Almost 10....wow.

In a little over a week, James will be 10.

These 10 years have flown by.  It seems like yesterday that he came into this world kicking and screaming after a long complex labour and an early morning dash to the operating theatre.

Wow.  10.

The scary thing is that based on Sydney averages, he will not leave home for another 17 years!

Scarier still....Olivia is not that far away from teenage years.

They are great kids though....and both continue to make us very proud.

Swimming Carnival
Having demolished the field in his school swimming carnival, James went to the District Competition on Friday.  Cheered on by Emma, Jack plus David & Ruth and Amie, he was full of confidence.  He did great.

Go to the final of the Butterfly and Breaststroke - coming 4th and 6th.
Swam really well in his 50m freestyle heat - narrowly missing out on a spot in the finals.
In the relay he swam the final leg and came 3rd...only to then get disqualified for one of his team making a false start.

Everyone was very proud of him.  Photos and videos to follow next week.

Weekend

On Friday night Emma tried to sail...but no wind meant they finally gave up and came home for a drink instead.

The rest of the weekend passed in a blur.  It has stopped raining finally so we could get out a bit.  For those who think I am complaining too much about the weather - last week was OFFICIALLY the wettest week EVER in Sydney.  EVER= since records were kept, so wettest for at least 125 years.


The photos tell the story better than I can.

On Sunday Olivia and James both had 4 hours of Band rehersals.  At the end of the session Olivia's band had their first performance - they played 3 brief pieces and got a huge round of applause.  Jack almost liked it.  Olivia is really practicing her flute a lot and was really excited to get a chance to play for everyone.

The photo above was actually a week or so ago - during a rain break, walking near Manly.

 The next few are on the Bondi to Cooge walk - enjoyed on a glorious but breezy day.

 Jack still loves his back pack....

 On Saturday afternoon we hit the beach and James did some excellent surfing - the best session I have seen him have so far.  He was up on most waves and starting to turn along them.  We had everyone in the ocean and David even tried some body boarding.

On Sunday after a lot of gardening, we had a dip in the pool.  Jack had a great time with his Grandparents and Cousin.


Ken