Sunday, October 23, 2011

Happy Birthday Andy

Celebrations for Andy's 38th birthday started last night with a family BBQ at Susie and Patrick's house. The cousins were having a great time playing together.


The festivities continued on today - the girls let Andy sleep in by not waking up until 7.30am (worn out from previous nights activities perhaps?) followed by presents and lunch out.

On the spur of the moment a few friends gathered at our place for afternoon tea - thanks Stace for the delicious tart! Again it was lovely to sit and chat while the kids entertained themselves.

The evening was then topped off with pizza and beer with the boys while watching the world cup rugby.


Getting to Know the Neighbours

At the beginning of the year, our neighbours Karen and Nathan returned from spending nearly 3 yrs in Jakarta for work. While they were over there, their daughter Sophia was born - Sophia is the same age as Katy. In July this year, their son Louie arrived and now that Karen is on maternity leave, we have been trying to have a play date on Thursdays. Last Thursday was the first time we actually managed it. Anyway the girls played away on the trampoline, swings and slides, rode the various assortment of things with wheels, and dug in the sandpit - but nothing compares to getting wet and naked!!



New Things

Some orienteering friends children had outgrown their tag along bike and wondered if we would like to have it. As we'd been thinking about getting one, we gladly accepted. Ella was thrilled with the idea of riding a big bike fast and took to it straight away.



Next was a sewing project inspired by various people who had made stuff for their children. So I thought about making a patchwork skirt for Ella. With a rough idea of a pattern (care of the internet) and a few pieces of material I went from this...


to this....


The sewing part didn't take that long although according to Andy I spent more time unpicking than actually sewing! I'm very happy with the result so much so that I've bought some material to make something similar for Katy.



Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Excitement Plus

The kids were almost excited as Andy was about our new tent!

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Toughening Them Up

Saturday was the Australian Long Distance Champs which for Andy was a 13km course in thick granite forest which translated into about 1hr40mins of running. So to keep the kids entertained Al and I decided to enter the easiest course. The only catch was that it wasn't that easy.......

The gang consisted of Makhaya (5), Ella (4.5), Max (4), Luca (3.75), Abby (3.5), Zoe (3.5), Katy (2.25) and Mira (1.75) and Al (who is 37 weeks pregnant) and myself. With Katy and Mira in backpacks, the plan was the rest of the kids to ride their bike around the course.


Ella, Abby, Max, Zoe, Luca, Makhaya
All set to go!

Now like I said, there were a few things which made this course challenging. First one was the fact the start was located just over 1km from the assembly area and mostly uphill. So it took us approximately 45mins to get there (an average length of time usually taken to complete a blue course!) On arrival we decided to remove some of the warm layers, have a drink and nibble as well as a toilet stop. Then we were off....



downhill straight to the first control.

We were about one third the way around when our course deviated from the bumpy track to follow along a fenceline. With the adjacent track overgrown in bracken the going got tough. We had no option of taking any short cuts with the lack of tracks and dense forest and so we forged on. The kids were great taking it all in their strides.


With the next third of the course following this fenceline, we came across a bare rock surface positioned about halfway along this tricky section- the perfect place for a picnic and rest (oh and another toilet stop - we were starting to contemplate and appreciate the carers at our childcare centre!!)


We had started to rotate carrying bikes giving the kids a break from trying to negoitate the rocks, bumps and bracken. It was obvious with several falls and some tears that they were all getting tired. The final third of the course was in relative friendly bush again adjacent to a fence but his time following a little sheep track so the riding became easier. We also came across several hay bale crossing and although we didn't need to cross them, the kids were keen to test them out!



As we approached our 12th control (we only had 13), some familiar faces appeared. Apparently several of the parents and our loved ones were concerned with our absence (we'd been gone for over 2hrs!). They'd whipped themselves into a worried state thinking that I was delivering Al's baby with 8 kids looking on!! Thankfully that wasn't the case.

Dinosaur Hunters


The second weekend of the Oceania Carnival was based in Cooma only 2hrs from Canberra. First event was the Oceania Sprint Champs on the Friday afternoon. While Andy and Cathy were out, Makhaya, Luca, Ella and Katy went hunting dinosaur bones (commonly known as sheep bones!)

Packing Again


Thursday saw another day of organising and packing for the second weekend away. While I was busy, the girls were also busy too - building a cubbyhouse in the corner of the loungeroom. Armed with a torch, this little structure kept them entertain for quite sometime only to be abandoned when I brought out the sleeping bags to show them what they would be sleeping in over the weekend as we were camping. These also provided much entertainment to my surprise (I will definitely remember to bring them out again on a rainy day or when I need some quiet time!)

Where are they??


Oops spillage!


Quick mum's coming....


All toys tucked too.

Catch Up

Monday we enjoyed being back at home except for the mountain of unpacking and washing. In the afternoon we were joined by Perth friends Ceri and Graham along with their crew - Kate, Lachlan and Rohan. They were over for the Oceania Carnival and en route to Cooma (where the next part of the carnival was taking place). We had a lovely few hours of playing, chatting and eating pizza.



Orienteering Fun and Friends

The last two weekends have been jammed pack with packing, driving and orienteering. After work on Friday 30th September, we drove to Wangaratta which is about 4.5hr south of Canberra for the first part of the Oceania Carnival. The Oceania Long Distance Champs were held on Saturday in drizzly conditions making the forest at least look quite beautiful (from a non runners perspective!)

Thankfully Sunday dawned with lovely sunshine. The new map Yackandandah was perfect for the Oceania Middle Distance Champs as the gold mining terrain provided no relief during the race. Andy enjoyed the challenge and finished mid field in elites. I certainly wasn't ready for such a technical map, taking me 30mins for the first 3 controls before actually realising this wasn't a map for running fast!

Meanwhile for the girls the weekend was a wet and muddy one with the raingear being an essential item. Luckily there were loads of orienteering friends to play with, splash in the mud with, run up and down hills with, play on the podium with, roll around in a tarpoline with.....





Anyone seen our mum? She is taking a looong time...