May

With the weather starting to cool it was time for our annual wood gathering. So much easier just to hook on the trailer and head to the wood yard and load up than those years of going bush and trying to find the perfect fallen tree (although it was a fun day out). We now have the added advantage of loading up the back of the Colorado as well...

 We traveled to Perth to watch Janelle receive her grant from the Masonic Lodge. She has been very fortunate to be successful with her applications for the 6 years of her studies and is very grateful for the assistance and to be recognised for her hard work...

We had some very wet days early on in May with one day breaking a 50 year daily rainfall record. This caused havoc at my work and a minor leak we have had there for years soon turned into a full on indoor water feature! ...

 With power out in 3 sections and customers unable to access certain areas we used every available tub and bin to catch water which had to be continually emptied. Overnight one of the green bins burst and caused more flooding. Thankfully most of the repairs have been done and we are back to the small ongoing leak!...

 We met Janelle in Mandurah on Mother's Day and enjoyed a lovely afternoon tea at San Churros. (unfortunately Sarah had to work)...

A lovely rainbow for our arrival back home...

 Sarah's Nathan had a terrible accident on a skateboard and broke his leg in a very complex way (Tibia bone). He had to be transferred to Perth and had to wait 11 days before they could do surgery due to the swelling. He has a long road ahead and will not be able to work for 3-6 months and will have intense physio.

In emergency before any tests or xrays

 Janelle and I had a great night out at a lovely health cafe in Cottesloe. It was a presentation by Therese Kerr (super model Miranda Kerr's Mum).  It was kept very small and intimate with only about 30 guests. Therese talked about all sorts of things but her main agenda was chemicals and what we apply to our skin. She is also promoting her new Divine range of body products which are all organic and chemical free. We were served all sorts of delicious health foods, drinks and smoothies as well...

Mini raw pizzas

We got to have a nice chat with her, she is a lovely person (can see where Miranda gets her height from) and she was very interested in Janelle's studies and her future hopes of combining food and nutrition with medicine...

We were planning on going caravaning on the long weekend but too much had been happening and we needed to be home. So we decided to go caravaning for a day, hooked on the van and went for a drive to Busselton to show Mum and Dad J the new "skirt" we had done (complete with working zips now!) and have a cuppa with them. Peter also did a few odd jobs for them and chopped some wood...

A nice day out. 

Ironman

Last year Janelle and 2 friends signed up to do the Busselton half ironman as a team. Competitors come from all over the world for this event. Erin would do the 1.9km swim leg, then Janelle would do the 90km bike ride and Cameron the 21.1 km run. It seemed so far away with plenty of time to train. But it came around very quickly and they were all concerned about achieving their stages in the allocated time frame.

Janelle had to travel down the day before and check her bike in... 

With over 3000 competitors there were so many bikes but all very well organised..

With that done it was time to enjoy a beautiful sunset...

Janelle stayed at Nan and Pops house so she wouldn't have to travel on competition day. Mother nature turned on the most perfect Autumn day for the event. The individuals started their swim at 6am and Erin was scheduled to go at 10.20am with the other teams.  The water was so calm...

Having a little warm up swim

Team Generincam

Erin did her swim in great time and Janelle took off for her 90km bike ride which was two 45km  circuits. It wasn't really a spectator friendly event as we had to wait 1.5 hours to see her flash past and try and get a photo!...

Patient spectator

We went and had a cuppa with Mum and Dad J in between laps and got back in time to see Janelle finish...

Go into the transition area and send Cameron on his way...

Janelle was a bit emotional after her ride (and relieved) she had done it in the time frame (she had to do it in 3 hours 15 mins and she did it in 3 hours 4 mins)... 

Feeling a little stiff

One way to burn off some chocolate!...

Cameron was also very pleased with himself finishing the run...

The all received a Finisher medal and a deep sense of satisfaction...

They came 80th out of the 193 (of those who finished) for mixed teams and 188th out of the 423 total teams which was a pretty good result. 

50 Years

On this day 50 Years ago two young and special people were married - our Mum and Dad...

Beautiful bride and her proud parents

Wedding party including Uncle Neil and Aunty Winnie...

Speeches with a grand microphone...

And the happy couple leaving the reception...

A wonderful day all those years ago.

April

April came and went so fast - maybe all the holidays was the reason?  Anyway we celebrated Teagan's 21st birthday. She had a "beach" theme and they transformed their front yard complete with beach sand. It was a good night...

It has become a tradition with our girls to lift the "birthday girl"...

Jean and I and our 5 girls...

Easter was later in the month this year although the eggs have been in our shop since early January. We had a family breakfast and it was still warm enough to sit outside...

I was keen to stop the easter egg hunt this year now that Sarah is 20 but NO was the answer so Easter Bunny still hid his eggs for 3 girls all in their 20's to find! It is a tradition they still want to keep!...

We bought ourselves a new portable 65 lt fridge/freezer for travelling to compliment our little one in the caravan. It was a good special and came with all sorts of accessories...

We had an unusual hot spell in mid April and the beautiful sunsets continued...

Sarah and Nathan did some fishing off the kayak, caught nothing but had fun...

Nicole has membership with Fremantle  Dockers this year and invited me to a game as her friend couldn't go. We drove to Mandurah and caught the train to Perth where we met Janelle and went out for a coffee before the game. It was on ANZAC day. There was a short service before the game and the sound of the bugle was amazing - Lest we forget...  

The Dockers played terrible and ended up losing to North Melbourne but it was still a great day out and we didn't arrive back home until midnight...