Many Many Many!

2008-07-14T15:23:00.003-04:00

Christi and Jen at the 4th July fireworks.

Christi in all her finery

Fishing!

2008-04-03T15:44:00.003-04:00

Some great shots of my last fishing trip.

This is my fishing partner, Ralph, with a huge Panamanian Red Pomfrey.

The scores of fish i caught due to a rare neuro-degenerative disease i released. Releasing the disease on monday meant that i could sit around until wednesday then ejoy the haul!

I seem to have misplaced my grundies, though this massive tadpole, caught in the west-Arctic, surely made up for it!

Footy!!!!

2008-04-03T12:43:00.005-04:00

And so it is, with the Winter out of the way,
the footy season starts!!!!

Although i can't watch any live games, i'm keeing up to date with the AFL, and cheering on the Cats all the way, let's make it two in a row!

The Hawks, though, have hit a purple patch,
and as i'm quite partial to them, and the fact that i
play for the Philadelphia Hawks, they're next in line for The Cup.

Philly has their first game in June against North Carolina in North Carolina.
So training will be full on, and practice matches will start on the 19th April.

And as a passionate Australian, this means everything!

Goodbye

2008-03-04T12:24:00.014-05:00

Matty C!

And so, on the weekend, we prepared to say 'Goodbye' to a great bloke who is leaving for North Carolina.

Matt and Katie Curtis are leaving for North Carolina this week so we thought it'd be great to fit in some guy-time before they left.

On Saturday Matty, Matty and I went Disc Golfing at Scarborough Hills Disc Golf course, very nice. We've played there heaps of times in the summer, and despite the cold we played a sensational round, adding much to our previous best scores!

Some of the usual shenanigans included a 'Drop pants' round (the person with the worst score that hole had to drop their pants for the entire next hole), several rounds of brews for the day's play and a little sling shot action to get rid of our used bottles!

Despite the caption on the picture, this PHOTOGRAPH was taken by me and shows how rediculously awesome Matty C's pec's and ab's are!

Then on Sunday we went into the woods with a huge group of dudes to play paintball, 'twas awesome!!! I copped a paintball from about 5 metres away right on the calf, it freakin killed, and left a round blood blister on my leg!

Matty V's head-dress was surely a highlight, as was this shot capturing the head-dress, a flying bottle and Matty C with a smoke in his hand!

Mmmmmm.... Stuffed Chicken!

2008-02-15T11:45:00.003-05:00

MMmmmmmm! Stuffed Chicken! I made this tasty treat for my wifey the other night, i even made up the recipe!

It's pretty easy guys, just get some fresh chicken breast and cut a hole in it (so the chicken is now a big pocket). Then take bread crumbs, parmisian cheese, one tomato, mozzarella cheese, mushrooms, capsicum and whatever else you think will be awesome and chop them finely.

Mix it all up with an egg to keep it together and stuff the mix into the chicken's new cavity! It's great to be able to use all of the cavities created in this world!

Bread the outside of the chicken, then bake at 180*C for about 45 mins, and "Holy Awesomeness!" you've got a dish which is sure to please the Mrs!

Table Tennis Tournament: Project Awesome

2008-02-11T11:37:00.000-05:00

And so it was, on the 10th Feb, 2008, Matt and i entered a table tennis tournament. Training for about a month before-hand, we made sure we could hit the ball hard, flat, top-spin, side spin, back-spin and loop-the-loop. We were in the gym four days a week working on our muscular physique, and were in tip-top shape, ready to play.

Not knowing much about the tournament, we entered and decided to dominate, killing off any opposition with cunning and a large dollop of malice.

Having given my Australian Socceroo's jersey to Matt a while back, Matty thought it'd be a good idea to give me a US Soccer jersey, so we could both look the part. And boy did we ever! As we entered the warehouse turned table tennis centre, everyone stopped, all balls fell to the ground (table tennis balls) and people dropped their paddles, never had such a handsome duo set foot in such a nerdy place. There was complete silence while we registered and took a table to warm up.We were told who would be up first, Matty was chosen to be up against a guy who went by the name of 'Staaz'. Matty soon cleaned up this 11 y/o 3-0, and it was then my turn to crank up the heat and punish this kid for ever setting foot on the court with me. I polished him off 3-0.

