Car Club Christmas Party

Every year in December Nanny and Poppy's car club has their Christmas party at the miniature train park in Nambour.

Max loves it because he gets to ride on the trains, eat yummy picnic food, see Nanny and Poppy, and get a present from Santa - what more could you want from a day out?

With 4 adults there to ride the trains with him, he could keep riding again and again without wearing any particular person out and have lots of fun. He was very excited to see Santa come riding in on the train, and I don't even think he noticed Santa's resemblance to Poppy as he received his present so everything went well.

Visiting with Grandparents

Max always loves to see his grandparents, and gets really excited when I tell him either that we are going to visit them ('sleeping in car?!') or that they are coming to visit us ('Pa here now?!').

When we do the visiting we usually leave just before Max's bedtime, and tell him that tonight we are going somewhere special so he gets to sleep in the car. He must love this because every other night these days he asks me if he's sleeping in the car tonight.

Anyway, last visit to Nanny and Poppy's place was just Max and I, while Cam was on our church's Men's Retreat. We had a great time visiting them and did all of Max's favourite things while there, such as playing with the balls on the pool table downstairs, riding his car, going for early morning walks with Nanny and Poppy while I sleep in, and of course playing at the beach on the riverbank across from their house.

We even have a Wiggles DVD that we leave at their house which comes in handy when Max's energy outstrips ours. He loves to watch them play their guitars while playing along.

Recently Pa was in Brisbane and came over to our place for a visit, which Max was delighted with. We deliberately didn't tell him that Pa was coming because then getting him to wait patiently is impossible, so he got a nice surprise when Pa walked in the door. He was able to show off his new potty training skills very well, which is cute because he is so proud of himself. We also had fun making hills, tunnels and bridges in Max's new sandpit, running around outside, reading stories and catching up on some cuddles.

A new cousin has arrived!

On Thursday last week (14th May) I got a wonderful phone call from my sister Amy to say that she had just given birth to a new daughter - Ingrid Leah Mutzelburg! She was born at about 6.30pm and weighed about 3.4kgs, or roughly 7.5 pounds, and has many very excited relatives!

On Saturday, after a busy morning buying fruit and veggies from the markets, cleaning the church, and going to a birthday party for some of Max's friends from church, Max and I dropped in to the hospital to visit baby Ingrid. We managed to arrive at the same time as my parents, which worked out great since Max not only got to see his new cousin but Grandma and Pa as well. Max was a bit shy at first but when he saw us all cuddling the baby he definitely wanted a turn too, and he was so gentle at holding her, patting her and kissing her. The inevitable pointing out of her features (eyes! nose! ears! hair!) wasn't quite as gentle as I'd have liked but he was really trying and did a great job of welcoming his new cousin the only way he knows how.

Grandma and Pa also showed great foresight by buying not only Ingrid some presents, but Max and the twins some stickers as well, so he had a great time helping Pa put them into the book in the right places, and also playing outside with Pa on the playground while I got a nice cuddle of my little niece.

We got some good photos of Ingrid being cuddled by various relatives, including Max, so here they are.

Congratulations to the Mutzelburgs and welcome to little Ingrid!

New Years Celebrations

We spent about a week out at the farm with my family, and it was wonderful to celebrate New Years with them and catch up with everyone in the same place for once. With everyone so busy the time together didn't last long and so we celebrated New Years a few days early so that we could all be together.

Instead of the traditional BBQ, my Dad likes to prepare a hangi where you wrap the meat and vegetables in alfoil and bury them in the ground with heated rocks and coals. Although it takes a bit more preparation the food comes out wonderfully tender and delicious and it's easy to cook a lot of food at once. Throughout the day we could feel the storm building, with high temperatures and humidity and the wind starting to pick up. We could tell it was about to hit just when we needed to take the food out of the pit, and so Dad called in his best mate Charlie to help him get everything out before the storm. Here's what it looked like ...

Thanks to the extra help we just managed to get all the food out before the rain started, and then we had a great communal dinner with Charlie and his family there as well to share all of the delicious food from the hangi that they had helped to rescue.

Eating Out

On our last night in Hervey Bay we all went out to dinner, thanks to Uncle Lance, to one of his favourite restaurants The Drover's Dog (highly recommended!). Usually if Cam and I go out to eat in the evening we try and plan to leave Max at home, but this time we wanted to all eat together so we planned his daytime naps and our restaurant booking so that he could come along too.

Max loved the experience and had great fun making friends with our waitress and several of the other diners. He did have a few upset moments, however, such as when our drinks orders arrived and his cousin Rhys received a chocolate milkshake in a big tall glass. Max watched it intently as it was set down in front of Rhys and then let everyone know that he was being robbed if he couldn't have some.
We thought he may as well be let in on the fun, so the nice waitress went and prepared Max a strawberry milkshake of his very own.


