HOLMES FAMILY MUG SHOT

 

Each year, on Mother's Day,

I take a family photo so we can see

how much the girls have grown

and how fat and old Dave and I have gotten:)

 

This year, Abbi will be away, so

I decided to take an early family photo.

 

 

 

 

And here is a picture of Dave's girls....

 

 

 

 

Ahem...........  :)

 

YOU MIGHT NOT BE UPDATED!!

 

Just wanted to send this post to see if you have been

getting our recent updates?? I have been having

trouble receiving them and found that something

had been 'deactivated', so I am hoping that it is now

put right and you will receive your posts by mail again.

 

If you can let me know that you have received the last post

that would be great. If you didn't get them,

hop online and check them out!

 

Thanks.

 

And your laugh for the day!

Classic!!

 

 

 

ANZAC DAY 2014

 

KATHERINE, NT

 

 

 

We were able to go to the Anzac Day service today,

our first here in Katherine, and wow!

I didn't realise how small our Malanda service

was until today. This one was huge!!

I guess we do have an air force base here,

which makes a difference.

 

 

 

Well, the parade was different.

It was the first time I had seen a Road Train poking

along behind the last Police vehicle,

waiting to get through Katherine:)

And countless others passing by on the other side

as the service and parade was in progress.

 

 

 

 

Also, we had a fly over of 3 Hornets

which was awesome! The only

problem was that I didn't know when it would happen

and was changing my camera battery and only

just managed to snap one pic.

 

 

 

If you look in the lower left hand corner,

you'll see a street light.

 

Here's the tribe (plus 2 joeys) just before the parade.

We were in the middle of the street.

Of course, I didn't stay there, preferring to run

about the place in search of great photographic material.

 

 

 

I have uploaded a short video of some of our service

for those interested.

 

 

AND IN OTHER NEWS.....

 

Dave brought his prime mover home on Wednesday

night so we could clean out the fridge and make

his bed for the next morning's 3am start.

 

It was pretty awesome seeing it sitting outside the house.

Hopefully the neighbours didn't mind the backing beeper

noise at 9 at night, oh, and leaving the next morning:)

 

 

 

 

 

 



CHOC ATTACK!!!!!!!

 

Just when you thought you'd had enough

chocolate for one year..........

 

How about 5 kg of Nutella!!!

 

 

Yes, I did say 5 kg!! At Brumby's, where Abbi works,

they've been making Nutella Hot Cross Buns

by the truckload. Well, now Easter's over, they

no longer need the Nutella, so,

Abbi got to bring one home.

 

Cam generously agreed to be the first taste

tester:) And yes, he did put that whole spoonful

in his mouth! Don't think he'll want anymore for a while!

 

 

What a pity I had just decided to go easy on

the chocolate again...........hmmmm?

 

Maybe, you have this problem?

 

 

 



Camping in the great outdoors

 

On Friday, we were able to get away

for one night to go camping.

We travelled out to Gorrie Airfield,

an old WWII airbase about 2 hours

south of Katherine.

 

It was so nice to set up camp,

build a fire (which I did all by myself

while everyone was out exploring),

and just enjoy nature.

 

Of course, we had to take our 2 joeys with us,

fortunately, Willem is doing a lot better now so

he wasn't so much trouble. We had to hang them in

the camper trailer once we were there, so that they wouldn't

 escape into the wild prematurely:)

 

 

We were hunting around for treasure when I noticed

a concrete slab with 2 steel boxes on top.

(afterwards I found out they were toilet holes)

 

Anyway, I lifted the lid on one and thought

'oh  that's deep', then took another look and hurriedly

put the lid back down to call Dave.

 

Inside was a huge olive python looking up at me menacingly!

Phew! But then, of course I had to have a photo, so

I gingerly held the camera over the hole and clicked away!

 

 Well, we were unable to uncover any great treasures

(except my snake), but had a great time exploring

and of course, the girls had a ball riding in the back of

Cam's ute and flying down the airstrip!

Well, he couldn't quite manage to get it off the ground

as the old girl just wouldn't do it!

 

It was fun trying anyway:)

 

 

Make sure you check out the video below,

for a funny tongue-in-cheek look at

Cam's ute!

 

NOTE: For those of you reading our blog via email,

and still not able to view videos,

here is how you go about it.

 

On the email post, just move your cursor over

the title 'Life at the Holmestead', that is above

the post. You will then be able to click on

it and it will take you to the webpage where you

can scroll down until you see the video.

Hope that helps:)

 

 

 

 

On the way home, we stopped at Elsey Cemetery, 

near Mataranka, where Aeneas Gunn is buried,

from We of the Never Never fame.

A very interesting place, and once again,

beautiful Territory skies overhead.

 

 

 

 

 



For those interested....

 

I have just uploaded a song onto You Tube called

 "Lover's Tarot" by David Lanz.

Sorry about the title. Not my choice :(

I love to play his music and I am trying to master

 many of his songs at present.

I fear I am a jack of all songs, master of none :)

 

Link to the song is below:

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZ0RjoKOuLg&feature=em-upload_owner#action=share

 

 

And in other news......

 

 

We are 'babysitting' another joey

for a few days. It is a little male,

named "Willem". He is not as cute and

a whole lot more trouble as he is not very

    well at the moment, so Maddy has her hands

very full with him, and we seem to be doing

 a lot of extra washing!

 

 

 

We have shifted an old greenhouse around the back

and turned it into a 'joey pen' for Star to play in.

It already has built in sprinkler system

which will be good to get the grass to grow

through the dry season.

 

And for those who don't know, we were able

to buy the house we are renting, so we can

now make changes as time and money allows.

