THAT kid

Today is Lucy's first day of High School.
I made mini quiches (one of her favourite things to eat) last night and there were some left over after tea. I asked if  she might like to take them in her lunchbox today.
To which she replied "Mum I'm not going to be THAT kid ... who rocks up with mini quiches in their lunch box on the first day".

 

OK good to know.

September Summation (before our trip to D Town)

September 2012 started with Fathers Day. Riley came up with a great gift idea of good quality earphones for David. David is hard to buy for so this was  a brilliant move on Bears part. Of course now David has to practically keep his uber expensive headphones locked away as the kids think they own them!





According to my iphone pics Riley and I went out to Lunch.

These are my Managers (yes it takes two to keep me under control). Bron and Brian are seriously the best bosses on earth. I am learning so much from them. Here we are about to head off to a meeting.  

 

 

 

All of a sudden it was Snipper Time! This is Lucy doing the timed pool swim to pass competency for her age group at Nippers. It wasn't pretty (she is the first to tell you her swimming 'sucks'). She has a great Nipper Coach this year and has met some really sweet nice girls, its not always the way so I am really appreciating it.

This is what happens when you ask them to smile for a first day at Nippers pic.


Riley went on a week long retreat for school. This involved hiking and camping (without tents) at the North Shore, as well as taking and carrying all his food for the week in his pack. The above pic is Dave trying to make his pack easier to carry. Bear was so amped that morning (nervous and slightly worried he was going to starve) that getting a pic of him was impossible. I think I did say ... "if you do starve or get eaten by a Dingo I wont have one last picture of you" apparently that wasn't helpful. We picked him up a week later very tired and very hungry but full of funny stories about his mates and the things 15 year old boys find funny (like the night they had to sit in the beach alone in darkness and contemplate their place in the world. Of course instead of doing that the boys made animal noises to communicate with each other on different sections of the beach-who would be a teacher?).


After dropping Riley at school at stupid o'clock for the retreat, Lucy and I killed time before school started by having a hot chocolate and contemplating our place in the world :-)


We also took her out to tea on her own and the meal was much yummier than it looks.

That was September before we packed up the circus and headed north.

(and then it was) The August Summation

August started with David getting back into the serious house renos. He put in our new  (gorgeous) front door .

Bear and I went to the plaza and thought we would try to be hipsters.

I took these pics from my office window because they made me smile. The kangaroos on campus (the Uni has lots of reserve land for the kangaroos and there is a large population of them living on campus). They mainly stay on the grass and away from the paved traffic areas. Last week I saw some really big males quite close to the brasserie (which gives me the creeps) but for the most part if people don't approach them or try to pat or feed them they are harmless.  In the winter months the roos lay around on the campus sports fields in the sun and this day a class from the high school next door had come to play soccer. The large roos were really close to the kids but neither party  seemed to worried about the other.

Joy and Dad are back in Oz for a while but in August Joy had to go back to Kiribati for work. We went up to the bay to spend some time with Dad lest he think he could enjoy his alone time whist Joy was OS.

This is one of many selfies the kids too while they were out skateboarding. The video footage is beyond hilarious.

Believe it or not the kids were super excited to go on the wave simulator.

and pose for pics in the trolley/bike/buggy thing. 

Ahhhh I have seen my future ...

You are not a Brooks male unless you are COMPETITIVE. Yes Riley really was challenging his Grandfather to a chin up competition!


There must be something in the water at the Bay ... because no where else on earth  do I feel as relaxed as when I am here. It helps that Dad lets me be the Boss :-)

Uncle Andrew also came down to the coast for a quick trip in August. We went to Dana's tavern for tea.

August ended with us bath shopping. Bath shopping is both awkward and exhausting. You HAVE to try out each bath as there are some very uncomfortable baths out there. 

There are also some very expensive ones. This baby costs more than sane people should spend on a bath!

Stay tuned for September 2012 when we go to Darwin Town yay.

The July Summation

The obvious problem with neglecting your blog is trying to remember what happened months ago. Be warned I will be making this up as I go along.

I think I took this pic as tangible poof that the kids sometimes play nicely together.

We went to Cath's for tea and realised Bear had grown about 10 centimeters!

The other thing that happened in July, was that I finally caught up with Vyc for some quality BFF time. Never under estimate the restorative  power of  a pedi with your bestie. It was beyond brill.

July is a big birthday month for us with the kids, two of their cousins, Pauline  and Tracy all celebrating birthdays in July. 

Lucy turned 

12!

Pancakes for Breaky 

Lamest Woolies bought cake eva.

As always Lucy got to pick what was for tea (I think she had San Chow Bow) and we sang happy birthday.  

A few days later Riley turned 15!

 These people are awake! (I suspect the person taking the pic wasn't). Riley is opening his gift from us ... a very sporty flash watch that he had picked out months earlier.

Making a wish after blowing out his candles.

Bear also picked his favourite tea - chicken paramagiana .

One of the reasons the kids birthday celebrations (on the day) were so low key, was that David and Riley took Lucy and  3 of her friends to the Gold Coast (Dreamworld) for the day.  This was a huge deal not only for the cost but because we had to borrow Pauline  and Brian's 7  seater  car. I opted to stay at home (I told David that this was MY birthday present for the next 5 years) but looking at the 500 pics Lucy took (most of them selfies)   a good time was had by all. Riley did mention that he wasn't keen to be stuck in a car for 2 hours with 4 girls again anytime soon... we'll see.