State Nippers and Mardi Gras

Jules and Tom headed up to Swansea Belmont (about 2 hrs north of Sydney) on Thursday afternoon for State Nippers.  This is the last nipper carnival which Tom will ever do and he is very relieved about that.  He loves the fitness and camaraderie he gets from Nippers but he really doesn't like the competitiveness.  In fact he's a bit like that about everything he does which we potentially need to work on!  Tom had the added pressure of being Nipper Club Captain so he was required to spend lots of time with all the other age groups supporting them and cheering them on which luckily he loves doing.  We made a video to show at the get together on Saturday night which started with Tom and Tia (the girl club captain) thanking everyone using lots of props etc and finished with the song Shot Gun by George Ezra which we changed the words to - Tom played the guitar and different age groups sang different bits.  I thought it was quite lovely as did lots of other people judging by the lovely comments we received on Facebook.  In terms of results Tom got through to semis for the swim and the board paddle but his best result was coming 4th overall for the board relay which he did with Harry and Duncan.  

Is this the face of a boy who doesn't enjoy nippers???

Duncan's dad, Kemble, is an excellent photographer and took the following photos at State. The next 5 photos relate to the Board Relay Final where the boys came 4th overall.  

Duncan tagging Tom

Tom entering the water

 The final wave back to the beach - it's tight

 Tom completely spent - he gave it his all

 Tom, Duncan and Harry - great nipper mates

Tom in his individual board race 

Jules and Matt (Harry's dad) on water safety - the kids are in safe hands!

Tess and I stayed in Sydney which was very peaceful!  On Saturday night Tess went into the City with a group of friends to celebrate Mardi Gras.  As far as I could make out every other 16 year old girl I know was also in the city celebrating so although I would normally be a little worried about Tess roaming the City on a Saturday night I felt that this was probably one of the safest nights for her to be out.  A big group was supposed to come back to our house afterwards but they ended up getting the 11pm ferry so everyone went home instead.  I was both sad and relieved - sad because I love catching up with all the teenagers and relieved because I got a slightly earlier night!  

Tia, Tess and Kate.  Yes, Tess is that much taller!

Craig was up at the farm with a couple of friends and sent us some amazing photos showing how much greener it is now that we've had a bit of rain.  

 Photo taken January 2020

Photo taken March 2020 - amazing how quickly the grass comes back!

And look at this photo of baby George playing with his koala rattle - he's almost exactly 1 month old and has already grown so much!