The Watsons in Atlanta

Ciao!

We just spent the last two and a half weeks in Italy with Meg's parents and her sister Chesley. Not surprisingly we had a fantastic time - even with a 15 month old along for the ride (except maybe the flight home)!
Luke couldn't stop saying "ciao, ciao, ciao!!" to everyone he met (although often after they had left).
We spent time in Rome, Sorrento, Florence and Venice. Highlights included a drive along the Amalfi coast from Sorrento, the ruins of Pompeii and Herculaneum, The Vatican, Michelangelo's David in Florence, and a quiet Gondola ride.

In the Vatican:

Pompeii:

Overlooking Positano on the Amalfi Coast:

A day trip to the island of Capri:

Great views from our hotel overlooking Florence & Tuscany:

Luke & Daddy in San Gimignano on our drive through Tuscany:

The Duomo and a copy of 'David' where it used to stand (Florence):

Luke had a great time. His first merry-go-round ride.

Live it up why don't you, Lukey!

We did LOTS of eating/cappuccino drinking:

St. Mark's Square in Venice:

Lots of Gondola fun:

Mumpsy

Our mate and Luke's Godfather, James 'Mumpsy' Mulhall came and stayed with us for a few days while Kate, Em, Chris & Lily were with us in May (see prev post).
Unfortunately James came down with the mumps, which was a real bummer - mainly for the severe drilling pain in his jaw, but also for his marshmallow face, and the fact that he was contagious and couldn't cuddle or play with his number-one Godson.

Aussie Family Visit in May

We had a great time in May when Kate, Em, Chris & Lily stayed with us for a month. Luke & Lily ("yi-yi") had a great time hanging out.
Here are a few of the over 1000 photos we all took!

A snowy Easter weekend at Lake Toxaway:

The snow thawed for some Kiama slips catches with the neighbours:

'Shooting the Hooch' (rafting down the Chattahoochee):

Lots of "ishhhhhh, ishhhhhh!!" at the worlds largest aquarium, in Atlanta:

A fun weekend in Washington DC:

Dave finally had a guy around to play sport with:

New stuff on our blog at last.

It's been a while. Below is a series of posts covering what we've been up to since we arrived in Atlanta in November.

The first of the new ones is 'Thanksgiving 2006' - and you have to go down pretty deep to get there. The videos may go on a bit (haven't learnt editing yet), but should be fun to watch.

Let Me Walk!

Unfortunately Luke still wont budge...unless you put him on his feet. He does have a daily session of forced crawling (involving a line of cherios) - no joy yet.

But he sure does like taking some wobbly steps!

Ol' Chap!

Luke in his cool little-old-man winter cap - he doesn't pull it off so often now. He does like to say car a lot.

Row Row Row Your Boat

My First Ice-Cream!

Yum?!

Photos from our USA Christmas

The day was spent at the Phillips', and Luke was the star of the show. He had so many pressies he had to open them in three sessions with snoozes in between. It was another great family time, and of course involved an open fire and Gims' margaritas (Gims is Meg's grandmother).

Click on each for a larger image.

Picking out our tree

Fun decorating the tree

Stocking opening!

Under the tree at home. "For me?!!!!"

With Gims and Pocky-Jack (Great-grandparents)

"Thanks Mamma."

"Thanks for these pressies Granny & Grandpa Watson."

Iron-Luke

This is also at Toxaway over Thanksgiving.

The Lake is very peaceful to kayak around (in winter) and is surrounded by magnificent holiday houses. Plenty of boats and skiers in the summer.

Thanksgiving 2006

Luke and Dave's first ever US Thanksgiving was spent at Lake Toxaway in the North Carolina mountains with all Megs family.

The weather was perfect and we all had a great time relaxing.