foxybusiness - the adventures of greg, stef and claude

Visitors #2

2012-01-13T17:54:00.001+11:00

Next to visit were Greg's Aunt and Uncle, after their trip through Laos and Vietnam. We had a great time showing them around Hanoi and preparing them for their own new grandchild just born in Australia.

Visitors #1

2012-01-13T17:52:00.000+11:00

After our own fabulous trip overseas, we were glad to have some visitors come to our part of the world. First in, Grandma and Poppa. We had a great time eating out, playing with bubbles and learning new skills.

Ghent

2012-01-13T17:51:00.000+11:00

Truly one of the most beautiful cities I have visited in Europe, this city is known as the city of spires. Its not hard to see why! We took the train from Lille, France, back into Belgium for the day (ah the joys of European proximity) to visit this spectacular old town.It was a beautiful day to see everything and the view from the belfry was magnificent.
However after mastering walking on cobblestones, Claude's favourite thing was chasing the pidgeons in one of the squares. Pigeons 1 Claude 0 (and one scraped nose).

Birthday celebrations

2012-01-04T20:18:00.001+11:00

We celebrated Greg's birthday with a fabulous afternoon tea in a very nice part of town. We were fortunate to stay with some family friends who knew all the good places to go.Although Antwerp is famous for its diamond trade, we were doing another kind of window-shopping! Check out the amazing chocolate displays!And of course, where would we be without Belgian beer!

In the town where I was born...

2012-01-02T15:33:00.000+11:00

This is me in front of our old apartment building - we lived on the 4th floor.There are definitely men who sailed the seas here too since its one of the larger port cities in northern Europe. We made a trip back to Antwerp to visit my birth place and see a little of the town itself. Despite the cold and rainy weather we loved walking through the city.The cathedral is surrounded by guild houses for all the old trades.Of course the other famous resident of Antwerp was Peter Paul Rubens. (Unfortunately artistic talent doesn't run through everyone born here!)

Belgium

2012-01-02T15:04:00.000+11:00

We went from Switzerland to Belgium via 1 tram and 4 trains. It was a lot of getting on and off with all our luggage but we made it to Brussels and then onto to stay with some friends from Hanoi who have moved back here. We had a look around the town of Leuven, an old university town with beautiful buildings and then headed into Brussels.Life with a toddler means a different type of sight-seeing. Not so much of the churches and museums, and lots more of the parks and swings!I'm so pleased Claude likes the bucket swings - a favourite memory of mine from when we lived in Belgium many many years ago.

Visiting the cousins

2011-12-26T21:30:00.002+11:00

We had a great week in Switzerland visiting Claude's cousins. They had a great time getting to know each other. We went for a walk up in the local hills and caught the train into Basel.And surely this is one of the best bbq views around...

Oh the places you go

2011-12-16T17:13:00.003+11:00

Well it's been a while and needless to say the blog is behind our life at present. We had some great adventures over the last 2 months and I'll endeavour to get photos up soon. Here is a foretaste of the picture-perfect village in Switzerland that hosts Claude's cousins. Our first stop on the trip was to visit their new house and introduce one fox clan to another!The view from the balcony was spectacular, especially as the setting sun caught the colours of the autumnal trees.

Happy birthday!

2011-10-31T19:31:00.000+11:00

We had a cake with some friends to celebrate Claude's birthday.The cake - inspired by mum's efforts from the WW birthday cake book so many years ago. Claude enjoyed his piece then proceeded to sample some from each of the other children's plates!

Welcome home

2011-10-13T19:30:00.003+11:00

We love living in our village - what a great community experience.

Balmoral sunrise

2011-09-25T01:23:00.001+10:00

Just magnificent to see the sun rising over the water.

11 month birthday party

2011-09-25T01:16:00.004+10:00

Since we weren't going to be in Australia when Claude turned one, we had an 11 month party on the 11th! Fun with some friends in the Squires' garden.Claude loved racing around the garden after the other kids, and discovering the joys of growing herbs at home.

Avoca beach

2011-09-25T01:05:00.002+10:00

What a beautiful day at the beach!

Visiting Holgate

2011-09-25T00:58:00.003+10:00

We had a great time with Greg's parents at Holgate. There is so much to explore up there, and their garden is magnificent.

Enjoying time with the family

2011-09-25T00:56:00.002+10:00

Sydney life...

2011-08-04T21:38:00.002+10:00

...reading the good weekend!

Balmoral beach

2011-08-04T21:29:00.002+10:00

We have introduced Claude to the beach and he loved playing in the sand. Sydney is putting on a spectacular winter, with temperatures up to 24 degrees in the day! Claude has loved meeting his grandparents on both sides.

