Easter Hats, Cross Country... and Cross Riley

Lucas' teacher is the BEST-est! All of the teachers dressed like this today (complete with pom pom tails and white gloves). Such a lovely, nurturing and fun place to be!

Lucas' year 6 buddy helped him make this amazing creation. Then after the whole school had done their laps infront of the parents they let the little ones join in. The Principal of the school lent Riley the bunny ears.

 

He felt so special being led by his big brother and big buddy!

7th in the cross country last week... So proud of you honey!

Pretty good for not twigging the starting whistle had gone off and wearing regular school shoes.
Sorry Lucas! All the other kids were in their joggers.. you beat most of them anyway!

 Riley and his many faces.. love you little radish!

Dinosaur eggs for dinner..
.... what a treat!

From little things...

The egg hatched.. Then we put it in the garden as we found a bigger one at a friend's house (that looked like grotty bird poo, then changed colour to green - so exciting)

Nice and fat now, he's starting to get ready for his cocoon. Ends stuck on and feet lifted off.

Family night. A bit too much chocolate ice cream for Riley :o)

 Mr. Potato Riley

Officer Perryman writing me a parking ticket

 

 Family time:

 The boys made special dark chocolate treats for family time the other week. Marshmallows, dark chocolate, nuts and cornflakes are all nice on their own, but together it's super yum!
Individually we are great, but we're fantastic together!

Last week we went fishing together. Then had a massive sand digging and burying play. We buried the boys in sand and threw a few extra kids in that were hanging about. (parental permission given :o)

 

First days at school... Jan/Feb

I know! I know! These should have been THE entries of Jan and Feb. Lucas' first day at school and Riley's first day at pre-school.
It was a rough few weeks for Lucas but he's settled down very well (with only one escape) and now really loves school. Especially dance, sport, lunch, reading... ok everything!
He's really good at writing and coming along very nicely with reading too.

Lucas wears a yellow hat so that the staff can easily see him in the playground. I couldn't convince him to wear the green wide brim hat anyway!

 love the look on Riley's face in this one below. Crack up!

 

 Then lots of fun and play wrestling Gramps and climbing on 'the tortoise' for a ride around the house and under the tables.

'Till We Meet Again Grandad

My Mum's Dad passed away this month. The 21st was his funeral. I've been putting off writing this as I can't seem to find the right words.

This is my Grandad, Joseph (Joe) Hall with the love of his life, Cath. That's all I know her by, which is a shame. I still have the pair of drop earrings she gave me the last time I saw her (in the pic, I was 18/19).

He was a gruff man, took no nonsense. Straight to the point with no hesitation. Soft in the middle and a good laugh when you knew where to find it. Went to his friend's farm every morning and had a freezer full of pheasant, duck and rabbit that he'd shot himself, hung and prepared. He was a great cook, especially when it came to pastry and sweet slices. 

 He grew his own food, always had a veggie patch, even from when my Mum was young they'd have pigs, geese, chickens and the lot. Seems Andrew and I have those genes :o)

Below is Grandad with one of the last ships he made from scratch. Every detail, every length of rope.

 

I remember him telling me a story, a memory of his mother; Mondays were washing days. She had dark hair and every time she scrubbed the clothes on the washboard in the tub, a lock of hair would bounce onto her face which she would keep having to puff away. Tuesday was drying day and the clothes were hung to dry all around the fire. He loved the smell of the fresh washing. 

Grandad, having one Catholic parent and one Protestant, would take part in both marches but worship at neither church and started working in wood mill with his father when he was young.

I used to grill Grandad about his family and wish I'd have done it more. I loved hearing about his life as a young lad and the memories of his parents.
 

He told me of serving in WWII. He'd still wake in sweats and panic though he'd never tell me what about. One story he did tell me, of being separated from his platoon, he lay in a ditch hiding. He saw a truck of our soldiers being driven to the coast and the driver was hit by a sniper making the truck go off course and stop.
Grandad ran out of the ditch, pushed over the dead driver and drove the truck of soldiers to meet the boats on the French harbour of Dunkirk. I'm proud to say he had a direct hand in saving men at the 'Miracle of Dunkirk'

Farewell Grandad, you old soldier. May you be at peace as your ashes are spread at the 
top of the Wrekin and your soul set free from pain.

Give Cath my love.

x

 

"How bleak the cold of winter would be if there was no knowledge of the spring."

