Camping(!) and a birthday boy.

In the past couple of weeks we've bought camping gear, put up the tent, and then failed spectacularly to actually go camping!! Last weekend was the planned trip, so the weekend before we bought a stove, camp kitchen, inflatable bed, chairs, sleeping bags. We had already borrowed a tent from Brian's cousin, but hadn't put it up and had no idea how easy or difficult that may be, so it was decided a trial run was in order just to be sure. In fact, despite the fact that it is by far the biggest tent I've ever used, it also turned out to be the easiest. These canny Aussies are into their camping you see, so they use a bit of common sense and make it foolproof.  The poles are colour coded in each length, and then the tent itself has colour coded tabs. You'd need to be an extra from "Dumb and Dumber" to mess it up.

Anywayyy, having done all our research the weather seemed to turn a little. The rain came in and the nights got cool, and we all managed to come down with a dreadful cold/ cough/ chest infection thing. In the end it was decided that we'd leave the trip for another time ( read "wimped out").  The friends who we were going with went anyway and had a ball- weather lovely.  Typical!

Having ducked out of the camping, we managed to go completely mad and went and bought a car instead. We wanted a 7 seater to make life easier when parents or friends come visiting, plus extra boot space (for all the camping equipment!) when there were only the four of us. So after a small amount of research and 3 test drives, we chose a 2008 Holden Captiva Diesel. Sad to say I wanted it basically because I liked it best to look at and it's nice and high off the ground. Brian's reasons were to do with fuel economy and boot space and those are of course the reasons money was actually parted with! So far anyway the boot space has had little advantage as the boys are insisting on using those seats every day for novelty value!

Wednesday brought Ru's fourth birthday. It goes without saying I can hardly believe it. He got a new bike which he absolutely loves, but has already had to watch Alfie use more than himself as it's a little on the large side. His next favourite pressie was a Lightning Mc Queen laptop from his Grandma and also an Ikea pop up tunnel which has provided hours of fun for a child who is as often as not pretending to be a cat or a mouse anyway.

We went to Jandakot airport for a treat and met  a couple of friends there. This is not the international airport. It's the "local" airport with helicopters, training flights, royal flying doctor service etc using it- and it's really busy. What a great spot for a boys day trip though. There's a cafe with picnic area directly overlooking the two runways, the refuelling area and the helipad, so we sat and drank coffee and cut his cake with entertainment on tap.

And today is Saturday. The Rugby World Cup has overtaken our afternoon. I sit typing and watching the Ireland-Wales match. Currently it's 10-10 but the Irish are struggling and it's a bit disheartening. Having said that, we're in the garden, the sun is shining and I have a beer beside me.

Not such a bad way of life really.