My next opponent was another kid, he had a pretty mean fore-hand if i put it out there for him, so i didn't. I kept it hard and flat right at his body, he limped off the court losing 3-0 and suffering ball sized bruises all over his chest.Matty and i were relentless, after dominating all 5 competitors under the age of 12, we faced off, old school style. We went to five sets, playing long, hard points and each not being able to kill off the other. Right at the end of the fifth set, i smacked one hard into Matty's left eye, seeking to gain the advantage. Almost losing an eye, Matty conceded, and i pranced mightily around the court, jeering and giving the old 'how's your father' sign to the crowd! It was then time to face the eventual winner's of the tournament, two Asian people! Although we put up a mighty effort, Matt and I both lost 3-0 to both of them.

The trophies were awarded, though the
runner's up decided to be generous (silly fool!) and hand over the trophy to the third place getter, ME! and i happily accepted! My young opponents all tried to shake my hand, i did so, and lightly tapped each on the skull with my new piece of mantle-candy!And so endeth the tournament, and all were pleased... well, maybe just me.

Sunrise at the Beach

2008-02-07T08:15:00.000-05:00

Christi and Jen at Rohobeth Beach at sunrise

(superbowl sunday)

Jaden!

Australia Day

2008-01-28T07:53:00.000-05:00

I spent most of my Australia Day at the Aussie restaurant (as the token Aussie), thought there was some great food to be had. I had a meat pie, some roast lamb with a mint gravy and finished off with a pavlova with real cream, fruit and passionfruit syrup... GOLDEN!!!!

And what about Gilly!? Oh, my gosh, it's just as though all of the Aussie cricket players i watched growing up have retired! Oh, that's exactly what has happened! Ah well, i'm sure we'll be awesome for at least another 20 years or so.

Faces!

2007-12-14T13:46:00.000-05:00

It seems to me that when you start a face,

you should finish it, as per the one above!

Woota and co. Lookin lovely before the wedding.

Sippedy sip sip! Mmmm.... energetic!

Semester ending...eventually!

2007-12-06T14:53:00.000-05:00

Well, it's the end of the semester and things are more nuts than usual. The exams are next week, so after that i know i'll have some time to chillax and do nothing. Man, it's crazy being a student! And then after i'm a student it'll be crazy having a real job! I guess it never ends, such is life, so i might as well enjoy it!

And this is how i celebrate life, with a good ole encouraging message!

Post thanksgiving thanksgiving!

2007-11-30T11:10:00.000-05:00

Here's the table all set for the eating times! This is the day after thanksgiving (which is the third Thursday in November) and we decided to have another go at it just for fun. Some interesting dishes are yams (like sweet potato, and cooked with brown sugar and marshmellows.... that's right, marshmellows), cranberry sauce ( taken from a can and sliced, i thought it was beet-root at first, and people eat it by itself, not with anything else!) and obviously the Turkey.

Matty and Sammy were having a good time.
Being American they were ecstatic about the next chance
to eat rediculous amounts of food!

A little Egg-nog? Hhhhmmmm...?

Post eating, we ate some more and had coffee!

Overcome, we slept a little.

A very important part of the Thanksgiving tradition.

No explanation necessary!

Making Jack-o-lanterns

2007-11-07T11:29:00.000-05:00

Proud as punch, and then some!

Apartment building 2

2007-11-07T10:59:00.000-05:00

Here's me cutting and such, building walls, etc...

The shower just after being put in.

Where the toilet will go

(that red spot, on the floor, is where it goes, and so will I!)

2X4, awesome handy work, if i do say so myself!

A few days later

This is all of the plaster (drywall) in the kitchen/living room up adn ready for painting.

The shower in, the plaster up, just a lick of paint,
and a dunny and we're finished in there!

