Weekend away

We spent this past whole weekend away in Perth. As no one was in town we had to put Lucy and Bella into boarding kennels. We decided to take them to Perth and use kennels there to save rushing back to get them. Here they are having a much hated bath the day before we went.

We took Dad up with us as well. It was a long slow trip as there was an accident near Myalup so we had to backtrack to Bunbury and go up through Harvey. It was nice to go through the different towns. We dropped the dogs off and then took Dad to Steven and Kyms where he stayed. We then went over to Trinity to see Janelle. We went to an undergraduates welcoming tour and speech at UWA. Janelle and Sarah caught the bus into the city and did some shopping. We then headed up to see the Brooks family for dinner and celebrate Simone's birthday. We spent the night at the motel section of Trinity.

Janelle and Sarah had a game of tennis after breakfast while Peter and I went for a stroll down by the water and through the gardens of UWA. This time we found this great outdoor theatre.

We then headed over to the airport to pick up Nicole who had flown back from a great week in Broome. She did all the tourist things like camel riding on cable beach, visiting the crocodile and pearl farms and sunning herself on the beach. They also managed to celebrate Danika's 21st.

From the airport we went up to Guildford Grammar School where we met Dad to attend the Freemason Lodge Scholarship Presentation Afternoon. It was a nice ceremony and Janelle was presented with her cheque for $700. We then enjoyed a nice afternoon tea.

Then it was back to Trinity to take Janelle back and for the first time in a very long time we had our 3 girls riding in the car with us which was just wonderful!

We left Janelle and went over to Canningvale to pick up our 2 very excited little dogs and got back to Bunbury safe and sound around 8.30. A busy but enjoyable weekend.

Changing rooms and more golf

Today we ventured back out for another 9 holes of golf. We both did some terrible shots and only lost 3 balls between us. We also managed to do some good shots.

This is where I unfortunately spend a lot of my time although I sometimes get out on my first try.

Here Peter is retrieving my ball from the reeds thankfully it didn't go in the water!

I am not the only one who finds the bunkers!


We have been busy moving changing our rooms around with Sarah shifting into Nicoles old room and finally having Sarah's old room as an offfice come craft room. This meant moving all my sewing and scrapbooking stuff from the spare room. We also gave away the old brown desk.



Here it all is in the lounge as we had to wait a few days for new vinyl to be laid.



With a nice new floor covering we could finally put all the new office furniture in that we bought from Fullers. The room quickly filled up.

Now back to the fun part of moving all the "stuff" in. Peter has also been busy painting all the doors and frames which has given the whole place a freshen up.

Golf and painting

Today Peter and I played our first 9 holes of golf together. My friend Sue also joined us. We didn't score which was just as well considering the number of bunker shots we had! It was good fun and I have joined the Sanctuary Golf Club for 3 months so we will be playing quite a few more times. It is an extemely frustrating game!

Peter has now had 1 week of his 13 weeks long service leave. He has been busy painting our front passage way (getting rid of the outdated colours) and Nicole's old room which Sarah will move into. A new coat of paint certainly freshens the rooms up.

Tonight we went and did some shopping at Woolies. I have been reading some blogs about being more frugal and shopping on a budget. So I had my list and we did a rough estimate on what everything should cost ($150) and we came in at $130 after staff discount. I found it very hard just to buy what was on the list as I am a "grab everything" shopper but it was an interesting exercise and I think we will try and do it for a while. We also took the time to compare products and the price differences due to packaging and brands and probably saved $10 just doing that.

March happenings

Here we are half way through March already. Dad took Janelle back to uni on the 1st. She had come home with a huge list of things she needed at uni so we all rushed about getting everthing and luckily Dads car was big enough to fit it all in. Here they are with a beanbag, printer, bedside cabinet, bike, cases, laundry and various other things loaded up.

That night we went to Nicole's housewarming party. Sarah and Kasha had fun playing with their little puppy Sonic. He is so very cute!

They hired a spa for the party.

Dad came back from a few days in Perth to attend a Lodge meeting at Busselton on the 7th. He went dressed in in this red outfit.........

And came back in this black one! All we know is he has been promoted.

On Saturday the 14 we took Sarah to Perth to see Janelle's room at Trinity and have a look at UWA. Janelle signed her Medical Scholarship forms so we could finally send them off.

Sarah and I went over to UWA and she just loved the old buildings luckily I had my camera so she did a bit of a photo shoot.



The gardens and buildings make a stunning background for photos.

Emotional February

Its been a long time since I updated this blog but so much has been happening and the computer was out of action for 2 weeks due to a virus from Facebook. Sarah went back to school on the 2nd starting year 10, Janelle was nursing her swollen face from having her wisdom teeth out on 30th January and Nicole still working at C & C Settlements. Sarah turned 15 on the 5th and started her day with breakfast at Sears Cafe with her friends before school. I had to go and get her later in the morning as she was feeling very sick and had a very sore stomach. Waiting at home was Doctor Nelly to administer some treatment.
Nan and Pop came over from Busselton for the day and we spent the afternoon making cup cakes.
Happy 15th Birthday Sweetpea!

On Feb 12th Janelle and I went up tp Perth for her to finally and officially enrol in Medicine at UWA. It was a hot day and the whole process took nearly 4 hours! There were also various other things for her to join as well. We stayed with the Brooks Family that night before heading back in the morning for and interview at the Faculty of Medicine for a Rural Bonded Scholarship.

Friday February 13th was my Grandpa's 100th birthday. Although he is no longer with us he was certainly in our thoughts.

This photo with the girls was taken a year before his death in 1994 he was 85 years older than Sarah.

The day finally came for Janelle to pack for her move to Trinity College where she will be staying to study at UWA. So much had to be thought of for what she might need and we had done quite a bit of shopping.


We also had a photo shoot as I realised this could have been the last official day we all stayed together at home as Janelle was leaving the next day and I knew another big move was happening the next weekend.

On February 15th we set off to Perth with a car load of everything and lots of my tears to take Janelle to her new life in the big smoke. Ted was leaving as well!

Janelle went through the introduction process and given the keys to her room in a wing, on the third floor with a tiny balcony. We did several trips back and forth to the car along with all the other parents. We then had lunch in the dining room and listened to the welcoming speeches.
It was then time to say our goodbyes and drive home with our empty car and feeling emotionally drained while Janelle started her orientation week at Trinity.
Six days later Nicole moved out to test independent living with her friends Madison and Anthony. It was hard to watch everything going and Sarah and I spent most of the morning crying. Suddenly there was just the 3 of us left in this big house.

Janelle went ot her official day at uni for an 8am start on Monday 23rd Feb.

She came home for her 19th birthday on the 28th. She had a big list of things to buy and do but we managed to all get together to celebrate.

This is one of my favourite photos to be taken lately. We were taking some photos for Janelle's birthday and this captured the fun the girls were having. Love it!




Ahh what a month, we miss having them both around and look to forward to all the times we will catch up.