Friday, December 26, 2014


CHRISTMAS DAY
at the Holmeses
 
WHIP CRACKING
AND
4WDRIVING
 
Abbi plays in the mud

 
Well, we don't celebrate Christmas in
the ordinary way.
Around here there's no presents, just
FOOD  FAMILY  AND  FUN!
 
This year we added in a little whip cracking
(thanks to Cam's new whip)
and also 4wdriving!!
(also thanks to Cam's influence!)
 
I have uploaded a short video below
of our whip cracking attempts
for you to laugh at:)
 
 
 
 
We drove out of town to pick up something
Dave had seen on the side of the road
(very common for us), only,
we got sidetracked down a muddy track.
 
We drove down to see the river and did
a little hill climbing seeing
the track was slippery.
 
 
I have uploaded a short video below of this
first driving episode for you to watch.
 
  
 
NOTE: I don't know why they call
it 4WDriving, as you only need 4WD
once you're stuck otherwise
it takes all the fun out of it??
 
Looking out our back windscreen

Once we were tired of hill sliding,
we tackled the muddy puddles.

 
I had a lot of fun videoing the comings
and goings. Especially Abbi's first attempt
at taking on mud!
 
I managed to hit a small tree but
mainly because I was trying to get
the old girl to go sideways
and Dave had given me permission
to be an idiot!!
 
What a laugh, slipping and sliding!
 
 
 Another Abbi splash
 
 
Please watch and enjoy the video below
for the full effect of our experiences!
 
 
As you can imagine,
by the end of all this, our cars
were filthy and so were we!
 
The reason everyone had one dirty arm
 
 
 
 
In this photo, Cam is not being gallant,
he was actually threatening to dump Lauren
in the mud, but he repented of the deed!
 
 
Not surprisingly, on the way home
the old girl starting making strange
and ominous knocking noises,
but she made it home anyway!
(This could well be her final farewell)

 
All in all, it was a great day.
 
We had our pastor and family over
that night for homemade pizzas
and delicious desserts!
(Lemon meringue pie, chocolate meringue
pie and frozen Tiramusu icecream cake,
not to mention Dr Pepper and A&W Root Beer!)
 
Hope you enjoyed another
day in the life of the
Holmeses (and Drews)
 
 
 

 
 
 


Wednesday, December 24, 2014

MY NEW "NO PHONE"
 

Ok, so I'm hopping onto my soapbox here
and in case you don't already know,
I have a little thing against the constant
use of mobile phones!
 
I know they have their place,
but does anybody besides me get really
annoyed when they're trying to have a conversation
with someone who is continually txting
or facebooking or whatever you can do on these things??
 
Well, I recently came across this great project
called the "No Phone", and I just had to have one.
 
Here are some of its selling points:
 
And hey, I got the selfie upgrade (yes another pet hate, who
wants to see a photo of someone's face that's
taken at such an angle that you either look
up their nose, or down it, making it much
longer than it really is??).
 

 
Yes, it has a thing called a 'mirror', so you can
'take a selfie'! Or clean your teeth or arrange
your hair etc.
 
 
And here's some of the instructions that came with it:
 
 
Toilet bowl resistant!!
Now, that's got to be a plus doesn't it?
 
Oh, and shatterproof! And waterproof!
 
Basically, put down the phone,
and LOOK UP!!
 
It's amazing what you can miss while
 you're gazing at a screen.
 
God's beautiful creation passing you by,
a smile from a stranger,
a hurt look in your child's eyes,
a word of encouragement,
a word of advice,
someone that needs us,
and the list goes on.....
 
Now, I'm not saying that I'm perfect,
I've been guilty of ignoring others
around me because of a screen,
but I think we all need a wake up call.
 
Nothing can ever replace face to face
conversation and interaction.
 
 
HAVE A GREAT DAY ALL!!
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 


Thursday, December 18, 2014

Random Stuff
 
Well, I just thought I'd post some random happenings
here in the Holmes' household.
 

 
We are taking a break from school and seeing
"Schooling stifles my creativity"
(I just discovered that today),
I have done something creative in the kitchen,
first time in ages! Ha ha.
 
No, seriously.
I made Linzer biscuits with some cute vintage
cookie cutters I found at my favourite place to shop.
 
