2006 Year in Review!

Merry Christmas!!

New Years Eve in Lapstone.  45 degrees!! Ouch!

Seasons Greetings once again everyone!  Yipee…it’s family update time again!  Another busy year for the Canberra Barlows, starting with an insanely hot (44deg) New Year’s Eve spent at the Ansart’s in the Blue Mountains.  We brought in the New Year floating round the pool trying to escape the heat while watching the fireworks above Sydney exploding.

Kids proudly displaying Roger Federer signatures!

In January we took the kids to Melbourne with us for a week’s holiday and spent a couple of days at the Australian Tennis Open again.  The matches were great and after spending what felt like hours waiting, they were lucky to get Roger Federer’s and Lindsay Davenport’s signatures as well as a couple of other players.  Another highlight of the trip for them was running round under the water fountain at the Casino in the late afternoon each day - great way to cool down after either a full day of sightseeing or watching the tennis greats under the burning Aussie sun.

Bellydance Divas!

Once again Maria and Zoe get down and wiggly with a Funky Bellydance course during the Christmas school holidays and in February mother and daughter do a dance display with the rest of the students at the Belconnen Markets.  Unfortunately in September after months of one too many classes a week, Maria suffers from bursitis in both hips and is unable to return to dance for the rest of the year.  She’s hoping that a few months break and physio will see her return to classes in the New year.



March saw a quick trip to hospital for Maria with suspected ovarian cancer.  Thankfully it was not cancer with the surgeon discovering that she’d been suffering from Endometriosis for many years now, explaining many of the health problems she has been suffering from over the past 10 or more years.  We’re all hoping that it does not make a return over the next 10 years!  Maria continues to work at the local primary school enjoying her sometimes challenging but very rewarding work and fits in tennis and coffee with friends when she can.

Inky and Zoe just Chillin'

After months of waiting, Zoe is finally the proud owner of two little rats (which in the coming month’s triple in size to be big rats).  Inky and Cuddles are then joined in March by Libby, Firebolt (Bantams), Philomena, Chocolate and Salt (ISA Browns) and later in the year by two more chickens (courtesy of Poppy Reg).  Once they all started laying, the kids enjoyed selling eggs around the neighbourhood raising spending money for our trip overseas next year.

Hip Hop Zoe!

The kids continue with their many extra curricular activities.  Grant played soccer, Futsal and 5 a side summer outdoor soccer again this year as well.  He also decided to take up  T-Ball this summer and has enjoyed quickly becoming one of the most valuable players on the team.  He also represented the school in athletics at the regional athletics carnival having the opportunity to compete at the AIS!  Zoe continues with Soccer, Futsal and Karate and attained her Orange belt in April and her Futsal team reaches the finals ending up in second place with Zoe scoring a great goal in the final.  She also auditioned for the school band program and ended up with trumpet which she loves playing.  Zoe also started Hip Hop classes this year and we all enjoy seeing Zoe bopping round the house to her own beat.

Visiting Cuz's!

In July the family enjoyed a short but wonderful visit from Shantel and Guy (Spike’s brother’s kids) who now live in Mount Tom Price in Western Australia.  The kids enjoyed the company of their cousins and we enjoyed seeing how well they were able to get on after not seeing each other for such a long time.

Look! That's Me! :)

We all took a trip to Wollongong to attend Spike’s 25th school reunion in October, where Spike was able to re-establish contact with his best mates from high school.  The kids were also able to see Dad’s old primary school and were proud to see his name on the honour roll for school captain in 1975 and his name on the Unsworth Award Shield for the same year.  Good on ya Dad! While on the topic of Spike, he continues with Jujitsu – his 2nd year – attaining his blue belt, complaining of aches for the 2 days after each training, but really loving it.

Swimming with the Dolphins

October also saw us back in the Blue Mountains enjoying cooler weather with the Ansarts and shortly after, at the beginning of November we spent 7 glorious days in Nelson Bay, Port Stevens.  Spike was invited to do some programming for a games company for the week, while the rest of us plus Sabrina (Zoe’s close friend) filled our days with swimming at the beach, water sliding, snorkeling, horse riding, dolphin cruising and generally having a fabulous time relaxing.  With the offer of more work in the near future it’s possible Spike may be making some more trips up in the next couple of months.

Dr Evil, Mini Me, Hopping Vampire and Wolverine! Yikes!!

Our annual Halloween party was another spooky success with everyone relishing the opportunity and making an awesome effort to get into the spirit of the event and dress-up.  Lots of good food, games and grog was enjoyed over the course of the evening.


Well, that’s been our eventful 2006!  We’re all hoping 2007 shapes up to be another great year.  Spike will be taking 3 months long service leave and the family will take this opportunity to visit friends and family in Japan, Europe and America from March to May next year, so we should have many wonderful experiences to write about after that!





Wishing you all a safe and joyful holiday season from all of us!  MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!