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23. January 2014 12:28
by Rene Pallesen
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Hunter Valley Trip with family

23. January 2014 12:28 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

Last weekend we made an overnight trip to the Hunter Valley a couple of hours drive north of Sydney.

The main reason was to see the lights in the Hunter Valley Garden (see separate post), but also to go and taste some wine and generally have a good time.

Pretty soon after we arrived the girls were distracted by the chocolate and cheese places.

We did however go to a couple of places for wine tasting.

We also had some really nice food up there. I was especially impressed by a really nice gnocchi salad I had....it was yummi.

Outside it was really hot...like 39 degrees in the shade. There were a couple of horses relaxing under a couple of trees.

We decided an alternative approach of checking into our hotel and jump in the pool to cool off.

In the evening we went to the light show and on the following day we just did a number of wineries before heading back to Sydney.

17. January 2014 12:11
by Rene Pallesen
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Ten Pin Bowling

17. January 2014 12:11 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

On the weekend we did some ten pin bowling with the family.

Kim had managed to secure some cheap tickets so it was great to play against the family.

We had one lane for the kids (with rails) and one lane for the adults.

I had a bad start and was behind much of the game, but my luck eventually caught up and I started playing a good game.

Afterwards we had a bit of a play in the games arcade

Aiden was absolutely terrified of the big scary bear (I can see why).

The kids also tried to figure out what this machine was for:

I love some of the old 50's style decor.

17. January 2014 12:08
by Rene Pallesen
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Water Play

17. January 2014 12:08 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

It is summer and Lucas and Aiden is enjoying a bit of water play in the back yard on warm days.

15. January 2014 02:32
by Rene Pallesen
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Baptism

15. January 2014 02:32 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

This Sunday we had Aiden and Lucas baptised in the local church in Maroubra. Lucky that both Aiden and Lucas behaved throughout the 2 hour long service.

15. January 2014 02:29
by Rene Pallesen
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Malua Bay - Rocks

15. January 2014 02:29 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

The rocks at Malua Bay were quite spectacular and dramatic. A couple of times I ventured down to try my luck with some photos around sunset (grey every day)...I really suck at this style and constantly got my tripod soaked.

These were the two best results.

9. January 2014 11:38
by Rene Pallesen
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Malua Bay - The Beach

9. January 2014 11:38 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

Having the beach so close was great. I went for a run every morning before breakfast.

We also had a lot of fun playing at the beach with the kids.

And everyone was just really enjoying the time there.

9. January 2014 11:33
by Rene Pallesen
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Malua Bay - Indian dinner

9. January 2014 11:33 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

On news years day we had a very nice dinner at an Indian restaurant (I was soooo full afterwards).

The restaurant also had lice indian music as entertainment.

9. January 2014 11:29
by Rene Pallesen
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Malua Bay - Amusement Park

9. January 2014 11:29 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

On New Years eve there was a fair on and we let the kids have a couple of rides.

They also had a visit to one of the fire engines.

I actually did a ride as well, which is the most awesome one I have seen in years...but because of the scare factor it is censored from this site.

9. January 2014 11:24
by Rene Pallesen
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Malua Bay - Fishing

9. January 2014 11:24 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

Chong brought his little tinny along and him and Kims dad went fishing every second day.

I went along one morning out in the open water.

I caught a small flathead (and a puffer fish) which was too small to keep.

9. January 2014 11:17
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Malua Bay - Playground

9. January 2014 11:17 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

At the beach not far from the house there was a playground. It was great to let the kids play together.

Aiden was obviously keen on going on the swing.

But also the other kids had a go.

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2. April 2016 22:04
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Eastertrip Oberon

2. April 2016 22:04 by Admin | 0 Comments

This Easter we rented a small cabin out at Oberon. It was a beautiful little place on top of a hill with a beautiful view.

The place was full of cattle, kangaroos and wombat holes (with wombats in them).

Along the way we stopped at Wentworth Falls.