Matt and Katie Curtis!

2007-10-30T12:03:00.000-04:00

Matt and Katie got married!

On the 20th October Matt and Katie Curtis were married in sunny Virginia (very good weather for this time year!). Matty couldn't stop balling his eyes out, he had started even before he entered the church!

The reception was awesome, awesome food, people, etc...

Seen above, Sammy, Matty V and I couldn't be happier for the lucky husband, and had to celebrate in our own unique way.

Apartment building time!

2007-10-29T16:38:00.000-04:00

Here's some photo's of the building taking place in the downstairs of the Chambers residence.

This is a shot of the cement being dug up so the plumbing could go in.

Jaden playing in the hole.

Um.... i'm not sure i have an explanation...

Sammy and Matt came around to lend their expertise.
Now most of the drywall (plaster) is up, and it looks like a home.

Christi and Katie looking on.

Our new address, therefore, will be sub-level A, Catacomb B, 110 Cara Cove Rd, North East, Md.

Other USA pics

2007-10-08T11:43:00.000-04:00

Here's me and the fam at the Philly's/ Braves baseball game. Corporate box and all!!! good times!

Cara, patting the bald head of one of the original signers of the constitution. You'd think that they'd at least choose people who had hair to sign the thing, were they not thinking?!

That's right, Forest Gump's shrimp company. Lt Dan is now the bus boy, but he still gets around okay.

Christi and Rosie with the F.A.O Shwartz guard, handsome gentleman.

Christi and Cara dancing up a storm outside the Liberty bell museum in Philly.

Missy Higgins Concert

2007-10-08T11:36:00.000-04:00

My mate Sammy organised a trip to Philly to See Missy Higgins in concert on Wednesday 3rd Oct. She was great. She played an acoustic set, accomanied by another guitarist.

Sammy, Christi and I

She had a nice guitar, though it's not a Maton, just a Gibson. Oh, well.

Tribute

2007-10-03T08:28:00.000-04:00

Here it is, i tried to get a pic of me on the dog

statue in NZ so they could be together but i couldn't find one.
Ah, good times!

New York Madness!

2007-10-03T07:52:00.000-04:00

So here we are in New York!
It was way too crazy for words, so i won't write anymore...
Just kidding.
After all the wedding stuff we dicided to go up to NYC. We stayed just outside the city in northern New Jersey and took teh bus in every day. We also took a bus tour of the city, the best thing to do here as the city is massive and we got a good sense of what we wanted to see more of. And it gave us a chance to see everything.
Then we took the Statton Island Ferry to see the Statue of Liberty (right), good times, and the ferry was free!
We got off our tour bus to see the statue, spent an hour on the ferry, then got back on the bus to resume the tour. The tour took us through Greenwich village, Soko, and the rest of Downtown. Then we went up to Central Park, Madison Ave, Times Square and all of that. It was awesome. I was really impressed actually, i guess i thought it was gonna be more dirty and gross, with people getting mugged left and right.

This is us in Dylan's Candy Bar, only the most awesome lolly shop ever. They even had Cadbury stuff imported from good ole Eng-land. The steps were clear with gummi lollies through them, and they did gourmet sundae's and cupcakes. Man, that place was good.

On our first night there we went to see a broadway show. We saw The Drowsy Chaperone. Kind of a remake of an old 1920's production, very cool. We got awesome seats too, right up the front of the first balcony. Reminded me of the good ole days of The Sentimental Bloke.
"Workin' for the boss, toilin' for an income..." Oh, it's a shame, fair dinkum!

We visited the Heartland Brewing Co in Park Ave. They had some great beers and awesome food. I hope you'll notice my t-shirt in this pic, Oh YEAH!!! Representing!
It was awesome to have the family over here, probably the best holiday i've ever been on.
So there it is, after a crazy time with wedding bizo and all that, it was awesome to kick back and go nuts in NY.

Hiking in Rocky Gap

2007-09-13T12:34:00.000-04:00

These are some pics of a hike

that Christi and I did at Rocky Gap in Western Maryland.

