Scorching February

Summer left with a final sting a run of 5 consecutive days above 32°C in late February including a 38°C. Now I know all Perth people are probably rolling their eyes saying that's nothing compared to their consecutive 40+°C days. All I can say is at least you have the beach to cool off in.

However we discovered a little gem of a place here in Canberra to cool off at. After picking the girls up from school, we headed straight down to Lake Burley Griffin with the intention of swimming at the normal spot at Black Mountain Peninsula, however while driving down discussing this, it was suggested we venture somewhere new. Racking my mind for a great spot, I decided to try in Weston Park.

It was a risk as I wasn't sure about the swimming spots, BBQ's (I'd intended on cooking dinner there) and toilets. Anyway we arrived at a little bay on the eastern side of the peninsula, nicely shaded by the trees. I spotted a BBQ and toilets close by while the girls attention instantly zoomed in on the swimming area with two pontoons!!

Quickly everyone changed into swimmers and we headed down to explore. Amazingly we shared this beautiful bay with only a couple of other people!! The water was refreshing and we swam out to the pontoon together spending large chunk of time jumping off it. People seem to come and go with several swimming their dogs out to the other pontoon!

Eventually it was time to go back in. While playing in the shallow another dad and his two younger boys turned up with their canoe. It was like bees to honey with Ella and Katy obviously wanting to have a go. The family was very accommodating and soon the girls were paddling away.

It was finally time to cook dinner, a simple BBQ with salad and bread rolls before heading back into the water for a final swim before heading home!

I can honestly say that we had an absolutely awesome afternoon, one of the best that I can remember and it is definitely on the list of things to do next summer.

Paper thin

The European wasp nest has been removed, the wall plastered, sanded and painted again! Here is what was between us the the wasps. Yep a couple of layers of paint!! Fingers crossed that hopefully it's the first and last time we encounter them.

Bird Crazy

Recently Ella has become quiet obsessed with birds. Luckily for Ella Australia in known as the Land of Parrots, with over 56 species (from the 300 worldwide) residing here.Not sure where the interest was sparked but we now noticed birds whenever we are out!

This passion has edged it's way into school...this poem made its way into the school newsletter!

So as a treat while Andy was travelling, we made our way over to the Walk in Aviary located a short drive from our place. Privately owned, the walk in aviary houses approximately 400 birds from 50 species. On entry we were each given a tub of mealworms and tray of sliced apples to feed to any bird interested, Despite the midday warm conditions we had numerous (mostly parrots) eat from our plates except for the Golden Pheasant who was tucked up in the branches having a midday snooze! The girls even managed to convince a few to jump on their arm.

Meanwhile back at home after several nights work, we finished Ella's 1000 piece macaw jigsaw puzzle she got for christmas, Also we purchased some wild bird seed for Ella's bird feeder which had resulted in several crimson and eastern rosellas visiting our garden. They are beautiful to watch.

Not satisfied with that Ella has now begun suggesting that she is old enough to have her own bird.....what's wrong with the chickens I say!

Away, Away

After being home for the weekend, Andy is once again off overseas. This time it is a two week trip to the US. First stop - Los Alamos in New Mexico to work with a colleague who previously was at ANU. The second week was spent in New Orleans at the Ocean Sciences Conference. Sounded like hard work as you can see from the photos Andy sent to us!!

  

Meanwhile we kept up with the traditional sleepover movie night. The girls tested out the new lounge which magically transforms into a bed, well actually two and I got the prized mattress on the floor!

Let the Competition Begin!

Andy's most recent Phd student Kate, submitted her thesis and is off to Edinburgh to begin her Post Doc. As a thank you present, A fan of board games (although not chess!) Kate made this truly amazing chess set which according to her began with ocean themed creatures but morphed into others when she decided she really wanted to make a platypus! Anyway the animals are wonderfully crafted with each wrapping itself around a chess piece.

As you can imagine, it has become a very popular game in our house with Ella determined to beat Andy...which she did for the first time last night! As a result she had also declared that she is gong to join the lunch time chess club at school. So if you are visiting our place in the next few weeks watch out - you could be up for a game of chess!

 

 

Ella's First TRYathlon

Ella entered the Weet-bix TRYathlon this year and what fun did she have! Attracting over 1500 children aged between 7-13, the focus on the TRYathlon was participation with the 75m swim, 3km bike and 500m run course based around the AIS.

Ella and I got to the arena early to ensure her bike was racked in transition well before the cut off time. Although there were lots of people, the process of checking in, numbers written on, helmet checking and bike racking all went fairly smoothly. She even had time to climb a tree!



There were many familiar faces but we were especially pleased to see Aoife who had come down from Sydney for the race. The 8 year old wave was second so we had a time kill and headed off to explore the village.

Ella's cheer squad of Andy, Katy and Grandad arrived on bikes, just as the girls had gone off to their briefing. Cath, Katy and I squeezed into the pool hoping that somehow we would spot the girls amongst the few hundred yellow hats! Waves of about 10 were set off every few minutes with the children negotiating a zig zag pattern down the pool.














Eagle eyed Cath spotted the girls! Aoife swam confidently ahead of the wave even catching up the stragglers of the previous wave. Ella did well too coming out in the middle of the pack. Dashing outside, we were too late with the girls already off on the bike course.

Ella returned first with Aoife not too far behind. It was another mad dash down to the finish line but this time we made it seeing both girls come through looking hot, exhausted but happy! I'm confident we will be back next year with Katy keen to have a go too!!

 

Hanging Out with Grandad

Andy was in Melbourne for the week attending the AMOS conference where he received another award. This time it was the Priestley Medal which commemorates the life-long contributions of Dr C H B Priestley to meteorological and oceanographic research. The medal is awarded  biennial to scientists in their mid-careers for personal excellence in meteorological, oceanographic or climate research carried out substantially within Australia.

So Grandad took the opportunity to come over, again slotting nicely into our school/work routine. To prevent him from being too bored during the day, we set a handyman wish list for him. As per normal Grandad brought the Perth hot weather with him limiting outside work during the day. Despite this he did a great job managing to tick off several things on the wish list as well as the day-to-day boring stuff.





We had fun at the nut playground after school...

We all tried dragon fruit for the very first time!!

We bought 8 white cloud fish for the fish pond while getting the water tested. Results were very healthy, just waiting for the algae bloom to subside.....



And Grandad showed us his expert lawn bowling technique! We all enjoyed trying our lawn bowling skills with my work colleagues. It was a great afternoon. Ella loved having a go while Katy was more content playing with the younger kids on the playground!