Back to it all

Been a busy past month.  Had the boys birthdays, Aidens on the 13th, Sam’s on the 16th.  Went bushwalking near the drip on Sam Kurtz’s family farm with the bushwalking group.  There were 30 of us in all.  Had next to no chance of keeping track of everyone (a key role of group leader-that being me), managed to find the track at the start after a bit of wandering around in the scrub, fortunately for us all had a couple of locals along too who had been over the property before and knew roughly where we were heading.  Nah, I wasn’t worried, well maybe a bit.  Had a ball, took Narelle and Rob, Emily and Josh with us, Rob was kept busy with veg questions from group members.  Emily and Josh were kept busy looking after our boys.  Aiden and Sam loved having them along for the weekend.  The Barretts stayed from Fri night to Sun morning so we had a really good catch-up.  Made a James cake for Sam and Aiden for their birthday that weekend. (11th July). 

!3th July took Aiden to playgroup for his birthday, he was very happy later that night with a Percy cake, a new dumptruck and an Edward train.  Took the boys to Sydney Olympic Swimming Park on the 16th for Sam’s Birthday.  Met up with Ruby and Jasmine, Annette, Natalie and Liam.  Sam loved all but the water on the face in the water playground, the river rapid was a hit.  Aiden, Jasmine and Liam loved all the place had to offer.  Nat took a little while to warm to it all then was having a great time as well.  We all enjoyed a Mr Happy cake afterwards.  Met up there with Jeanettes Mum by chance.  Went to Homebush RFS and picked up stuff for the small farm field days RFS site.  Drove home.  Big day but heaps of fun.

Spent the next weekend doing Advance Firefighter training, Jase went to Zach’s christening in Dubbo, caught up with most of the Dubbo clan.  Zach apparently took it all in his stride. Kaz and Al are well and happy. 

Last weekend spent it devoted to the small farm field days as per usual, parents room, Jase’s work site, RFS site, entertaining kids with fire trucks, cubby smoke house, honey bees, animal nursery, waterbugs and chooks. 

Now back to normal for a while, back to preschool for Aiden, Sam is keeping me busy with his love of golf, tennis, playdough, drawing and stories.  Have pulled a muscle in my back so can’t gym it at present, that will have to wait.

Having some time out in the cold

Went to my Mum and Dad’s for the long weekend just been.  Dad’s appendix burst on Thursday/ Friday last week so was in Wagga hospital while we were there.  Saw Grandad in Hospital, Aiden didn’t like Grandad sitting up in the bed so was hiding behind Jase’s legs, he wanted Grandad to be lying down.  We helped Uncle Kev and Gran feed the sheep and keep the home fires burnin literally.  Jase drove the tractor to move round bales out to the sheep, all the tracks were boggy so the boys had fun doing a bit of sideways 4WDing.

Wed we visited Sam, Brian, and jack Kurtz on their farm.  We had a ball playing trains and walking in the creekbed.  Sam threw rocks. sticks and cow paddies into the creek and tried a few times to bury his gumboots in the poo and mud.  Brian had fun with the boys and loved running outside. Wed night I went to tea with the bushwalking group.  Am going to try to organise to walk on the land near the drip which is leased by Sam’s family until august.  There is a beautiful swimming hole and a cave where Brett Whitely did some paintings.  Am going walking there with Sam, Angela and Annette and the kids on Wed next week.

Am currently doing AF training with the RFS (all weekend).

Walking on the 6 foot track

Yesterday had the priviledge of walking part of teh 6 foot track from megalong rd crossing to the swing bridge and back.  Went with the Mudgee bushwalking group.  Took my neighbour Eunice.  Beaut day out, were planning on camping as well at the old ford reserve located nearby but the weather turned so we decided to bail out.  Had tea on the way back at the Capertee pub.  Jase took the boys to Mt Victoria to the great train weekend, they had fun looking at lots of model trains and went for a ride on the zigzag railway.

ACDC tickets

Am the proud owners of tickets to ACDC in Adelaide March next year. Had fun with the purchase, ha dboth computers going trying to log onto the website.