Max watched her every move while she was preparing it and then didn't take his eyes off it until we'd poured some into a smaller glass and he was drinking it out of his very own straw. He must have thought we were going to take it away again, because he completely drained his first glass without taking a breath and then wanted a refill! Everyone at the table was amazed at the speed at which he drank the entire milkshake throughout the meal.

One of the excellent things about the Drover's Dog (other than their delicious filet mignon which is what I ordered) is that they provide free mashed vegies for kids under 3, and our very understanding waitress gave Max an oyster fork which was the perfect size for him. After feeding him a few mouthfuls my own meal arrived, so I decided just to not watch Max too closely (to avoid cringing at the mess he made) and let him go nuts with the fork while I paid proper attention to my perfectly cooked steak. Here are the results ...

vegies you say? hmm, tastes better with fingers

actually this fork thing isn't so bad after all if you open your mouth wide enough

who says I can't eat the garnish? it looks like the best bit!

get that camera away! I LIKE being messy!

Woodgate Beach

For the first week of our three week Christmas break, we headed up to Hervey Bay to stay with Cam's sister Bronwyn and her family for Christmas Day. We tried to make the most of our stay in such a beautiful part of the country by seeing the area and taking lots of day trips. The first of these was up to Woodgate to visit Cam's great-aunt Maisie, who is visually impaired but still lives alone and is quite independent. While Maisie and Joy (Cam's mum) were chatting and catching up, Cam and I took Max to the beach. It is a gorgeous spot with gentle waves and crystal clear water with lots of golden sand - perfect for Max to play in and explore. He just loves the water so much, especially the beach!





Just about the only negative for Max at the beach is that his eyes get so red from all of the salt, so when they got too bad we left the beach and headed for the playground instead. I don't think Max minded too much, since they had all his favourites such as swings, slides and even a cool tunnel with windows!




When he had had enough we hosed Max down in the outdoor shower and went back to Auntie Maisie's house for lunch. She shares her backyard with some very friendly kangaroos.

After a nice chat and lunch we took a quick group photo of the four generations before heading back home to Hervey Bay.

Choo choo trains

Nanny and Poppy are members of a car club which has an annual Christmas party where Poppy traditionally plays Santa Claus. So they were keen for us, and especially Max, to come along to have fun at the party and see Poppy as Santa, but the main reason is that the party is held at the miniature steam train park in Nambour. We knew Max would love seeing and riding on the fully working steam train models, along with all of the other car club members and their families.
We all had a fun day riding on the trains and eating lunch together, and Max loved seeing Poppy as Santa and receiving a great little truck as a present.

Merry Christmas!

Sorry once again for the lack of recent blogging. We have been travelling lots this Christmas season and haven't had computer access for much of it to do things like download photos and post them up here. But now we are at Pfeffer's for new years I can do both of these things so expect a bit of a flood from the backlog.

First things first - Christmas! This year was Batkin Christmas, which we spent up at Hervey Bay with Cameron's sister Bronwyn and her family. Max was a little grumpy the morning of Christmas Day since we had to wait until everyone arrived before letting him near the tree and the presents. By the time everyone had arrived he was having a nap, so we decided to eat our delicious Christmas lunch before opening presents. We had the usual cold meats and tasty salads, which Cam organised and prepared, as well as perfectly cooked meat from the barbeque care of chefs Cam and Sam.

After we had all eaten plenty we gathered around the tree and cousin Liam was selected for the vital role of Santa Claus.

Max was much more interested in everything this year, especially when it came to opening and receiving his own presents!

Thanks to all the Batkins for an excellent Christmas Day. Max enjoyed it so much, and will continue to enjoy playing with all of his shiny new toys!

Fun at the Beach

After the BCEC Christmas Party we headed up the coast to Bli Bli since Cam had a couple of days off. Max was so tired out that he slept the whole way so it was a nice easy drive up.
On the Monday we drove out to Kenilworth to visit Nanny and Poppy who were on their annual caravan club holiday. Max slept in the car for a little while but then woke up and we all had a wonderful time eating yummy burgers and fish and chips for lunch, playing in the park and eating delicious Kenilworth icecreams afterwards.

On Tuesday Nanny and Poppy came home but had to go up to Maryborough to attend a funeral for Poppy's uncle, so while Cam was driving them up there Max and I went to the beach at Cottontree. There's a great playground there and it's right next to the beach. Last time we went I didn't take spare clothes for Max and had to try and keep him dry, but this time I was prepared and I let him go crazy. He had so much fun splashing in the water and exploring the wet sand and playing with the beach toys from Nanny.