Fishing!

We have just come back from the best afternoon ever!


When Byron finished up work we decided to go fishing! We are lucky to have a little park just 2 minutes walk from the house with a playground, covered BBQ and picnic tables and a small jetty onto the lake- perfect to try out Gareths new fishing rod! We brought a pot of prawns and weren't very hopeful about catching anything when suddenly on Gareths second cast he landed a greatl little fish! He was so proud of himself!

We carried on and Rhiannon managed to catch a few little ones. Kel decided to gamble one of his small fish and put it on his hook as bait for a bigger fish. Sure enough his rod was straining a few minutes later but when he reeled it in he was left with the original tiddler minus a massive bite! Not to be deterred he carried on and yet again reeled in a straining line with a medium sized fish on the end. When he let it off the hook it spat up the bite off his little one- it had been the one that got away! What a great story!!!

When everyone had had a good go we went back to the communal BBQ area and cooked some kebabs then ate thick slices of home made banana bread smothered in butter! PERFECT!!!

Gareths 3rd Birthday!

Happy 3rd Birthday Gareth!

We have had a lovely start to Gareths birthday. We got up at 7am and did a big present and card opening extravaganza! Gareth got so many lovely things and was so pleased with himself as you can see here! Out of all the lovely presents he got, the biggest excitement was when he discovered the mini pack of chocolate buttons hidden in his new Thomas dressing gown pocket!





Anne and Kel joined us for breakfast and gave Gareth his first fishing rod! I can see a few boys fishing weekends sneaking onto the calendar!!!



Another great hit was the harbour playset which they have flooded the floor with! Even though it is raining it's warm so I have moved it out onto the decking and the kids are playing with it naked in the rain!!!







P.S.
Byron bought Gar a digger for his birthday, he loved it but I'm not sure where we can put it....

Mission fun day

It's Tuesday 22nd Nov and the kids have a no-uniform day today. Rhiannons class have been asked to bring in cakes and cookies to sell.



We spent ages last night mixing and baking, icing and sprinkling! When we had filled 4 plates with kid sized goodies we wrapped p everything with lots of clingfilm. I woke up at 6.30am in a sweat thinking "What if the ants have got at them" Luckily they were fine and we are just getting into the car to deliver them (8.30am)



Sian has gone ahead of us on the bus but I didn't trust Rhiannon to make it to school without dropping or eating half of the cookies!

Narrabeen Beach

Sunday was beach time again. Charles and Sue kindly suggested that we meet half way between our two houses at a beach recommended by them. Sounded good in principle, except that half way meant a 2.5 hour drive for us and a 1 hour drive for them. Do the sums...

Except for the journey and the lousy weather we had a great time...honestly! Narrabeen is one of Sydney's Northern Beaches and has a surf side and a calm lagoon which is perfect for the kids.

All the kids had a go on a mini body-board, pretending it was a surfboard and they did just brilliantly. Charles also brought a dinghy which kept the sproggs busy for ages...

We had a huge picnic feast on the beach, and instead of having a mid-afternoon snooze the kids had second wind and demanded the boat and body-board was pulled through the lagoon. After seeing Charles demonstrate how hard it is in the sea, Sian showed him how it was done properly, and try as I might I couldn't manage to get her to fall off the board. That's my girl.

Not to be undone, Rhiannon and Gareth wanted to show their boarding skills too:

Redhead Beach

Saturday morning and we decide to go to Redhead beach. Apparently this is the most perfect beach to bring kids to; calm gentle seas, no strong waves. We typed Redhead in the SatNav and started driving. It was a wonderful beach, it was sunny and the kids had their bucket and spades. Only slight problem - we ended up on the end of the beach reserved for DOG exercise! There were dogs running everywhere, left, right and centre, but we still had a fantastic day. We'll definitely go back to this beach again but make sure we go to the family end of it!


After the beach we headed on home to get ready for our first official invite to a BBQ with some families from the kids school. We were told to bring the meat to feed ourselves and the kids and some alcohol. We brought steaks, kebabs, sausages, wine and homemade cookies and muffins. Felt a bit smug on the way in with all our food until we saw what everybody else had brought! Pumpkin, rocket and feta salads, potato bakes, brie and homegrown herbs, Asian salad, homemade salsa and cases and cases of beer....the list was endless. Never mind, we'll know for next time.

Byron is home!

We Survived! 10 days and lonely nights without Mr B!
He came back this afternoon laden down with Action man, Spiderman, Bratz, Beanie kids, Hoverdisks and the obligatory perfume!!! The kids are hyper to have him home. They made him a big "Welcome home" sign for the garage door! I am on my way down to the local Dominos Pizza to collect a load of Pizzas and garlic bread! Would post more now but my stomach is crying out for nosh!!!

New Pet!!!

We have a new pet!
The kids have been nagging for a puppy since we got to Oz and after weeks of saying a very firm "NO" Rhiannon has resorted to adopting a snail! It has lived in our garage in a cardboard box for two days before escaping into the night never to be seen again! Poor Rhiannon! We are now back to the familiar coversation of: Can we have a puppy? Please! Why not? PLEASEEEEE!!!!!

Bonfire Night

Ok, so there were no fireworks here in Australia as Guy Fawkes night isn't celebrated, but we made the most of it and decided to have a pool party instead.

Charles and Sue came to visit with Ben and baby Hannah. Most of the weekend was spent around the pool with the kids having a ball and the bigger "kids" nursing sore heads.....

Saturday was overcast but we were stubborn and insisted on going in the pool regardless. Charles and Sue have been here for a year and half and are acclimatised to the heat; when the sun went down we had a bbq on the patio. They had goosebumps and had to change into long sleeves and trousers. Gina and I were determined to wear shorts and t-shirts, and want to forever at the moment!

Sunday was a real scorcher; we had bbq breakfast (bacon, eggs and muffins) and lunch was a bbq too! Check out the kebabs.