Bush Walk to Square Rock

One of my cycling friends had a friend out from Germany so a few of us went for a bush walk on Friday. It was a 30 minute drive to the top of Corin, then we headed out to wall to Square Rock. About 1 hour 20 minutes each way, fairly easy walking with lovely views when we got to Square Rock. The weather was good for walking and a nice time of year as it was still quite green and there were quite a few flowers in bloom. Lovely way to spend a few hours.

Christmas Craft Activity

 Thursday night up at church we had a Christmas Activity. First up it was cookie decorating. I am not the most artistic, but had fun trying and anyone they soon got eaten when they arrived home!

  First step was to give it a cover then add stuff on, there were lots of paintbrushes and bits and pieces but all looked a bit complicated to me! This is what I managed to come up with.

Emma who was sitting next to me was much better at this decorating stuff  as you can see by the results below. It was nice to have the chance to sit around and chat.

The other activity was to make this wooden nativity scene which was not too complicated. I got instructions and made a start then finished it off the next day at home. Thought it would be a good one for little kids to be able to play with so good for Nursery and Sunbeams.

Family Dinner to Celebrate Birthdays

Simon and I both had a birthday last week, so we had a family dinner on Sunday and Bindi brought birthday cakes to celebrate. We had a lovely time catching up and the Mamouney's got to meet Lyra and Beau-Amy's Eclectus parrots.

Mia wasn't too sure about Lyra at first but survived the ordeal!

 Birthday Cakes arrived safely!

This was a Paleo Chocolate Cake

 This was the passion-fruit sponge

 Here is Lyra with her hoody on!

 She was fascinated by the beads

She even let Beau get close enough to have a look at the beads!

My Birthday

Celebrated my birthday today. Had a lovely afternoon with the family, we went to see the Waterhouse Prize Exhibition at the National Archives then had afternoon tea in the city with some yummy cakes.

Below are some of the items I got in Turkey. The bowl in the centre was a lovely hand made and painted bowl from a pottery shop in Turkey, mum and I went halves and that was my birthday present from her. It is a lovely piece and a lovely reminder of our trip.

We watched them painting similar bowls, there certainly was lot of work involved. This was a pattern inspired by the Hittites who once inhabited the region.

This was the lovely hand made card I received from Bill on the back of a beer packet! Wrapped up in the towel was a box of Haighs Truffles so I was very spoiled!

We had some lovely cakes for afternoon tea, I had a rocky road chocolate mousse cake, Bill had chocolate mousse, Amy Sacher Torte and Lachlan a pecan pie- nice to get out as a family and eat cake!

Lyra and Beau

Beau loves to fly around and land on you so here is is on my shoulder.

 Lyra on Amy's arm

 Beau trying to get through a hole he is not going to get through!

Beau seems to think my head makes a good spot to perch and Lyra watching on closely. The two birds are finally sleeping in the same cage together but still have their moments!

Dogs

Was time for Jack to get his shaggy coat clipped for summer, so first off he had to have a bath. He was not very impressed. Funny thing is when he gets hot, he will go and sit in the water bowl or in some dirty old puddle to cool down.

Luna was very interested in the proceedings

Forgot to take a photo of the dry, washed and clipped dog but he does look very handsome. Poor old Amy, Jack will not come near her now for the next few days- she is the baddy in his eyes!

12 months ago this photo would not have been possible, Luna was always trying to attack the chook (known as Dog 4). She was always trying to get in her cage and attack her, now we can let Dog 4 out and she wanders around. Luna will go right up to her at times but then sits down and lets Dog 4 do her own thing!