 

We hope to put up a couple of sheds and

build in a little downstairs as we have a lot

of stuff under the house that doesn't fit in

the house, and Dave has no shed!

 

We don't have a lounge room either, but

that's beside the point.

 

Anyway, we're looking forward to

the challenges that lie ahead.

MORE FUN FOR

MADDY AND CHLOE

 

 

Sumo Wrestlers

 

Maddy was definite winner here

having extra weight on her side.

 

 

Human Foosball

 

They only let one goal through

so their team won. 4-1. :)

Fly Wall

 

(Chloe on the wall)

The wall and suits are Velcro,

and the idea is to jump up and stick

to the wall! Not as simple to achieve.

 



 

And make sure you watch the video below

of the girls in action!!

 

 

More exciting happenings tomorrow....

 

 

 



Sorry, just had to post this one

 

 

It's just too good to miss!

Have a nice day, and go shopping

just so you can try it!



Just a Reminder

 

Hey, just wanted to remind those of you that are

subscribed to our blog, that when you receive

the posts by email, it will not have the videos

on it. You have to click on the blog title

to go online to the blog page to be able

to view the videos.

 

This may clear up some confusion as to why

I say, "here is a video of..." and there's nothing there!

 

If you have trouble viewing them,

you may have to update your Adobe Flash Player.

Not that I'm a computer tech or anything:)

 

Also, I have adjusted the comments box so

that you can comment even if you don't have a google account,

so feel free to make use of it!

 

And just because you expect it of me,

here's an inspiring saying for the day.........

 

 

 

Well, works for me anyway!

Try it sometime!

 



 

 

More Free Fun in Katherine!!

 

 

 

 

 

As it is National Youth Week, the YMCA

is putting on a lot of free activities for the kids.

 

So, yesterday, it was a pool fun avo.

Chloe and Maddy got to have a go at the rock climbing,

which soon became a favourite and they scaled it

numerous times. Chloe seemed to be the reigning champion

for speed and agility! ( I still remember finding her at

the top of a ladder when she couldn't even walk yet! )

 

 

 

There was also an inflatable obstacle course in the pool.

Chloe was pretty speedy on this too, but Maddy

gave her and others a run for their money.

 

 

 

 

There were free smoothies, sausage on bread, lollies,

jellybeans, waterbottles, bags, bracelets etc.

Needless to say, we came home with a lot of stuff!

 

Here's a short clip of the rock wall climbing

 

 

And the inflatable obstacle course

 

 

Keep an eye out for the next instalment.

Inflatable sumo wrestling suits, the fly wall,

inflatable foosball etc............

 

 

 



 

Beautiful Bitter Springs

 

Mataranka, NT

 

 

If you're ever over our way, you need to visit

the beautiful hot springs in Mataranka,

about an hour and a half's drive away from Katherine.

 

We hadn't had a chance to visit since we moved here,

having stayed there on our travels around Australia.

On Saturday, we needed to go to Mataranka,

so decided to drop in for a dip.

 

This waterhole is warm and crystal clear.

It is up to 3 metres deep in places and you

can see right to the bottom. There is a slight

current flowing that takes you downstream.

Don't bother trying to swim back upstream

unless you're an Olympic swimmer.

 

 

 

On this particular day we had it almost to ourselves

which was lovely. There were overhanging spider

webs all along with huge spiders dangling, so as

long as you didn't jump up or wave your arms, you were fine :)

 

 

It was kind of eerie swimming with goggles on and looking down.

It's like swimming on the reef, but it's white sand, algae, moss

logs, little fish and all sorts of slimy stuff.

Oh, and Dave found $2!!

 

There were also hundreds of dragon flies too,

in a variety of colours.

 



 

Reflections

 

Looking back upstream

 

Idyllic I know.

Until you have to get out and walk back

up on very sharp pieces of gravel!!

But well worth it!

 

 

And other random stuff.............

 

 



 

So, on Friday, I take Maddy and Chloe and go

to the Railway Bridge (over the Katherine River)

so I can take a photo of Dave driving by with

his new truck and 3 trailers.........Pause for effect..........

Ahem....This is the part where you

 are supposed to suitably impressed!

 

Right, now we got that sorted.

Anyway, we walked out onto the bridge and I

start taking test shots and we were soon greeted

by 2 slightly intoxicated locals. cough cough.

 

After I finally made out what they were saying,

I realised they wanted me to take a photo of them

with the girls. Anyway, it was an interesting

story to tell when Dave got home as I almost missed

him going by because of the hold up.

 

 

 

Well, they're famous now as they've made it to our blog.

 

Well, I had a heap more photos to upload on another subject,

but my computer just decided to not do it,

so hopefully tomorrow. Don't go to far away!

 

 

New Place to Meet

 

 

Savannah Way Baptist Church now has another

place to meet! This past Sunday, we held our first

morning service in a rented building in town.

($20 for the morning! air con included!)

 

There is a nice sized meeting room with a kitchen,

and a lot of space outside that is undercover or

under the trees, for the Sunday school classes.

 

 

 

This is a real blessing as we have been praying

for a more suitable place to meet for a while.

Up til now, we had been meeting in the function

room of the motel on a Sunday night.

 

The only down side is that we have to use a keyboard,

and for those who've been around a while, in Malanda,

you know my reputation with keyboards!!

Hmmm. I don't know why they have to go

and put all the beat buttons right under

the hymn book holder! And where are all the keys gone?

Well, no mishaps this week, so I'm happy!

 

 

Here is a short video of the kids singing

(and yes, the girl with the hand over her face,

is Emilee! Typical!)