Nanny Cam.

   
      

Mad.

Ty got his school pictures this week.  He looks so handsome and grown up.  As soon as Jay posted the picture on Facebook, several people said he looks like Alfred E Neuman from Mad Magazine.  This side by side picture that my sister, Sundie, made is pretty shocking.  The freckles, the smile, the clothes, the hair, the ears…  Adorable.

   
 

Disco.

In a couple weeks, Ty gets to have a disco at school.  Awards go to Best Dressed and Best Dancer.  He will be rocking his suit.  To prepare, we thought we should see how one of the world’s best dancers moves.  Queue Michael Jackson You Tube videos.  I haven’t ever really sat down and watched MJ videos – they really are impressive.  Lily and Ty were glued to the iPad.  Ty has to work on his moves… 

 

Cowboy Jeans Day.

The first Friday of every month is Jeans Day at the office.  Recently my department has started a little joke about line dancing in our aisle when we have a win during the day.  So we decided that it would be most appropriate for us to all wear our cowboy clothes for the next jeans day. Everyone joined in the fun.  Three of us wore acubras – one lady even brought in her bull whips.  Hilarious and awesome.  Such a fun group of people! 

Ye Ol’ Barn.

I think I have posted pictures before of the old barn on the farm I grew up on. It is nearing the end of its days.  Steven has said every spring for the past 5 years “this is the summer that we are going to bury the barn.”  But he hasn’t done it yet.  I think it is because he can’t bear the thought of losing it.  It is the first thing I see when I turn down the gravel road and get close to home, sitting high on top of the hill.  I have helped cows give birth in that old barn.  I have brushed countless calves, attempting to halfway break them to lead before the county fair.  I have stacked a bazillion bales of hay in this barn.  God.  The heat.  The dust.  The itchiness.  The cute boys that were hired to help.  (I love my husband). The  disgusting wolf spiders that made the barn their home, but as much as I hate spiders they wouldn’t keep me from my hoop.  Oh, my basketball hoop.  I practically lived in the hay mount of the old barn.  I risked my life walking over a floor of straw and 100 year old chicken wire to retrieve a basketball.  I would dangle my heels off the edge so that I could practice my free throws.  I perfected what I will always call “the barn shot” which was as far back as I could go when there wasn’t hay for a floor.  The only time I could practice 3 pointers was when the rest of the barn was stacked with hay.  I was out there in the scorching heat, the freezing cold (wearing gloves with no fingertips), first thing in the morning, last thing at night.  Whenever I was home with no homework to do, you could find me in the barn.  *sigh*. Some might call it obsessive.  I guess we all have a little OCD in us…

As you can tell by the photos, there isn’t much hoop shooting going on in the barn these days.  I probably wouldn’t let Ty or Lily go inside for fear that those bowing boards would finally snap with them inside.  So it is certainly time for it to go.  The memories will never fade. 

   

Here are some more pictures of the beautiful place I call home.  Living on the Gold Coast of Australia is about as different from my life as a kid as it is far away.  This experience makes me appreciate even more how lucky I was.  Missing home a bit, if you can’t tell…

   
   

Floods.

On Friday, the Gold Coast got hammered with torrential downpours.  Flash flooding was happening everywhere.  It took us over twice as long to get home as normal.  Jay looked outside in the middle of the night and the canal was over the brick wall.  Eerie.  There was a bunch of debris floating the next morning – mostly branches – and the water is a chocolate brown color.  But amongst the filth was a beautiful pelican.  Love how his reflection hit the water.  I watched him float up the canal, eat some breakfast, and fly away. 

 

Horses.

The rain wasn’t going to stop Em from driving to Gatton to help some friends of a friend show their Shires.  She has been away from horses for a few months now, and for a girl that practically lived in Ray’s barn, she was missing it quite a bit.  The drive was quite stressful, but she made it.  She slept in a swag in a horse trailer, and according to her it was great.  She and I couldn’t be more opposite on our preference for accommodations…  The group of people that she was helping couldn’t have been more welcoming and inviting.  They heard she was missing bonfires, so they had one for her on Saturday.  Emily introduced them to the wonderful world of s’mores (sans the Hershey bars and graham crackers but with a suitable Aussie replacement).  She came home so happy – it was just what she needed.   

   

May Day.

Big thank you to the Coen’s for bringing back wonderful childhood memories of May Day!  The kids loved getting their baskets.  I will join in the fun next year! 

Locks.

On Saturday we had to run to the mall for a few things.  I am trying to get a head start on Ty’s birthday party planning – not going great.  No idea why 3 Knarts would be sold out of Captain America invitations…  We walked past a salon that wasn’t booked solid.  We looked at Lily with her sheep-dog mullet hair and decided to give her her first hair cut.  She did awesome.  She just sat there, on Jay’s lap, staring at herself in the mirror.  She didn’t move a muscle.  Such a good girl!

   
     

Rest.

Sunday was a relaxing day.  After realizing that Brumby has some wiring issues that were causing it to smoke (yikes) – thankfully before Jay and Ty left the house – the boys took the grass clippings to the dump.   Then they drove around and found the set for Pirates of the Carribbean – still no Johnny sightings…  They decided to go see the new Avengers movie – a good boys day.  Lily and I went grocery shopping and she slept for most of the afternoon.  I penciled in some plans for a trip to Melbourne and the Snowy Mountains and made a pot of chili.  Another week is in the books.  G’day mates!