Ashy Reunion

Last Sunday in February is the day the crew from the Ashburton "Youth Group" meet up again each year.  The older members are pushing 80 so "youth" is a bit of a misnomer.  However it is always great to catch up with old friends.

Cooper Starts Training

Cooper has joined the Mitcham Tigers and his training started today. He looks the part in his training top.

A Restaurant Discovery

We met up with Ian and Wendy who were down from Queensland.  Looking for an appropriate half way house we came up with the Dumpling Kitchen in Blackburn South.  Suffice to say we will be going back there.  It was a great meal.

Claire's Birthday

Graeme and Rhondda arrived for the start of a busy few weeks with social events and camping.  It all kicked of with a celebration of Claire's birthday at Bucatinis.

Finals Evaporate for Celtics

James and his team went down fighting today.  The opposition had not been beaten all season and it soon became apparent why. They were good.

Our boys pushed hard but many of those 50% chances did not come off.  James worked hard but there were a number of skillful talls opposite and James often found himself up against Andre The Giant who had clearly kept up his practice.

It has been an exciting season with one game to go before the finals and then it all starts again.

Captain Ebony

We were excited to hear late last year that Ebony had been elected School Captain for this year.  How could the blog be complete without a photo of Ebony and her Badge of Office?

Weekend Electronics

Jack, Cooper and Lachlan had a sleepover last night.  They like the weekend pace of having a casual breakfast and then a bit of time on the tablets before the day gets underway.

Basketball - James

James and his team came to play today.  Last time they met the opposition they were down a few players and had a hard time.  Today they came out winners 48 to 24.  James was on fire!

Netball - Ebony

Ebony and her team were just back from School Camp.  Although they had a great time at Camp, they looked a little tired on court today. They still put on a good show even though the opposition was stronger on the day.

Basketball - Sophie

Sophie was on the court at 8.30 this morning taking on Whitehorse.

She threw an early goal and was instrumental in many turnovers and keeping the ball in the hands of the Vikings.

She is one of those players that keeps an absolute focus on the ball and making position.  She played a great game with her team running out winners 12 to 4.

 Great players always have great fans!

Basketball - Pat

Pat's Friday Night Team were up against an opposition that thought they had this one in the bag.  Things did not quite work out for them in what turned into a fairly aggressive game that the Vikings won by 6 points.  Players were sprawled over the court and one was carried off. Pat survived relatively unscathed with only one clash.

A Little Family History

As we continue to digitise our archives, some interesting material arises.  Today I went through the Scrapbook of Andrew Windsor, my Great grandfather.  Andrew was a bit of an artist and in fact, he was the one that drew the original Seal of the Colony of Victoria - before Victoria became a State.

He drew and painted his property at what was then, Red Hill in Dromana.

He showed the clearing the land for farming and drew sketches of the landscape.

He also sketched family and street life with the eye of a cartoonist.  For example he appeared to be no fan of government workers.

 There are many images of life on Melbourne streets in the 1860s. The images he captured are equivalent to those captured by street photographers of today.

Cooper at Gym.

Cooper continues to develop his gym. skills.  He was clearly enjoying it all as the instructor pushed him beyond his achievements of last week.

He was managing independent headstands and cartwheels along a line tonight.  He also pushed himself along on the rings and high bar.  The Olympics are calling!

Captain Patrick

Patrick has had quite a week.  He was invested as School Captain on Monday and today he won one of his races and picked up a few seconds in the swiming sports.  Quite the All Rounder.

School Assembly

We had good reason to attend School Assembly today. Patrick received his School Captain's badge and Lachlan received his Starting School Certificate.  The space was packed with proud parents and grandparents.

Partick was first up to receive his School Captain's badge from the Principal and the local Member of Parliament.

Then Lachlan collected his Certificate. He took it all in his stride.

And as usual he gave us his special photo smile for a finale!

Basketball - Pat

Patrick and his team played a strong team yesterday.  This was our first opportunity to see them this year and the team is starting to work together more than was evident last year. If sport is character building, there was a bit of that going on as the team had to wear a number of strange decisions made by the Umpire in training.  We all have to start somewhere.