Family Update - July 2011

I don't have much to report this time.  It's winter now and it's been cold, wet and miserable this year.  Needless to say, there have been no camping trips recently :)

The most exciting news is a new addition to the family.  Some friends of ours went away for 4 months so we babysat their budgie, Poppy.  We loved having Poppy here with us and when it was time for her to go home again we were more than a little sad.... so we decided we were up for having a budgie of our own.  We managed to pick up a hand-reared bird about 8 weeks old.  We racked our brains for a funky name but the best we could come up with was "Blu".... so, introducing "Blu"...

We've since found out that Blu is a boy.  He is settling in rather quickly and appears to be quite a playful bird.  Now I just have to work on Megan not screaming in fright every time he flies around the room :)

"Dad, I dug a hole" - The Castle (1997)

(Quote from an Aussie film)

Dave dug this hole to put in another soak well... of course, he had that kind of "special" help only young children can provide...

Finally, I have been coaching Aiden's hockey (minkey) team on a Sunday morning.  He seems to be really enjoying it.  I am coaching and encouraging his hockey for a very selfish reason.... if I am to spend the next 10 years of my weekends watching my children play sport then I would at least prefer it to be a sport I'm interested in!

He's actually doing really well.  We found with Auskick (Aussie Rules Football) last year that he lacked any aggression and wouldn't fight for the ball.  Surprisingly he's not like that with hockey.  He gets in there and has a good go.

The blue stick coming in from the left to tackle him is mine...

 Look at the smile on his face when he gets past me!

Scrapping...

Mum and I have been scrapping up a storm again..... here are a heap of layotus where we've both used the same kit...

Sara

Another birthday celebration for Megan

Glenise

 Sara

Our new budgie, Blu

Glenise

Mum's friends in the UK... she had an absolute ball on her recent trip there

Sara

Glenise

Vicki is my awesome friend in the UK who made the effort to meet Mum and take her out for the day.  Vicki and her hubby are in the process of buying this house shown below...to say they are a little excited is an understatement

Sara

Glenise

On her trip Mum became friends with a hairdresser..... he gave her a "new do"

Sara

This photo was taken at hockey yesterday

Sara

Megan all dressed up for her "Princess Party" for her birhtday

Camping - April - Dwellingup

We can now say we've done our first ever total bush camp... no electricity, no running water, no toilets.... Ok, it may have only been for one night but at least we can say we've done it!

Dwellingup is a gorgeous spot about an hour inland from us.  A very popular spot for weekend campers and day-trippers.

Breakfast was a bit chilly...

 Our campsite

 Treasure hunting.... a very steep climb through the bush

 A moment of respite

 Where we stopped for lunch....

Camping - April - Uncle Clive's Farm

Last year we headed to my Uncle Clive's sheep farm for Easter... we had such a great time we decided to do it again this year.

We did some exploring around the area which included some dirt tracks.  We had to cross this massive puddle below.... and now we're calling it our first ever water crossing!

 Easter morning wouldn't be the same without an egg hunt... check out the look of delight on both their faces.  Luckily Aiden wrote a letter to the Easter Bunny before we left home explaining where we were so he'd know where to deliver the eggs.

 There's a hill at the back of Clive's property... it has heaps of beautiful big gum trees.  A few months back they had some crazy, wild weather come through and these monster trees were simply blown over...

 On top of the hill looking back down over Clive's farm.  Note the complete absence of any grass or anything green...  Clive reckons in the 17 years he's been there he's never seen it so dry.

 Kids being kids...

First lost tooth!

Yep, we had to endure a month of Aiden showing us his freaky loose tooth that bent every which way.... until it finally fell out.

Oma & Opa & Golf!

Hank & Vicki came for a visit back in May.  On one of our day trips we headed up to Wanneroo to the Botanical Gardens Mini Golf.  It was a beautiful setting for a fun day of golf. 

I have actually scrapped a few of the photos taken that day...

(If you want a closer look just click on the picture to open it up in a larger view)

Camping - June - Yanchep

We recently did a camping trip up to Yanchep (it's less than hour north of Perth).  It was a bit chilly at night but we managed with lots of layers of clothing and blankets.  The days were perfect...

On yet another treasure hunt.... we were trekking to that hill in the background behind Aiden.

 The view from the top of the hill.... by the time we got there we all had multiple scratches and scrapes up our legs from the parrot bush and other spiky plants we waded through.  Oh, I should mention that everyone EXCEPT Megan had scratched legs... she seems to think that Dad is her personal carrier... he is such a pushover and piggybacks her through the scrub, up the hills, over rocks...

 This was pretty cool, I've never seen a beehive in the wild before

 One of our best treasure hunts EVER!  We followed some GPS coordinates to park up at the side of a busy road then trekked through some more hideous bush to find "Dave's Cave".  The photo below is the entrance... down behind Dave there was a little metre by metre hole we crawled through to emerge into a gorgeous cavern complete with stalactites and stalagmites.  Of course, the photos don't come anywhere near to doing it justice so I haven't shown any here.

This is why we love our treasure hunting so much, you discover these unsign-posted locations that are worth all the effort!

 We spent a day 4 wheel driving along the beach tracks between Yanchep and Two Rocks.... so much fun!

Dave letting down the tyres ready for our adventure

 Other 4 wheel drives on the tracks

 Over looking the river mouth at Guilderton.... the most likely location of our next camping trip

Megan's Birthday - Part I

We had a special "Princesses Afternoon Tea" for Megan's 4th birthday.  She invited three friends from school and they all donned their prettiest dresses... on arrival, they oohed and aahed over each other's dresses then got down to the serious business of play.... I'm pretty sure they all had a fabulous time :)

A table setting fit for a Princess

 Needless to say, Megan had a ball...

Megan's Birthday - Part II

This is the morning of Megan's actual birthday (it seems our birthday celebrations go on for days!)

The obligatory family photo

She had picked out this Barbie herself when we were at the shops

Of course, Aiden wasn't left out.... he'd been eyeing off this big barrel of army men for months

This is the present from Oma & Opa