29th October

Uncle Bing celebrated his 59th Birthday with a lovely tea and cake at Laura & Steve's. Everyone loves a cake even the biggest of kids. The boys helped Uncle Bing to blow out his candles.         Happy Birthday Bing.

 It can't go unnoticed that Lou and Steve celebrate their wedding anniversary on the same day.        

12 years married. Congratulations Lou & Steve. May you have many more. 

 

Happy 59th Birthday Uncle Bing

School Holidays

During the last school holidays, Lexie and Mitchell came to the farm for a visit. It was a great time for the cousins to catch up and spend time together. We had a few action packed days with plenty of adventures and playtime.

Mama took the kids up to visit the Kaniva Puppet Shop on one of the days. They had lots of fun and laughs as they put on their Puppet Show.

 

 

 

After spending quite a bit of time in the Puppet Shop we went and had afternoon tea

 

The Kaniva Sheep are always a hit with the children. So it was stop and see if they could ride them. 

A couple of days later Mama took the troupe down to the Naracoorte Caves. We had a look at the Stick Tomato Cave, Alexandra Cave and then the top tour walk. 

 A photo opportunity with the prehistoric mammal

 

 In the Wonambi Fossil Centre

 

It was a great time spent looking through the beautiful caves and the surrounding area.

 

On Sunday we had to take the kids to Donald to meet Mum, Dad, Zettie, Pop and Nanny. It was fun having them come to stay. We had afternoon tea at the Trains before we all set off back to our respective home. Thanks for coming Lexie and Mitchell. 

Another photo opportunity with the Grandies.

Echuca Visit

We had a visit to the Echuca Heinrich's not long ago. It had been a while since our last visit. We were lucky enough to watch Lexie's last soccer game for the season, go out for lunch, enjoy the beautiful sunshine and just spend time together having fun. Was great to watch the kids and to see that their skills had improved over the season.   

 Lexie and her team mates

 

 Her medal for participating

 

 Mitch kicking the ball around with Pa and his Dad

 

And Mitch was lucky enough to get an extra medal

Jack and Pa's Birthdays

 September 1 is a special day in our family. Pa and Jack celebrate their birthdays together. Pa reached the so called retirement age of 65 and Jack is 9. Happy Birthday to you. We went to the Chinese Restaurant to help them celebrate. Jake (Jack's friend) was there to help celebrate.

All the kids tucking in to a delicious Chinese meal at Jake's family restaurant

 

 Happy Birthday to you 

 

 Jack & Pa blowing out the candles with some help from Davy

 

Everyone else gets a turn

July Holidays

Relle and the girls made their annual July Hols trip to the farm to catch up with the family. It was a special time these holidays because they were able to meet the newest member of the ever growing Altus Family,'Maddison Hope'. And our family love babies so Maddie was in for a lot of cuddles and loving.

Making themselves at home at Aunty Cath's at Kingston

 La having one of many cuddles with Maddie

 

 Just too cute

 

While here the children spent lots of time together having sleep overs, playtime, picnics and generally having lots of fun together. Relle and the girls spent a couple of days with Honor, Flynn, Greta and Luke so she will have more on her blog site.  The weekend before they went back home we ventured out to Steve & Lou's farm for some fun on the motor bikes. We left Leyla, Lucy and Rory at home to have a girls day with Aunty Kara. Simon, Jacquie, Ben & Erin joined in on the fun as well.

 

 Speedster Davy on the controls of the bike. Oh boy does he love to go fast!!!!!!

 

 Aunty Relle even got into the act. Brought back some memories

 

 Under the watchful eye of Uncle Steve

 

 Cooking lunch

Will's 7th Birthday

 On the 4th June we gathered at Matt & Kara's to celebrate Will's 7th Birthday. Lots of kids and noise made for a wonderful time together. He had a great time celebrating his birthday with his little friends and cousins. Happy Birthday Will.

Singing Happy Birthday

Will's turn 1st then everyone else gets a turn.

 

Two cuties having a chat

Master Beau turns 5

 The day has finally arrived. 28th May, Beau's 5th birthday. He was counting down the sleeps. His very talented mum made him a shearing shed cake. WOW!!!!! it was amazing.

The master piece. Love the sheep!

 

 Singing Happy Birthday with all his friends and family

 

It is Noah's turn to blow out the candles

Happy Birthday Beau

May Happenings

On Mother's Day Little Annie Lois was Baptised into God's family along with little Roy Graetz. It was a lovely service which included the children in the baptism and in a couple of songs. We had a lovely day celebrating with Laura and Steve. 

Henry with little Roy, Pastor Murray and Steve with Annie

 Annie enjoyed the holy water

 

 The proud parents

 

After all the celebrations I went with Nathan, Julz and children to Echuca to attend Lexie and Mitchell's Grandparents Day on Mon at their School. I had a wonderful time getting to know their teachers and to take a look around their school.

 

 A proud Ma ma with her grandies.

 

Thanks for the lovely couple of days.

April Birthdays

Master Davy had put in his request for a Truck Birthday cake and his talented Mum delivered! He was so excited about his birthday and was counting down the sleeps. 

Happy 3rd Birthday Davy 

Helping the crowd sing "Happy Birthday"

at his afternoon Tea party

 Time to blow out the 3 candles

 

A couple of days later Ma ma had her birthday. We had a lovely meal at Lou & Steve's and then had the all important cake. Another wonderful Lou creation!

Ma ma and Pa with those precious grandies.

Thanks for the wonderful celebration.

Pa's Hot Laps

 On the last weekend in March we went to the Mallala Raceway so Pa could have his thrill of a lifetime. He had a wonderful day doing laps around the race track and then being driven around the track by the Racing Driver. Many thanks to his amazing kids for giving him this wonderful gift.

Pa all suited up and getting ready to roll

Started out a little slow........

 

He then got the hang of it and put the pedal to the metal 

 Much faster laps around the track now. These fella's know how to drive.......

A wonderful experience. Thanks everyone.

Sydney Visit

This year our annual March trip to Relle's included some one on one time with La and Leyla. Relle and Sami took a lovely break and had a week in Fiji. So Ma ma and Pa were in their element in being chief child minders for that time. We got to do all the school stuff and the after school activities.

On the weekend before Relle left we had a trip out to Jelly Bean Pool. A very pretty place even if it was a little wet. 

Jelly Bean Pool

 

 La doing what she does best............jumping off high places

 

The following weekend we decided to take the girls up to the Blue Mountains. We discovered a wonderful Park along with thousands of other tourists. Scenic World.

 

 We took the Skyway across the valley.

 

 The girls found a waterfall and water to jump in as we took the walk around the area.

 While waiting for the tramway ride they scored a couple of dogs made from a balloon

 

 All set for the 52 degree ride to the bottom

 

Looking back down the track on one of our many rides. They loved the thrill of it.

 

 Along the walkway at the Miner's Hut.

We had a fabulous day doing all the rides and walks over and over and over.

 

The next day we ventured down to the Jenolan Caves. That was an amazing experience. Driving the road to the caves was steep and narrow and when we came around the last corner this is what we saw......

 A cave in the mountain side.

 

 We drove through it and this is what we saw..........

 

 It was like we had driven into another country. Amazing!

 

We took a tour of the Chiefley Cave.

Just some of the beautiful formations

 

Thanks La and Leyla for a wonderful weekend. We had a lot of fun.