A winning streak!!

We're getting quite used to Saturday sports and are even beginning to enjoy it in a kind of masochistic way (why would anyone voluntarily get up at 6.30 on a weekend??!!).  It's been fairly chilly in Sydney, enough for people to comment on what a cold autumn we're having.  There's also been a good deal of sunshine, so if you're standing in a sheltered spot it's really rather pleasant.  Unfortunately, the netball courts are not in a sheltered spot and I have it on authority that netball courts the world over are not built on sheltered spots and as such it was pretty chilly this Saturday morning at 7.30 am.  However, we were armed with coffees and Tess was armed with enthusiasm which resulted in her winning this week's team trophy.  She was playing centre and loved being able to run all over the court and follow the action and the most important bit was that she clearly enjoyed herself immensely.  

A quick pit-stop at home to kit out Tom and it was his turn for soccer.  There was the usual level of chaos and confusion that one simply doesn't find at netball but Tom tried really hard, running as close to the ball as possible without actually kicking it and surprise, surprise he won "player of the week" which is awarded on a strictly rostered basis to keep these 6 year olds with short attention spans motivated!  


I then had a very enjoyable afternoon with the house full of children and me in the kitchen baking cakes and playing with my new 5-in-1 multi-cooker which I think I may have blogged about previously.  This week I made beef ragu - you may notice that I have a slight penchant for any type of ragu which I think is due to me being half peasant (my mother's side), further demonstrated by my love of starch and my thick ankles.  


On Sunday morning we caught up with Cam (who sails on St Jude with Jules), his wife Megs and their 3 boys Benedict, Spencer and baby Stirling down at Balmoral which gave me a slight twinge as I always associate Balmoral with the Duthies who are now enjoying the northern hemisphere summer in the UK.  It was a glorious morning with a very cold wind which only I seemed to feel as the children ran along the beach, danced through the water and played in the sand.  

See the moon behind them?

In the afternoon Jules had some boat maintenance so we all decided to go with him and ended up going out for a sail.  It all went very well apart from Tess constantly calling the sails "flags" and Tom very nearly falling off the boat altogether - he ended up upside down grabbing on to the end of a rope for dear life (he was wearing a lifejacket)!  The highlight for the kids was heading off without Mum and Dad on the runaround, the marina's launch which services the boats, driven by Warner, an institution down at the marina and fantastically good with children.  

Tess & Tom on the runaround