As pointed out the attached news article, Steph's Family Life Open Garden Day was planned for 6 gardens in Brighton.

The day was spectacular in weather.  Marg & I started at Secombe Grove, the property next to Brighton Yacht Club with the beach as a backyard.  This is owned by Patricia Ilhan of Crazy Johns fame.  After coffee and scones we wandered for several kilometers around Brighton, visiting 6 great gardens and enjoying a spectacular 4 hours with heaps of others. 

Steph tells me that they made heaps of money.  Well done.

Herald Sun
Edition F - WeekendSAT 23 OCT 2010
FAMILY LIFE

GARDEN
Tomorrow is your chance to check out all the beautiful gardens around Brighton. It's very important to pronounce Brighton as ``Brahh-tin'' and only use the lower part of your jaw. Six unique gardens are on show this year, from rambling treasure-troves and Victorian manors through to modern abodes with breathtaking views. The addresses are as follows: 1 Wellington Street, 26 Grosvenor Street, 19 Seacombe Grove, 2A Seacombe Grove, 285 New Street and 27 Victoria Street Brahh-tin. Now in its ninth consecutive year, this fundraising event is run by a team of dedicated volunteers with all money raised going to Family Life, a local non profit community organisation that provides services such as counselling, support groups, training and community development in the Southern Metropolitan region of Melbourne. Guests can also enjoy the thrill of a ride in a vintage car with a 1923 Rolls-Royce, 20 Horse Power Tourer, a 1924 Dodge 4 Tourer and a 1936 Studebaker Commander from garden to garden. Visitors can also enjoy music provided by local school students, some fun activities for the kids and useful information from major event sponsors CopperRock, Victorian Lawn Installations and CityWide Services. One more time, ``See you in Brahh-tin, luvvy.''

Stuart is settling into the new property in Barham.  Jeanette will be joining him after selling at Woodend.

Dad and Jan invited Marg & I to join them in a "high tea" at Rupertswood on Sunday.  You needed a step ladder to get to the sweet cakes at the top of the table while many champers slipped down smoothly.

A great way to spend Sunday afternoon.

As many would know, March 13th 2010 was a very special day in the life of Mel & Mark.  At 5pm on a beautiful Saturday afternoon, they joined a crowd of their friends at Rupertswood Mansion in Sunbury.
The day and night was fabulous with everything going pretty much as planned.  It was a wonderful to see all that planning come to life.
There are many stories to be told so I hope those that attended will use this article to add their special story as a comment.

For mine, one of the highlights was accompanying Mel in the horse and carriage through the main street of Sunbury as we travelled for 20 minutes from home to the Mansion.  It felt surreal to have complete strangers calling out their congratulations and little kids excitedly waving to this strange sight in the streets of Sunbury.

Of course there were a few stories in the background that many would not have seen.  The preparations were performed in military precision at home with makeup artist and hair dresser working together to progressively create the exquisite appearance of all the girls.  Melissa, one of the bridesmaids, was last in queue given that she spent most of the morning looking after her sick partner at the Melton Emergency Medical Centre. 

As a result of several phone calls with Mark during the day I was also aware that the Best Man, Chris, was doing a great job keeping Mark focused on the job ahead.  In between trips to the shops tobuy last minute clothing and picking up visitors from the airport I believe they had to visit the pub in order to calm the growing nerves.  They did manage to invest wisely though as they won the local meat tray raffle at the pub.

You can tell us your story of the day by using the comment section attached to this article.  There are also a growing list of photos being provided by guests.  I have opened a Flickr account which is linked to our photo gallery page on this website.  Keep an eye on this over the next few weeks as it grows with new submission.

The venue is booked, the RSVPs have been received and dresses are ready to go. All we need is a reasonable weather outlook and all will be ready.

Bridie O'Reilly's rocked as always on Saturday 6 March.  The boys used it as a base for Mark's buck night.  This is a family site so the only picture to go on this site is the logo.  Full details will need to be elicited from Mark. Suffice to say that a 4:30am finish left lots of time to party.

As for the girls I hear that Chapel St is to get a treat from Karaoke at Strike Bar.  The bowling was serious and the game of pool also brought out some of the lost youth.
Word has it that once the oldies went home, the youngies partied on until 3am or so. 

Hello, its Marg here...back in the land of the living having been the only person who has gone to Broome without taking the bathers out of the bag.  I just treated myself to a movie, namely Bran Nue Dae. I can thoroughly recommend with Missy Higgins a delight, Jessica Mauboy wowed me, Geoffrey Rush great as usual, but Ernie Dingo was absolutely delightful.


I understand that Brent & Jane and Jeanette & Stuart share my view that you should get along to see it.

Sunday 7th Feb saw Norm combine in the team Ironman event at Geelong with Elle and Nick.

Over 1,100 triathletes descended on spectacular Eastern Beach for the Australian leg of the international Ironman 70.3 Series, the world's fastest growing triathlon series.

Comprising a 1.9km swim, 90.1km ride and 21.1km run, this is the second year Geelong has hosted Australia’s Ironman 70.3 event, which also serves as the final race for the 2008/09 Australian Half Ironman Series.

Snap Ironman 70.3 Geelong has attracted 1,050 individual and 95 team entrants, surpassing last year’s entry numbers. It has also attracted one of the best professional fields ever assembled for an Australian Ironman event.

The "Boys & Elle" powered through the course in 5hr 3m 27secs placing them in 35th position.
This comprised a PB for Norm in the swim of 38:27, a PB for Ellie in the run of 2:00:06 and Nick rode the bike leg in 2:20:39, also a PB.
Norm tells me that the field swam from 28m to 55m with plenty of young kids and 3 oldies.  I wonder whether he has considered himself one of the oldies

For Mel and Mark's birthday we all went to Pandora.  For those who have seen Avatar 3D you know what I mean.  After three hours of cinematic magic you feel like you have vaulted through the trees and fought the battles with amazing creatures and horrendous gunships, all in the name of saving the trees.  I could not help describing it as an experinece, not a movie.