Koboshi - our new little addition.

On October 3 2006 our lives changed forever when little J was born. He was a bundle of joy and quickly acquired the nick name Koboshi. In addition to his other talents he was also the first from either family to be born in Oz!





At Ka's baby shower on the Gold Coast, Ka was 8 months pregnant.





Ka on her way to the hospital, Koboshi came a week late.





Our newest family edition, our little son J.




Leaving the hospital and taking Koboshi home for the first time.





Koboshi's first ride in the car. He was so small in his capsule but was very relaxed and slept the whole way home.





Meeting his grandparents, Ka's parents flew out from Switzerland to meet baby J.





Taking it easy around the house.





J's blessing ceremony. We had his blessing at home while Ka's parents were here.





Hanging around the house, nothing to do and all day to do it.





Koboshi's first Christmas, Australia 2006.





Dreamworld has a special place in our hearts as K was a stuntman in the Bushranger show for many years. Koboshi got to meet Kenny Koala and Belinda Brown - Dreamworld's two mascots - and then went on to meet Sponge Bob Squarepants and Patrick Star.





Koboshi's first sighting of a kangaroo although we don't think he will remember.





Out and about celebrating a friend's 1st birthday in the park.





This is Koboshi's cheeky grin.





Koboshi came to K's work function Barbeque in the the park.




J likes to sit up on some cushions Ka made for him. He can now sit up straight all by himself.





Our first visit to the beach. Ka and J are at Surfers Paradise.





At the Hard Rock Cafe on the Gold Coast, while K and Ka enjoyed the food, J just enjoyed socialising.





Now this is fun - J loves his Jolly Jumper!





J's first Easter. He gave the chocolate Bunny and egg the thumbs up.




At another BBQ. J loves to visit and meet new people (as long as he is on our laps), he has become a regular at weekend functions.




And here he is sitting in the park watching K play cricket on ANZAC Day.

We feel so lucky to have little Koboshi in our lives and we look forward to sharing his growth and future milestones with you all.

The Castle

It's not a house it's a home, and
a man's home is his castle.

Our castle was completed in 1997, however, you never finish a home and as our family and ideas grew so did our castle.


Our place as it was when Ka first arrived in 2003.




The back of the house which the local kangaroos liked but we were not happy with.




Getting stuck into the new garden; and a new finished home for our pineapples.




Garden edges were Ka's next project for me. They made the gardens neat and mowing easier and it didn't matter that we had never bricked before. We became such champion weekend warriors that we edged every garden we had - and some new ones we made.


With plans for a dog the fence became our next project.






Digging the foundations and doing the brick corners first.






The poles went up next.




And finally the wood.





The finishing touches were done by us. Ka painted the wood and K bricked in the bottom gaps - with some help from little Sven - so that our puppy couldn't get out.



The next project proved our biggest so we enlisted outside help. With the birth of our first child a matter of months away we took the big decision to build up and add another story to accommodate our growing family.




The materials arrive.




First the roof came off and the new frame went up.





After the frame came the walls and a temporary roof to keep out the weather.





Next the walls were filled in and the roof constructed and tiled.




The outside was then rendered and painted.






The finishing touches were put on.





And finally our new home took on its new shape.




In Ka's 4 years here we went from this....................................................................to this.




And we were very happy with the results and our new castle.......its always ready for visitors!