We also went to Jenolan Caves one day.

And afterwards Kanangra walls (Lucas never made the 200m walk there...too tired from all the walking. Pity, because it was the perfect spot and light for a family photo).

Next day we tried going to the glow worm tunnel, but the easter crowds made us turn back once we approached the car park. So instead we went up to Blackheath to have a nice lunch and enjoy some of the lookouts.

Later I tried another family photo at the cabin...very windy.

Overall a nice trip and the boys had a lot of fun.

2. April 2016 21:04
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Eastershow 2016

2. April 2016 21:04 by Admin | 0 Comments

Again this year we went to the Easter Show the entertainment quarter. As usual it was great fun for the kids.

Especially Lucas had a blast now that he is old enough to participate.

2. April 2016 19:04
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Australia Day - Citizenship

2. April 2016 19:04 by Admin | 0 Comments

Australia day was a very special day this year. I have been living in Australia for over 17 years and have been waiting for the moment Denmark would accept dual citizenship.

Although I have been been calling Australia my home for a long time I am also a Dane and didn't want to give this up.

I actually thought that it would never happen, but finally in late 2015 the law was finally changed and I lodged my Australian application immediately. On Australian day I took the pledge and can officially call myself an Australian now.

Kim and the boys, KA and Aaron as well a few friends attended the ceremony.

I felt very proud and was very honoured.

And I was pampered with Australia day gifts.

7. January 2016 18:01
by Rene Pallesen
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Hunter Valley Christmas 2015

7. January 2016 18:01 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

Between Christmas and New year we went to the Hunter Valley with Sasha and his family.

We stayed overnight in a cabin in Lovedale.

During the day we tasted wines at the various wineries (found some good ones).

The kids also loved playing at the cabin in the evenings.

7. January 2016 18:01
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Christmas 2015

7. January 2016 18:01 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

This year we decided not to celebrate on the eve of the 24 and just stick with the 25th at KC's place (too much cooking otherwise). I was responsible for the Christmas ham (with limited success).

It was a relaxing day and the kids were very exited about their presents.

16. December 2015 13:12
by Rene Pallesen
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Silliness

16. December 2015 13:12 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

Sometimes when I am setting up for a photo especially Aiden likes to jump in a get silly.

It is a good way to test the lighting and sometimes I managed to get a 'keeper' such as this one from a few weeks back.

16. December 2015 12:12
by Rene Pallesen
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Christmas family photo 2015

16. December 2015 12:12 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

It is almost Christmas and I've just completed our annual family Christmas photo and this is the final version.

It was an interesting process getting to this photo this year. Last year we did a photo in the kitchen of us baking a cake, but this years photo has so many more elements to it.

The idea came from a combination of Kim and my ideas. Kim wanted to do a photo of the boys through a crystal ball. I actually bought the crystal ball right after Christmas last year with this year in mind.

We did a test in front of the tree in early December which was reasonably okay, but Kim didn't like the feel to it. She wanted more snow (pretty ambitious on a summers day here in Sydney Australia).

My idea for our family photo was based on me wanting to do a story of us as a family out in a snow storm 'Looking for Santa'. I had purchased a bag of artificial snow and a Christmas cape a few months back and we had some lanterns downstairs so I pretty much had all the components in place for the shoot.

I knew I had to do it as a composite with the boys as there was no way that I would be able to get the photo with all four of us at once. We did the photo over a couple of days, on the first evening (after the kids had gone to bed) I took the one of Kim and myself holding the lantern. Once I had this photo I could show it to Aiden and Lucas so that they knew what we needed them to do (Lucas just had to copy Aiden).

I had Gaffa taped markers on the floor so everyone would know where they were supposed to stand. Inside the lantern I had hidden a speedlight gelled with CTO to make it look light the lantern was lit. We are actually lit by a large Einstein strobe also with CTO, grid and barn doors to control the spill of the light.
At the back left and right were another two speedlights providing a bit of rim light to emulate moon light.