Lunch is such a fun time!

2011-07-21T16:21:00.000+10:00

We are very fortunate that Claude loves to eat - this meal was baby hummous (chick peas, tahini and plain yoghurt). It's not bad for mums either! Yum!

Wedding time again!

2011-07-21T16:19:00.001+10:00

We had a great time at another friend's wedding. This was the brother of one of Greg's staff. As always, Claude was the centre of attention, hopefully not detracting from the bride and groom too much!

Cubby house

2011-07-16T19:06:00.005+10:00

Mum goes to work one day a week so Dad and I have a chance to play together. We get up to all sorts of things, and he can build fantastic cubby houses for me to play in. This one is a sailing ship!Most weeks, Mum comes home to a house that is rearranged in one way or another!

Check out my fabulous quilt

2011-07-16T19:02:00.002+10:00

Omi (Greg's mum) made me this great quilt so I can learn about Australian animals while we live overseas.

Claude loves technology...

2011-07-04T16:58:00.001+10:00

...he always wants to grab the camera/phone/computer/remote or anything else that looks like its being used by the grown-ups!

Sleeping in

2011-06-29T01:23:00.001+10:00

Out for lunch

2011-06-29T01:21:00.001+10:00

We had a great lunch at this new outdoor cafe. It has an interesting mist-making device to keep you cool, which is very effective with getting wet!

Cubby house

2011-06-21T18:20:00.000+10:00

Even better than my toys is the cubby house that dad made me!

Some of my favourite toys

2011-06-21T18:19:00.001+10:00

I have lots of lovely toys that have been given to me. These friends provide lots of fodder for mum's stories. There's Fred the tractor, Milo the cow, Percy pig and Florence the chicken. They sometimes try to escape my clutches but now I can turn onto my tummy to get them!

8 months old

2011-06-12T19:11:00.002+10:00

Can you believe it?!!?

Swimming in our pool

2011-06-12T19:03:00.003+10:00

Claude loves to going swimming with dad in the pool. Splashing is so much fun and he wants to grab the pool noodle like the big kids.Almost got it...D'oh! slippery little sucker!

Funny faces

2011-06-04T14:47:00.000+10:00

Claude makes some funny faces, here's a selection.

My first tooth came through

2011-05-28T19:00:00.002+10:00

We love being in the garden

2011-05-28T18:57:00.002+10:00

Everything is very green right now, and the flowers are just starting to come out.

Pumpkin - yum!

2011-05-22T18:42:00.003+10:00

Claude is developing a new very close relationship with a number of fruits and vegetables.

Bananas

2011-05-22T18:36:00.002+10:00

We have some banana trees in our new back garden which have been fruitful. 46 bananas in the first bunch and now another one on the way! Its incredible how sticky the sap from the main trunk of the bunch is.

The Governor General comes to town

2011-05-10T13:29:00.004+10:00

It was a great pleasure to meet our Head of State during her trip to Vietnam. We were invited to a reception with the Ambassador and the GG as members of the Australian expat community working here in Hanoi. I have actually met her before in a different role when she was the Principal of Womens' College during my time there (and she even remembered me which was amazing since its been 12 years!)

Our house (not quite in the middle of our street)

2011-05-01T19:43:00.004+10:00

Our new house! We moved recently and now have some more space for visitors if you are in town.[For those who might have noticed, we don't usually have so many lights on, it was just to make a nice picture]This is my favourite room - the map room. We have an enormous world map that covers a whole wall. Here is Claude learning some geography. Its an interesting projection, which definitely favours northern Europe (not surprising given our village was built by the Finns) - Greenland is enormous compared to Australia (despite being a smaller land mass in reality).

A royal high tea

2011-04-30T12:50:00.002+10:00

We had a high tea to celebrate the royal wedding, with scones and cucumber sandwiches and everything!Everybody loves Claude

Oakleys come to visit

2011-04-22T15:47:00.004+10:00

Bec, Andrew and the boys came to visit us in Hanoi - we had great fun showing them around and the boys loved playing together

Playing with dad

2011-04-22T15:43:00.002+10:00

Claude and Greg have great fun playing at home.

Food, glorious food

2011-04-15T00:48:00.003+10:00

Claude has discovered a fabulous new world of food - mostly mushed so far but he is getting the hang of it

New tricks

2011-04-15T00:44:00.003+10:00

Claude is developing so quickly - here are some of his new tricks
He loves to curl his legs up and grab his toes...Sitting up has brought so many new possibilities...You get a great view from up here...

