Birthday Boy!!

One



Two



Three



Four



Five



Six



Seven



Eight



Nine



How quickly time goes.
Happy ninth b'day buddy....

Back to routine....

Well sort of... the kids are back at school and the work routine is back to normal... just waiting now to find out what days the kids activities are on, this year Aaron is sticking to Hockey and Dance while Regan is doing Netball and Guides again but swaping Drama for Karate......

As with everywhere, it was bloody hot here last week.... Aaron was having trouble sleeping.....




and we even had to bring Toddy inside.... he hates being in the house but he doesn't cope well with the heat anymore and I thought we might loose him .....he sat there all day Saturday looking out but knew what was good for him and didn't try to leave..



and what happens when your aircon refuses to work?????....



the new one is on its way....

We took Koda to the beach for the first time last weekend.... check out that tongue.... He has always had trouble with water, wont be washed without a struggle and is scared of the hose.... the beach is no exception... he didn't mind being wet once he got in there but there was no way he was getting wet on his own.... baby steps I suppose...








The solar pannels are on and were connected on Mon - just two days after the last reading.... it's going to be very interesting to see what our bill will be and exactly how long it will take to pay for itself.... even though there seems to be pannels everywhere you cant see any of them from the street...





how beautiful are these.... I bought them at Shop Handmade while I was in Canberra (they are made by Brenda, check out her fantastic handmade stuff here) one was for me and the other a gift to go with the Thanks card in the last post but I'm having trouble saying bye to one.... when I decide which one I like best I'll post the other off...



and lastly.. mum wanted an unconventional wedding card for some friends getting married soon... I later added their initials above the 'true'...



Till later...

Happy Australia Day!!!!!

(for yesterday)







We spent ours down at the river with my bosses and a few of their friends, despite the hot day it was really pleasant under the trees .... unfortunantly Shane had to work so it was just me and the kids ..... it was their first time swimming in the river and their first on the donuts ..... they had a ball.









now I've got to add speed boat to my list of wants...

Love the war paint ..... nothing like a waterfight on a hot day...





We got the turtles out last weekend for a bit of a wander around... DT hasn't been out on the tiles before and was a bit skittish, but very cute.... the've grown up quite a bit but still seem pretty tiny when you see them on the floor...






It's my neices b'day next month so I've made her a card from me and one from mum ...





This one is for one of my friends I stayed with over our Chrissy holidays..



Till later...

We Made It!

Three weeks and 6000 km later we're back home and totally in love with our van.
( go get a cuppa, it's a long post)

Day 1
Left Taree on the way to Dubbo very slowly and carefully and, thankfully against the traffic....



Day 2
Dubbo Zoo ... highly recomend it, we stayed all day and had a ball...



a few of our favourites...











Day 3
The first of our long stretches of nothing ....



through Cobar and our first night on the side of the road ... 122 Km outside of Broken Hill...





Day 4
Spent the morning site seeing in Broken Hill then off to a whole lot of nothing again...



Hot all the way through SA, we hit 45 deg in Port Agusta and this was taken in Whyalla , stinking hot and no way possible to sleep in the van... we made the decision to have some dinner and head on through to Coffin Bay.... Shane drove for 12hours straight and we got to mum and dad just after 11pm




Day 5 - 11
Grandma and Grandpops place.... where there was lots of fishing, beaches, pippi hunting and boating...



The eyepatch is a long story ... suffice to say Aaron shouldn't throw wet sand and then rub his eyes... it's made from toilet paper and a ocky strap...







Aarons showing us the baby fish that was still in the flatheads mouth ... lovely







we also had lots of fairy gardens, sand dune climbing and kite flying.....







Thanks heaps for a great week...



Day 12 and 13
Back from Coffin Bay to Canberra via Hay .... nothing there to see...

a bit of false advertising - there was no way any of the trees were big enough to offer shade...



The Murray is looking beautiful and very full...



The first of our two nights on the side of the road, the other one was spent behind a gravel dump (for lack of anywhere else to stay) it, again, was stinking hot and I ended up sleeping on the floor of the van with a wet towel over me... Aaron faired worse however he must of slept up against the fly wire and got bitten (through it) hundreds of times by the huge amount of mossies that terrorised us all night....



Day 14 - 16

In Canberra ... Spent the first night at an old friends place ( we arrived early and couldn't get into the caravan park) and then the next two at the Park...
Shelly and her girls joined us at the Museum, then over the next couple of days we hit the War Memorial, Parliament House, The Mint and Questacon... all of which were fantastic... It's been years since I've been to the Memorial, it really is a must, could of spent a whole day there...











We spent our last night as Shelly and Andrews dinner guests ... Regan and Katelyn have known each other since birth but only see each other every few years, all four kids got on great together...







Day 17 - 19
Headed over to Batemans Bay to catch up with Oves at work then up to Basin View for a couple of relaxing days with old friends that we don't see anywhere often enough...

as you can see we had to do a few modifications to shoehorn the old girl in.... I honestly thought a few more beers would of been injested before they took the tin snips to the guttering but obviously not....





Swimming at Hymes beach, a bit overcast but the water was just perfect...





I managed to get in a quick trip to Berry and Coolangatta winery (where Shane and I were married) before we headed home .....
I must say that the scenery between Nowra and Woolongong is the best you'll ever find, I remember passing it while on the Ship and thinking the same from the sea....
Maybe we should move again?

Day 20

Home to very happy dogs and very long grass.....uhhhhhhhh




AND OF COURSE BEFORE ALL THAT WAS CHRISTMAS

I'm a bit over typing and the pics speak for themselves.... needless to say we had yet another great Yea family Chrissy...












Thanks for sticking around till the end......