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.

Basketball - Jack

Jack's team had a tough game yesterday. Not only did they have a strong opposition, Jack's team was down to 5 players and so there was no down time. They went down fighting.

Approaching Birthday Celebration

As the end of Feb. is looking a little congested for everyone, Adam and Kate hosted Claire's Birthday celebration a little early.  Full use was made of the pool on the warm evening and the breeze made candles a little problematic but is was a wonderful relaxed evening.

Friday Night Treat

The boys indulged in some End of the Week Icecreams.  For one reason or another Lachy always has his mouth open.

Cooper's New Gym

Cooper invited us to see his new Gym tonight and we were able to watch him train. There can be little doubt that he was having a ball under an instructor that knew how to work with the boys and hold their interest.

Cooper launched himself into each activity.

The boys were having a great time but there were a few anxious parents on the sidelines.

Cooper loved it!

The Best of Times

Sometimes it all comes together.  Brett had hosted a D&D game and we were all invited to a barbeque to top off the evening.  It was a balmy evening and Cathy and Brett had put on quite a feast so there were no complaints from the assembled company.

Melbourne occasionally gets the evenings just right and tonight was one of those nights. A wonderful family dinner.