The Postponed Husky

Finally after two false starts the Husky mountain bike race was held on the last weekend in February. We camped at a caravan parks in Huskisson. It happened to be the closest to the event centre as well as boasting a pool, pirate playground and river frontage.

We were joined by three families - Susie, Josh and Mia; Cathy, Maki, Luca, Richard and Grace; Al, Rob, Max, Mira and Alma. The drive down after school on Friday via Tarago and Nerriga was relaxing. Our route took us past the event centre so we did a quick detour to register - one less thing to do in the morning.

We followed Susie into the caravan park and within a few minutes everyone else had arrived. It was then a race to put up tents and cook dinner as quickly as possible.

Saturday morning dawned warm and sunny. Rob, Cathy and Richard had left early as the boys were doing the 100km. Susie and I got up at a more reasonable time and once organised we left Andy and Al to it. They had a fun morning ahead - looking after 9 kids aged (aged from 3 -12yrs) between them!!

Soon enough we were lining up on the start line. Susie and Cathy were eager to get close to the front to be in one of the first waves. I was very happy just to hang back, a long way back! Our start was scheduled for 8am on the proviso that all the 100km riders had passed through a section which crossed over near the start. We were still waiting at 8.20am only to hear that there were protestors out on the course pulling down the direction signs! We weren't to begin until the organisers got the all clear from the police who were dealing with the situation.

By 8.45am my wave rolled over the start line. I was nervous as to what the ride would bring especially seeing though my partner in crime, Cath was unable to make it. Within 3km we had stopped twice - firstly to cross a stream and secondly as we merged to be a single line negotiating a rough, newly cut path.

Early on the ride was lovely - a nice mix of firetrails (some big, some overgrown) with sections of single track. The forest was beautiful too and life was good. By 25km the crowd had dispersed, I found myself alone and felt a little tired. Between 30 and 35km I really struggled. I found this section of single track mostly unrideable - newly cut, steep, rocky, rough and muddy. Crossing through the gully filled with tall pandanus plans was really impressive although the steep climb out the other side wasn't! Next was a long section of firetrail with deep rutts...actually thinking back there wasn't much of a firetrap at all just a large ravine where it should have been!!

As the 35km marker ticked by things became slightly easier once more, I knew in my mind there was about 10km till the trail passed adjacent to the finish area before heading out on the last single track loop.  My aim for a sub 4 hour was well out of reach and my main focus was on finishing. The last loop seemed to go on for ages not made any easier by the 100km finishers whizzing past but eventually I turned the corner and there it was - the finish line. I was so happy to see it.

Turns out that it was a tough race with Susie and Cathy both taking much longer than expected. I suppose the extra 7k didn't help either. Rob had an impressive race too especially dealing with mechanical problems early on. With Susie winning her category and coming 3rd female overall, we decided to stay for the presentations. Susie was excited to pick up a new jersey as her prize. The sun seemed to be beating down, we were all dehydrated and ready to save Andy and Al from the kids but thought we should hang around a little longer for the spot prizes including a bike.

First two race numbers called out were no shows, then they read out 1-0-8-0 and Susie went ballistic as it was my number!! The prize was $2000 from Stevens Bikes. Pretty happy with that.

We returned to find Andy, Al and kids fishing at the jetty. Excitement levels were high there too as they had caught a few puffer fish!! After showers and food we all retreated to the pool to cool off and recover. It turns out the pool was a massive hit with the kids as they spent the entire morning there.

Spot the Difference #88

Out to Dinner Friday 6th February

After Dinner Wednesday 11th February

Post dinner, Katy came running in from the lounge room with a significant amount of blood in her mouth but not at all upset rather extremely excited. It took us 10 seconds or so to connect that she wasn't actually hurt but had lost her first tooth!

