit of a geeze. Jon hadn't been here before so he enjoyed a nice stroll around the place, we enjoyed a lovely coffee at the speciality coffee shop. Since Raechel has been back home from Europe and she told us that she likes Irn-Brun (sp?), a scottish drink which she'll have to wait until tonight to get, we were able to get a bottle from the British lolly shop but April had to luck out as we couldn't find any Black Rock lollies, Jon got his fav Reece peanut butter cups - ergh!!. Nat was able to find a lovely gift for she choose from the box for Kris Kringle at work.

We then set-out to the wineries (meanwhile Jon enjoyed being the passenger and sightseeing as Nat drove all weekend, thank god there are no RBT's). Our first stop was Tulloch, one of Nat's fav. We enjoyed tasting and couldn't resist buying up there. Plus we love how wineries do bread and olive oil these days - have you noticed that?? At least it puts a little something in the stomach, especially with an empty stomach - naughty, naughty.

Second winery for the day was Robyn Drayton wines. Nat loves the labelling/colour/picture but not forgetting the 'foreplay' either, their Botrytis Semillion. Nat was sad to see that they were sold out of foreplay but hopefully they'll have new stock in January when she returns. We did grab some lovely white wine and a bottle of white port, which goes down nice. They were so flat out with the number of people on tours there but we still managed to get special attention, which was great. Girls, remember the really cracker of blonde who worked there?? Well, she wasn't there this time but she may next time - we'll have to wait and see.

Third and last stop for the day (told you we weren't going to overdo it), was Golden Grape. This isn't exactly the best place for wine etc. We pretty much only went there as Nat wanted to buy more Coolaya (sp?) - sparkling strawberry wine in time for Xmas day but also had to check out Jon downing a shot of chilli schnapps - that was a sight to behold, Nat was certain that Jon almost became a fire breather, he finished off the glass bottle of water that they provided and had to go looking for another. An absolute cracker!!!

Nat had only one wish in terms of dining and that was that she wanted to trying Amanda's on the edge http://www.amandas.com.au/. This place is better than the website shows. We paid for it but it was absolutely delicious and very competitive with Sydney dining - definitely have to go back. The waitress and service were tremendous and we sat on the patio outside - it was absolutely perfect. Here we go:

Filo wrapped scallops
Lamb rump with baby spinach leaves, eggplant salsa
(surprising this came with olives, which Nat hates, but she ate - that's how good it was)

Caesar salad (really nice)
Chicken with labna stuffing (soft cheese)

Very, very nice and definitely a must!!

So we ended up going back to the villa where Jon enjoyed another swim. We went back to the pub and Jon's mate Nando was going to pop around (as he was in the Valley) but time got away and was unable to go in time so we still sat there and drank and relaxed.

We had dinner booked for Blaxlands Grill so got ready for that. It got off to a bad start as soon as we got there and was the only downer over the whole weekend. We rocked up and they didn't have our booking down (thumbs down) but the lady was nice enough to 'find us a table'. So we sat down to cruddy menus and after a little while the waitress (if that is what you'd call her) came to ask if we would like to order but then asks if we saw the specials board that we hadn't seen yet - hellloooo?? she should have know. So she dumps it in front of our table and leaves without an explanation of the menu - by this stage Nat was not happy and Jon kept asking if she was okay and she wouldn't talk. When she was about to say that she didn't want to eat there now, the chicky-dee walks up to take the order and Jon goes 'no, we're going somewhere else, we're not eating here' - so we left. The menu looked unappealing and in such disarray and this was a place that got some good reviews.

Atlas, that didn't dampen our spirits - we ordered in pizza back at the villa instead. It was too late to go anywhere else for dinner. We looked the sight, dressed up in the villa with ordered in pizza from Pizza Hut!! Woohoo!!

Next thing you know, its next morning and we're getting ready to go back home. We left pretty much as soon as we were up and we were home late morning in order to avoid the traffic!!

At last, we are at the end and you know the ins and outs of the weekend but we do have to be descriptive these days so you know how good it is to get away and enjoy a weekender and relax. I think it is the most relaxed Jon's seen Nat in a long time and that's saying something. I guess we'll have to consider buying a weekender someday in order to get away.

Catch ya later,
Jon and Nat

Updates

The only updates that we have so far is the following:

Raech is in Europe...she has done one Contiki tour and as far as we know she had a ball...She went to Scotland and some other parts of England. She has also been to Harrods and a few other places...
We received a postcard the other day saying that she was having a great time!

My sister's unit has settled and so she now has the keys....the current tennants will be there til the end of their lease which is approx end of October.

My Grandmothers house settles today and so it means no more cleaing up for Mum and Dad...they have done a lot of work there already....Nat and I went and helped last weekend. Most of the hard stuff was done so we just had a few little things to move and the chance to say Goodbye to the house.....I've been visiting that house for the last 31 yrs so it's sad to see it go but the new owner is apparantly going to renovate it. I'm happy that he is renovating it rather than knocking it down.

Apart from this we're just enjoying the much needed rain although some parts of the state are getting flooded....this weekend we're going to paint if the weather is good...otherwise we'll relax and catch up on sleep!!.....

Take care..
Jon and Nat..
xoxo

Long time no blogs...

Since our last post we've been busy but when I look back on it there doesn't seem to be alot of exciting news...obviously we survived christmas and New Years....Im sitll working on our spare room (dragging the chain I know) but it's almost done now...the first coats of paint went on over the weekend....tonight there will be some minor ceiling repairs and a wall repair...tomorrow night will be more painting etc...

Nat is still working away...she seems very happy with ehr current role and the company seem to love her! She has been given a laptop to use with work so she can work from home...
Working from home also means that we needed a second line installed which we now have...

The only bad news over the last few months is the death of my Grandfather on March 10. He was 85yrs old. He went to bed and then couldn't be woken the next morning. As sad as it was atleast we were all around him when he passed. My Grandmother has now moved into a nursing home. She has purchased a two bedroom unit. Her first impression was that it was too fancy for her!!....but she seems to love it now!

My family and Nat's family are all going well. Nat's sister Rebecca has moved to Queenbeyan with the kids. We saw them on Mother's Day and they are all happy and well...

Today is Rae's last day at work....she is heading over to Europe in two weeks and will be there for approx 3months!!! Look out Europe!!! Here she comes!!!

Hope everyone is well and staying safe....
Keep in touch!

J.