Melbourne Cup lunch at The Ravenswood Hotel

Ess & Ray, Shirl & Norm, Jude, Ann all went to the Ravenswood for a Melbourne Cup lunch. There were winners and losers but no tears! Lunch inside then a few drinks outside beside the river. A great day with great company.

Ray finally gets his "boat!"

Further pics

These pics are of the visit we had from Jude's sister Annette, bro-in-law Jock and niece Kirsty.

Top pic is at Point Walter and bottom one is lunch at Nino's in Mandurah.

A mish mash of photo's from family visit

Open house at Cooloongup and Kirsty at Rockingham beach

Ess (Jude's mum) had a win at the dogs!

Brunch in Freo

Ess, Ray, Annette, Jock and Kirsty in Mandurah.

Where does time go??????

We can't believe it is over 2 months since posting anything! So much has been going on and with work getting in the way of our social time, we have neglected our blog!!
We had a fantastic 9 day visit from Jude's sister Annette, Bro-in-law Jock and niece Kirsty from the US of A. Ray had leave for the entire time and Jude had to work for the first 4 days. The weather improved dramatically during their visit. September broke numerous records for the amount of rain and rainy days but it cleared up so that they only had one wet day. There were get togethers with numerous members of the family as well as friends stretching back to school days.
The other bit of very exciting news is that Ray's nephew Justin and his partner Jade are now the very proud parents of Alfie Jack Simmons who is the spitting image of his daddy!! We can't wait to meet Alfie when we go to the UK in March.
Ray celebrated his birthday yesterday as well as his one year anniversary since starting at the City of Melville. He received some lovely gifts and lots of good wishes from across the globe.

THE BIG 50!!!!!

4th July and Jude is working a night shift!!

Yes although we are in Oz, I would still like to have been off to celebrate the 4th July as we have family living in the good ole US of A!

Looking back through our previous posts I realised I neglected to mention celebrating our third wedding anniversary by going to Rottnest Island for the weekend. The weekend was actually organised by Ray's work social club but as it was a few days from our anniversary we decided to celebrate on the island. Ray had never been before and it was about 20yrs since I had been. We had a fantastic time and very little has changed which was great. The weather started off stormy but ended up blue skies and sunshine. We walked round parts of the island, caught the bus round other parts, ate some fantastic food, stayed in a top class room overlooking one of the many lakes on the island and just wished we could have stayed longer. We will go back for sure!! Check out the link to see what a fantastic place this and just where it is situated off the coast of WA.

Can you believe - One year in Australia!

Yes, on Sunday 14th June we celebrated exactly one year since arriving in Perth. Wow, where has the time flown? It has been a fantastic year and we have accomplished so much - we have been very blessed. We both have great jobs, have managed to buy our own home, have tremendous friends and family and love the outdoor lifestyle Australia has to offer. We had a fantastic 3 wk visit from the kids who loved it as well. That is the only downside, not being able to see Rebecca, Ben, Kia, Carol and Malcolm and the rest of the family as well as our wonderful friends. Ray even manages to keep up with his beloved Chelsea via Foxtel and SBS - and since moving to our home has been able to watch it on the big theatre screen which makes him feel he is right there on the field with the rest of the team!!! He is still hoping for a boat - all things come to those who wait!

Other exciting news is that Rebecca and her Ben are engaged and expecting their first child together in December - we are so thrilled for them both and think they make a wonderful couple and Ben is great with Kia. Our Ben and girlfriend Claire moved into their own place a couple of months ago and are doing well in their jobs. Carol and Malcolm's son Justin and his partner Jade are also expecting their first child in September.

We are looking forward to some overseas visitors - Mary from the UK will be here for three weeks from July 26th. Annette, Jock and Kirsty will visit from the USA in September for 10 days.