February’s been a great month for the Dawson’s with hosting my parents for a nearly 3 weeks being the highlight!

Poppy & Nana arrived on the 4th, just after the big snowfall and mainly hung out with the family and catching up after we last saw them nearly 2 years ago whilst home on our infamous 3  month trip Down Under.

I took 2 weeks leave so thankfully for me DIY with my Dad was the order of the day(s) with numerous trips to B&Q (Bunnings equiv.), the plumbing merchant and the local timber yard.  All those odd jobs around the house I’ve never had a chance to get to got done and thankfully the weather wasn’t too bad, slightly chilly at times but it is winter!  Just for something different, we tried to hire an Alfa Romeo which subsequently turned into a Vauxhall Vectra before our eyes at Europcar (it was never gunna happen) where the 3 of us then travelled to France via the Eurotunnel and then on to Brugge, Belgium for a night.  Fantastic little trip, got some cheap wine at Calais and it’s not often you get have 3 main meals in a day in 3 different countries.  Well.. especially not in Australia.

On the 8th we attended good friends ours little girl Isabella’s 1st birthday party in the City at a cool bowling alley.  Nice way to spend a Sunday and the boys absolutely loved it.  The score didn’t matter, just heaving a bowling ball down the big rack was all the fun they required.  Fair to say we’ll be doing that again with them soon enough.  Unsure if there was enough chocolate cake left at the end though which surprisingly could have fed about 100 people I reckon.

On Valentines Day we had Zac’s 2nd birthday party.  He had a great day with 6 or so of his friends and by the looks of our house afterwards we presume he (& Shay) had  great time.

A week later I went and saw Ray LaMontagne with me mate Billy at the Barbican.  Something different you could say to the usual rukus we manage to attend – he’s been compared to Van Morrison just to give you some idea of the genre and not the ‘Them’ Van but more the ‘jazz’ Van.  Very cool and we enjoyed it immensely.

So now it’s back to normality I suppose.  Kerryn is expanding by the day as her working days (for now) slowly come to another end.  The boys (me included) are looking forward to summer and we’re all looking forward to a quick return to the UK from Poppy & Nana – and any other relative that might wish to visit!

H.