November Birthdays 23- 25 November 2018

Well, given that we have so many November birthdays in the family - me, Justin, Alex, Peter, Flissy, Michaela, I thought that we would have a November birthdays weekend - invite everyone up, tell them first in gets the bedrooms, (after Christmas 2016, I'd told our kids that they could have a room in the house, and that they wouldn't need to stay in a tent)

We've basically got 6 bedrooms set up - 2 King beds, 2 Queens, 2 King Singles in one bedroom, and 1 single, plus a sofa bed couch in the big upstairs rooms, and 3 x fold up beds

Anyway, Justin and I had our room downstairs,

Madeleine and April shared the downstairs green room,

 Alex had the red room upstairs,

Sarah had the Lime Parfait room upstairs,

Penny and Amber had the little yellow room (we had thought that Amber would share with the other 2 girls)

and Fraser, Zac, and Martin shared the room above the kitchen. 

Nin, Clare, Rory and Charly stayed at the Bridgewater Motel.

So, Justin Fraser and I left on Friday around 6, it was pouring with rain, and quite a lot of traffic on the Monash.  Fraser was driving, trying to get his hours up, so it was good experience for him.

Traffic thinned out after the Bolte Bridge, once we were on the Calder, and Fraser drove very well.

Got to Inglewood in the last gasp of daylight close to 9pm, which was good, and we didn't see any kangaroos.  Had also stopped raining by the time we passed the Great Dividing Range.

In order to appease the boys I had bought some yummy goodies, nice cheeses, small goods, chips, nuts etc, as the shops were bound to be closed by the time we got to Inglewood, and the pub kitchens would be closed too ie after 8pm.

So we had our snacks, and a drink, and then didn't feel like dinner (I was going to pull a frozen pizza out of the freezer.

The boys then went upstairs and Justin played a bit of guitar

And then they watched a movie - Buster Scruggs (not my favourite), and I read in bed

It was lovely to wake up there on Saturday morning, The day dawned lovely, blue and bright

   
Meanwhile the others were advising me via  whatspp how miserable it was in Melbourne

Sarah did send a photo saying that she was approaching sunshine (Zac was driving)

After breakfast, I inspected what Troy had done - ie put up the fence, set up the tanks etc

Moved the old tank away - not sure what we're going to do with it, cut it down form garden beds?, chuck it, give it away?

New fence is looking good - now we just have to do the other side ie trellis and kiwi fruit

Troy also irrigated my young berries

Starting to look dry

I must admit that it started clouding up later in the morning, but it then cleared up again to be lovely

All of the others (apart from Madeleine) arrived for a late-ish lunch which we enjoyed under the big tree

Fraser and some of the cousins climbed the tree - and luckily no broken bones or even sprains....

Went for a walk afterwards

 Sarah liked the look of the racing cars - thought Curtis would appreciate them

Boys played with the footy/soccer ball

 Penny, Justin and Alex had a musical afternoon

And then of course G&Ts on the veranda - and watched Madeleine arrive in the Ute (she had been working at Coles til 3pm)

Dinner at Royal

And a few games of pool

An animated Justin

Nice twilight views of the town hall through the pub grape vines

3 brothers mucking around on their mobile phones - like three wise monkeys

A fourth with Sarah

Off the mobiles now

And stripey women - someone must have sent a memo

More pool at the end of the night (and I ended up beating Clare in a very tight match)

Then back to the house for more Music, I helped Justin and Penny out, much to Madeleine's amusement ... And then some tv for some

Sunday morning, and people were getting up at all different times.  I had thought we'd have bacon and eggs but too hard to coordinate, so people just made themselves toast as they got up

We had brought Basil up for the first time in a long time (since Christmas 2016) - and although he was quiet in the car, he made a bit of a nuisance of himself pissing on both Alex's and Sarah's bags etc .

And he got into the linen press, also under/within Fraser's bed....

Played a bit of boule - boy's competition

And girl's competition

And then 10 x pizzas for lunch which I made, and Justin cooked up in the pizza oven

Was a bit hectic, but we managed, and all had a great weekend (even the kids!)