Tuesday, December 25, 2012
Monday, December 24, 2012
Christmas lights
We saw some incredible lights!
Two of these pics are amazing houses. The other two are our house. A simple Christmas tree and a Santa.
Christmas Eve
It’s Christmas Eve and we are all so excited for Christmas in this house! Today has been a busy day getting ready for Christmas.
This morning Ben helped clean out the fire place. We do this every Christmas so Santa doesn’t get too dirty.
Grandma and the boys did some dancing to Christmas music
After lunch, Mummy, Ben and Ethan made chocolate chip cookies for Santa (also a Christmas Eve tradition in our house)
Yum!! We tested them (fresh from the oven) and they were very tasty.
We put the cookies and milk on the fireplace for Santa.
And some carrot and water for the reindeer.
We put some presents under the tree. Some of these presents are from Uncle Graham (Tracie’s brother who lives in America), some from us to other family members and Ben and Ethan bought each other a present, so they put those presents under the tree too.
We are all ready for Santa!
Merry Christmas everyone!!
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
Karate
Ben and Ethan have been going to karate lessons for about 4-5 weeks. They really enjoy their lessons. This week was graduation and they got their white/green belts. Here are a few pictures from karate class.
At the start of the class the kids earn their red stripe if they complete the task from the week before. This week they had to do a nice thing for someone every day. Ethan got his stripe first. He was especially nice to his Mumma this week, and gave her a back massage for her sore back, without being asked. He just came to her and started.
Ben got his stripe for being helpful in our Christmas preparations.
Ben volunteered to demonstrate the next move to the class. (video below)
Ethan practicing self defence. Ben waiting in line for his turn
“Basics” – Left hand touches right ear, then they extend their arm and point forward, then back to the ear again. (then swap hands to the other ear) It was difficult for both boys to master this move in the beginning. They kept wanting to touch the left hand to the left ear. Apparently this is normal for kids to struggle crossing their meridian.
Ben getting his white/green belt.
Ethan getting his white/green belt
At the end of the lesson they say the ‘kids karate promise’. Sensei Liz says a few words, then the kids repeat after her…
“I promise never to use karate to show off, hurt or scare others,
I will always show self control and respect,
I will only use my skills to defend myself and to improve my life,
Camping
Last week we got back from our 6 night camping adventure. We had a fantastic time. We slept in our tent and had a powered ensuite site. It was very handy to have our own toilet and shower.
During our week we: went swimming, bike riding, fishing, boating, played in playgrounds, jumped on the jumping pillow, played mini golf, did 10pin bowling, had a steam train ride, mini train ride, horse and cart ride, ate freshly picked berries from a berry farm, went to the lighthouse relaxed and had fun.
Below are some pictured from our week
Kookaburra - there were lots of them around camp
and ducks, which Ben enjoyed feeding
Ethan playing at the playgrounds in the camp area
We even played a game of checkers.
And there was also an indoor play room. This campground was fantastic!
We spend many hours in the pool!
One morning we hired (rented) a small boat and did some fishing on the river. It was the boys first time fishing. Ben LOVED it. Ethan got bored quickly and spent most of the 2 hours eating food from our bag! He later said that he did have fun though.Sal caught the first and only fish on the boat
After our 2 hours on the boat, we had some leftover bait, so we fished off the wharf in the afternoon. We got far more bites on the wharf, and caught 3 more fish.
On our last day we visited Timber Town. It is an historical town with lots of old houses, school, blacksmith, wood turners, old fire station, old steam train and that sort of thing. The boys had never seen an historical town, and they really enjoyed it.
Our first sight was the old steam train. We got to take a ride, and it was great fun.
Ethan LOVED the old water pump at the back of a house. He could have stayed there for hours and pumped that water!
Ben checking out the chook shed
We saw a bullock train demonstration.
Ice cream to finish the day. It was such a great day.
We had a wonderful time on our camping trip. We can’t wait to go again!