Because of the first 'failed' attempt of the crystal ball I got the idea to extend my 'Looking for Santa' photo into Santa's shed where he would have a crystal ball where he could look at us looking for him.
This would require three components - The crystal ball, the lights from the Christmas tree to create atmosphere and then Santa himself. I created Santa by hanging a hat on a chair which was easy to light and then I had another light which I used to balance the ambient with the lights from the tree.

The final photo all combined looks like the following, but in the end we decided to just use the tighter crop in the first and final photo.

1. December 2015 12:12
by Rene Pallesen
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7th Anniversary

1. December 2015 12:12 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

This month Kim and I had our anniversary.

I cant believe we have been married for 7 years...still love her to bits.

1. December 2015 12:12
by Rene Pallesen
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Aiden Graduation and Christmas Concert

1. December 2015 12:12 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

It was time again for the annual Christmas concert with Aiden and Lucas' daycare.

Aiden is starting 'big' school after Christmas, so this was also his graduation.

Kim and Aiden had both practiced some dancing and songs for the concert and were both dressed up, Aiden as a doctor and Lucas as a pumpkin.

Although Aiden was very excited leading up to the concert and was telling everyone how he was going to sing and dance, he absolutely broke down once we got there overwhelmed by all the people and the noise.

It was heartbreaking to see him like that on an evening where he should be enjoying himself. He was crying and didn't want to get on the stage. Eventually we managed to get him up and he did try and participate.

Lucas on the other hand had a great time, unfortunately I didn't get a lot of photos of that because I had to try and comfort Aiden.

After the show Santa turned up wit presents for the kids and he was a lot happier again.

After that the graduates had their photos taken and had cake.

29. November 2015 22:11
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Ballet - Sleeping Beauty

29. November 2015 22:11 by Admin | 0 Comments

Saturday Kim and I went to the Sydney Opera house to watch the Sleeping Beauty performed by the Australian Ballet.

It was one of the better ballets we have seen. The story was great and the dancing (lots of it) was of a really high quality.

The even managed to weave in some of the Red riding hood story, Puss in boots, Cinderella and other stories.

It was beautiful to watch.

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10. September 2015 16:09
by Rene Pallesen
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Fathers Day

10. September 2015 16:09 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

This Sunday it was fathers day.

It was celebrated with a game of Bowling with the kids in the morning and then family dinner in the evening (with yummi chocolate cake).

This photo is the only family photo I have with the entire Kims family (including little Mia).

7. September 2015 10:09
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Anything Goes - Sydney Opera House

7. September 2015 10:09 by Admin | 0 Comments

This weekend Kim and I joined a couple of friends at the opera house to see the show Anything Goes.

This is a great musical which I believe is based on a book and it was first shown on Broadway all the way back in 1934.

I love the old costumes from back...

27. August 2015 12:08
by Rene Pallesen
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Lucas Moment

27. August 2015 12:08 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

Lucas doesn't like me taking photos of him.

Here I caught him having a moment after I picked him up at daycare.

21. August 2015 08:08
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Aiden Birthday

21. August 2015 08:08 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

I realised that I hadn't posted anything from Aidens birthday.

On the weekend we had a bowling birthday party with all the kids (and mum and dad) dressed up as super heroes.

We also had a family dinner where we celebrated both his, Kayla's and Adams (his cousins) birthdays.

21. August 2015 07:08
by Rene Pallesen
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Morning of Frost

21. August 2015 07:08 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

Although we have had a beautiful winter with lots of sunny days and mild daytime temperatures, we have also had some cold mornings.

One morning the car had frost on it and it was only 5 degrees outside (most winter mornings it is 8-10 degrees with 18-22 degree daytime temps).

21. August 2015 07:08
by Rene Pallesen
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Aiden graduating to Turtle

21. August 2015 07:08 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

Last weekend Aiden graduated in his swim class from being a Crab to being a turtle.

