Boys weekend/Girls weekend

About a month ago we realised that the weekend we had booked for a farm trip clashed with Eleanor's birthday party which was a horse riding party so Tess declared that she was staying in Sydney.  The night before Tom and Jules left for the farm both children were in tears - Tom because he didn't want to leave his mum and Tess because she didn't want to be left behind!  Tom and Jules set off at 6.30 on Friday morning stopping first to pick up Craig, Hunter and Fletcher.  Jules almost had heart failure when he saw that the Mennie children had honey sandwiches - there's a strict no food policy in the new car and Lisa told me that the kids had been forced to inhale their sandwiches before they'd left the driveway!  


To make up for staying in Sydney I picked Tess up from school and we headed down to Max Brenner (the chocolate shop) in Manly.  I had a very indulgent chocolate brownie with chocolate sauce but I think Tess made the best choice of a chocolate lick which is literally a pot of molten chocolate with a swizzle stick to eat it with.  I wanted to do some really girly things with Tess whilst it was just the two of us and so I decided that we'd have special movie nights with Mamma Mia the first night and Grease the second.  Mamma Mia was definitely Tess' favourite and she spent the rest of the weekend singing Abba to herself.  


On Saturday morning Tess had netball and her team did brilliantly winning their game 10-5.  I think I comment each week on how amazing I find their progress but it is so impressive to watch how once the girls have got the ball they move it seamlessly down to the net and then it's just a question of scoring a goal.  


Sunday was the big horse-riding party.  I had found some jodhpurs for Tess to wear so she really looked the part.  Tess' horse was called Bingo and she loved riding so much that apparently we're doing a horse riding party for her birthday this year.  


Now over to Jules so that he can share his highlights from the farm although I'd just like to say that I didn't appreciate the call on Saturday morning (me thinking, that's odd, Jules doesn't have mobile reception at the farm) which started with the sentence "we're at Rylstone Hospital......"

Craig and I took Tom, Hunter and Fletcher for a weekend escape to Craig and Lisa's farm. It's always a great feeling getting out of Sydney and driving over the Blue Mountains out west to the Capertee valley and the farm especially when it's a Friday and everyone else is at work.  


Not sure who looks forward to weekends up at the farm more - the big boys or the little ones.  Winter up there is my favourite time.  It is cold - freezing overnight (5 degrees in my bedroom the first night) but very sunny - the temps got to 18 in the afternoon.  In the morning the whole of the valley floor that the farm overlooks is filled with mist and everything is frosty - walking outside is an instant hangover cure. Early starts are a given. You wake up its pitch black and your first thought is did I really need that last beer in front of the fire, after fumbling for the clock, your next is why does my son always wake up at 6 am, start singing loudly and tunelessly and wake all the other kids.  After that its grit teeth, layers on and on to kids breakfast, reviving the fire and scabbing a coffee from Craig (actually if the girls are up with us it's bugger it, turn over and try to go back to sleep).   


There are no other houses in sight or anyone else around - peace & solitude what more could you want?  Well actually vital ingredients include beers and Guiness cycling from the freezer into the fridge, fire in the pit & fireplace wherever and whenever justifiable (all the time basically), plenty of steaks, bacon and eggs in the fridge, a quad bike & an old motorbike, piles of hay in the barn for the kids and a few bottles of red.  First job is feeding the cows and checking on who's who in the herd.  The kids quickly spotted Bot Bot the ridiculous sheep as well as a new arrival, a little black and white calf who the kids named Blackie (very creative).  We also headed into Rylstone a 30 minute drive away for a pub lunch in the garden in the sun at the Globe (after a quick stop at the hospital to patch up Hunter's cut on his face courtesy of a scrape with a fir tree - there are no queues at the little Rylstone hospital - we were in and out in 20 mins).  


The highlight of the weekend was a long bushwalk round the farm. At one point we headed down a very long tree shaded gully and spotted 3 wombats.  The third one was not fazed by us at all and at one point it got confused and ran towards me and Tom.  Tom freaked at the charging wombat but recovered and we hung out for about 10 minutes watching him shuffle around.  Further on we found stray cows and a big bull from the neighbouring property and Craig came across a complete fox skull which he kindly lent to us for Tess' news slot at school this week.  Foxes are Tom's favourite animal and we were treated to the sight of one (very live one) running full pelt in front of us with about 50 kangaroos in full flight as we drove through to the paddock to the front gate.  It made the kids day and was the perfect end to another great weekend. 


The only slight disappointment was that Stuart the farm manager didn't show up.  The kids can't stop staring when he arrives in his big hilux 4wd, big mullet attached to his balding head and fag never out of hand.  Stuart is notable for a number  of things - he can fix anything mechanical, his language is to put it mildly not for small ears (but he is careful when they are around) and his smokes are gone in 3 drags max.