grand final day

it's over for another year... and everyone that follows the eagles in western australia is devastated. they were beaten fair and square... by a stronger team, and madeline was so sad. it's been hilarious - doug has a cd of footy theme songs and a few weeks ago he blasted the whole lot a few times over and maddie got hooked on the west coast eagles one. she sings it all the time and always shouts out when she sees someone wearing one of their shirts or jerseys (which obviously she has seen a lot of this week!) and calls them my eagles!

she was out with dougs parents at the shops today and when she heard that they had lost, she kept asking them why? why? what happened grandma!

oh well, there is always next year boys... :)

afl grand final

today was like all doug's birthdays and christmases came at once... all his dreams came true... you get the picture. he got to go to the afl grand final. the superbowl of australia. the ultimate game. the one all the boys want to go to.

we got a phone call when we were in samoa, from my eldest brother jared, who managed to get hold of us on mum and dads mobile phone... to tell doug that he had just won a ticket to the grand final, which included flights, transfers and accomodation - and he wanted to give it to him as a gift. no questions asked. he wasn't interested (if you've ever met my brother you will understand... he is really not into sports at all) and knew doug would be, so he had the prize reissued to him. one ticket. the ticket of a lifetime. what an amazing, generous gift. he spent the rest of our trip muttering, "i can't believe it", on the odd occasion. 

so just three days after we got home, off he went again... flying virgin to melbourne. this is how jared actually won the tickets in fact. he has been flying to and from kalgoorlie each and every week since the rest of the family moved back down to perth - so much so, that it put him into the top virgin australia frequent flyers for the year, who they gifted the package, from wherever they happened to be in australia. score.

apparently it was amazing, pre-show and half time entertainment was great, the atmosphere electric. the team he was barracking for even won! he sent me a heap of pictures including this one at the final siren, when the hawks had won! (i watched a little throughout the afternoon and even i, who knows nothing about football, could see that the swans didn't even stand a chance)

not bad for free accommodation hey? doug was thrilled with the room... and the hotel even had a gym and pool which he gleefully made use of. 

my husband claims to not be able to take a photo? after seeing this i beg to differ... showing off that he was flying away yet again, while i got to hang with the kids all weekend... haha

and just for your information... even though virgin weren't handing out business class seats to their competition winners, they did at least give them all a business class meal (jealoussss) which looks pretty darn good in my opinion.

no matter what he does, i am fairly certain he will never be able to pay jared back for this amazing gift and opportunity, one that we probably never could have managed (tickets are hard to get) or afforded (tickets are expensive and flights over the grand final weekend cost a lot). we are so grateful and still in shock.

thank you a million times over! we love you!

you'll hear our mighty roar!

today we took maddie to her first afl game. my work has season tickets for the dockers games in perth and every year you can enter the draw to win tickets to a match. our gorgeous pa to the gm is well aware of doug's love for the lions, so each year she makes sure he gets to go... bless her!

this time, someone pulled out at the last minute, so we scored her tickets too and took along our friends mark and jamie-lee.

this little miss has a guernsey, a puffa jacket and a baby scarf, so we dressed her (and ourselves) up and jumped on the train, must to the ausement of passers-by, seeing our maroon, blue and gold along with our dockers membership tags. hahaha. must have been a classic sight.

maddie was hilarious, sitting and staring down at the grounds, clearly had no idea what the heck was going on, but every time someone clapped, she would carefully put down whatever snack she was holding at the time into my lap and clap her hands, before quickly picking it up again and having some more.

having a sneaky drink... i love this pic - looks like she has a little hip flask.

another day in paradise...

our team didn't win (this we established long before the game even started, that it even wasn't a possibility...) but we had a great time and that's all that matters.

superbowl sunday!

yesterday was "superbowl sunday" at the kendalls
after years of hearing about how wonderful the superbowl parties are in the states, we decided we'd have our own...
clearly an afl grand final is the equivalent and "luckily" doug has just a few of the lions past (including the mighty 3-peat)
on dvd... so - on it went!

doug a little over-excited to see the lions were
"co-incidentally" playing!

lisa and brandon were informed that they weren't even allowed in the house until they had donned the correct team guernsey!!!

lisa having her first piece of fairy bread - ever!
this is clearly what she moved to australia for

as the game went on - it became clear to all in attendance that her only fascination was actually with the goal umpire. haha

sexy beasts in our lions guernseys-
at least we are barracking for the right team!

suprisingly they won the game
wow... imagine that.

hahahahahahaha. don't ever fall asleep
when there's a camera around.
but i must confess - this is generally what i feel the
need to do when the football is on!

i can't wait for a real superbowl party...
bring on those damn chicken wings!!