2 years in Hanoi

2011-04-03T21:49:00.001+10:00

We have lived in Hanoi for 2 years now - how times flies...

Floating village

2011-04-03T21:48:00.001+10:00

We had the opportunity to visit the floating village on Lake Tonle Sap (the largest freshwater lake in SE Asia). There are Khmer, Vietnamese and Cham Muslim communities all floating near each other on the lake. We met one lady who lived with 20 other people on her house, who mostly survived by fishing. Her husband and all 8 children had been killed by the Khmer Rouge. She told us that life was becoming more difficult as catches were dwindling in the overfished lake.Claude had a great time on the boat trip, and afterwards we had a celebratory dinner and enjoyed some traditional Khmer dancing.

Ta Prohm

2011-04-01T15:21:00.000+11:00

This is one of the most beautiful temples of the complex, with the jungle taking over the ruins. The trees are literally growing out of the stones, its quite eerie and a reminder that the days of men are like grass, here today and gone tomorrow, and even our most spectacular monuments can be swallowed up again by the forest. (Its also best known for a cameo in the Tomb Raider movie!)

Angkor Wat

2011-04-01T15:19:00.000+11:00

Angkor Wat is the most famous of all the temples here, and is the largest currently active religious building in the world. Originally it was built as a Hindu temple to Vishnu. The central tower represents Mount Meru, the symbolic centre of the universe and home of the devas (which are the gods). The carvings on the walls represent Hindu mythology about teh creation of spirits, called the churning of the Ocean of Milk, in order to obtain Amrita (the nectar of immortal life).

Bayon

2011-03-29T19:33:00.004+11:00

The Bayon temple was built in the late 12th century as a Buddhist temple for the Khmer king of the time. After his death it was converted to a Hindu temple by carving the third eye of Shiva into some of the Buddha faces on the top of the temple. Later buddhist kings converted it back to the original religious use.The carvings on the walls show a mixture of historical battles and mythology.

Angkor Thom

2011-03-29T19:27:00.002+11:00

Angkor Thom was the last capital city of the Khmer empire. It is a complex of 9 square kilometres with a number of temples, including the central Bayon temple (the most famous - pictures in next post). We entered through the South gate then explored some of the temples inside.

Siem Reap - Cambodia

2011-03-29T19:23:00.004+11:00

We had a fantastic trip to Siem Reap in Cambodia. Greg was attending a conference and Claude and I tagged along for the ride (including in a tuk-tuk). We enjoyed the town of Siem Reap and of course the temples in the Angkor complex (see following posts). And Claude had his first swim in the hotel pool!

Aunty Elle comes to visit

2011-03-17T23:06:00.004+11:00

We had a lovely time with my sister and her boyfriend, as they finished their travel adventure through Vietnam in Hanoi with us. Claude loved hanging out with his aunt and showing her all his tricks.

San Francisco

2011-03-08T17:29:00.003+11:00

Last stop on our North American adventure was San Francisco - some what cloudy and grey while we were there but definitely warmer than the east coast.
(the Golden Gate bridge is in the background but quite hard to see against the white sky)
We had a great time hanging out with some friends from Hanoi who are back there for a year and seeing the sights of the town.

Industrial patterns in Boston

2011-02-27T23:18:00.003+11:00

East Coast friends

2011-02-27T23:10:00.003+11:00

We were able to visit a number of friends while in New York and Boston and introduce them to Claude, which was a special treat.

Boston in the snow

2011-02-27T22:58:00.003+11:00

Boston was beautiful, covered in a big blanket of snow.

We even saw a wolf (or is it a coyote?) in our friend's back garden.

Interesting art at the Met

2011-02-27T22:56:00.001+11:00

This piece caught my eye...where medicine meets art

New York City icons

2011-02-27T22:51:00.002+11:00

Manhattan Bridge

Brooklyn Bridge

Central Park, NYC

2011-02-19T10:00:00.000+11:00

Walking in a winter wonderland...

Superbowl XLV

2011-02-19T09:37:00.001+11:00

Superbowl XLV was on on Sunday night - Pittburgh Steelers against the Greenbay Packers. Of course we had to eat the local speciality and watch the game. We even learned some of the rules! (but give me rugby any day - this is a weird game!!)Green bay won 31 to 25 (we cheered for them mainly because one of our friends in Hanoi is a big fan!) so we ended up happy.

