The Mob

We fell asleep to the sound of the wind whistling and blowing our tent around. Thankfully we awoke to blue skies and quietness only broken by a kookaburra laughing. Even though it was only 5.30am, there was no going back to sleep.

After porridge, the truck arrived so I helped out in organising the assembly area while Andy ventured off to wake up some 25 controls. The girls were happily playing on the big rock along with a couple of other children. By 8.30am all was ready to go, just an anxious wait for the competition to begin and the finishers to trickle in.

A late start for me meant that I could take some willing children around the string course. Turned out to be quite a mob! Ella, Katy, Aoife, Max, Mira, Abby, Zoe, Mica and Jessica (with Grandma Elizabeth and Jessica's Pappy) all raced around the animal string course forward and backwards receiving an animal bookmark for their efforts!

The mob tired from all their orienteering efforts headed to check out the shearing shed. We looked, touched and smelt the sheep's wool, then toured the pens to see which way the sheep came in, where they were shorn and how they got back out in to the paddock. Grandma Elizabeth even demonstrated going down the sheep chute!! Soon 90% of the mob made their way down (and then back up) the chute too!!

I tag teamed with Andy and reluctantly headed to the start. Unfortunately I'd left my concentration back at the assembly area, resulting in a rather large mistake on #5, followed by another one at #7. By then I'd decided to cut my losses and jogged back.

Meanwhile the event had run really smoothly with lots of positive comments and thankfully the wind and rain had held off alleviating some of the stresses with parking access. We left around 3pm, stopping for a well deserved ice cream on the way home.

Saturday at Slap Up Creek

No such thing as a sleep in for the first day of the school holidays in the Nandies house. We were all up at the crack of dawn on our way to Slap Up Creek which is situated about 110km from Canberra between Captain's Flat and Breadbo. Slap Up Creek was the location for the 2013 Australian Long Distance O Champs that Andy had volunteered to control.

As such, Andy's job on Saturday was to ensure the 88 controls were all placed in their correct spots. Andy headed out just after 9.30am, meanwhile my role was to entertain the girls for most of the day while this occurred!

With a cool breeze, we set up our picnic rug in the lee of the car and with the sun shinning, we enjoyed drawing, writing, reading and morning tea. Prior to leaving Andy had suggested to wait to put the tent up when he returned as the forecast was for the wind to pick up mid morning to mid afternoon and then ease. By mid morning the clouds came in and the wind stepped up a notch so without the shelter of the tent, we opted for the warmth and protection of the car.

Inside we played numerous games of connect four then began to read Charlotte's Web. After 7 chapters my voice had had enough and it was time for something else. Although I couldn't convince the girls to explore the rocks on the top of the hill or visit the river, they eventually compromised (with bribery of chocolate) to walk to the nearby forest to explore some rocks.

To be honest it was windy and not very nice but good to actually do something. After rock climbing and eating the chocolate, we collected several straightish bits of wood and lugged them back to the car. Again in the lee of the car we built a tee-pee! It was big (just) enough for the girls to sit in but unfortunately didn't survive very long with the strong wind gusts.

We retreated this time to the shearers kitchen for lunch! A great basic shed with fridge, microwave and urn. During lunch we were joined by 6 year old Jess who lived on the property. The girls became friends instantly and were off playing. Once the lunch stuff was cleaned up, I found the girls on the rock climbing wall in the shearing shed all very happy so left them to it.

After half an hour of peace, I thought I'd go and make sure they were ok. First visit was shearing shed - no not there, next shearers kitchen - not not there, portaloo's - no not there either, other sheds - no not there, farm house - no not there....starting to get slightly concerned as there weren't many places to go. Bumped into Lisa (property owner and Jess's mum) and she hadn't seen the girls either but assured me they would be ok...must have sounded like an overprotective city slicker! We then saw movement inside her car and sure enough the girls was tucked up in there! They were playing on various phones and gameboys, with chocolate across their faces from the  Milo sachets they'd found!

Andy arrived shortly after that. We helped carry hay bales to a couple of fence crossing and moved the finish chute bunting before erecting the tent in the lee of the car (again). The girls get so excited with tent life and were instantly making home with the mats and sleeping bags! As the sun set, the temperature dropped so it was a relatively early dinner and bedtime - all ready for the big day ahead.

Juan, Natanya & Family Farewell

It is sadness that we bid goodbye to Juan, Natanya & family. Juan took up a post doc position with Andy three years ago. During this time we have watched their family grow....Ana into a little girl sharing many special moments with Katy at childcare and the addition of Oliver. We will treasure many memorable moments together - aquarium in Melbourne, a few days at Guthega, Summer concerts at the Botanical Gardens, not to mention the numerous birthday parties and work gatherings! We wish them well in their new adventure and setting up home in Los Alamos, New Mexico.

Kindergarten Asembly

The second last week of school saw the three kindergarten classes join forces to host the junior assembly and with a late shift, I was lucky to go and watch with Andy.  The teachers encourage the students to have a speaking part and they all did a great job!

The Kindergarten curriculum last term focused on several authors - Mem Fox and Eric Carle as well as the topic of movement. We enjoyed a photo slideshow on their excursion to Questacon, wowed by their artwork and impressed with their French counting song!

The highlight was watching the three classes present their favourite book "Hattie and the Fox." All students spoke the Hattie parts (with one student flapping her wings very enthusiastically), while several small groups of students represented the goose, cow, sheep, pig, horse and Ella was the narrator. Was very entertaining to watch.

Orchard Butterflies

Talking about new abodes, two orchard butterflies have taken up residence in out lounge room! No they aren't fluttering around, rather in the pupa stage of the life cycle and hopefully will emerge as beautiful black, white and red butterflies like the one on the right. Not sure when that will happen but hopefully within the next two weeks before the owners return from their holidays! Will keep you posted.....

New Abode

Molly and Holly have a new house! We worked hard last weekend to get the job done so that we could return the old coop to the owner. Here is our starting point from the previous Sunday.

Tuesday's afterschool activity involved painting. In keeping with the theme of recycled/reused materials we found a bunch of old sample pots so the chicken coop became a kaleidoscope of colours.

Saturday dawned and armed with few extra pieces of materials purchased from bunnings we were keen to finish this project. A little more painting, cutting, drilling, attaching hinges, a handle to the egg box and constructing a ramp and we were done! The girls were a big help during this drawn out process.

Next step was to get the old coop out and the new one in. This was easier than expected and by mid afternoon we introduced Molly and Holly to their new abode.

After dark we checked on the chickens only to find them huddling together behind one of the bushes! Andy manhandled them into their coop. Molly was ok but Holly wasn't too sure! A few nights of this routine and eventually they worked it out and are happily laying eggs in the right spot too!

Construction Begins

Happy Fathers Day Andy!

It began with a small sleep in. Then a 2 hour tour of Canberra run in the wonderful sunshine to Jessica's 3rd Birthday Party in Kambah. Lots of chatting with friends and playing on the playground with the girls before returning home.

Afternoon was spent designing and building our new chicken coop from whatever materials we could find in the garage. Why a new chicken coop I hear you say? Our diagonal over the back fence neighbours have retuned from their 1 year (that-became-2-years) posting to Canada and would like their chicken coop back! So the inevitable happened and now we feel under pressure to get it back ASAP.

We made great progress with the main body almost finished. Need to visit bunnings for some hinges, a couple more pieces of timber and some screws. Then paint, attach the roof, nesting box and finish the floorboards before placing it in position.

Ella was a great help - measuring, drawing pencil lines, holding bit of timber and building a house with the offcuts. Katy meanwhile was too busy playing with Sofia!