Gymming it

Just back from the gym, ran just over 4 k’s then went to the pub for a beer with netball mates Wendy and Louise.  Enjoying the gym about 4 times a week, feeling my energy levels have improved since joining the gym about 9 months ago.  Jase thinks its funny…

Birthday was great, went to Katoomba, bought some hiking boots as my birthday present.  We went to echo point, saw the three sisters then went around to scenic point and rode the scenic railway down and back up.  The boys and ourselves had a really nice day out as a family.  The boys loved the train, Sam didn’t want to get off.

Camping at the beach again

went over to one mile beach on the weekend, took the boys, no Jase as he had to work. Went thurs, back sun. Had a ball, lots of swimming and playing in the sand. nice caravan park, heated spa, ensuite site, right on the beach. Went with mates, Annette, Liam and Natalie, they had a ball as well. Liam split his head open, I ran over his new tip truck and destroyed it. Snorkelling was amazing.

Having a quiet time

The boys and myself are having a bit of a quiet time after a few trips away.  Easter was great, the easter bunny visited, Aiden was very excited.  Gran and Granddad and Uncle Kev visited, Aiden and Sam had a ball with them here, Gran and Granddad did some baby sitting on the Sat night, Aiden gave Grandad hell for about 20 mins trying to get out of the house and chase Mum and Dad and Uncle Kev down the street when they went to a dress up 30th birthday for Jules and Josh.

Hop this way Easter Bunny

Gearing up for the next religious holiday in a noin religious sort of way. Aiden is keen as about Easter, the Easter Bunny is coming and nothing else matters. Fav food for the boys is chocolate so they are sure to be excited come Sunday morning.
Went camping the last 2 weekends. Went to Killalea with Kerri then Goulburn River big river camp with Wendy and Louise’s families. Both times went swimming, had a ball. Went snorkelling at Killalea and saw an octopus, somethin g I had been wanting to see for a long time. Killalea was great, Kerri had a great time too. She got over her headache and had some relaxing time on the beach. Had nice camp fires and fun with the boys.
Goulburn River is a nice spot an hour north of town. Camped above the river bank, also had time for lots of swimming and playing. Caught a turtle and water bugs, Sam had fun stirring them up in the mud. Aiden to the amazement of his father caught Alderflies which Jase had never seen before in the rivers around here, he said the river’s water quality is very good. Jase as a special surprise for me burnt my foot with burning marshmallow by flicking it around when it was on fire. I also burnt my fingers trying to get it off. The wound is healing now.

Spending our nations cash

Thanks to Kevin Rudd and his generous offer to the nations cash poor population, I have been stimulating the economy.  Purchased with my hard earned cash one fine looking Toshiba Notebook 2.16 GB dual core processor, 2 GB ram, 250 GB hard drive.  I went shopping yesterday with 3 mates, Pete was  the grasshopper, Wendy, Wayne and myself the students.  In just over 2 hours between us we managed to purchase 4 laptops with bags, software, surge protectors and wireless mice, enough to keep us happy for some time to come.  Jase willingly connected and booted it up after the boys had gone to bed.  Aiden now can be on the bob the builder/Wiggles / Thomas/ websites while I pay bills/ write this/ face book etc.  Am very happy with my purchase, as well as Jase who was a bit worried about what I would come back with, I think he is pleased Pete was there for technical support (Sean in Harvey Norman was very helpful as well).  Had a great day out yesterday at playgroup open day, lots of people, play, food, a jumping castle in a relaxed atmosphere.  Lots of praise goes out to the coordinators of Mudgee playgroup. To top it all off for the boys, we went to the hospital yesterday to watch the helicopter take off.  We made it just in time to see them start it up and take off.  Aiden and Sam were very impressed.

Also this weekend Jase spent Saturday out in the scub with the RAFT fire brigade lighting up 100 ha of bush in a hazard reduction burn exercise.  He seemed have heaps of fun.  I spent a couple of hours doing fire training with the crew in the Cat 1 simulating fire overrun and MVA scenarios.

Hangin with the boys

Liam and Sam are awake and cruising around the house, sharing an apple and playing/ reading books. Liam had a 45 minute sleep but Sam has had none. They are happy but I am exhausted, not by them but by everything, can’t wait for netball and the pub tonight.