A month of milestones!

Well, it has been a busy few weeks with many family celebrations. It all started when I turned 30. I had a lovely dinner with my gorgeous family and then celebrated with my closest friends and family with a 'literal band names' party. It was such a fun night with everyone going to so much effort with their costumes. There were a couple of special people missing, but they were there in spirit. My beautiful brother and his gorgeous girlfriend composed a speech from their home of the past 18 months, London, which led to many laughs and a few tears. 

This milestone was then followed by my dad's 60th birthday. We had a quiet celebration which included dinner and drinks at his favourite restaurant. We had a lovely time and shared many stories and laughs throughout the night. Dad didn't want a fuss made, so that's exactly what we did! We waited until a few weeks passed (including yet another milestone....I'll get to that in a minute...) and then threw him a surprise party with his nearest and dearest there to celebrate him making 60...it was a huge accomplishment considering everything he's been through. He had such a great time and couldn't wipe the smile from his face. Utterly surprised, overwhelmed and appreciative of such a wonderful night. 

Now the other milestone.... A week after my dad turned 60, my beautiful Yai Yai turned 90!! Words cannot express how much this amazing woman means to me. She is everything I aspire to, she's generous, loving, caring, patient and forgiving. She has been through so many tough times, never complained and always had a smile on her face. I love her more than anything and I was honoured to celebrate her birthday with a high tea organised by her daughters. It was a wonderful afternoon full of sunshine, much love and many laughs. 

Now that I'm completely partied out, I am madly trying to organise finishing touches to my very first overseas trip with my boy, Wade. It's the last week of school, and as I'm taking the first week off of term 4, I'm making sure my children have plenty of work to go on with in my absence...... Kids, if you're reading this, make sure you work hard and listen to Ms Whitelum!

Wade and I leave next Saturday, AFL Grand Final Day, which is a little disappointing, as I never miss this Aussie occasion. However, we will be embarking on a fairly amazing holiday to the US, so I suppose it's all good. 

We fly to Washington and after a few days will train it to New York to see my bro Mark and his girl Terri, which is so exciting as I haven't seen them in 18 months and miss them terribly! We will have a week in NY with them and get to finally meet their gorgeous friends Tim and Shelley, who feel like part of the family already. Them we head to LA where we will hire a car and travel up the California coast to San Francisco. We will then travel through Yosemite National Park towards Las Vegas. After a few days there we will then visit the Grand Canyon and drive back to LA to fly home via Sydney. All of this in 3 weeks...can't wait!!! So many amazing things to see and do and look forward to sharing them with you very soon. 

Walshy xo