Pool Underway

The area beside the house where the pool is going to go before the hole is dug the next day.

Collage of the days happenings over the week: (clockwise) boys watching the digger arrive; digger making the first dig; Lochie's drawing of the Pool going in at our house; both boys on the digger; boys in the sandpit role playing what was happening by digging their own pool with their toy digger and taking it away in their toy truck; digger loading up the truck with the dirt from the pool; end of day one with gravel at the bottom; steel and pipes now in place by day three ready for concrete; concrete going in on day four.

The pool at the end of day 5. It now sits for 4 weeks letting the concrete set completely before the next phase starts.

When we were looking for a new home, one of the inclusions we had planned on was a pool. Well we found the right house but it didn't have the pool so we decided to put one in after we moved in. This is the biggest project we have ever undertaken and we were a bit nervous (well I was) but now it's underway we are very excited and we all can't wait to have our first swim hopefully by the next school holidays.

Zach turns 4

Birthday Boy opening his presents on the morning of his birthday and his Pirate Birthday Cake. He was very happy to finally get some Lego for himself after always having to ask Lochie to play with his.

Zach getting ready to blow out his candles with Lochie and his cousins Luca, Finn and Greta on hand to help him.

Opening his present sent to him from Germany. He was so excited to see it was a plane as he has taken a real interest into planes and helicopters of late. Thank you Rostalski Family once again for your most generous present that you sent over.

Zach finally turned four. It seemed like a long time coming as he has been talking about it for ages and has been asking when it will be his Birthday. This is because we had said that when he turned 4 that he could get some lego for his Birthday and he really wanted it as he loves playing with Lochie's lego much to Lochie's dismay as he sometimes breaks Lochie's lego just after he has made something. We had a lovely day with morning tea with Jason's family coming over to help celebrate and Zach chosing a special dinner for that night as well.

Fun at Home

Lauren, Ellen & Olivia outside and enjoying the sunshine.

The kids rolling down the grass at the side of our house. I remember doing this when I was young but definitely not in my own backyard - how cool is that.

My two beautiful boys actually sitting nicely and still enough for a photo together.

One morning we were just at home and Lochie had shown me earlier how he could roll down the grass hill at the side of our house. Well soon enough all the kids were out and everyone was having a go. So much fun and laughter.

School Holiday Fun

On the bus.

Kids having a look at one of the displays at the Museum.

Zach and Lochie the scary dinosaurs well actually pretty happy looking dinosaurs really

Lochie and Zach's surrealist sculptures that they made at the Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) and then we emailed home to us. Very clever indeed using just every day items as art.

My sister Ros and her three girls came down from Toowoomba over the holidays to warm up and spend a bit of time with us so we decided to head in town on the bus and go to the Museum and GOMA which we have been promising them to do on previous holidays but haven't had a chance to do or you know - brisbane floods! - yes that was when we had last planned to go. Anyway we had a great day and even got to see a dance display by some Torres Strait Islander people which was great and the girls even went down and had a go at the dancing - not my boys though. We all slept well that night.

School Sports Day 2011

Lochie's Team Joyner all ready to go for the day after their march past the crowd of parent supporters.

Lochie competing in one of the many sporting tabloid events they had to compete in at the beginning of the day.

At the starting point for his running race. Hands at the ready in racing stance.

At home at the end of the day proud as punch with his ribbon for coming second in his race. His team also came first overall so that was very exciting as well.

Dreamworld

Lochie having his turn driving the vintage cars - he took it very seriously - lets hope he does that when he goes for his real licence when he's older.

Lochie pretending to put his head in the crocodile's mouth.

Zach preferred to just hop on it's back instead.

Lochie has turned into my rollercoaster buddy - that's uss on the left of the photo.

On the chain swing ride - he didn't want to go on by himself but I actually enjoyed it.

Zach having his turn driving the vintage car. He took a bit of reassuring that I wouldn't let him crash it and he would be fine to drive it.

Last year we decided to buy an Annual Pass to Dreamworld and Whitewater world. Of course at the time we did not plan on moving house during this time and with weekends always seemingly being busy the first time we got to use the pass was at the end of June. Luckily when I bought it we actually got a bonus month free and have until the end of July to use it so we need to go at least once more to get our moneys worth but I'm sure the boys won't mind as they had a great day and so did we.

Fun in the Sun

One weekend recently Ros and Greg were down for the weekend from Toowoomba and since it was such a lovely sunny day and we all hadn't been down to the local beachfront for a while we decided to pack some sandwiches and head down for a play. The kids had great time playing by the water but as time went on they got closer and closer to the water as you can see from the
photo below.


Of course this was the only day I hadn't packed any togs or spare clothes so luckily my lovely friend Belinda lives close by and she was home and has two boys about the same age as my two so after a quick trip to her place everyone was dry again.

Radio, Helicopter and TV all in one day!

All the kids from Lochie's School getting into formation ready for the Helicopter to take the photo for that night's TV news.

The Helicopter getting ready to land.

The breakfast crew from 96.5 radio station (including Romeo the radio dog) with John the Weather Man from Channel 7 news

Nanna and Zach walking out to have a closer look at the Helicopter.

Zach standing next to the Helicopter - he was so excited as he has taken a real interest in planes and helicopters of late.

Recently Lochie's school was visited by the Radio station we listen to 96.5 and also the channel 7 Helicopter. It was a very exciting morning and we then got to see the school on the news that night and try and pick out where Lochie's class might have been standing. It was freezing cold that morning but a lot of fun so it was worth it.

Come on Roary!

Big Chris up on Stage singing.

Roary the Racing Car getting a wash by Big Chris and his two helpers.

Recently our Playgroup went to Toombul Shopping Centre to watch the Roary the Racing Car stage show. Zach enjoys watching this show on TV at home so to see Big Chris and Roary up close was a bit overwhelming and although he enjoyed the show and wanted more of it when it ended, I tried to get him to have a photo with Roary afterwards but he didn't want that at all.

Out with the old and in with the New

The old letterbox - I think you can see pretty clearly why we wanted to replace it.

The workers in action.

Damo the builder with his new creation.

When we moved into our new home, one thing we couldn't get over was why it had such a rusty old Letterbox and we decided that it would be replaced at some point. My Mum and Dad gave us some money as a housewarming gift to buy and new letterbox and Jason's friend Jody at his work offered for her husband Damo to come any build us a new letterbox as he had just built his own and done a grea job which we had seen. We said come on over and as you can see from the last picture the new letterbox is definitely an improvement on the old one.

Digger Weekend

The boys all set up in a prime watching seat to see the bobcat and digger in action.

The view of the action from behind.

Once the action did slow down a bit Lochie was very enthusiastic to help Uncle Greg with his work and Uncle Greg didn't mind one bit.

Lochie giving the thumbs up that a little hard work can be fun sometimes.

Lochie in the digger - first time and very excited that he was allowed.

And then of course the Bobcat which also was 'pretty cool'.

My sister Ros had a Digger and Bobcat come and build a retaining wall for them on a weekend and invited us up as she knows how much my boys love diggers so we headed up Friday afternoon so we would be there when they arrived early on Saturday morning. As expected the boys loved it, especially the Bobcat which moved around very fast. Since we are building a pool soon they are looking forward to having a Digger at our own house.