The op shop!
 
They were very fiddly but I enjoyed it.
I even took some to the ladies at the op
shop to show my appreciation;)
 
 You might remember, this time
last year, we had a bikky decorating morning
with friends. Well, this year, the girls and I
just did it on our own.
 
 
We took the table and all the trimmings,
into Abbi's bedroom to do because she has
the most space and also air con!
 
I think it would have been an epic fail if we
had tried to do it in the 40 deg dining room.
 
 
 
Well, as always, Lauren's were the prettiest
and most meticulous,
but Chloe made an adorable little duck........
 
 
 
And Emilee...........well, she made one too.
(Look away if you're squeamish)
 
 
 
It was missing a head,
so she made the most of it:)
 
In other news,
we have set up our pool again,
after finally getting the pool fence up.
 



And of course, we needed some very
important signage!
 
 
And some more..........

 
And I have another in the making,
but I'll keep that one to myself for now.
 
After taking a couple of days for it to fill,
we have discovered 2 lovely little holes
that are squirting out water. Sigh.
 
I think one of the many neighbourhood cats
that seem to make our house their home,
might have been stretching its claws on it
and it didn't show up until the pressure of the water
forced it to show itself.
 
Anyway, we'll figure that out later.
 
We'll enjoy it while it lasts.
 
In other, not so recent news,
I spent some time helping Dave out
at work for a few days in a warehouse.
 

It was at least 45 deg under the hot tin roof
and minus 20 deg in the freezer.
 

Absolutely painful going through
a 60 odd degree difference!
 
Anyway, it was all a new experience
and the best part
(besides getting to spend time with Dave)
 was that I learned to drive
a forklift! They are so much fun!
 

I can now add that to my growing repertoire
of vehicles that I've driven or ridden.
 
If you're wondering why there hasn't been
any truck trip photos lately,
it's because, after much prayer,
Dave stopped doing the long haul
driving as getting home at midnight
most nights was wearing very thin for all of us.
 
He is now working local for the same company
and only occasionally has to do an out of town run.
He misses the driving and adventures,
as we all do, but it is much better for
our family life and church ministry here.
 
 
Well, that's enough news for now.
 
Enjoy
 



 






 
 
 


Friday, November 14, 2014

 
LAUREN GRADUATES AND ABBI
GETS HER LICENSE!!
 
We have just passed 2 milestones this week.
 
Lauren has finished her Tafe course,
Certificate III in Children's Services!
 
And..... Watch out on the roads now,
Abbi has her license!!
 
Boy do we feel old.................:(
 
 

 
And, if you've ever wondered what hoodies
were for (seeing you never actually
 put them on your heads),
I have the answer!!!!!!!!!
 
 
They are actually for holding your popcorn
while you work!!
 


Saturday, November 8, 2014


FIRST YOUTH MEETING
 
 SAVANNAH WAY BAPTIST
CHURCH
 
 
Well, last night, we had our very first
youth meeting for our church here
in Katherine.
 
After much prayer and looking around,
the Lord provided an amazing venue for us
to meet at, at a very good rate,
right in town, fenced, toilets, lights,
 with a covered play area
and a large field for games.
 
 
 
 
 
God is so good.
 
Dave and I were very encouraged
with how things went last night.
The kids had a great time and
Dave and I learned that we can still
run and play, but we end up
a little sorer than we used to!!
 

 
Cam and Lauren helped out,
and fortunately, Cam did NOT wear
his steel-capped boots, so no
injuries were done to anyone!
 
 
The Lord is working here in Katherine,
and we are blessed to have so many
ministry opportunities opening up to us.
 

 
 
Please pray that we will have wisdom
in knowing what God wants us to be involved
in and how he wants to use us here
for the furtherance of the Gospel.
 
 
I have uploaded a short video for you
to see our first meeting.
 

 
And in other news, we had our first 'real' storm
for the wet season, 22mm, the other night.
It cooled things down for a while
and sounded wonderful.
 
Maddy took this photo of some beautiful,
white, fluffy clouds.
 
