Birthday Balloons

We took a trip on the lake for my birthday in the new 'GoBoat's. The kids absolutely loved it. I was lucky that my birthday coincided with the balloon festival so we sailed to a point where the balloons touched down on the water. We had a 6am start but it was a fabulous way to start the day!

Ann's beautiful foals

We took a drive out to Bungendore to see Ann's foals - Bliss and Presley - both born within a month of each other in December and January. They were lovely creatures and both the kids enjoyed meeting them. Being so young they were still quite 'skittish' but gamboled and played in the field when Ann let them out to play.

Fiona Lodge

This popped up on my facebook feed from four years ago. It's Amy and Audrey competing at Smurf Dancing. As things turned out it was to be our last holiday together as a family of four. It was a lovely place and the kids still remember the games room and the time they had with their Mum.

Fig Jam

Kathy dropped off a load of (beautiful) figs from her garden and we quickly made them into jam

Messin' about on the river

It was calm and warm on Sunday afternoon, so a group of us headed down to nearby Casuarina Sands  for a splash around. Casuarina Sands is a lovely reserve which has recently been upgraded to include a nice playground and lots of public barbecues. Each of us took bits and pieces of food/drink and we made a real collective feast.

The Murrumbidgee River meanders through the valley corridor, which ultimately leads through Canberra and Cooma. The river runs quite slowly through Casuarina and it's possible to float down on tubes from the top car park to the bottom one. It takes about 20 minutes and is quite shallow (and rocky in places) The water at the bottom car park gets deeper and has a swimming hole and a really great rope swing.

We spent a really sunny afternoon there. The rope swing was a big hit - stupidly I left my waterproof camera in the car so didn't get any shots in the water - but here's some other photos. Not bad for an Autumnal day

getting ready for the float

Lots of tubes - Audrey's is a watermelon

Watermelon helmet

Watermelon helmet

Eli on his way to school

Tennis and cricket today

Audrey's win in print

Audrey's jam win got picked up by the School newsletter. Ok, not exactly Sydney Morning Herald I grant you, but still really good.

On the first day back to school following her win, Audrey took a jar in for people to try. It led to her selling three more jars to kids in the playground. I commended her for her entrepreneurial spirit. She's now saving for a horse!