Friday Visit

Cooper and Lachlan came to visit today.  It was a low key affair playing with the dinosaur collection, cars and blocks, watching videos on dinosaurs. playing make believe dinosaurs.  Can you pick the underlying interest? 

After lunch treat was a "lolly rope".  Jack came after school to check on the quality of the supervision.

Sophie's Concert

We were invited to see Sophie's End of Year Concert at her kinder today. They had been practicing hard to put on a good show for all the parents and friends who came.

Sophie sang and danced for us and we all enjoyed it very much. Thanks Sophie!

Beautiful Beechworth

We are back from another sensational weekend in Beechworth and the fabulous "Albertines" B&B. Following a leisurely lunch at Euroa, we arrived around 3.00 and then managed to de-stress even further with wine and cheese provided by our genial hosts Owen and Judi.

We set up in our room and after some lazing around walked down to one of the local hotels for dinner.

Breakfast was magnificent and ensured a slow and relaxed approach to the rest of the day.

 We visited Pennyweight Winery adding some white and some fortified wine to our collection.

A wander around the shops of Yakandandah preceded a lunch of wood fired pizza at the Watchbox winery.

Beechworth is full of eateries and so it was another great meal at night. 

After a slow start on Sunday and a wander around the grounds of Albertines, we drove to Nagambie for lunch and then back home.
Beechworth is a place with plenty to do and plenty of interesting locations. If you are looking for accommodation in the area, Albertines cannot be beaten.

Click here for a slideshow of photos from the weekend.

Murrindindi Camp

It was decided that the weekend camp should be in the Murrindindi Reserve in the Tallarook State Forest.  Justin called in sick at the last minute so five of us piled into the Ute and headed off.  On arrival, we set up the camp and then headed off on the tracks to find some firewood.

One of the party (who shall remain nameless but who's initials are Adam) has an obsession with firewood so we got back to camp with plenty.

Then the junior members of the team wanted to check the river next to the camp to see if the fish were biting.  Unfortunately the fish declined all offers of a feed.

The fishermen were under tight supervision.

So it was back to camp to organise the fire and cook dinner as well as lots of marshmellows.

 The fire lasted overnight and resulted in a delicious bacon and eggs breakfast.

Parick Has a Win

Patrick's team had a close fought game on Saturday pulling off a win with a goal in the last few minutes of the game. Pat played a great game.

He shot a goal in the first half and converted a penalty in the second half.

His fans are very proud of him.

In Search of a Campsite

We went looking for a campsite for a weekend adventure with the boys (currently, the girls have declined with thanks!).  We found an interesting spot near Woods Point called the Comet Flat Campsite.

As a basic campsite it ticked all the boxes, tracks to explore, next to a creek, fireplace and easy to put up tents.  There were a few creek crossings to get there but it looks good.

Despite being a good campsite, this one will have to be held in reserve as it took about 3 hours to get there.  It is a good location for 2 night adventure.  Back to square one.

Grandma Battles On

Grandma has not been well lately with a cold and severe cough.  However she battles on and continues to present a positive face to the world.

Sophie's Fairy Party

To mark Sophie's fifth birthday, she decided that a Fairy Party with her friends would be in order.

 It turned out to be a beautiful day and her fairy friends all arrived.  Once the Fairy Godmother arrived the party really kicked off.

There were magic tricks, fairy letters, face painting and lots of fairy dust that kept the girls enthralled.

There was even a fairy cake.

Sophie had a wonderful day.

They Did It Again!

James team played again on Saturday but this time they had been moved up a whole Grade.  So now they were playing against established teams.  They won AGAIN!

They are great to watch because they all seem to play so well as a team and their domination of the match showed on the final scoreboard.

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 The end of match smile says it all!

New Van Ordered

Well - we have finally sorted out the van we want for our future touring needs.  We decided on a small Trakmaster van (13 foot 6 inches - for some reason vans are still measured in the old money!).
It will look something like this.

These are off road caravans that are hand built to the customer specification so we we have set out the interior as we want it and it will take about 6 months to complete.

We will have some flexibility with the design until the interior is being built.  Once finished we should have the capacity to be "off the grid" for a considerable period of time as it will incorporate solar power, diesel heating, hot and cold water systems, shower, water filtration etc

Patrick and Sophie's Party

On Sunday, the family gathered to celebrate the birthdays of Patrick and Sophie.

Both of the central characters had successful afternoons as far as acquisitions were concerned.

The weather was perfect for a lazy afternoon sitting in the shade with a cooling breeze.  Sophie made sure that Pa was up to speed with current events.

Granny's Gallery Upgrade

Patrick and Sophie have just had their birthdays necessitating new photos for Granny's Gallery. These are the chosen images.
Patrick turns eight.

And Sophie turns five.