I'm sorry, wonderful readers but I just have to get a little mini-rant out of the way first.

Can you believe it? My sister and her family have up and moved to London. The city that we just moved home from. The city that we moved home from so we could be closer to our family. My brother lives in Hong Kong and now my sister lives in London. I'm an only child! wah!

Ok... now that's out of the way.

Annie, Richie, Oscar and Leo have moved to London and we're really happy for them all. London is such an exciting city to live in and they will have so many fantastic adventures. Richie has new opportunities at work, Annie gets to take advantage of the continental mini-breaks and the boys are going to love all the trains! We're sure that they'll enjoy living there as much as we did.

To farewell the Bells there was a little party a couple of weekends ago. The plan was to hold it in Pirrama Park. The weather had other ideas though. In the morning, it was a beautiful, sunny 27 degree day. Unfortunately at 2pm, as the party started, so did the rain, the thunder and the lightning. I was watching the thunderstorm from Mum and Dad's balcony and I saw several lightning strikes hit the park. Luckily Mum, the queen of organisation, had booked the station as a back up in case it rained. The party moved to and continued at the station.

Have you ever tried to take photos of groups of kids who are more interested in running around then sitting still for a photograph? I don't think I have a single photo from the event where everyone is looking at the camera. With the Bell family photo, I had to create a collage of photos. Each person is looking at the camera in at least one photo in the collage.

Good luck in London Annie, Richie, Oscar and Leo! We miss you already.

More photos (slideshow) on Flickr.

It was Richie's birthday last Thursday. Happy Birthday Richie! We celebrated with dinner at Annie and Richie's house. Annie cooked a delicious chicken, sweet potato and leek pie (must get recipe) and for dessert we had a birthday fruit flan, Richie's favourite.

Oskie is no longer a baby, he's a real little boy. He loves to play outside and enjoys pointing out and naming the things he knows "bus! train! plane! chopper!". We can also see the beginnings of an imagination. He has conversations with his toys and he makes them go "to work in the car". It's great fun watching him grow up.

One of Oskie's favourite things to do at the moment is walking backwards. While he is does this he yells "wooooooooOOOOOOOOaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh!". The excitement of not being able to see where you are going! Who needs expensive toys when there are so many things to explore!

Happy 30th Birthday Richie! I've put some photos up of Richie's birthday celebrations, which were held this weekend at Tamarama beach. We all had a lovely time - the girls basked in the sunlight, read magazines and caught up on Australian Idol gossip, the boys bbq'ed, played frisbee and drank beer. Something for everyone! (Photos)

Talking about Australian Idol (yes I'm hopelessly addicted) if brainless, boy-band, blondie (Matt) gets through to the next round I'll be very upset. Also, Marsha and Mark are a waste of space. Dicko is the only one with an interesting opinion. Sorry, just needed to vent *g*.