Top of the Rock - NYC

2011-02-13T10:54:00.002+11:00

We went up to the Observation Deck of the Rockefeller Center for a spectacular sunset view over the city.
(Looking Downtown towards Empire State Building)(looking towards Central Park)

Montreal

2011-02-08T12:34:00.004+11:00

Next stop Montreal - to visit some TB people and experience a real winter. Minus 11 degrees and snowing one day.We walked around the city, including a quick visit to MacGill University campus.

Vancouver

2011-02-08T12:28:00.003+11:00

We are off on a big holiday to Canada and the USA, partly for Greg's work and partly for fun to visit people and places. Our first stop was Vancouver on the west coast of Canada to visit friends there.We went up Grouse Mountain for some fun in the snow and a fantastic view of the city below. No skiing this time but we did go on a sleigh ride!

Chatting with mum

2011-02-03T05:48:00.002+11:00

I like to watch people's mouths move and I'm practising really hard to get all those shapes right. Talking is so much fun.

I can't believe dad bought me these hats!

2011-01-22T18:04:00.002+11:00

A reflection of influence of Vietnamese culture on Greg...

Chopsticks

2011-01-19T02:27:00.000+11:00

No, not the piano song that causes so much irritation but the utensils - a must when living in Asia!

Chúc mừng Giáng sinh!

2011-01-03T18:34:00.004+11:00

Merry Christmas everyone! We had a lovely time with family and friends (the Australians outnumbered the rest for a change!). Roast turkey with the works, traditional Fox family punch and a fabulous baked mango passionfruit cheesecake ensured the feasting lived up the the occasion.

Tim and Kate come to visit

2011-01-03T18:31:00.002+11:00

Greg's cousin Tim and his girlfriend came to visit us in December - we had a great time showing them around Hanoi and playing with Claude.

Baby clothes are so cute!

2011-01-03T18:29:00.002+11:00

My mum loves to dress me in cute animal clothes - see what I have to put up with!

Welcome to the family

2010-12-31T19:54:00.002+11:00

Just before we left Australia, Claude was welcomed into the Barneys family with a good dunking.We are grateful for the promises of our Father and thankful to our friend and pastor, Mike.

Playing with friends

2010-12-18T14:28:00.002+11:00

My friend in the village is about 8 weeks older than me but I am almost bigger than him! We like to play next to each other but we can't quite play together yet!

Not everyone can get away with orange!

2010-12-12T22:48:00.004+11:00

Thanks to my aunt Jen and her family for this fabulous outfit and the great blanket I'm lying on.

Smiling at Dad

2010-12-12T22:46:00.003+11:00

I love my dad - especially at bath time!

My first Settlers match

2010-11-26T00:13:00.002+11:00

Our village has a Settlers competition and this was my first time to join in. I'm so proud of my mum who won the trophy for our family!

Out and about

2010-11-09T17:31:00.002+11:00

My favourite mode of transport

ahhh...sleep

2010-11-05T20:43:00.000+11:00

One of my favourite past times.

Sunrise at Balmoral

2010-11-02T15:34:00.001+11:00

One of the joys of having a new early morning "alarm clock"

Hanging out with dad!

2010-10-30T14:32:00.002+11:00

I love to hang out with my dad - we do all sorts of fun things together!

Springtime in Balmoral

2010-10-28T15:04:00.002+11:00

Spring has brought some beautiful flowers to my dad's garden.

Claude's outing #1

2010-10-28T13:00:00.009+11:00

Travelling in the car is an adventure - so much better when your outfit matches the upholstery!

Claude's first trip to the supermarket was somewhat exhausting. So much food to choose between, for a someone who really only likes warm milk!

Welcome to the world!

2010-10-15T14:37:00.002+11:00

Our beautiful son Claude was born on monday morning. We are all very happy, giving thanks to our father for his blessings upon us.
There are some more photos on FB for those who are interested.

7 years on...

2010-10-10T11:30:00.003+11:00

We had a great breakfast near the beach and a beautiful walk around the bush headlands to celebrate our 7th wedding anniversary.

Finally back on line

2010-10-10T11:27:00.002+11:00

The computer has emerged from its viral haze and now are are back in posting land.
We have been enjoying the delights of living in Balmoral with my family.

Australia

2010-09-25T10:48:00.002+10:00

We arrived in Aus a couple of weeks ago. Sadly Greg's computer has been quite sick so we are still trying to recover our photos from the first few weeks - stay tuned!

Mushroom Lẩu

2010-08-12T21:32:00.000+10:00

Lẩu (pronounced low) - Vietnamese hot pot - is a great meal to share. We had a fabulous mushroom lẩu with 7 different types of fungi.

