A boring weekend...

This weekend (at least according to the girls) was all about boring things...  As dad had started the weekend with a long to-do list, including a lot of gardening and shopping, the girls complained that they'd be absolutely bored.

First up was a visit to the local council nursery (where the council supplies 4 free plants per household per year, to encourage people to plant and grow Australian native plants).  When we got there, Claire's friend Joshua was there, together with a face painting artist.  Boring.

After doing some of the gardening (while the kids stayed inside and ate chocolate and watched a movie), we headed over to Watson's Bay to meet with Matt & Gin...Have some fish & chips at Doyles and enjoy some time on the sand!

The girls spent a lot of time exploring the beach, seeing what they could find... Claire showed off her handwriting skills...

The girls met some new friends, daughters of Nick & Nicole, Stella & Poppy and had a great time on the beach...

According to the girls... "Best day ever!"

After getting home and showered, we headed over to the airport to pick up grandad back from his long holiday...

Sunday started quite nicely, with mummy and daddy getting all the gardening done for the week.  Followed by a touch of shopping and a quick lunch.

We wrapped up the day with a trip to the library...Finally the girls have a library card, and loved borrowing the books and movies.

A long weekend at Green Patch, Jervis Bay

This weekend we packed our car and trailer and headed out to Green Patch, Jervis Bay for a long weekend camping trip with the Bastianon's.  The weather forecast as we left wasn't looking good, with a weekend of overcast and rain on call...  However, it ended up being a great weekend, with only a spattering of rain on Saturday night.

Our camping trips seem to involve a lot of kids sitting around and eating... pretty much non-stop throughout the day.

Happy campers...

Glowing Keira...

More happy campers...

Always a highlight, toaster marshmallows!

A beautiful morning... The wallaby's didn't really come up in the photo...

Some of the aquatic life in the local lagoon...

Bush walking...

The kids came across this massive burnt out trunk big enough for them to stand without ducking... Must have been a huge tree it burnt to the ground...

The kids explored the rock ledge... Sadly we came across a dead seal (which happened to be a highlight for the kids)...

Family shots...

And a group shot...

On the way home, we stopped in at Kiama for some yummy fish and chips!

Before walking all the way up the hill to the blow hole.

Another highlight!

Round 2 of the family shots...

And the group shot again... followed by the kids being a bit silly...

Bunch of Birthdays

The last few weeks seem to have gone by very quickly...  The first weekend of March was all lined up for a long weekend's camping trip.  Unfortunately we had to call it all off due to stormy weather.   So the kids helped setup our new veggie patch in the back yard... We planted tomatoes, spinach, lettuce and bok choy...  This is in addition to our existing crop of lemon, mint, basil, chilli, parsley and lemongrass.  The girls are starting to get a excited about eating our next crop!

On Wednesday night, the mum's had a school info night (and dad was in Wagga Wagga), so the kids had a night with Akira and Emika!

Another weekend came around, and it was time to celebrate Nikhil's 2nd birthday.  Nikhil's birthday is actually in December, but his mum and dad have decided to delay the celebration to allow everyone to come.  Obviously the theme was Toy Story, and Nikhil was rapt by the guest appearance by Woody!

The kids played tug-of-war... It ended up as a tie (in the girls vs boy match)...

 Happy Birthday Nikhil!

The next day we headed out to the park for Emika's birthday...

We didn't notice at first, but we figured that all the girls were on one table, and all the boys were on the mat... That is except our two girls who seem to have surrounded themselves with the boys!

Fun and games...

 Happy Birthday Emika...

Just some photos of the girls at home...

This weekend, we spent a good part of Saturday in the garden, followed by dinner with the Bastianon's...  Daddy has officially kicked off his training regime, after registering this week for the Oxfam Trailwalker in August (more to come in future posts)...

On Sunday (to make up for all the gardening) daddy and the girls headed into the Maritime Museum...  Strangely we didn't manage to get any photos while we were there, but we did enjoy a yummy burger afterwards!

 And then, to wrap up the weekend, the girls had a try at writing with traditional quills (made from cockatoo feathers from Wagga Wagga)...

The girls struggled with the quills (which didn't work quite as well as hoped, but loved the idea of writing like 'the old people'...