The hike took us around this massive lake

and through pine forests and other great stuff's.

This is a baby turtle that i caught for Christi.

He weas swimming around in the shallows of the lake and i picked him up.

One of the waterfalls on our walk.

It was an awesome sunny day,

warm, not too warm mind you!

Birthday goodies!

2007-09-13T12:28:00.000-04:00

'Twas my birthday, nigh on one and a half months ago, and this is what my peachy keen mates got me! That's right, all the good stuff!

This, too, also, was my birthday gift aswell!
This is what i ate for my birthday dinner, meat pies and beer! What a combo!

Wedding time!

2007-08-31T08:04:00.000-04:00

This is Christi and I... hang on, i have my pictures mixed up with Jerry's

(which was an awesome day, i can assure you!)

Well, the wedding plans are coming to fruition and the stress is mounting. It's amazing how much time and energy (not to mention the money) that goes into a wedding. Then there's the stress... people stress out fantastically at the slightest thing, and it's all just for one day!

We just did the cake testing last night, awesome! And the rest of the food will also need to be tasted by my ever-so-accurate taste buds.

Camp craziness!

2007-07-18T15:52:00.001-04:00

Here we are, midsummer and camp is in full swing. Though i can only be at camp for half of the summer as i'm helping a Carpenter friend of mine frame a house.
Also, i played guitar at church for the first time last sunday and officially started my internship, so that's exciting. I'm not sure as to when my first worship leading gig will be, though i'm sure it'll be soon.

Philly Hawks vs. N.C Tigers

2007-06-20T10:57:00.000-04:00

There I is with my Hawks gear on, how's that Hawks fans!? I thought I'd hold a footy too, just so i look the part. Freakin hot day it was, but lucky for me I had the shortest of shorts!
I bet that looks a bit weird to you guys back home, it looks weird to me and I play on the team!

If you look closely you'll see that they're wearing the official jersey's. This is the Washington D.C Eagles versus the North Carolina Tigers. The Eagles won by about 40 points, then we went on to beat the Tigers by about the same margin. Poor old Tigers, can't even get a win in Yankeeland!

Check us out at Phillyhawks.com

Beachy beachness

2007-05-31T13:37:00.000-04:00

I do miss the beaches at home. The ones over here are so long and straight and boring. These little rocks behind me are the only features on the beach for as far as the eye can see in either direction. Aussie beaches have bays, front and back beaches, bigger waves, rock pools, wildlife, sanddunes, grasses, forest meeting sea, etc, ect...! Oh, well, just another reason i love my homeland!

P.O.D at Battlecry

2007-05-31T13:11:00.000-04:00

Christi and i went to another convention with the church youth group, headlining was P.O.D! They were awesome. The guy in the green was going off his nut!

The convention was great, though we had to sit in the one spot for two days straight as there was nothing else to do there but watch the show on the stage.

Up close and personal

2007-05-31T13:02:00.000-04:00

Christi and i looking stunning in Ocean City (the beach)

We like close ups, okay!?!!!

Student teaching and stuffing around!

2007-05-31T12:54:00.000-04:00

One of my students dressed as a fish from the creek where we were taking a nature walk. These guys were great, and they loved me, though i think that i was more of a distraction than of any benefit.

These is my mates from church. It's summer now so we here we are having a 'cook out' at the fire pit at Christi's house (as indicated by the hotdog on a stick in Matt's hand). Fun, Fun! Cook out is where one cooks... outside. We usually have hotdogs cooked over the fire, then s'mores for dessert.

Convention fun!

2007-05-31T12:52:00.000-04:00

This is me and a friend of mine at a convention. As you can see i'm sporting Christi's fabulous jacket, and looking bloody stunning!!!

Poo TV

2007-05-19T08:13:00.000-04:00

The Poo in a Reality TV Dating show?

That's right, our Poo will be showing on NBC's The Age of Love, starting in June. 13 girls will be vying for his affections, little does he know that half of the girls are aged in their twenties, the other half, in their forties! Looks like the Scud has put his tennis exploits on hold for the chance to find love, in America no less... a very popular thing nowadays.

