Aussie Day weekend

We didn't get up to much this Australia Day and didn't even make it to the fireworks in town just watched a few over the back fence. We did enjoy a tiny pavlova courtesy of the farmers market... 

 Nicole and Daniel hosted a party in their backyard...

Little Sonic off to get some ice

They made a massive slippery slideon the back lawn and spent the day mucking about on that, drinking and listening to the Triple J top 100... 

 Next day they went camping at Glen Mervyn Dam near Collie

Photo taken using a wide angle lense

 They all had fun wake boarding and going on the biscuit...

Nicole and Kelsie

Boys will be boys!

We shifted Janelle over to her new house for the year in Busselton. She was very happy and looking forward to cooking up a storm in the kitchen...

 Sarah went to Perth with Georgia and Amelia and had a great day at the Big Day Out concert...

This and That

I have had my new gym membership for about a month now and I am pleased to be able to say I have been attending pump classes on a fairly regular basis - hopefully some well hidden muscles might start emerging soon!

Nicole and I  looking like the girl in the background

 My Crepe Myrtle shrub had a beautiful spread of flowers this summer...

My top loader washing machine decided to flood the laundry and as it hasn't been working properly for a while it was time to be replaced. After much discussion and studying I opted for a change and went for a front loader - can't say I love it but it's doing the job...

 Nicole bought herself a new years present - a sport watch to keep track of heart rate etc while exercising...

 Janelle went and had her hair cut and layered for a new start to the year. She has been experimenting with the dehydrater and was very happy to make her first raw pizza...

She also went on a 3 day juice cleanse. At times it wasn't easy and coupled with the hunger and tiredness she nearly gave in a few times. However Sarah googled some interesting juice recipes which they made and she got back on track and completed  the 3 days and felt nice and cleansed afterwards...

We ventured out in the kayak again to the canals at Pelican Point. It was a lovely calm (and hot) day...

 We fitted all 3 of us in quite comfortably...

 Pulled in for a change of paddlers...

 Janelle had a week in Perth as part of her orientation for her year in Busselton.  Her and Emma went to a Salsa dance lesson which they both loved...

Janelle and partner

Esperance

With Janelle finished work at the Pharmacy and a few days free we took the long drive down to Esperance with Lucy and Bella. It took us 8 hours which included a catchup with Wayne and Sue in Lake Grace. No roadhouse food for us - instead homemade green smoothie!...

 On our first morning we went for a drive down town and were very pleased to find a mobile juice and smoothie van parked on the foreshore - how could we resist....

One must always climb the fish at the park near the tea rooms...

 We also found a small health shop in the Museum village...

 It was very hot while we were in Esperance and after the long drive we were both tired so a Nanna nap was required. We then went out to see the replica of the original Stonehenge in England that has been built in Esperance...

 Having recently been to the one in England it was good to see what it would have looked like all those hundreds of years ago...

 Next morning we went to the Museum village markets. It was very hot and humid but we found a few things to buy to support the locals and Janelle found herself a nice dress...

 We then went to the new Dome. This was a little strange for me as the building was once the Commonwealth Bank where I worked for 8 years and has many special memories...

Although it now bears no resemblance to how it was as a bank, I was very excited to be able to go upstairs to the toilet which hasn't changed! It is over 24 years since I last walked up these stairs when I was pregnant with Nicole - very much a time warp moment!...

We sat and enjoyed a drink in roughly the same spot as I was a teller long ago...

 Later that day (after another Nanna nap) we took the dogs down to West Beach. It was lovely without the wind and the dogs had a great time...

Yoga on West Beach

 That evening we went down to Rodney and Julies for dinner. Janelle enjoyed some cousin time...

 And chef Julie made a delicious meal...

 And Pop got dressed up with some "stuff" from our cleanout...

The next day Janelle and I did a bit of shopping and a few jobs with Dad. Then we had afternoon tea with Lisa and Toby as they had made us a chocolate cake...

 Janelle and I walked up to Rotary lookout and enjoyed beautiful sun rays...

Then after dinner we took the dogs for a walk along the foreshore and out the jetty...

Time for the long trip home but not without a stop at the juice van to get our supplies for the road... 

Only 7.5 hours to get home as it was too hot to stop long anywhere along the way!

Happenings

 This summer break Janelle has immersed herself into the world of raw food. She started a blog, tried many different recipes and read as much as she could. With all her growing knowledge she decided to take it one step further and purchased a dehydrater...

First experiment was dried apples which were very yummy and soon gobbled up!...

We got her a sprout growing container for Christmas and after a few days we were enjoying fresh alalpha sprouts...

 On new years day Janelle invited Lexi to dinner and Sarah and Janelle made up a lovely antipasto style dinner - predominately raw...

 We finally got the girls together to have a clean out of their hoarded boxes of junk. All sorts of funny letters and bits and pieces were found. They all had a good laugh...

And we managed to get them to part with a bit of "stuff".