'Air con' man turns on heat for cousins' arrival

This story has appeared in The Redland Times, Cleveland, Redland Shire, Queensland, Australia.

A SPECIAL prize awaited Birkdale new dad Dave Neal after the recent birth of a son, Cody.
It was a "bottle of grappa" from Dave’s father-in-law, Nev Wright. Here’s the story behind the bottle:
Dave and Karryn, the elder daughter of Nev and his wife, Robyn, married in April 2006.
The Cleveland wedding came just five months after the North Stradbroke marriage of Nev and Robyn’s younger daughter Leanne to Damian Stewart.
Last spring Nev called his sons-in-law together for a "heart to heart".
Nev laid down the law, saying he and Robyn had suffered a long wait -- through 37 years of their own marriage – to have the joy of grandparenthood. The father of the first grandchild would get a suitable reward, a bottle of genuine Italian grappa.

ROBYN says she was shocked at how seriously the "boys" took up the challenge. After pregnacies were confirmed down the track, it seems the first conception occurred just five days after Nev’s talk.
Who wanted the grappa the most? It’s enough here to know that, when the little hearts started beating, the speculation of who would arrive first was a consuming focus for the extended family that centres on Nev and Robyn’s Barron Road home.
Cody Neal eased the tension when he was born on July 6, before Haydan Stewart followed up on July 12. Both were born in the Mater Private Hospital.
The Wright home certainly is quite a hub, with Karryn and Leanne now having their own families living in Birkdale right near where they grew up together.

NEV and Robyn’s property has another role, as the base for their firm, Lemine Pty Ltd, which supplies, installs, services and maintains air-conditioning systems.
The Wrights have been great supporters of classified advertising – with weekly notices running in our Trade Services section for 15 years.
The competition for the bottle of wine has been a distraction while the firm, which employs 10 people, has been "flat out".
A lot of joy was evident when Robyn announced in The Redland Times’ Birth Notices: "Our first grandchildren".
Nev and Robyn, by the way, were childhood sweethearts, who grew up in Belmont and moved just a few kilometres across the council border to build their family in the Redlands.
Robyn says they have no plans to move. With Cody and Haydan so close, we can understand that!

THANKS for joining me to meet the great people in the marvellous community of classified advertising.