Another Year Wiser Dad!

It was a very early start for Andy on his birthday as the girls wanted to give him his present before I left for work at 7.15am! He was pretty happy to receive a Nespresso coffee machine. Ella was keen to make him the first coffee from it and was sad that it was heading into his office.

Earlier in the week we had accepted a dinner invitation with a few friends. The day was warm, making it a perfect evening to cook pizzas in the outdoor pizza oven and hang around outside. I even managed to whip up a birthday cake between finishing work and dinner which topped off a lovely evening. Thanks to Michelle and Ben for organising Andy's party!!

Juggling Painting and Life

Those who cross our path in our daily life no longer say "How was your weekend?" but instead ask "How is the painting going?" We have been juggling painting with life and work which has been fairly extremely exhausting and we are only now seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. I have been referring to the painting as my third job! On the weekends we often take turns to paint or do reno related jobs while the other looks after kids/cooks/goes for a run etc. The kids have been fantastic managing to find something to entertain themselves. Marbles appeared one weekend while Andy was out attacking the stump with his new wood splitter. Stump is still winning on that front!

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Ella has also shown us a new skill learnt at vacation care...making damper! She is very happy to make us all a damper lunch and has done by herself on several occasions now which has been such a blessing while we are hard at work. Nice one Ella!

Correcting Mistakes

After much discussion, t was decided to try to fill up the boo boo hole with black resin to match other such marks in the original bench top. Of course once done, the bench top then needed to be sanded and then have two coats of oil applied. This meant the sink, cooktop were removed and thus we had no kitchen for a few days! No one is really complaining as the end product looks great so we are really happy with the outcome of what was initially looking to be a difficult problem to fix.

 The original hole!

The filled hole!

All sanded and oiled!!

Reclaiming the Veggie Patch

Finally some spare time not painting! Ventured outdoors to reclaim the veggie patch from the trampoline and weeds. While I was busy in thee back corner, Mr Gnome was introduced to his new friend and moved around the garden until the right spot was found. Katy also kept herself busy by finding a caterpillar, known as Mr Hairy Legs and subsequently made him a home. Lovely to be enjoying life outside.

Vacation Care Fun

Looking at the vacation care programs last term, we decided to send the girls for a couple of days that looked quite interesting as the 2nd weeks theme revolved around the outdoors and bush environment.

On their first day, the girls went on an excursion to Greening Australia, conveniently located about 200m away on the adjacent oval. Here they were educated on bush tucker by an indigenous speaker.

The next day was woodwork day where they were to build a bird house. I arrived in the afternoon to see these wonderful creations! Each bird house was design and painted by a group of children (of mixed ages). The houses are now securely positioned in various trees around the edge of the school oval. A great idea!

School Holidays Continue

Back home, the 2nd week of the school holidays began with a public holiday, so Andy went off to work and we headed off to Floriade. This years theme Reflection had the flower beds serving as floral tributes to the 100th anniversary of the Anzac landings at Gallipoli. The designs which represented iconic symbols of war and peace included poppy, aeroplane fields, last post, two up, medals, red cross, rising sun, southern cross, slouch hat and eternal flame.

On entering the gates the girls were asked if they would like to complete The Great Hunt, a series of 10 questions with the answers hidden amongst the flower beds. Then join the first letter(s) of each answer to solve the puzzle! The Great Hunt provided some distraction as we wandered our way around Commonwealth Park. However with no pencil to record the answers we were a little stuck until Ella cleverly suggested using her camera to photograph each of the 10 signs.

The girls decided to paint a gnome together rather than go on the ferris wheel so we started with that activity first. The day was warming up nicely which was good for paint drying! Eventually when everyone was happy with Mr Gnome, we set off again with the kids corner as our target.

As we walked along, we discovered this very cool optical illusion. Unfortunately I didn't take a photo of the whole set up but essentially the girls laid down on the  picture and I took a photo of the mirror that was placed upright and behind with their reflection! Very clever!!














Looping up through the main flower section, the girls checked out this years cubby houses before wilting a little more in the hot sunshine. No better time for ice cream! We munched on our ice creams still meandering our way to kids corner.




Eventually we arrived to find no farmyard animals but instead Reptiles Inc. We were introduced to many different animals and managed to pat a freshwater croc, a turtle (or two) plus numerous snakes and lizards. We also discovered some pencils allowing us to complete our Florida Great Hunt.

Everyone was well and truly done by now, so we swung by to pick up Mr Gnome on the way to the car. Canberra is truly blessed to have such a beautiful and interesting annual event and we all look forward to next year.

Last of the Races

Our final weekend away involved running the Australian Long Distance and the Relays, well for Andy anyway. Ella ran again in the long distance on Saturday and as I'd opted not to enter, meant that I was her shadow..yay! She is definitely improving quickly with reading the map and getting herself around. Her aim is to compete in the 'proper' M/W10 class at easter next year. Meanwhile Katy ran around the score string course a little different and slightly more confusing for the kids. Turned out more like a treasure hunt in a small area rather than reading the hand drawn map. The Victorian ladies have done a fantastic job with the string courses and should be commended for their efforts. They certainly had lots of customers over the week to keep them busy!

That afternoon we headed to Tangle Maze, located just north of Creswick. The girls had time to explore the maze answering all the questions by finding all the animals and spotting many birds. It was a nice activity to end the day.

Sunday was pack up, run and drive home day. While Andy was out on the first leg, the girls were climbing pine trees with their friends! Actually I think that was the best part about going to the orienteering - all the new interstate friends the girls made. Hopefully they will catch up again with one another in Canberra next year.

By 11am we had begun the long journey home. Cath, Eoin and Aoife weren't too far behind and eventually we were leap frogging each other along the highway. We rolled into our driveway at 8pm glad to be home.