A pic for Auntie Lil'

Hi there,
Here's us on a visit from Amanda and Arwen. Nanny and Grandad came down to see them too as it's a long time between visits when you live 7 hours into the country!

Shoalhaven Zoo and Adventure Park

I'm not quite sure what else was adventurous enough to put 'Adventure' it in the title of the zoo.. but the Rainforest Trail was definitely one!
When I get the gut feeling to do the right thing... do it! We went through from the exit to entrance and had to climb down all the ladders instead of up. It was the best kind of exercise ever!


Just outside the entrance to the rainforest were these gorgeous trees. I can't capture what I saw with my point and click camera.

The exit.. where we started. I could hardly get through  with my back pack.

 I love the smell of the rainforest.. can't stand the bush.. but love the rainforest.

 We got totally lost! Thankfully there was someone to show us the way out.. down into the base of the mountain, through dark caves - exciting!

Then a quick pic with a friendly snake, wombat and grandparents (Farmo' - says Riley and Gramps)

 .. what happened to OH&S!?! This would never exist in Sydney zoo. Lucas was terrified

 I love the look on his face.. fear but he loves it.

Kangaroo Valley

Room to play, walk and just breathe!

 

You'll excuse my cheesy self pic, but I'm happy here! Manky hair from a rainy beach day and standing still on the veranda watching the moppy multicoloured sheep and alpacas.

Those clouds were delightful. We would start inside (at about 6am) and watch as they slowly rolled away and seemed to get stuck on the lip of the mountains in the distance.

 Resident froggies.. Steve had one called Herman when he was a kid. It would sit on the end of his pencil while he did his homework.

 Gramps was great for playtime "watch me!" 's and snuggles on the couch.

 Farmor read a new book every night!

Er... and the big potato just outside Roberson on the way home... what can I say. It was the most unimpressive thing I've ever seen. I don't think kipflers are really baking spuds..? Looks like it's been cooked on a Guy Fawkes night.

The men who've cycled everywhere together.. and back. At the Bulli Tops look out.

 

It was nice to hear the "When I was a kid, Dad and I cycled up here" and the "When Steve and Jessie were little we brought them here" memories.

Maybe we'll go back and do the same when the boys are older... maybe Christmas in July at Faulty Towers. It was full of old artifacts, furniture and chandeliers.. . A bit spooky too.

November holiday catch up part 2

At Auntie Manda's eating her yummy food - no complaints!

 We stopped at ... (forget the name) AMAZING water fall. We got right up close.

. I

 Then we drove through the snowies to get to the coast... We stopped for a slurp of the FRESHEST and PURIST water I've ever ever ever tasted, and found this little plant growing!  Took a pic and promptly pulled it out - squish! squish!

 We loved it up there. It has the briskness of Scotland. All it was missing was a "hee-lan cooo" and some heather on the hill sides. We all got springy and energetic. I have no idea what this was (below) but it was up there in Kosciusko national park.. we weren't really interested, it was just fun to play in.

 We loved Bega and couldn't seem to leave. This was our deluxe cabin in Tathra (a bit of luxury before the camping!) the boys loved the fire (all three).

 Camping out... actually I think this was the first night in Yass before we got to my brother's. Before the air beds.. before the sleep.

Horseshoe bay... somewhere! It was so beautiful. We'd attended Merimbula branch that morning and stayed here that night. The Church was an experience! Tucked behind a fish and chip shop were three rooms. When we were in sacrament meeting there were 12 adults and 7 kids including us!! So weird.

 The third generation of Perrymans camping at Pebbly beach. Even though we had really nice cooking and outdoor kitchen facilities only a few metres away, we wanted to give them the whole experience and show them how to cook on a fire.
It was a weird dinner... noodles, poached eggs, fried bacon and popcorn. The left over popcorn got tipped over and the possums screeched and fought over it that night at story time. It totally freaked poor Riley out.

 In the morning young Kangaroos were nibbling around the tents.. misty, quiet. nice.
I didn't realize we were not allowed to feed the parrots anymore so we did. The boys didn't like the scratches so they put pj's on their arms.

 Mr King Parrot.

 Jervis bay camping ground was where we met 'biccy'. We named him, played with him... and we won't mention the accidental dropping by Mum - oh the guilt!! He was fine.

 Then Jamberoo Water Park!! Boy it was expensive! We had a blast.

 

We won't mention my slight panic attack on a water slide. I remembered to breathe!