12 - To Sebastian - October 2010

Dear Sebastian,  

Do you remember all the ways we have gone places while we have been away?

We rode our bikes lots and lots, do you remember the colours?

Jojo has a yellow bike, and Papa has a white one.

We never did find any red berries on the bushes, did you?

Then we stayed for long while on our blue boat with five big pillows on the side.

No, they aren’t pillows are they?  They are called fenders.  

Did you find the five ducks hiding in the bushes?

Of course our favourite car was the little blue car with the red roof.

I smiled and smiled when I drove that one.   

I wonder who is waving out of the other window?

We went on the rocket train quite a lot too.  

We really like going fast on it.  One day we will take you for a ride on it too.

Now we are on a great big aeroplane coming home to see you!

When you wake up tomorrow, it will be almost time for us to come home.  Perhaps it will be after breakfast, and after morning tea, but before lunch when you will see us smiling because we can see you!

There’s no need to give yourself a great big hug this time, because you have to save it up to give it to us,

Love Papa and Jojo

11 - To Sebastian October 2010

 

Dear Sebastian,  

Well we are in London again with Auntie Shelley and Uncle Jules.

Did you know that London is where the Queen lives?   She wears a very fancy hat with a special name.  Can you remember what it’s called?

That’s right, it’s a crown!  You knew that didn’t you?

Did you know that Mummy used to live in London?

The Queen has lots of guards and some of them wear funny hats made of fur.  They are very tall but they look very warm.

When a guard is at work he stands very, very still and doesn’t talk to anyone and tries to look very serious all day.

How long can you stand still without making even a little noise?

Some men wear funny black hats to work too, they are very round like the bowls mummy makes cakes with, and have very small brims because the sun doesn’t shine very often.

They are called Bowler Hats, and they keep heads quite warm because it can get very cold here.

I don’t think this man likes being out in the cold.

I think my favourite hat in London is the Policeman’s Helmet.   Policemen here are called Bobbies.

Their helmets are very tall and quite hard so that if a Bobby bumps his head it won’t hurt.

Have you noticed that in all the pictures the sky is grey?  It’s often grey in London so people don’t need to have big hats to stop the sun burning their faces.  

We can hardly wait to see you at home next week with a big blue sky and a bright yellow sun, not at all like London!   I’ll bet you’ll be smiling.

Do you still have your red and blue hat?  Papa thinks that was the best hat ever.

Perhaps you have a new hat now that is just as good.

We are very excited now that we will be seeing you soon, and can hardly wait for a big cuddle, but for now,

Give yourself a great big hug from us,

Love Papa and Jojo

10 - To Sebastian Happy 4th Birthday! - October 2010

 Dear Sebastian,  

We were in Paris today and we saw the Eiffel Tower.  It’s a really tall building that is very famous.

It looks like the number one, and when we saw it we thought:

“Is Sebastian ONE?”

NO!

It was very cold in Paris, we had two coats on and two scarves.

Jojo looks quite big because she also has two singlets and two shirts and two jumpers under her two coats and two pairs of pants too.

We thought,

“Is Sebastian TWO soon?”

NO!

Then we went to London and we saw a blue car with three people in it.

There were three red buses too, and we thought:

“Is Sebastian THREE?”

NO!  

We walked past a cake shop and when we looked in the window we saw four very pretty cakes.

They looked delicious and we thought:

“Is Sebastian FOUR?”

YES!

He’s FOUR today!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SEBASTIAN!!

Give yourself a great big hug from us, and ask Mummy to give you a special birthday kiss and Daddy to give you a special birthday tickle,

Love Papa and Jojo

9 - To Sebastian - October 2010

 

Dear Sebastian,  

Sometimes when we are sitting on our boat we see lot of people with their dogs.

When we do that we miss Sammy and wonder if he is still happy and wagging his tail.

Can you see the dog with the red scarf round her neck?

Her name is Frida, and she is very smart.

She can speak French and English as well, but she decides which language she is going to listen to and sometimes pretends she doesn’t understand.

She likes to bring balls back when we throw them too.

Her mummy and daddy take her for lots of walks.  

Sometimes we try to take her for walks too, but we aren’t sure if she likes coming with us or not.

Do you think she does?

She seems to like it a lot when it’s time to go home though.

Her tail wags very hard and she tries to run very fast, just like Sammy does when he sees a cat.

When she gets home she likes to lie down and have a sleep.   Do you think she looks happy on the big blue cushion?

Give yourself a great big hug from us,

Love Papa and Jojo

8 - To Sebastian October 2010

Dear Sebastian,  

We sometimes live in a harbour tied up beside a big red barge.  A barge is an old boat which used to carry lots of things like a big truck does, but this one has been made into a house.

Wow it’s big!   Can you see our little blue boat.   Do you remember how many fenders we have on each side?

The barge is very pretty though, it is red with a white cabin and it has a special flag on it.

The flag is the flag of France, it is red, white and blue and is very easy to draw!  

Can you see the captain on it?  His name is Patrice.  He is very friendly and clever.

He can speak in a lot of different languages so we can understand him even though he doesn’t come from our country.

Patrice has a wonderful moustache which curls up at the ends and goes round and round in a circle.

I’m sure if he went out in the rain it would get all wet and go floppy and his hair would get all floppy too.

He thinks so too, so when it’s raining, he puts a shopping bag over his head so that his moustache doesn’t get wet.

Jojo thinks that’s quite funny, but Papa thinks he’s very sensible.  

What do you think?

Give yourself a great big hug from us,

Love Papa and Jojo

7 - To Sebastian - 10 October 2010

Dear Sebastian,  

Sometimes now the mornings are really very cold, so Jojo likes to stay in bed and read a book.

Do you think she is happy staying warm in bed?

Papa likes to keep the engine of the boat nice and clean, so he can fix it without getting dirty.

Most of the engine parts are blue, but some of the wires are red and black.

The steering wheel on our boat is made of wood, just like a proper pirate ship steering wheel, with lots of little bits called spokes to hang on to.

The gear stick has a big red knob on it too.

When we are going along we always have a flag flying from the front of the boat, so people know we are from Australia.

Did you know this was a flag from Australia?

When the weather is fine and warm, we can make the roof of the boat slide back so we can sit outside!   We have to put our hats on then.

Jojo loves waving to everyone as we go past.

Do you remember what we call the big blue pillows on the side of the boat?   That’s right, we call them fenders!

Give yourself a great big hug from us,

6 - To Sebastian September 2010

Dear Sebastian,

Here in France we see lots of people fishing.

They have fishing rods that are really, really.......

really, really......
really, really......
really, really,  very very ......

LONG!

At the end of their line they always have a coloured float and if a fish is biting it makes little tiny waves which we call ripples.

Sometimes when there are a lot of waves, Papa thinks it’s a funny water monster playing a trick with the fisherman.

Jojo thinks it’s just a really smart fish.

What do  you think?

I think a fish would be very smart if it could wear lipstick!

Give yourself a great big hug from us,

Love Papa and Jojo