Catch up for most of April and the start of May

A catch up post because it's been a little while.

Introducing Edgar J Hoover - the Mennies new labrador puppy.  We were due to get a yellow lab from the same litter but sadly there was only 1 and we were too far down the waiting list.  I'm not entirely unhappy because I'm not convinced that I want a puppy but the others were disappointed.  Edgar is very cute but lots of hard work and Lisa is not getting much sleep - no surprise there!  

Towards the end of the holidays Tom was steady enough on his leg to start playing around in the water and because the weather was beautiful we headed down to Shelley Beach.  There are no waves so he couldn't be tempted and instead he and Harry had fun playing on their nipper boards and with the GoPro.  

 Tess and Ruby particularly enjoyed playing with the GoPro. 

After all the swimming and sunshine we rewarded ourselves with lunch at Moo Burgers.  You should have seen the amount of chips and onion rings we put away!

We stayed in Sydney for the Australia Day long weekend because of Tom's leg but we made the most of it by going to the beach every day and out for lunch whenever possible.  

Prior to going back to school we had an appointment with Tom's bone specialist.  He is really pleased with Tom's progress and has said we don't need to do any further testing - phew.  However, he did suggest to Tom that it would be a good idea to give up rugby and other contact sports - Tom is still working that one through but has agreed to give up rugby for this season at least....

Tom was allowed to surf this weekend.  He did find the pop ups a little painful so we'll still need to take it easy but he was happy to be back on his board.  

Tess has always hankered after a tight rope and when we saw one at the local market she wouldn't let me walk past it.  As Jules pointed out this is potentially the quickest way of making sure another child ends up in hospital! 

This term Tess's school sport is basketball and after a walkover for their first match her team  came up against some serious opposition this weekend.  It was a nail biting game with Tess' team losing by 1 point in the last second of the match.  As the coach pointed out it will make them try even harder in training this week.  

Tess spent the week on school camp in the Southern Highlands.  They did loads of outdoor activities including high ropes, building a house out of things they found in the forest, biking, hiking and sleeping in a tent overnight.  She was nervous about going but had a fantastic time.  I really really missed her.  

The photo below shows that Tess has finally overtaken me height wise.  I have tried to argue that the chopping board looks perfectly flat but Jules assures me that it did slant slightly downwards on my side.  

We have finally had the louvres installed in our outside area and we love them.  They allow us to block out the next door houses and to keep the space warmer during winter when we have the radiant heat strips on.  Hopefully it means we'll get much better use of the space all year round.  

It's Mother's Day today and I've had a lovely day.  Tess made everyone pancakes this morning, we went for a walk/surf down in Manly and then had a relaxing afternoon with a little bit of table tennis thrown in.  Tess and Tom both made me fantastic cards.