Rugby and Olympics in one weekend!

Tess, Sarah and Tom

Singing of the National Anthems

On Saturday we had tickets to see the Wallabies play Wales.  The game was, unusually, at 3pm which was simply brilliant.  All the seats were sold out and the grounds were full of families out for a great day.  Prior to the game there were a whole load of kids activities set up in the SCG and the kids spent an active 45 mins doing an obstacle course which involved weaving in and out of some poles, hurdling and a final rugby tackle.  The kids were beginning to get a bit restless after the first half of the game but luckily we bumped into a good friend of Tess' with her brother who is the same age as Tom so the kids were happy running between each other's seats.  The game itself was fairly lacklustre with lots of penalties and not much good ground play but the last 10 minutes was nail biting with Australia saved by a final penalty in the last 5 minutes.  

On Sunday we had a school charity event which was based on the Olympics.  People were placed into teams of all different nations and they competed in soccer, netball, gymnastics, 100m sprint, tug-of-war and beach volleyball.  I was responsible for the 100m sprint which was actually a 3 legged race and we had a lot of fun laughing at all the parents falling over!  It was a stunning day and everyone had a lot of fun.  In the picture you can just see the semi-circle of the nation's flags which were set up for the opening ceremony.  


Rae's father, Naseby Joe, passed away on Sunday morning at the grand old age of 96.  He was an amazing man who up until last year was regularly playing golf and swore by the burpees he did every morning.  Tess has strong memories of him when he visited England when she was just 18 months old and they spent lots of time in the garden together picking strawberries.  He was lucky enough to be living in his own home until 3 weeks before he passed away and the last 3 weeks were spent in a wonderful hospice.  Jules will be heading to New Zealand later this week for the funeral.  The photos below are from when Joe came to Sydney in 2006 - the first photo is of him and the kids enjoying yum cha at a favourite restaurant in Manly and the second is of him enjoying the sunshine on the beach outside Doyles.  A truly amazing man.