Dodging the white lines on our Sunday morning bike ride to the market

Carols in Town Park, Tuggeranong

We headed out to Carols in Town Park to meet up with some of our friends. We'd not been before in previous years, but it was clearly a big day on a lot of peoples' calendars.

It was a nice evening - loads of things for the kids to do - from pony rides to a few fairground rides and a lovely park with a nice amphitheatre.  The added bonus was that everything (apart from food) was free and the queues very short. Audrey had two pony rides and Eli two goes on the jumpy/bouncy castle.

The evening was full of Christmas spirit!

"No Audrey, you can't have one for Christmas"

the picnics surrounding the stage

National Carillon Open Day and carols

The National Carillon on Aspen Island

The National Carillon in Canberra sits on Aspen Island - a small island on Lake Burley Griffin - joined by a footbridge (named after John Douglas Gordon who played the first recital).

It was 'gifted' by the Queen to celebrate the naming of Canberra and opened by her in 1970. In many ways it's from a bygone era of sympathetic Commonwealth. It's hard to imagine Britain 'gifting' a bell tower to another country nowadays. Countries might give/sell weapons (or conversely overseas aid to pay for the affects caused by the weapons) but I can imagine quite a ruckus in Parliament if the current UK government decided to 'give' a belltower to their Australian cousins.

Anyway, 45 years ago, give they did.

The Carillon is the largest in the Southern Hemisphere and contains 55 bells. Apparently there's bigger carillons in the US (there would be wouldn't there!) but apparently the one in Canberra is particularly well regarded because there are no surrounding buildings so the noise from the bells carries quite a distance.

It's actually very unusual to be allowed into the belltower. It only opens once a year to the general public and there were only 10 short tours of 8 people so the fact that the three of us made it into the tour was quite an achievement!

While we waited for our turn we lay on the grass and spotted animals and other shapes in the clouds. It was good fun listening to the childrens' imaginative minds.

It was also really nice seeing the kid's reaction when we reached the top and saw the largest bell (none of the guides were quite sure what it was called) as Audrey and Eli hadn't seen anything like it before and Audrey was quite taken aback by the size.

Afterwards a small choir sung carols and the bell chimed Christmas tunes in unison. Audrey wanted us to stay and sing, which we did. A lovely afternoon out.

I think they were laughing at me!

the back of the keyboard (the wires connect to the bells)

Some of the 55 bells

Another day another party!

We had our annual meet up with a group of friends at Black Mountain Peninsula at the weekend. It's a lovely spot and there are good barbecue areas and plenty of space to kick a football or fly a kite.

It was a really relaxing way to spend a sunny Sunday afternoon!

Christmas ten-pin bowling party

We had a lovely Christmas bowling party with some of Audrey and Elijah's friends. The kids love bowling - unfortunately my aim was 'off' compared to our last game (for Audrey's birthday) but it was still a lot of fun.

School Christmas concert

Friday was the school Christmas concert. It's a big deal at the school with kids preparing for it for weeks and the songs being shrouded in mystery. Audrey and Eli had been sworn to secrecy about the songs they were due to sing, but as the day grew closer could not help themselves practicing during breakfast.

As the play involves every child the audience therefore extends to every parent (plus extended families) as people try and jostle for position to get a coveted 'good spot'.

Both A&E sung well and the final song (sung every year) never fails to leave a lump in the throat. It was beautiful to see the kids perform but also really sad that Amy wasn't there to see it too.

Camping trip to Merimbula

Merimbula is a little town on the South, NSW coast. It's probably a three hour drive from Canberra but the trip is well worth the effort as it's a lovely tranquil part of the world with a nice sea-sidey feel.

We headed down for a weekend of camping with some friends and their kids. Audrey was the oldest by a year and also the only girl in our whole party. Funnily she took along three of her teddies and it was the teddies that became the focal point for the boys who spent hours playing assorted games with them.

We spent Saturday playing cricket, tennis and swimming in the lovely (and empty of people) pool. As it's the end of Spring the weather was warm but a little overcast. It was actually good as the cooler temperature kept the flies and mosquitoes away. It was a lovely time and a really nice short break.

(I do admit that I forgot to pack any spare t-shirts for Eli - I did remember pants, socks etc - but the poor boy had to wear his Brumbies t-shirt throughout and it grew increasingly grubby during Friday-Sunday)

our little encampment. Ours is the green tent

LOTS of friendly parrots

The park had a number of pedal cars which provided loads of entertainment

For Audrey too!

spikey haired boys!