Another Tassie Seaside Gem

We spent a relaxing week in Bridport. Jon and I would ride off in the mornings for a coffee while the boys were still sleeping. It's a great holiday when you don't have to drive the car, simply ride the bikes to the shops, beach, swim, for ice cream...

Christmas 2012

Christmas was fun this year, we had some friends over and had a great time. Finnish style we had the sauna hot and the pool set up and 4-5 rounds later we were ready for dinner. Finnish food was cooked and eaten followed by desserts from our friends yum! It was a Christmas to remember.
I've got a couple extra photos from the lead up to Christmas plenty of festivities.

Summer Kitchen

On Monday we got a little brochure in the letter box to say they were opening their cafe and bakery.  So off we walked to the newest bakery in town which is within walking distance from home.  We chatted with John and Maree and meet Juha who made the best coffee it was great.  By the end of the week between the two of us we had visted four times.  

Natures way

Having a broody hen was finally a blessing.  I put 6 fertilised eggs under her and she sat there for 25 days, two eggs broke early on, three hatched into chicks and one was left cold and didn't hatch.  I was certainly very happy discovering a chick every two days.  I go down to visit them now on a  daily basis and mum has it all under control.  She'll scratch the ground looking for food and when she has she'll call them over. After some time of being active she'll sit down and they'll just disappear under her to keep warm. Natures way is fantastic!

Huonville

One of a few Christmas parties that we'll be attending in the lead up to Christmas was held at the Huonville rotunda, considering it had rained all day it was nice to see a rainbow and blue sky for a few moments. The valley looks nice with hay bales around the place. 

Maggie

The time had come again to bring a dog back into the family.  After some discussions of what breed we would like we decided on a pug.  Finding a breeder was our next challenge. There are a few in north Tasmania and we didn't fancy a drive up there just to pick up a dog so when I found a breeder in New Norfolk I was happy.  We put a female puppy on order before she was even born and had to wait over 10 weeks for her, firstly to be born and secondly for her to be 8 weeks old. The wait was worth it though, she is adorable.  Yes she comes with all the work required for puppy's but with plenty of boys to help it's ok, it's good for them to clean up after her occasionally. She has slot into the family really well.

On a sad note our oldest chook Barb got sick in the last couple of weeks so we had to "deal with her".  This is her in the house when she snuck in when no one was looking, she had been a mother twice and gave us eggs to the very end.  We've had plenty of chooks come and go but Barb was special.  xxx

   

It's good to be home.

After an amazing trip it was nice to come home.  Getting back into the school routine, catching up with work, getting my head back into study has well and truly got me back into normal life, it is so good.  It's great to get out on the bike as well, had to dust it off however it still does the same thing as before, it gets my heart rate up and has me puffing, feels great sometimes.....  I prefer riding to walking as I feel I can see so much more on a bike.  It's also great to have a riding buddy firstly it's great motivation and secondly it's a lot more fun.   Here is a couple of pictures from the valley on my rides.  I will over the next little while blog the trip photos, there are simply so many it will take time...

My favourite photos.

Thank you Finland you have been good to us!

Great family portrait.

Second last day in Finland consisted of us driving to visit Jon's god parent's for lunch and Jon receiving an early 40th birthday present a finnish scarf, he'll be the only person in the valley with one of those I'm sure.  Next stop was a flying visit to Jon's uncle in Mikkeli to see him and visit our last grave yard visit of Jon's Grandma.  I found a classic photo of Leila's family (Jon's mum) on his shelf. Great family portrait.

Suomi Boy

So we bought a track suit out fit for Marcus and he so looks the part of a typical finnish boy!