Baptism

 Just before Christmas on 21st Dec 2014 we had a wonderful day celebrating the Baptism of 2 dear little children into God's family. Chantelle & Jake's daughter Jaya and Laura & Steve's little man Davy. It has become a family tradition for the cousins to be baptised together.

Jaya

 Davy

 Two proud Great Grandparents with their Grandchildren..  Gwen and Old Pa (Ken)

Laura, Davy and Old Pa

November Birthdays

November is a busy month with Birthdays and off we went again to Sydney to visit the birthday girls. I caught a ride with Lou, Steve and boys from Echuca and had a wonderful time.

 A must lunch stop at the old trains at Donald. A chance for Toby and Beau to climb up and be train drivers for a short while

Relle had some wonderful activities to do while we were visiting and one of them was Rock Climbing.

 I knew we had some monkeys in the family and this proved it!!!

 La having the time of her life

 Lou was happy to show us her climbing skills

 Steve loves a challenge

 Toby got the hang of it and enjoyed himself

 Couldn't keep the smile off this little one's face. Well done Leyla!

 Our cute little bunch before we headed off to an early Xmas party at Lucho's house

On a very hot day, 46 degrees, Alara had her birthday at the Roller Skate Rink with lots of her little friends. They had a wonderful time rolling around and around the rink, and playing games. 

 Time for party food and Birthday Cake

 Later in the day we celebrated Leyla's 2nd Birthday with a beautiful swimming pool cake

 Steve was with us this year, we were able to celebrate his birthday in person. We went to "Spurs" for a wonderful birthday meal.

 Birthday Boy

On our way home they dropped mama off at Julz and Nathan's so I could help Lexie celebrate her 8th Birthday

 Lexie opening her stash of goodies.

 Singing Happy Birthday to the birthday girl.

The weather the next day was quite warm so it was a good excuse to get wet and water the lawn.

Thanks to all for a wonderful time.

Remembering Old Nana

On Thur 30th Oct we decided to do something a little different. We took Old Pa to Naracoorte to have lunch with Aunty Cathy & Ash. On the way we visited the cemetery to put some roses on Old Nana's grave and to check out all the other relatives. It was a bit of a history lesson for Will. He was facinated by all the different names. Uncle Bing came with us and we were able to help him celebrate his birthday which was on Wed.

 Old Pa, Lucy and Will  tucking into their lunch

We had a  lovely meal and enjoyed the beautiful sunshine in their outdoor area.

The Old Farm at Miga Lake

A couple of weekends ago we did a field trip with Aunty Ruby & Family to visit the old Heinrich Farm at Miga Lake (Vic).  Grandpa, Nana Heinrich, Uncle Wally & Aunty Jean ran a Dairy on the farm. It was a good day with lots of laughs and with the grand kids remembering many happy family times and gatherings as they walked around the yard and in the old house. Thanks to Aunty Ruby and her family for a wonderful & fun filled day.

 Back of the house

 The old shed. The Pine trees don't look quite so big now!

 Front of the house minus its veranda

 Aunty Ruby with an old Weekly Times (1954) they found under the lino

 Lounge room

 Joel, Merilyn, Tracey, Jayda, Ross, Charlie, Pa

Pa,Charlie & Kym reading the papers in a bedroom

 The Kitchen

 Kym, Wendy, Denise, Pa, Aunty Ruby, Merilyn, Ross

 Merilyn, Wendy, Ross, Kym, Denise,Aunty Ruby

 Mama, Pa & Aunty Ruby

 Aunty Ruby and her newest Great grandie Jayda

4 generations Joel, Merilyn, Aunty Ruby & Jayda

New Zealand

After months of planning we set off on our wonderful adventure. New Zealand here we come. We had 3 weeks of fantastic scenery, visiting lots of wonderful places and best of all having fun. We arrived in Auckland on the Tues evening and picked up our camper the next morning. Then we set off on our adventure.

 This was our little home for the next 3 weeks. Very comfy and some luxury. 

(different from our usual camping experiences!)

 Ma ma & Pa at Cape Reinga 

(northern point on the North Island)

 Pa surfing the big sand dune

 On Pa's birthday we went on the Gondola in Rotorua and 

we were able to have 7 Luge rides each. 

That took us back to our childhood days of go carts & billy carts

 At the Tamaki Maori Village Pa learnt how to do the Huka

 The Wai-O-Tapu Geiser

 The beautiful Huka Falls

 The Wellington Cable Car

 We rode the Trans Alpine Train from Christchurch to Greymouth. 

We stopped at Arthur's Pass

 Pa was in Heaven when we found and did a tour of the Chocolate Factory in Dunedin.

 We boarded the MV Sinbad to cruise Milford Sound

 It was raining while we cruised the Sound so we saw many beautiful waterfalls 

 At Queenstown we sailed across the lake to Walter Peak Station on the TSS Earnslaw Steamship

 Some Highland Cattle at the Farm

 Some Big Things (Fruit)

 Ma ma and Pa up in the snow

 In front of the Franz Josef Glacier

 Coast line near Greymouth

 

A Blow hole at Pancake Rocks

 Ma ma all rugged up to experience a snow storm at the International Antarctic Centre