Moments with the girls......

Thursday, February 21, 2019

Natalie finally lost her first wobbly teeth - two at once during tap class - it was a mix of trauma (with some blood) and excitement.

Natalie and I recently found a forest of toadstools in our backyard - quite surprising as our backyard is not the most shaded and sheltered place. They were quite delicate and beautiful.

Erin working through her John Lennon glasses!

About a week ago we had a thunderstorm and we all were sitting on the upstairs balcony watching the lightening. Rory was reminiscing about when they were young, and how as soon as it started to rain the boys would set up camp on the balcony to sleep the night outside.

This must have inspired the girls - they have been sleeping on the balcony for all week now! But, it must be said, in "glamping" mode, not in "boy" mode - which is just to dump a blanket and sleeping bag onto the concrete!

Erin practising her skills!

Inspired by the monthly free Coles magazine, the girls decorated these biscuits. It was actually lots of fun (and easy) - decorated digestive biscuits.

Leave a Comment Erin, homeschooling, Natalie

Last Days of Summer

Wednesday, February 20, 2019

The weather is (slightly) cooling and on this soft, rainy day, it feels like summer has finished - but I know it will heat up again.

It is lovely having the long evenings, still warm but with a breeze and the water temperature is still welcoming. Here are a few beachy moments.

Dinner with Alban at the beach!

Some random photos

Monday, February 11, 2019

After going through the photos on various devices, here is a collection of moments.

Natalie from quite a while ago

Erin with her new mermaid tail

Circus class

Natalie discovering slot cars with homeschool group

Natalie's dance concert costume

Natalie and Callum playing a duet

Nanna and Poppy with Rory

Watermelon ice cream cake

Natalie's 1st time on lyra

Callum on Natalie's violin

Cuddling an orphaned joey, with Heidi and Evie

A very cute piglet at our local farm supply shop

Our free range animals breakfasting together

Charlie with Charlie

Love Lanes

Sunday, February 10, 2019

We went to a local street festival last night - called Love Lanes, I think, because it's held close to Valentines Day.

Lots of food and performances, the best of which is a show by Avalon Circus. As the girls now do circus classes, it was great for them to see people performing the skills they are trying to learn.

Natalie made good friends with this dog, Ruby, happily sitting with her and taking her for small walks (Natalie is very cautious around dogs, particularly big, bouncy ones, so she really enjoyed this dog's company).

The girls decorated biscuits with lots of pretty, sugary, yummy things. And of course, you have to have an ice-cream!

Fairy eggs

Little-Old-Lady

Yesterday Erin found a teeny tiny egg in the backyard. We were puzzled about where this came from, wondering which sort of bird would lay something so small. But this morning Natalie found two more, this time in a nesting box which led us to realise it HAS to be a chicken!

After a bit of googling we discovered that apparently this is possible with hens when they are beginning their laying cycle, sometimes their hormones are a bit out of whack and the egg and the yolk aren't released at the same time.

I think it is Little-Old-Lady who is laying these eggs. She is quite old (I'm thinking 9 or 10) and she has just lost her "babies" - we gave her some fertile eggs a while ago, four of which hatched but have slowly been taken by what we think are neighbourhood cats. By the way, she is a very petite bird bantam so her eggs are always small, even at the best of times.

The Murray River

Tuesday, February 5, 2019

During our recent trip to Victoria and back we (obviously) crossed the Murray River - the border between NSW and Victoria. By chance yesterday at the library I found a book tracing the course of the river from the snow to the sea.

Today I read the book to the kids over lunch. It was great as the girls had first hand experience of what the book was talking about - the moment of crossing the border, the Tom Groggin camping ground, the Man From Snowy River, trout, bogong moths, etc.

This all lead to lots of googling about Australia's megafauna.

Leave a Comment Charlie, Erin, homeschooling, Natalie

Tunisian Crochet

Monday, February 4, 2019

I have tried out tunisian crochet recently. It seems to be a cross between knitting and crochet, still using a crochet hook, but a very long one, and it's a sort of casting off and on as you go backwards and forwards across the row.

My first attempt was a bit wobbly - a dishcloth which I surrounded with conventional crochet to try and square it out a bit. And while we were away I started a new piece which I'm planning to be a cushion cover. This is a lot neater. I really like the look of this crochet style.

A road trip home

Sunday, February 3, 2019

Last week, from Monday to Friday, we took our time driving from Victoria to home. It was the first week back to school which meant everywhere was a lot less busy. It was a perfect week, just Robin and me and the girls, with a little bit of everything - camping, hotels, hot weather, rainy days and lots and lots of swimming.

First night was at Bright, a beautiful town in the mountains of Victoria. The Ovens River running through town has been set up perfectly for swimming - there is a diving board and slippery dip into the river, and rocks have been arranged down the river creating a flowing path for people to ride on floating things down the river.

Alongside the river are picnic areas, bike tracks and a water park.

From Bright we drove the scenic route through the Alpine National Park (Victoria) into the Kosciuszko National Park (NSW) to our campground at Swampy Plains River.

We stayed here two nights, such a beautiful spot. No crowds, not too many flies, river temperature wasn't too cold, Robin got some fishing in, we had a thunderstorm and the tent didn't leak - what more could you want!!

Looking out over the original site of Tallangatta - the town was moved when the Hume Dam was expanded,

Geehi Hut

Swampy Plains River at Geehi Camping Area

From here we continued north, staying a night in Canberra and visiting Questacon (the science museum) and then we had a Chinese dinner in Goulburn before making the last run for home.