 

Tuesday, November 4, 2014

TASMANIA
 
A PHOTOGRAPHIC JOURNEY
 
 
 
A couple of weeks ago, Dave and I took a week long
trip to Tasmania. Yes, on our own. Without the girls!
 
It was freezing cold but we saw some beautiful
scenery and even got to see snow on
top on Mt Wellington! This was Dave's first time
to see snow so it was very exciting! It actually snowed
too! Lightly but still snow!
 
It was also -1 deg, so seeing we weren't dressed
for the occasion, we didn't stay up there too long.
Just long enough for Dave to build his very first snowman!
 
We stayed in some beautiful bed and breakfast accommodation
and ate out at some great restaurants. I drooled over
 all the beautiful historic
buildings and antiques shops, which I wished
I could bring back with me.
I did buy an antique WW1 camera and we brought Emilee
a French Revolution bayonet back to add to her collection.
 
 I took thousands of photos, of course, so instead of
trying to share them on the blog, I have put together a
video/slideshow on YouTube for you all to look at,
if you're interested. I will warn you, it is 14 minutes long
and I challenge any of you to extend your attention spans
to watch the whole thing! It has pretty music, if that helps.
 
Just click on the link below to take you there.
 
 
We didn't see any Tasmanian devils, but we saw
lots of rabbits! The top temperature was 18 deg,
but amazingly, we acclimatized pretty quickly even
though it was 40 deg when we left Katherine!
 
Well, enjoy the photos!
 
 
 


Friday, October 10, 2014

Lunar Eclipse

 
 
Did anyone get to see the Lunar Eclipse
on Wednesday night?
 
Well, I was able to see some of it and had to try
and capture it on camera.
Hmmm, failed again!
 
But, it was fun and so I put some video and
photos into a short clip for those who missed it.
(Please excuse my artistic license with
the suspenseful music and spinning moon)
 
When you look at the moon, even through a
camera lens with a zoom lens,
it reminds you just how small you are,
and just how big God is.
 
Psalms 19:1  
 The heavens declare the glory of God;
and the firmament sheweth his handywork. 


 
 
And the view from our front door..........
 
 

Saturday, October 4, 2014

CATCH THAT THIEF!!
 
 
If you remember, a few posts ago,
I posted some photos of Hilda,
 the termite mound that we dressed up.
 
Well, I have terrible news to report!
 
Her clothes, handbag, hat and all,
have been stolen!!
 
When Dave and Emilee went by on Friday,
she was totally defrocked! Sigh.
 
Maybe someone loved the dress so much
they just had to have it! Ha Ha.
 
Well, I guess this means we'll have to find some
more outlandish clothes and dress another one.
 
And somewhere out there, is someone wearing stolen
clothes, or another termite mound sporting
a classy dress!
 
 
 
And your random saying for the day is..........
 
 


Wednesday, September 24, 2014

...............the mice are at play
 
 
 
Well, last Saturday, we took Abbi, Emilee and Maddy
up to Darwin to catch the plane to Cairns
so they could go to youth camp in Malanda.
 
That means that Chloe and I are home alone!
(Well, in the daytime at least, while Dave's at work)
 
So, we've been trying to do special things together.
We've been op shopping and out for coffee
and yesterday we got to go with Dave to Timber Creek!
 
Chloe really enjoyed getting to ride in the sleeper
and sitting perched on the fridge in between our seats.
 
On this particular trip, we had to go out to the Bradshaw
training ground. This is where they send the army and
air force for training etc.
 
Crossing the bridge to get into the grounds
 
 Crossing the Victoria River
 
Dave breaks in (well, not really, he was given an entry code)
 
Looking back up the Victoria River
 
I just loved this sign. It's a classic!
What exactly do they mean by "anything"??
 
Victoria River
 
There is some amazing scenery out there.
You pass through these beautiful ranges where
the cliff faces are red and tower above you.
 
 
 Sorry, same truck, we followed him for a while:)


 
All the photos were taken out the windscreen
or windows while driving, but you get the idea 
 
Well, that's about it for now. Dave is off tonight on
his long run and this time he has to head out
to Western Desert so won't be home til Friday late.
 
So, Chloe and I still have a lot to do off Chloe's
"to do with mum" list, so I guess we'll keep
busy while he's away.
 
And I leave you with this great thought!