Hi all,

Just a quick update with a whole lot of family photos.

Photos, which are honestly quite heavily saturated with these two weirdos (^^) from my mother’s side of the family.

That’s Ariel left of me (us clearly being the normal ones of the bunch 🙂 ), with my cousins Ashleigh and Kym on the right.

You’ll see a lot of them as we go through.

You’ll also see a lot of this cute little fellow (not Ariel):

Okdoki. Let’s begin.

One of the reasons for my visit in October was to meet my new little baby cousin, Lukas. Technically maybe a second cousin (I never really understood that naming system.. but in any case- my cousin’s kid).

Here’s him with his father (above), and (below), with his gorgeous mother, my recently acquired cousin-in-law Steph:

It’s pretty much all about him.

Him with my great aunty, a family friend for many decades:

Him with my mum:

And you know, shots of him being generally chill while being passed from one relative to the next.

(Here is one infamous baby-grabbing relative – my father- probably trying to get his hands on the little cutie):

For most of the family members, it was the first or second time to meet Lukas, so he was in high demand.

Also popular at the party, were the other two young members of the family, Ethan…

… and Summer.

Having not been around so much in the last six or so years (haha), it was kind of amazing to see these two again in person.

And also kind of amazing to watch my cousins and sister interact with the next generation.Of course, I was also pretty excited to see all of the family members… and I guess they were happy to see me too- although they are not quite as expressive with their faces:

 

 

My arrival in Perth was a surprise to everyone except Ariel and my folks, so we played the ‘surprise’ game, where I opened the door to each arriving guest. There were some tears, and nobody seemed overly disappointed, so I’m considering it a win!

I brought a little hat and neckerchief for Lukas, so that he would have the latest in European fashion.

First up, Ashleigh tried it on for size (pretty darn close to fitting!), and then it was Lukas’ turn.

Unfortunately, the kid does not know good style when it meets his tiny head, and was, initially, not having a bar of it:Luckily, we eventually we managed to convince him how very cute he looked in his boy-bonnet. The kind of cute that gets a four generational seal of approval.

(Aunty Joan, pictured here to the right of my mum, is a long time friend of the family, and the later life companion of my Grandfather.)(^My Uncle Rowie)    

At one point the baby was passed to my sister, and spent a very happy time snuggled against her bosom.

Of course we took the opportunity to take a whole bunch of family photos. Of the new little group of four:

Of bub with his aunty.

(… plus attempted stealing of bub from said Aunty from his great aunt (my mum) and nana):

… and just a general tonne of shots of the Arma-Jaco family/

This one, below, is of me and Ash, with me desperately trying to make my own head look smaller, so that hers looks bigger.

.. And these.. these are just us in our normal state of chaos.:

With the (slightly) less camera shy of my two west-coast Aunties:

Ok, sorry for the photo dump, but after a long time away it’s pretty exciting for me to have a whole lot of shots with my family!

I thought I’d end with this one, because it’s truly representative:

Love y’all!!