He's been in the swim class for a couple of years now and never graduated. He would swim fine with me, but would cry and be scared with the swim teacher.

After our trip to Thailand in June he gained a lot of confidence and was very happy to swim by himself, but the swim teacher was too careful so he was unable to show what a good swimmer he really is. So, last weekend I asked the swim teacher to let him swim with the result that she by the end of the lesson graduated him and moved him to the next class.

He was so proud (and so was his dad).

18. August 2015 16:08
by Rene Pallesen
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Steam train day

18. August 2015 16:08 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

This Sunday we took the boys to Thirlmere trainworks. This is a large train museum with lots of old steam trains.

Here we learned that steam trains in NSW were running up until 1973 which means that we were born in the era of steam trains...makes me feel really old.

We went for a ride on one of the old steam trains (I think I was more excited than the kids).

As usual Aiden and Lucas were monkeying around being best mates. This is a bus on rails.

This is an instruction carriage used to teach how to operate the brakes on a steam train.

18. August 2015 16:08
by Rene Pallesen
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Coastal walk with the boys

18. August 2015 16:08 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

In the spirit of trying to keep the boys active Kim and I took them of a coastal walk from Coogee to Clovelly on a beautiful winters day.

The water in the little bays were calm and clear.

Half way we sat down and had a snack.

Kim braved it with the aerial yoga.

And the boys were being themselves...best mates.

They loved being outside and they managed to walk the whole way (bribed by ice cream) even though Lucas on the last stretch was asking to be picked up.

10. July 2015 09:07
by Rene Pallesen
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Phuket - Kims Birthday

10. July 2015 09:07 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

On the day we were flying out it was Kims birthday.

I had arranged a cake for her in the morning ordered through one of the local cafes a couple of days earlier.

The hotel provided a fairly average cream and jam pile that no one ate.

9. July 2015 15:07
by Rene Pallesen
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Phuket - Kims Birthday show

9. July 2015 15:07 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

To celebrate Kims birthday she organised for the family to go and see a show called Siam Niramit.

This show was about a 45 minutes drive from the hotel but transport was as usual included (as it is in pretty much all activities you organise).

Unfortunately Kims dad couldn't join us as he had been severely dehydrated from not drinking enough water and wearing too many clothes in the heat.

We were greeted at the show by actors in their beautiful costumes.

We then proceeded into the venue where we had a large buffet style dinner. KC organised for the staff to come and sign birthday song for Kim.

After dinner there were some pre-show activities such as kick boxing, tug of war with elephants as well as an elephant parade. More actors were dressed in their costumes.

After this was the show. The staging and props were absolutely amazing. Everything was big, and very well made. They even had a small river flowing through the stage in which actors rowed their canoos and swam in. They also had a massive monsoon rainfall in one of the acts.

The various acts despicted important historical chapters of the Thai history and mythology.

The had fabled creatures and real elephants, water buffaloes as part of the acting. Actors went flying across the stage with more that 100 actors as part of the show.

Below are some of the photos I could find to 'borrow' as I didn't take any photos during the show itself (not allowed).

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19. September 2017 17:09
by Rene Pallesen
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Boys artwork

19. September 2017 17:09 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

Lucas version of a Miro painting

19. September 2017 17:09
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Peter Pan

19. September 2017 17:09 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

We took the older children to see Peter Pan - this was their christmas/birthday presents.

19. September 2017 17:09
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Kims Birthday 2017

19. September 2017 17:09 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

19. September 2017 16:09
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Bedstefars visit

19. September 2017 16:09 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

My dad was here earlier in the year visiting.

19. September 2017 16:09
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Climbing with the boys

19. September 2017 16:09 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

We have started to take the boys climbing occasionally. Especially Aiden enjoys it and is able to climb to the top without being afraid.

19. September 2017 16:09
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Lucas 5yo birthday

19. September 2017 16:09 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

Lucas just had his 5th birthday.

It was celebrated at the local park with his friends and we had hired an entertainer to do some activities with them.