Blake Strider Bike... again.....

Blake LOVES his Strider Bike.... and he's getting more and more confident on it....

This video is from Sunday....

Big Thanks to Mom & Dad!!!!!!

Oh, and I forgot to put a HUGE thanks to Mom and Dad for all of their hard work...

The turf was delivered on Friday - and they thought they'd just start to lay some of the turf to reduce what we had to do on Saturday - and those first three photos from the last post were all a result of their hard work on the Friday... they completed all of the hard work and we got home to admire the fruits of their labour....

MOM AND DAD YOU ARE BOTH SO AWESOME!!!!

Lawn!!!!!

Saturday 18th September.....

I was wondering whether this day would ever come... a day where the kids can go and play in the yard without fear of bindies.... they were really bad in our yard once we had it levelled to put the shed in....since then, we haven't had lawn - well - if we got lawn - it was soon destroyed by one large piece of equipment or another.... but, we're finished doing work in the back yard... and JUST in time for Jade's party (2 weeks away!)

Mom and Dad made a cover for the sandpit - so that it doesn't become the local kitty litter! :)

(and you can see the leftover turf - we decided to use it on the front lawn)

(we aren't sure what we're doing with the front - so we didn't want to turf out there incase we decided to do something else.... we've put up a temporary mesh/fence across the gateway until Bruce and come and install the gate.... but it's all happening!

Blake helping Mom lay the leftover turf.....

Then helping Uncle Frank roll it....

Ta-Dah!!!!

The hose was the next excitement.... and as you can imagine - Blake was drenched by the end of the morning....

Jade was at home, but she played on the trampoline for a lot of the morning, and then went to play on her computer.... she wasn't hands on like Blake! :)

Yard Clearing and Sand Pit Making......

Tuesday 14th September.....

Pete (our local Bob-Cat & Excavator buddy) came and cleared out the yard and layed a bit of topsoil... (only a mini-load - because most of our soil was apparently really good.... although - he didn't loosen it up, so that was fun for Mom and Dad (to be explained in future posts)

It's amazing how big the yard looks with nothing in it.... (and that isn't all of the yard - that's just what you can photograph from the landing outside the kitchen....)

Up in the top right corner you can see the beginnings of Jade & Blake's Sandpit....

(this was initially timber we'd bought to do the surrounds around the trampoline - but I'm definitely glad that we decided to go with the retaining wall blocks for the trampoline as it looks amazing!

(although, having said that - imagine what a Sand Pit would look like with that kind of barrier? but, I'm happy with what I have....)

Once it was all built, I telephoned the local soil/sand mob and asked them to deliver 1.5 squares of Sand.... and I'm assuming that we got a bit more than that.... because the sandpit was over full....

The kids thought that a mountain of sand was the BEST THING EVER!

We raked the sand down and then contacted Mom to ask if she wanted some extra sand to top up their sandpit.. so they took a bit of it off our hands.....

The next challenge was getting them OUT of the sandpit and inside so that we could have dinner!

Corn on the Cob....

Sunday 12th September.... (busy day for photos!)

We had corn on the cob for dinner, this was the first time (I think) that Blake has had corn on the cob.... he loved it.....

Ice Creams with GG....

Sunday 12th September

After Blake woke from his afternoon sleep, we headed down to visit Gran and take Ice Creams.... it's been a while .... Jade picked for her and Blake... (with a bit of persuasion!) - the rainbow paddle pop.... and Frank, Gran and I had Heaven iceblocks.... I can't believe how expensive they are these days.... I clearly don't do this very often!

Blake was intrigued... this is the first paddle pop (or store bought ice cream) he's ever had.....

He didn't manage to eat it quicker than it was melting... but he did enjoy the mess......

Beach Fun.......

Sunday 12th September......

Rob and Mom and Dad were out of town for the weekend.... I spent all of Saturday struggling to get up and out of bed... and by Sunday I decided that the kids really needed to get out... so I dragged Frank out to Tannum to take the kids to the beach....

Blake was all excited about going in the water... this is the first time he's been at the beach and the first time he's gone into the water.... but he tripped and got water splashed in his face... it was very sad!

From then, it was more fun to go and explore the bush.....

Frank didn't get in the water... big sissy pants.....

This pic was just too priceless not to take... :)

Then, I think he realised it was just a huge sandpit!

Mother-Jade keeping an eye on the exploring Blake....

Uncle Frank showing Jade & Blake about drawing in the sand....

We only spent about 1.5hrs at the beach - but it was enough... the kids were exhausted by the time we left - and Blake went straight to sleep when we got home......

Happy Little Swimmer......

Monday 6th September.....

Blake does enjoy his swimming lessons now, without me in the pool.... it only took one week of me not being in the pool for him to settle down (which beat the heck outta the 5wks of full scream Jade did.... (but she was also about 3months younger at the time!)

He's doing really well with his swimming - and when you consider the time he's missed with Hand, Foot & Mouth and everything else that he's managed to catch in the last couple of months - he's progressing nicely :)

Here are just two videos that I took on my phone (of course I didn't remember to take in the camera... but it's easy to hide with the phone and take videos - so it's better than nothing!)

Blake Swimming - Video 1

Blake Swimming - Video 2

Happy Father's Day......

Sunday 5th September 2010.....

Father's day.... we weren't sure if Rob was going to be home or not as he had to spend the weekend working up in Townsville - but he managed to get home around lunchtime on Sunday... so we got to spend half of the day with him....

Photo Shoot..... pre-father's day.....

Friday - 3rd September.....

Jaime asked me if I'd take some pics of her and the boys for a father's day present she wanted to put together for Damian (and the Grandfather's - I believe)... we headed down to Spinnaker Park at the Marina....

Little Declan.....

Brothers......

Jaime and her two little guys....

Isn't that dimple just sooooo cute? :)

I love this pic.... Declan looks like a little Bobble-Head... ehehe :)

Jaime had mentioned to Cat that she was doing this and Cat asked if I wouldn't mind taking pics of her boys at the same time......

Talon

Blaze

Bailey

It didn't prove an easy task trying to get 3 boys to pose for a photo at the same time.....

Cat & Talon

All in all, I was happy with how the pics turned out....