Isaac pics

2007-04-23T13:30:00.000-04:00

A Proud Grand-dad
The insane Auntie
And the encouraging Father

Outer Banks

2007-03-31T09:31:00.000-04:00

These are pics of a trip we took down to the Outer Banks in North Carolina. The massive sand bar is famous for the pirate Black Beard, or Edvard Teach who terrorised the area. He doesn't anymore though, just in case you were worried.

Christi and I on a ferry taking us to Ocracoke, an island only accessable by boat, there was a nice pub there.

Christi and Kimberly showing their excitement at being engaged (not to each other). Kimberly and Brandon had just got engaged a day before we got there. He proposed on the beach at sunset, how romantic.

This is the site where the Wright brothers first started to fly their planes. The far hill has a monument to their achivements.

This is one of the many lighthouses in the Outer Banks. They're all painted in different ways so that sailors could tell where they were, I just thought they looked cool.

This is a '67 Mustang that Christi and i found on our way home, friggin awesome!!!!

This is a one of the many murals in Phily

PEZ

2007-03-19T11:10:00.000-04:00

His hands quivered in his pockets, no-one had had the guts to do what he was about to do. He took his hands and placed them on the horizontal metal pole in front of him and held tight. Taking a deep breath he jumped up over the pole and let go. As he fell, he remebered the PEZ dispenser in his pocket...

Frozed!

2007-02-16T12:16:00.000-05:00

Sorry to make a tired point, but it's bloody cold!

It takes a little more time to leave the house in the morning!

All rugged up and ready to go!

Snow

2007-01-31T12:02:00.000-05:00

It snowed about 2cm last night and now the place looks awesome. This is the view from my bedroom wondow and it usually looks pretty boring and dead in the winter. I don't really like the winter over here much, everything is dead or leafless and grey. I do enjoy the snow, but I still think it should stay in the mountains so I can visit it when I want to!

Sometimes there's blizzards here which dump 18 inches of snow! People can't get to work or school because they can't drive on the roads or can't even open their front doors! Crazy! Give me an Aussie winter anytime.

Isaac Symons!

2007-01-14T02:08:00.000-05:00

This is my new nephew Isaac!

Warrandyte

2006-11-19T18:37:00.000-05:00

It's all about sitting by the Yarra in Warrandyte and having an awesome brew!
Oh, and i saw a platypus in the wild for the first time! Awesome!

Coming Home

2006-11-14T04:13:00.000-05:00

Mim and I in a friendly embrace.

This is Chrystal, Dan, Cara and Rosie at their finest!

Where i should be!

Camping in Western Maryland

2006-10-24T10:30:00.000-04:00

These are some shots of my camping trip to Rocky Gap in Western Maryland. We did some awesome pumpkin carving as it's Autumn and Halloween is coming up. And we hiked up a mountain to see some awesome views of the landscapes and colours!

Hiking!

2006-10-10T16:03:00.000-04:00

A little while ago Christi and i went hiking in North Western Pennsylvania. Here's me looking out into the woods in search of something to prod with my knife.

This is Chickies Rock, a look out over a massive river. One thing i've noticed is that the US has alot more water than we do. Not only rain, but they have rivers and streams and lakes all over the place.

This is the view from chickies rock. This river used to be used to transport Iron Ore over one hundred years ago, and we walked along the old rail line to reach Chickies Rock. There was remanants of the old stone buildings that the miners used to use. It was odd because when i was a kid i used to hate it when mum and dad would stop on walks and read the information boards that tell you about where you are and how it's historically significant, now i love it.

Me and 'The Mrs'!

2006-10-03T13:16:00.000-04:00

Camp, that's right, CAMP!

2006-10-03T11:31:00.000-04:00

Bucks hilarity!

2006-10-03T11:17:00.000-04:00

Trent and Pauly

James (aka: Lamont, Sedate), J Wigs, Moorie

Davo and Cam