Snowy weekend with cousins

We just had a fantastic weekend in the snow with the Rices.  As per usual, Jack and Josie loved hanging out with their cousins, they had a great time having toboggan races and building snowmen at Perisher.  The weather was amazing, clear blue skies and fresh powder! Amazing, as on Friday it was blizzard conditions, strong winds and zero visibility (which the Rices unfortunately experienced as they got there Friday morning!).

And it just so happened that mine and Andrews English cousins, Jonny and Gem, were also in Jindabyne (they are currently living in Sydney).  So on Saturday night we caught up with them and Gems boyfriend Mike, which is the first time in around 20 years that Andrew and I have been in the same room as our only cousins!!!  So nice to catch up.

Great weekend away.

 The boys all lining up for a toboggan race

 Josie, Lucas and the snowman

Rich and Jackson checking out Thredbo River at the bottom of Perisher mountain

More mountain biking

Jackson is very keen on his 'mountain biking' with his new balance bike at the moment.  Yesterday we spent the morning at Mandeni on the 'Log Skills Track', and then in the afternoon we checked out a single track that ended up near Dolphin Cove in Tura Beach.

 Both of the above were taken at Mandeni

At the end of their single track ride at Dolphin Cove

Lego

The postman bought a parcel from Granjen and Granglen a few days ago, inside the parcel was some lego.  Jack and Josie then set about making their new lego toy as well as some of their other lego toys too.  It was a busy morning of searching the big lego box for some random piece, but we got there in the end!

New balance bikes

I went for a mountain bike ride on Sunday morning and Rich took Jack and Josie to Tathra Skatepark. They came home with two new balance bikes that Rich bought at Tathra Beach and Bike.  They love them and are already getting pretty fast.  I took them to Pambula Skatepark then onto the old Pambula Racecourse today as they wanted to do some 'mountain biking'.

Single tracks

It was about 2 months ago and we were all sitting in Andrews backyard in Canberra, and someone (in all their infinite wisdom) suggested we enter the Scott 24 hour mountain bike race in Canberra as a mixed team of four.  To start with I thought it was some sort of joke, but everyone around me seemed pretty serious about the idea.  So before I knew it our 'team' had a name (Raceline10), matching cycling jerseys were ordered and now the race is less than 2 months away.  Eeeeeek.  So off I went this morning to get some single track practice at Mandeni.  I got lost many many times (lots of calls to Rich to try and describe where I was and get directions), and got very muddy but it was fantastic. Bring on the Scott!!!

Which way??

My little model

I got a new camera for my birthday, a fabulous Canon 5D (...thanks Dad!).   Yesterday afternoon I wanted to play around with a few of the many settings, and Josie was more than happy to model - here are some of the photos...

Happy Birthday Mummy!

I had a great birthday yesterday.  It started early with cake straight after porridge (... it was the only time we were all going to be home to light the candles and sing happy birthday!), and ended with a lovely dinner out.  37 years young!!! Argh.

Rainy day activities

We've had a couple of average weather days recently so have had the dilemma of finding some indoor activities to do.  The other day it was making and decorating gingerbread men, and today it was making pirate plate friends.

Play kitchen for Josie

Josie loves to play with the pretend kitchens. So today Rich and I made her a kitchen from a few cardboard boxes, some bottle tops, plastic plates and bowl.  Jackson contributed by drawing the picture Josie sees from her kitchen window.  Her kitchen comes complete with a stove top, oven, sink and taps,  and microwave - all the mod cons! She loves it.

Fish and Chips at Short Point

More Skate Park antics

Jacksons 'big stack' injury

Rainbow at sunset

Jumping off the jetty

Jack, Josie and I went for a bike ride around Fish Pen this morning, this included a visit to the 'pink roof' house and jetty for some 'jetty jumping'!!