Visitors to the Bush

We've had both grandparents visit us - first Grandma and Grandpa for Anzac Weekend and then Nanna and Pop for the Queen's Birthday long weekend.  

The kids were super excited to see them.  And we got to do some fun things with both.  

Unfortunately I didn't get photos with them properly. Sorry.....

We visited Rubyvale and became fossickers for the day, trying to find that elusive mega-sized sapphire! (We didn't find one...)

This is the largest underground walk-in mine, the Miner's Heritage Walk-in Mine.  It's 400-something metres long and like a rabbit warren with paths going everywhere.  It was a working mine but now makes more money from tourism!  

The next step is to buy a bag of "wash" (lots of dirt and small rocks) and then clean it, sieve it and try to find a few sparkly bits!

The Capella Show

May was the Capella Show.  We all entered items into the Pavilion (except Elliot who has no talents).  I missed getting photos of out entries.  But Lachlan entered a lego creation and baked a chocolate cake all by himself.  It was excellent!  Judging was done appearance only or I'm sure Lachlan would have won!  Hayden made a paper aeroplane, which gained 3rd place earning $1 and he also made some pikelets by himself.  Natalie entered a couple of paintings and a egg carton caterpillar, which won 2nd place earning her $2.  I entered a carrot cake, some cookies and some scrapbooking pages.  It was all a good bit of fun!

We spent a while checking out all the entries then hit some rides.

This was the boys' favourite and sure looked a lot of fun

This was a serious jumping castle and had a very cool (but rather steep) slide.  Natalie was a little apprehensive once she got to the top and realised how high up she was.  Daddy to the rescue!

We saw some cattle and show jumping and had a great time at the woodcutting but I missed photos there.
We ended the evening with some dinner and front-row seats for some spectacular fireworks.  It was a great day out and we look forward to year's show.

Natalie Lately

A little while ago Natalie got hooked on this firefighter dressup.  She dressed up and I had to call her on the phone telling her of the emergency.  She was excellent at putting out lots of fires around the neighbourhood!  Here she is rescuing a Puppy who got stuck in this tree.  

 An excellent firefighter must always be sure to never forget their pink handbag!

Our resident superhero.

We went to the high school's 30th Anniversary celebrations and enjoyed some great facepainting.  Here is Rainbow Princess (who was not at all happy about having it washed off for church the next day...)

She is fiercely independent and very strong-willed.  She is a very happy girl and pretty easy-going!  She loves the camera too.  As soon it comes out she poses and yells cheeeeese!

Big Achievement

This kid is HARD WORK, lots and lots of fun, full of beans and has bucketloads of spunk.  He is loved by everyone who meets him but he sure is emotionally exhausting at times.  This week we had a big achievement.  Today he was awarded Student of the Week on assembly for his efforts last week.  Hayden pushes the boundaries, he mostly cannot sit still and likes to move and sing and bounce and talk CONSTANTLY!!  This year he has a marvellous teacher who manages him very well and works really hard with him.  He is slowly learning to control himself.  Though to be honest I think he'll always be a fidgeter and full of energy.
Last week, his behaviour was impeccable and he did not have to go to time out once!  Each day he reported proudly about his behaviour to me.  He played down the accolades today but deep down I know he was proud of himself too!  Love you to bits Hayden!

Scouts at Capella

The boys have joined Scouts here and absolutely love it!  Last week they were both invested.  

Lachlan is a Cub Scout and has Baloo as his leader.

Hayden is a Joey Scout and his leader is Dave pictured to left in the khaki shirt.   

We don't have Faith in God out here so Scouts is kind of helping us out in that area.  Each week they come home with a goal to work on and a task to do something kind for someone.  They are a great group of kids and the leaders are really fabulous.  We sure are lucky with them.