Brandon's flying lesson

Brandon finally went for his flying lesson which was an aerobatic 30 min flight with the Kapit Air Club.

He flew in a tiny little plane with two seats which looked like it was about 30 years old. The pilot was a really neat guy who got thrills out of scaring the pants of Brandon with barrel rolls, loops and dives.



Brandon took the controls from the start and powered up the plane and took off. Unfortunately that was the only flying he was doing because from there the pilot took over and started with the 30 mins of thrilling aerobatics. They flew over Kapit Island and did all sorts of aerobatics, like a stalled decent (when the plane goes up vertically, stops, turns over and comes straight back down again), barrel rolls, loops and others. They were pulling 3.5gs of energy during the aerobatics and B described it like a force he's never felt before, even his earphones were falling off his face from the g-force.

Libby and I drove down to the coast and were able to see this little white blip in the sky dart around, diving, looping and spinning.

Once Brandon landed he got out of the plane and touched the ground. He had this biggest smile on his face and he was convinced that the pilot was totally mad!!



Its not all madness at the air club though....the club cat has got the best job of all....sleeping in the sun.

Self Sufficient

I'm sick of spending heaps of money on vegies at the supermarket so my lastest buzz is to grow my own vegies. I might add that I have been growing vegies since we've been in this house only its a little hard with two dogs as they have no concept of "staying out of the garden". Also Bruno usually sprays his ....ah hum.... all over my vegies. Apart from that the soil is not the best so the vegies grow but they are very small.

So we have been going hard out building my new two vegie bins where we will be able to grow perfect, beautiful vegies and the best part of it all is the dogs won't be able to get anywhere near them.

I've planted zuchinni, leeks, parsely, snap peas, capsicum, carrots, lettuce, cauliflour...and loads more.

Watch this space for my produce growing adventure.....

2 hot 2 handle

Summer finally arrived at the weekend!!

Temperatures reached 30 degrees in Whitby at the weekend the the dogs felt it the most. Poor things were too hot to do anything. They spent most of the day in the shade or under the hose. Brandon spent some time hosing them down and Bruno (of course) loved every minute of it.

Sunday was a fraction cooler than Saturday but the dogs still had trouble with the heat. We couldn't walk them until after the sun went down as it was just too hot for them. We gave them a good run on Sunday night which must have warmed them up because when we got home we put the fan on (which had been going all weekend). Bruno found his prime spot which was smack bang in front of the fan. I think if he could have got in it he would have. As you can see he was successful at pushing Austin out of the way.

Camping summer 07 holiday

We decided to go camping for our summer 07 holiday. We camped at a private campsite otherwise known as Grey Cliffs.


We had a perfect spot by the river where the boys could swim and play all day. Bruno was a bit scared of the river to start off with but as time went on he got more confident and by the end he was totally at home in the water. The boys did nothing but run and play and since we have been home, after four days camping, they have done nothing but sleep.


While we were on holiday it was my birthday. Mum and Ivan came out to our holiday abode for my birthday dinner. We had yummy marinated meat on the bbq with new potatoes and yummy fresh peas.


Mum baked me a lemon birthday cake and she even brought her ancient hand beater (which she bought second hand in Newtown) so that she could beat the cream for the cake. The cake was delish, and the cream wasn't bad either. We had a great time and the night was perfect.






Brandon had to fix the gate to our little camping site as it had fallen off the post. I thought I would capture is five minutes of hard work while on holiday.




We took a long walk with the dogs up the gully. There was heaps of amazing birds flying around making some beautiful sounds. It was so peaceful, I really didn't want to leave. Note: background sky....not a cloud in it - perfect day!



The weather was perfect the whole time we were camping. The temperature reached 24 degrees on the second day and 27 the following day. We got a little bit sunburnt (a slight understatement). The wind got up a bit on the last day but it didn't matter because it was our last day.

Christmas 2006

Christmas 2006 was a fairly quiet one this year. We spent the morning at home and gave the boys half of their presents. They get so excited when its time to open their presents that they can't take it all in, so we do half in the morning and half in the afternoon.

They got heaps of treats and toys from (doggy) Santa this year. They got their treats in the morning and their toys in the afternoon.

Austin played with his toys all day and then got too tired to play anymore so he slept for a few hours. Christmas is a tiring time when your a dog.





We then headed up to Waikanae and had Christmas lunch at Libby's. Later in the afternoon Libby came back to our house and we had a quiet Christmas dinner at our place. Libby stayed the night.

Once again, ate too much food and drank more than I should have.