Australia #2

THE ADVENTURES CONTINUE....

AT RIVER BEND!

After a few days enjoying the big lights of the city (Geelong), we headed home to the farm. And that's where we stayed for the rest of your vacation. 

Grandpa quickly put Howard to work. 

We found a few moments for relaxing on the beach.

The view from the back door. 

We enjoyed a beautiful sunset dinner from the Back 80 with the lovely Mr Spitty Elyjah. 

Howard spent a lot of time training the girls to search for gudgeon. 

The girls enjoyed being in the river together. 

When the river was slippery and bumpy, they helped one another out. 

In between searching for gudgeon, there was time to gather some "pond scum". 

You can never have too much algae. 

Imogen was delighted to be out in nature every day. 

Grandma and Grandpa were delighted to explore nooks of the farm with us. 

That's me and my dad. 

The view from the top! This is River Bend. 

We tried to get a family photo, but Imogen was more interested in stomping down the hill by herself. 

The uncles take the kids for a ride. 

Grandpa always shears a sheep for us. Paloma took a close look at the action with this photo. 

Imogen explored the shearing shed with Juke.

Paloma and Imogen wait for Grandpa to finish shearing the ram. 

Australia #1

The Journeyers, Back to Australia 

Loading up, buckling in,  and reading the safety features of the Airbus A380. It was one of the seemingly quickest and easiest flights we have made so far. Touch down in Melbourne 14 hours later.

The first week we spent with the Atkins. Paloma and Imogen got to hang out with and spend some wonderful times with their sweet cousins, Rachel and Archie "Rocket" (zooming around in the background)

Here we all are at Serendip Sanctuary checking out kangaroos, emus, brushtail possums, tall spike rush, tussock grass, and...

tawny frogmouths!!

We of course went to the Great Southern Ocean. All our beach attempts this trip were punctuated by overcast skies and blustery wind

Blustery winds, white cheeks and great expanses.

It did not stop us from exploring the beaches, running through the sand and...

...some of us played in the water. note: in the previous photo I am rugged up in a winter sweater.

More to follow. We will be heading to River Bend next...

Boo!

The beasts of all hallows eve....

Born from the bones of a rotting bird corpse, and from the ashes of a fallen unicorn, the spirits rise for Halloween....

Bwa ha ha haaaaaaa.....

The Bird Skeleton hits the trick or treat trail.

The Ghost Unicorn needed a little help navigating the trick or treat trail. 

Thanks for the pumpkin, Auntie Cathy!

A Ride down the Rolling Rio

A Ride down the Rolling Rio

We had been planning some sort of raft trip in May and after many iterations of location we settled on the Middle Rio Grande. The weather leading up to the trip did not consist of the usual sun parched summer days. We had weeks of rain and all of New Mexico's rivers were swollen. The Rio Grande was true to name sake. So in two cars we set out south to escape the sounds and sights of the city and to enjoy life next to the banks of a river.

The crew about to depart from the launching point, San Acacia, NM

"take your stations. Good rowing Imme!"

"What do you see out there, first mate Paloma?"

We reached our first nights camp in the early afternoon. To fill our time we, relaxed, hiked, and played in the river, particularly Semilla.

The river rolled past our beautiful camp.

So did the occasional rain cloud.

The next day we rowed on. We covered over seventeen miles with not a lot of effort, the high water pushed us along nicely. Paloma had a turn at the sculls.

That evening we camped in a very narrow and deep section of river. The sand waves crashed and the storm cells built.

While swimming and hiking options were limited we found other means to occupy our time.

day light hours passed...

...making way for the evening.

The morning brought sun...

and more water down river

And we were off for another day of adventure....

Spirit week

Every year, our preschool celebrates "Spirit Week" by encouraging the kids to dress up every day. Some days, they are asked to wear a certain colour, or wear pyjamas to school (always a hit!). Other days, the dressing up is more elaborate.

One day, we dressed as our favourite cartoon characters:

Popeye:

Butterfly: 

CRAZY HAIR DAY!!!

Having crazy hair is serious business....

"The Day After Tomorrow"