Saturday, January 28, 2017

At the park with Briony





Friday, January 20, 2017






  
I am still a little shell shocked that this beautiful muppet that I am privileged to call my daughter is niw 10?!  We are so lucky to have this bubbly, fun loving girl in our lives. You are so independent now but still like to stick by my side, you are great company and s great listener and great at helping me pick clothes to wear!
You are smart and sassy and a loyal friend. I love you more than life it's self even though you can drive me crazy at the same time!  You are thoughtful and caring and love to give new things a go.
We are so proud of you moo moo, we love you so much, happy 10th birthday xx


Australian Open, great tickets at Hisence arena, thanks Mum and Dad, next year we can go together again!




Monday, January 16, 2017

My loves ... best school holidays so far ... only 2 weeks left 
Happy 84th Nonna xx


Rest In Peace my beautiful Pop, I will always miss you xx


Em

We are here today to celebrate the life of a true gentleman. 
Jack Thomas Hubbard was born at  Gladesville on  6th of October 1923. He was the second child born two years after his sister Jean. His parents Albert and Hannah gave him a happy and liberated childhood enjoying riding his horse Dobby and spent many years on the Parramatta River in Sydney with his mates in boats they built from scratch which, in its founding years was the inspiration for the development of the Abbotsford Sailing club. 
After finishing school, Jack commenced his apprenticeship as a shipwright, then joined the Army for 18 months but was poached to work on Goat Island as a shipwright. Jack recalled his time on Goat Island with fond memories and as his career blossomed, so did his family. 
Jack met his beautiful Kathleen at a dance hall and they became engaged in 1944.
He then served as a merchant seaman in WW2, survyrving the east coast of NSW. After the war Jack and Kath married in 1946 and built their first home together soon after. 
Jack remained involved with the Abbotsford sailing club and after the three children John, Margaret and Jennifer were born, the family spent weekends socialising with other club members. The Hubbard family travelled together for holidays to Tasmania, South Australia and over NSW in the caravan that Jack built. The children and their Dad went out under the moonlight to go prawning, other times dropping lobster pots into Batemans Bay. Another holiday involved tobogganing at Perisher on the fastest homemade fiberglass sleds you’ve ever seen. Their were injuries, but there was much more laughter.
Tragically Jack and Kath, Marg and Jenny lost their beloved John when he was only 21 years old. And after this the family decided to build their 2nd home at Dee Why in Sydney’s Northern beaches. This house was incredible, a big home with a unique backyard and a balcony, which was the place to be for morning and afternoon tea. Jack loved this view, the lorikeets that visited and the 21 years of sunsets that he and Kath enjoyed together.
Holidays now were spent at the Port Macquarie house, which was frequented regularly by their daughters and their families. This house saw big family Christmases, playing canasta, fishing, finding and eating oysters, raiding the passionfruit vine and swatting mozzies. 
Jack and Kath travelled more overseas, exploring Europe by motorhome, ship, plane and train. They made friends in every country and kept in contact with so many of them. I remember meeting Uncle Tryg from Norway, Evelyn and Horst from Germany and relatives of Pop’s from England. 
Then later they explored Australia, sending postcards home to the family and planting the seed of adventure in the grandkids.
After moving to Tweed Heads, building their third and final home, Jack and Kath settled into retirement and found community in the bowls club, the masonic club, the orchard club, the sailing club and of course the naval association. 

Pol

Our Pop was without a doubt THE most encouraging, devoted and inspiring Grandfather on the planet. We all have our individual stories and memories, like everyone here today but the six of us, Jack and Kath’s grandchildren can honestly say that we feel so blessed and inspired by Pop and the values he held have infiltrated our lives and we will never forget his legacy. Pop stressed the importance of, Number 1…loving your family, number two, working hard and number three, driving a white car because its more visable at night time…
Pop was soft and gentle and sweet and concerned about all of us. He was interested in everything we did and it felt normal to share everything with him. The relationship we had with him when we were little kids didn’t change too much to when we became adults…we were always friends and he respected us as individuals and we respected him as the greatest all mighty Mick. He knew everything and if he didn’t, he’d ask Nan, cause she knew everything. 
The memories we are left with truly remind us of the sense of exploration and adventure. Pop encouraged us to slide down the carpeted stairs at their Dee Why house (regardless of the carpet burn), to stand up tall but wobbly on his home made stilts, to lift the metal cage off the goldfish pond for a better look and to race the billycarts as fast as bloody possible down the hill at Evergreen drive. He cheered us on when we flipped the canoe in the Tweed River, almost drowning all six grandkids but we always came to the surface spluttering and laughing, knowing we would look up to Pop cheering us on and Nan taking photos.

Tan
Personally, and I think I speak for my brother here also, there was a blurry line in our younger years with Pop and him kind of being like our Dad also. 
He was there always, a constant in our lives. He gave us advice, told us off when we (well I) was mucking up and reminded us to be good to our Mother. It’s become apparent that the strong connections we have as a family barrel down to the face that we were given opportunities to play together. In the days before ipads, us grandkids hung out and were encouraged to go catch cicadas, chase cane toads, get our own oyster off the rocks, put bait on the line, double each other on the bikes and Pop pushed us….to be kids. He tickled us, tried to convince us that lamb’s fry and lambs brain and smoked fish were delicious and the smoked fish really was. 
I remember seeing Pop with my daughter Poppy, for the first time. He actually became a marshmallow in front of my eyes. And with his further 13 grandchildren he softened even more. He was very proud of being able to recall their names in order and I know he would have just loved to have seen Craig and Ray become parents for the first time.
Today I went over to his house and found a jumper and it smell like him and I am struggling with knowing that I cant crack a beer with Pop anymore, or hug him or feel his soft thick hair. 
We have always been encouraged to know our family history and we are luck that some of our kids have been able to represent Pop at Anzac Day and there’s no doubt we will continue to march and remember him always. 
Most of all we walk away from here with Pop’s wise words; a mantra that we live by and pass on to our children…”Learn something new every day”.  We are comforted by knowing Pop is with Nan and as they both passed on a full moon, we can look to the sky when the moon is at it brightest and smile, feeling the love of our Pop, a true gentleman.

Thursday, January 12, 2017

The girls have Harry a pamper session! Hair styled, foot bath, massage and facial!




Museum plays and park hangs



Tuesday, January 10, 2017

So proud of you Hol, today you chopped off all of your hair and donated it to Variety to made wigs for sick kids





Meeting my darling Kove ... smitten!