At bedtime she carefully found a little jar for her tooth, happy in the knowledge that the tooth fairy would visit. Just after 6am the next morning, Katy sneaks into our bed wide awake asking me if she could look to see it the tooth fairy had come. Instantly I'm awake too! I'm not sure why she didn't look before coming out of her room as it would have meant fairy tooth failure!! I had forgotten. Cleverly I suggested that she should go back to sleep for a bit longer before checking. About 5 mins later, I said I needed to go to the toilet and at the same time rescued the situation. Returning to bed, I then waited before casually suggesting it was time to check!! An excited Katy returned proudly holding the $2 coin that had been swapped for the tooth by the tooth fairy. Phew disaster averted....

And a few days later Ella lost her 8th tooth. Very busy time in our household for the tooth fairy.

Settling into School

This term is flying by. Can't believe we are already going into week 6!

Katy was very excited to bring home her first reader last week, proudly reading it to us. I look forward to watching her decode our english language and open up a whole new world.

















To help with this process, students were encouraged to illustrated her own alphabet chart. Here is Katy's!

Ella participated in her first school swimming carnival competing in the under 8's 50m freestyle and 50m backstroke at Big Splash. Despite her pre race butterflies, she did really well although we may need to work on keeping straight in backstroke - I think she must have stopped nearly 10 times as she bumped into the lane rope!! The most fun according to Ella was the post carnival swim where the students were allowed to go on any of the slides!

Also Ella has received a merit certificate at the last two assemblies! Well done Ella!

 

Busy with Birthdays

Three out of the four cousins have birthdays within a month of each other. Then add in a sister-in-law as well as a heap of friends children and a few random school invites = party season!

Luca turned who turned 7 this year decided on a colour run party at Lake G. On arrival the girls swapped their party tops with plain white t-shirts. First up was face painting followed by a treasure hunt which led to water pistols filled with coloured water and so the war began!! Fun had by all on a warm summers day :)

Our Local

Little Oink, our local cafe at the Cook shops has now open in the evenings from Thursday to Saturday. To celebrate the girls first week of school we headed there for dinner on Friday night. We enjoyed our meal - pork crackling (Ella was in heaven), salt and pepper squid and mini chicken burgers with chips. It was also happy hour so I sipped a few glasses of wine. It was a balmy evening and atmosphere was all very relaxed. Our dinner was finished off with an ice cream from the IGA to eat on the walk back home. En route the girls decided they wanted a movie night lounge room sleepover - a favourite thing while Andy is away!

Empty Nest

And then the very next day it was Ella's first day of Year 2! She has Mr Boland whom she really likes which offsets the disappointment of being separated from her friends Max and Emma. The 3 of them had been together in the same class since pre-school!

And for me it was certainly a strange day with no children to look after and no work to go to! I managed to filled the day with jobs including a run.

All Grown Up

Our littlest is now at school! Katy embarked on her school journey with her first day at Kindy at Aranda Primary School. Her teacher is Mrs Kennedy whom she really likes. There weren't many friends from her preschool class, however there were many familiar faces from the other preschool class. Katy didn't seem too phased about this and is looking forward to meeting new people and already several new names are appearing in her conversations. Katy and the other kindy kids had the run of the school to themselves as the older children enjoyed their last day of the summer holidays.

Meanwhile as the car was getting a tow bar fitted in preparation for the purchase of a hitch mounted bike rack Ella and I took the opportunity to have some mum-and-one-daughter-time. We ate sushi and watched the movie Paper Planes before returning to pick up Katy.

Katy was beaming with the excitement of her first day. She was eager to show off her bag of goodies. The Kindergarten First Day Kit included-

Gold Coin - You are a valuable member of our class and we treasure you.
Sticker - Be happy and stick your smile on each day.
Eraser - It's ok to make mistakes - that's how we learn.
Love Heart - Kindy is a kind and caring environment and we will look after you.
Party Blower - To celebrate the start of a great year filled with fun.
Bubbles - I'm bubbling with excitement that you're in my class.
Glow Stick - You're going to shine brightly in Kindy.
Jumping Frog - To help you leap our of bed in the morning ready for a great day at school.

Oh how times have changed!