Out on the town with Pete and Kath

2010-08-08T21:35:00.004+10:00

Cocktails at the Metropole, while listening to our new friend, Andromeda, sing some great jazz.
(Click on her name to hear some great music - and she's even been nominated for a Grammy Award!)

Bún bò nam bộ

2010-07-31T10:51:00.003+10:00

This is one of my favourite hole-in-the-wall type restaurants. It really only serves one thing, but they do it very well.

Pete and Kath come to visit

2010-07-25T18:38:00.003+10:00

Monsoon

2010-07-15T22:32:00.003+10:00

The wet season has arrived in Hanoi with a bang (or a flood I should say). Tuesday morning it started raining about 7am and by 8.30am the road outside my work was under about 50cm of water. You can see the photo once the water had receded somewhat and the footpaths were visible again.
All the water had gone by lunch in time for a sunny afternoon!

Bát Tràng

2010-07-06T19:09:00.010+10:00

Bat Trang is one of Hanoi's handicraft villages, about an hour out of town. My neighbour and I explored the markets and found many beautiful examples of Vietnamese pottery. Needless to say our crockery collection at home has expanded with blue/green cracked glass plates and bowls (an example of which is below!)

Lemon, raspberry and chocolate tarts supplied by the Metropole bakery - very delicious!

Vinpearl Land!

2010-06-27T23:35:00.001+10:00

Vietnam's equivalent of Disneyland - on its own island reached by cable car (the longest over-sea cable car in the world!) With a waterpark that the boys enjoyed greatly - pregnant women not allowed on the big slides but we have fun too anyway!

Nha Trang

2010-06-19T17:47:00.004+10:00

We had a great weekend away at Nha Trang (pronouced nya chang) with some friends. On the beach, it is a growing town about 5 hrs north of Ho Chi Minh City.

rice

2010-05-27T17:13:00.000+10:00

Thai villages

2010-05-20T12:36:00.002+10:00

During our weekend in Mai Chau, we were able to visit some of the local Thai minority villages. They have their own language (similar to Lao) and culture, and are predominantly rice farmers. The Thai people are the second largest minority group in Vietnam, comprising about 1.7% of the population (according to Wikipedia). The houses are built on stilts and underneath many of the women weave beautiful fabrics. One night some of the locals who worked in the place we stayed performed some traditional dances for us.

Mai Chau

2010-05-16T19:52:00.004+10:00

We had a great weekend in Mai Chau, a town about 4 hrs drive out of Ha Noi in Hoa Binh province. It is a beautiful area of mountains and rice fields. We stayed in a great place and got to visit some of the local ethnic villages on a bicycle tour.

Wedding #3 in the countryside

2010-04-30T16:00:00.003+10:00

We went to another wedding of a friend of Greg's from work. This one was in the countryside, in 2 different provinces. First we went to the bride's family in Hoa Binh province. They are Muong Vietnamese, a different ethnicity to the majority and have a different traditional dress as you can see from the photos. Their village was in the beautiful green countryside, very rustic.Then onto the groom's family in Ba Vi district for more festivities and more eating!
Of course, everyone wanted to have their photo taken with us, we were local celebrities for the day in these 2 small villages!

The newest member of our village

2010-04-23T18:38:00.000+10:00

The making of Nem

2010-04-13T14:01:00.000+10:00

Nem (aka Vietnamese spring rolls) are Stef's favourite VN food here so finally we learnt how to make them ourselves, thanks to a quick lesson with our Vietnamese teacher.

Hot Cross Buns

2010-04-11T21:43:00.002+10:00

Greg's second attempt at hot cross buns (see here for last year's version) were a great success.

Back in Nam

2010-03-21T22:54:00.002+11:00

Enjoying life back in our other home - couldn't resist our best yet motorcycle picture!

Holidays by the beach

2010-03-13T12:04:00.003+11:00

We went to the beach, both south (above) and north (below) of Sydney, to relax and visit family and friends

Sailing on Sydney Harbour

2010-03-06T20:29:00.000+11:00

We had the great joy of sailing on a friend's boat in the Twilight Regatta (a non-serious race around the harbour)We are on quite a serious lean here (tilt of about 50-60 degrees) - you have to hang on tight!

"Hucks" party

2010-03-02T15:58:00.004+11:00

We had a fun combined hens and bucks party a week before Pete and Kath's wedding (hence "Hucks"), lawn bowls at Paddo bowls club.

Wedding

2010-02-28T13:57:00.006+11:00

We had a great time at a family wedding back in Sydney looking over the magnificant harbour. With one very cute flower girl!