Back to 9 hours

It's actually easier to make phone calls and contact when the time difference is 10 hours, before the daylight savings thing kicks in. Back to 10 now, so calls need to be that little bit earlier in the morning, or late at night. Am sure the fact that Ireland is finally seeing the back of a long cold winter, and the days are lengthening is adequate consolation. Our days of course are getting that wee bit shorter (only a little mind you) and the temperatures have dropped to a balmy 27/28 during the day.

Since the last scribblings we've had Aibhe's 3rd birthday and a trip to Noosa again for a long weekend - which we have just come back from. The pictures tell the story of Aibhe's birthday.

Noosa was wonderful as per usual - the kids really are getting a lot out of the beach (and being spoilt for a few days with the Australian grandparents in the house). The main beach at Noosa had all but disappeared - I had been told stories of this happening before, but had never witnessed it. Apparantly it happens when there have been heavy rains or cyclones up the coast which generate big swells and therefore big surf which wash the sand away off the normally very sheltered beach (next to the main shopping strip). This is of course not great for the tourists (though surfers love it), so they basically wait for the weather to die down and then start pumping the sand back from an area about half a km away to recreate the beach. Takes about a week and everything is back to normal.

Another recent outing was the trip to the Brisbane eye. Not quite the size of the London version, but a bit of fun nonetheless. Any chance Dublin could get one? What kind of name could the ever so witty Dubliners come up with for it? I'll start if off - "The spinning wheel by the ........." Best answer will be published on this ever so popular blog.

Aibhe has developed an obsession with the movie 'Mama Mia' and therefore the music of Abba. She pretty much dances her way through the entire set and knows all the dance moves - to the point where she actually copies the main character 'Donna' (Meryl Streep) without having to look at the TV. Though she will not perform if she believes you are looking at her, therefore one has to pretend to be looking elsewhere (the reflection in the glass sometimes does the trick)while she does her stuff. We have added the 'Sound of Music' (to Aibhe, its 'Doh, a deer') into the mix for her (just for us to get a break from Mama Mia) and it's quite amazing to see how suddenly she fell in love with it. Maria this, Maria that. Whats the Captain doing ..... etc etc. The powers of imagination get stretched occasionally when bombarded with 100 questions a day. Alissa has greater patience and comes out with some good lines to keep her quiet and satisfy the insatiable curiosity.

Emma has decided that she likes the head down & crawl mode of movement. So has progressed little since Christmas when it looked like she was about to walk at the ripe old age of just over 8 months. We should be grateful I guess, but now, the day is certainly not too far away. And she's not even 1 until mid May. The child is an absolute live wire. Already bracing myself for her teenage years. looking at her angelic picture (and completely bald head), who would think!!

Work for me has been mad. Been to Auckland and Perth (Perth is further away believe it or not) recruiting staff. Yes, my team is increasing in these recessionary times. Also, regular trips to Sydney and Melbourne all stack up to make me a busy little boy. No complaints mind you as hopefully, things will continue to be that way in here. All predicting a tough year this year - riding it out is the plan.

What about Liverpool eh? Just when I could relax safe in the knowledge that the season was over for all intents and purposes, they go and smash Real Madrid, United at Old Trafford and Aston Villa. Lads lads. Don't get my hopes up. Its been too long.

Now, to finish off with some footage from a recent breakfast outing. I believe we were pretty much sitting down to eat at 7am. So, you can figure from there what time we had to be up at.