Gordo is in the House! 

... And here we are setting off for a Sunday arvo jog after being cooped up all day watching the rain... 

Qld Rail Museum

This place is absolutely amazing... It once employed 3000 people building stream trains and all railway kit from scratch. That is raw steel in one end steam engines, carriages, railway stations out the other. It produced a warships main gun barrel lathe in WW2. Awesome... 

Here the sparks are produced from joining 2 pieces of rod with just DC current. No welding rods. Among other things this is done to produce very strong pick heads for railway workers (Chinese picks from bunnings don't cut it) We also saw forge work, industrial hammers, and the biggest forge tongs which took 6 blokes to lift. 

We're going back again!! 

Dan Healy
mob 0408 894 686

Beautiful Queensland!

Here we are at Mooloolaba enjoying a beach that people would fly around the world for!

Adventure Badge!

It seems our little fella picks up a new bruise or scrape nearly every day. He is definitely a little boy! This time he manages a proper whack and has broken a collar bone! He doesn't seem to be in much pain and has quite a bit of mobility with it... Not like his dad when he did almost exactly the same thing a few years back!

Adelaide adventure

 

At the beginning of September, we went to Adelaide for a long weekend with Jez, Sarah and Amelie.  What a wonderful time away.   Here are a few shots from our wander through Adelaide city - Daddy and Nicky with a piece of solid iron meteorite and Jez and Amelie enjoying the wander. 

The kids ensured the fish were fed...and entertained...each day at Grandma and Grandpa's place:

On the Sunday, we ventured to the Farm Barn at Handorf  - great place - feeding, milking (Nicky and Mummy had a quick, unsuccessful turn), riding and petting the animals.  Nicky's favourite was the old tractor which he took to be a rescue truck ready to play its part in a Fireman Sam re-enactment.

On our final day, after a long and delicious breakfast, Nicky constructed a "castle" in the sand at Glenelg - to cool to go near the wet stuff - enlisting Daddy for some of the heavy lifting.

What we didn't manage to capture was the endless feast of delicious food and wine, the wonderful company of our friends and the impressive architecture of this green and beautiful city.  Thank you - we'd love to hang out with you all again. 

Misty Mountain camping adventure..last weekend of winter

The car is packed, the bike on board, everyone almost fits...

 After a mild night's camping, with great company and a communal fire, the 40km division of the Misty Mountain race is set to begin.  The daddies are lined up for the start, with their greatest fans sticking close:

Whilst the daddies raced, Amelie, Nicky and Teresa hung out.  It was a hot day (around 30deg on this last day of winter!) so hanging out at the stream was marvelously cool fun.

 You got the moves, baby :)

The boys waited and waited for the announcement - FIRST PLACE!! (in his age division) - well done, Dan! Acknowledgement of the masses, tyre & tube and an etched beer glass, too.  

 This is one of our favourite weekends of the year - fantastic company, a beautiful site, campsite and a great race.  We'll be back again next year.  Who's in?

An assortment of good times and great things

Surfing safari...okay...a day trip to Mooloolaba in the summer

Helping create Nanna's birthday cake

A couple of months ago - nearly all the letters

Things to admire - the monkey round-about, the overall engineering feat and our freshly repolished front room

We found Iggle Piggle..and his boat

Nicky and Mummy joint effort

Soccer fun - early Saturday mornings whilst Daddy bikes the mountains (above with Amelie, too)

 Fridays are usually spent at "the big park" with Benji and his family.  A fireman rescue, a play in the sandpit and then a bike ride adventure - all in a morning's fun.

 Nicky is great help with the bins - each week insisting on taking them out, bringing them in and being concerned that our neighbours'  garden waste bin is out.  This continues his long and deep affection for all aspects of garbage management.

Happy fourth birthday, little mate

Nicky is a very lucky boy to have so many wonderful friends and such a loving family.  The Birthday Event was a celebration over a few days with presents and cards arriving by mail and then a great party.  Rocket t-shirt (with cape - thanks Nanna and Grumps) was a particularly well received prezzie.

 Delta Four Heavy Lift cake - complete with Fireman Sam and Tom Thomas futilely fighting the rocket's launch fire.  Main fuselage was chocolate cake layered with cream whilst boosters were richer chocolate ripple cakes.  All thoughtfully disposed of.

 And then the jumping castle added some more (orderly - can you believe it) fun

Hi Benji!

 
 Amy and Zoe created balloon animals for the littler kids