Our newest nephew!

Welcome, David! 

Kuyper David Brink

born Friday, 17th August 

10 lb and 21 in. 

(named after the Dutch theologian & after his Gieser grandfather)

Welty Week

What a privilege to welcome the Weltys to B-town for five days! (We were sans both dads, unfortunately! both far away - Texas and Australia - working on their dissertations. That also meant that the photographer dads weren't around to fully document the time, alas, but here are a few fun ones nonetheless.) After our time together, we headed up to Carmel for Javan & Emily's wedding weekend.

On the first full day together, we hit up the splash pad and playground at Karst Farm Park.The kids seemed to love running back-and-forth between the playground, music area, and the fountains.

Hmm, who is going to drive this fire truck?

Snack time at our table - each of the Weltys 'claimed' a certain chair for the week. Gemma has continued to refer to one chair as "Jack's chair", which she announces as she climbs up into it: "Jack's chair. Eat snack here." And then she wants to eat there like him.

One afternoon we went over to the local animal shelter to see rabbits, cats and dogs. B-town's shelter is really cool and really fun; totally open with the cats: they allow people to walk into the various "dorm rooms" and pick up the cats. Trying to hold a soft, squirming kitten was no easy task.

Some scenes around the house below (sorry, I didn't capture any of the craziness with throwing balls, building Lego towers, having a dance party, and chowing on pasta in a crowded kitchen). 

After a day or two, Gemma had really taken to Lillian and loved to climb up into her lap or hang on her shoulders or reach up to be held or hold her hand when we crossed the street.

Wish I could also have photographed our morning & picnic at Lake Monroe - Lillian and Jack are very good swimmers; our trip to the library and all 4 kids sitting on the stone bear outside; four very curious kids peering inside at the open firehouse & fire trucks downtown; pizza dinner at Mother Bear's (never do that again without the dads...). Katie does have a few more pics on her blog, though. 

Awesome!! Thank you to the Weltys for fitting us into your big road trip of summer 2012!!

A Saturday in Canberra's Parliamentary Triangle

Canberra was a tiny village until 1913, when the country decided to make it the capital of Australia. Thus, it's real growth began intentionally and with lots of planning. Burley Griffin, a colleague of Frank Lloyd Wright, laid out the original design for the city, made up of concentric crescents and circles. However, two world wars slowed growth, so that by 1947 there were still only 15,000 inhabitants. Development increased dramatically in the 1950s, and Canberra now has 320,000 residents. 


The main government buildings are situated on knolls on either side of Lake Burley Griffn (which, like most of the city, didn't exist until planned, and thus is man-made). ANU is located on the north side of the lake, west of the central business district (CBD) - business buildings and shopping. On the other side of the lake are many of the government buildings, including the Capital and high courts. Most of the museums are also on that side, including the Old Parliament House (now a museum; it was built in 1927 and served as the parliament building for 60 yrs), National Art Gallery, National Portrait Gallery, and National Library. It only took about 30 minutes to walk along the lake from campus, then across the lake, to reach the museums. It was a lovely brisk day of sun and clouds, and I enjoyed the exhibits, too.

Old Parliament House in foreground; the top of the new Parliament House in the background -  most of the  building is submerged underground.

Old Parliament House

Parliament House - the flag on top is apparently larger than a double-decker bus!

The National Library of Australia. They had a display of original paintings by John William Lewin, the first non-convict artist of Australia, of many of the native birds and animals. Lewin arrived in Sydney in 1800 and helped introduce Britain and the wider world to the flora and fauna of the continent, which had been colonized as a British penal colony in 1788.

Looking back across Lake Burley Griffin at the Anzac Memorial. Anzac is an acronym for Australian & New Zealand Army Corps, formed during World War I.

A coffee and a Thai chicken curry pie, yum! Savory pies are very popular here, as in South Africa and the UK.

Common Canberra birds

The indigenous birds of Australia are amazing: medium-sized black and white ones; really big, crow-sized black and white ones; several types of beautiful parrots, including large-ish ones with green backs and wings and red fronts; large cockatoos, all white with a yellow pokey-fringe thing on their heads - really big, I mean, bigger than crows; and also parrots with light grey on back and wings, then salmon chests and light pink heads! 


I acknowledge that these pictures are quite poor - I simply cannot get any closer without a good zoom lens. But perhaps you can at least get an idea of the colors.

The ANU campus and my apartment

The campus of Australia National University, or ANU, sprawls along the northwestern side of Lake Burley Griffin in Canberra. I've consulted my campus map more than a few times as I've traversed here and there for my interviews. So far I've conducted 4 and they've gone very smoothly. Two more tomorrow plus several more on Monday and Tuesday.

Below are a few pictures of my on-campus apartment, the campus, and a coffee (one of many) that I've enjoyed so far. I've stumbled on numerous coffeeshops scattered across campus. I've sat in four so far, which may seem excessive but perhaps is an indicator of the popularity of such establishments here. I'm certainly not complaining!

My first set of groceries: pb and j; bread; cans of spaghetti and beans; instant coffee and milk; and fruit.

This is the building in which my apartment is located.