Whats been happening in February

After having some water flowing around the farm again in the last couple of years, it was brought to Pa's attention that he needed some of the existing drains cleaned out to help the water flow in and around the farm & not get stuck in the paddocks. One paddock went under water a couple of times so it was time to get the big boys in with their toys. Thanks Paul Densley you did a top job!

Paul at work with his tractor & scraper

Drain cleaned & banks gone.

All done. Now we hope that it does the job!

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Early Feb we had a lovely weekend in Echuca to look after a couple of grandies while their mum & dad went to a wedding in Bendigo. We had a wonderful time with Lexie and Mitchell. We had lots of music thanks the budding musician in Mitchell. He loves his guitar. (thanks to his Auntie Ruth) He can now have jam sessions with big sister Lexie.

Who wants to cook?.............Nah not when there is such a good spot down by the river for some Fish n chips

The cute man himself.........Mitchell

And Miss Lexie giving us a wonderful song

Pics from the Past few months!

I am not sure where the time has gone. Or maybe it is that I am getting slower and a little lazy in keeping the blog up to date. Time has just flown by. Had some wonderful times with the grandies in the past few weeks. Thanks boys for putting up with Ma ma. Toby, Jack & Will have been a delight to have & Pa has loved having his boys as his side kicks.

No birthday in this family is complete without the all important cake and candles. Any excuse for a gathering and we needed to mark Old Pa's 84th birthday. Best of all he had his favourite little people to help celebrate.

Our Big School girl.....Miss Lexie

Our ever growing family............. minus a couple of big people (Sami & Steve)

Gorgeous Miss La..............a Big Kinder Girl

More Birthdays.........Relle and Matt with their cakes thanks to younger sister Laura

Tucker time for the extended family at the beach. Thanks to Aunty Merry & Uncle Glen

Toby blowing out his candles on his magnificent train birthday cake

'ride em cowboys'..............Jacqui and Jack on Uncle Steve......at the Boxing Day get together.

Can't help but love that little man.........Ben

Feeding of the Clan at Matt & Kara's on Boxing Day

Sami enjoying the festivities and the 'rabble' on Christmas Day

Our newest little Grand daughter Leyla

La has found a good spot to spy on the neighbours

What's been Happening?

It has become a little quieter on the home front. All our visitors have gone home and we are back to being just 2. It has been busy and lots of fun since the beginning of December. Shearing, a visit to Sydney to meet Miss Leyla, Harvest, Christmas, New Year and enjoying the Grandies have kept us out of trouble. Will update the blog over the next few days with all the goings on!

A quick trip to Horsham to pick up Tyson so he could have a 'farm stay' over Christmas and a catch up with Julz, Nathan, Lexie & Mitchell.

Lexie with her early birthday cake from Ma ma & Pa

You have nearly got it Lexie, just keep blowing..............

Yummmmmmm............

Whatcha lookin at............................Will

I can go really fast...............watch me Ma ma

Any Excuse for a Family Get together

It doesn't take much of an excuse for the Altus mob to get together & what a better idea to include food with it. We ventured down to George & Liz's for a spot of lunch. Old Pa was in his element with some of his grandies & great-grandies present. All in all we had a great time together, good food & great company. Thanks for the fun time

Old Pa & Aunty Cath

6 busy little ones

Tucker time for Maddie, Hollie & Josh

Match box toys are hard to beat.......... Toby & Jaqui

Ben & Thomas

Boys & their Toys or Midlife Crisis?

One Sunday afternoon while the sun was trying to shine from behind some clouds, we had a visit from Uncle Glen & Aunty Merry in their little red car. Uncle Glen claimed that he had not taken it for a run for sooooo long & it need one.

Arriving in the beautifully restored 'Red Rocket' Datsun 2000

Aunty Merry doing the 'K-Mart catalogue pose'.
Thanks for the visit. It was really good to see you and to have a good look at the new toy!

Holidays!

With the most pressing of farm jobs done, it was now or never to make an effort in getting away for a couple of weeks. Didn't take us long to pack up the camping gear into the Cruiser & raid the pantry & freezer for some food & we were off..........................
Sydney was our first port of call. Last chance to catch up with Relle, Sami & La before the new addition arrives & before Sami & La disappeared to Turkey for a family visit.

Pa complained that his toe was hurting and he needed to see a Podiatrist! Just the excuse La needed to practice her Podiatry skills.

With Relle needing to finish her Thesis Paper & Sami working, it gave us a wonderful weekend of complete La time. She had her Grandies all to herself. AND we enjoyed it!!!!

We went off to do some bush walking and found the Wentworth Falls. La not quite sure of what the little fella is really on about.

We decided to walk back to the car park via the Undercliff walk with all the dripping water that La was trying to dodge.

La did a great job in painting her fairy plaque, complete with stickers. Will take pride of place on her bedroom wall. (hope those fridge magnets turned out OK.)

Playing pretend 'sleep over' with Pa in the cubby. (he kept annoying one young lady)

After the weekend we had to say our farewells & head north up to the Gold Coast for a conference.

This was the view from our balcony at the Vibe Hotel on the Gold Coast.

When we had finished at the Coast we ventured up to Jill & Clarrie's at Beerwah for a few days.
AND as it would happen we arrived just as they had became Grand parents again. Cassie, Dave & Jess announced the arrival of Lachlan John Hawkey.
CONGRATULATIONS!

After leaving Beerwah we ventured out to Roma to visit Paul, Deb, Thomas & Edward.
We had lots of fun with them, watching the boys do their gymnastics, playing footy, doing some gardening & playing 3D snakes & ladders.

With Uncle Leon in the mix there was fierce competition to keep Edward from winning. Lots of laughs & fun was had by us all. (only once did some one else win!!!)
When we got on the road again it was off towards Birdsville.

The famous Birdsville Pub. The weather was warmer than we had been used to, so the Beer tasted really good.

We got down to the Cooper Creek Crossing on the Birdsville track & camped the night. While there we took a boat cruise on the Cooper to view the river & its birdlife at sunset. Amazing sights.

Crossing the Cooper on the Ferry

Ma ma sitting in the MV Tom Brenan. The original punt over the Cooper Creek crossing.

Pa having a tub at the Clayton Wayside Camping site on the Birdsville track

We did a detour into the Flinders Ranges & had an overnight & day stop at Willow Springs.

Ma ma & Pa on top of the mountain

We did the Willow Springs Skytrek and ended up on Mount Caernarvon Trig Point- 920 metres.
We travelled some rugged roads, steep inclines & had some fantastic scenery. A trip well worth taking if in the area.

Birthdays!

Come 1st Sept each year and we celebrate a couple of birthdays. Jack turned 3 and Pa well he turned 50 something. (insists he is still 49!) We got together to help these two lads celebrate their birthday.
There is another special person who celebrates her birthday on the same day,
Happy Birthday Nanno Marg. Hope you had an awesome day.

The Birthday boys lighting their candles
Jack couldn't wait to test out the smarties

Birthdays are fun says Will.............by the look of his face he enjoyed the cake.


On the Sunday following their birthdays, Jack had a party with some of his little friends

Spiderman Jack, thanks to Carla

Tiger Toby

Time to blow out the candles on his Roller Cake. Dad & Mum did a good job on its design!