Farewell 2011

Well another year has passed. It has been a good year for us, after moving from S.A. in our usual 'gypsy style, we came to Canberra to start fresh and settle down a bit. In that time Lucas turned 1 and developed some astounding language and a real cheeky personality. Samuel is almost toilet trained and has amazed us with his beautiful emotional and loving way about him. Jacob started school and learned how to read whilst keeping his own exuburant style and William has amazed us with what he has learned at school and has become a wonderfully sensible big brother. Jem has started and quit a job and then found a job she loves, at the same time doing Uni and being an amazingly devoted mum. I have settled into a pretty good routine of being a stay at home dad, doing the best I can by the boys at the same time developing a good balance of family time and 'me' time.

I dont really believe in new years resolutions and all that, as situations change, I like to adapt as I go. We like to do things while we can and not wait until we have have 'more money' and 'more time'. If there is anything I would like to add to next year it would be to keep improving on making the most out of time, doing things that when I look back on a week I can quite honestly say it was productive and positve, full of activities, exercise and learning. At the same time keeping things simple, as they should be. When things get too complicated, I lose interest.

Bring on 2012, cant wait to see whats in store.

I wonder what the boys will look like this time next year....

 

   

 

7

1st big ride, 28 kms in 1 hour and 40 minutes, not bad for a 7 year old.

We decided to take a family trip to Questacon this morning and William and I, with Jacob in tow, took the non car option and rode there and back. It was a lovely day for it and both the boys had a great time.

William did really well listening to all the instructions I was giving him on the fly and riding really safely on the bike lanes parrallel to the main road.  He only really had to stop for a break and a drink a hand full of times.

It excites me thinking of going for long rides and adventures with the boys as they grow up.

28 kms today, maybe around Australia tomorrow.

Snubbed

In previous posts I have mentioned the fact that I miss the competition of basketball and the team aspect of sport. What I dont miss is the time away from the family.

I had just finished up a 1 year stint with the Townsville Crocs back in 2007 when I got some interest from a team in Wellington, New Zealand. Having heard good things about the league and never spent a lot of time in New Zealand, I decided to give it a go.

My time there was to be breif as I was an injury replacement for one of the American imports, so Jem with William and Jacob decided to stay behind until things were a little more definate and organise stuff from her end. This would ultimately mean being seperated for about a month, something we were both apprehensive about and found quite daunting. We were used to me spending a weekend away or the odd day here and there that comes along with professional sport, but a whole month was going to be tough.

It was the week before the last game of a 6 game contract, when Jem and the boys arrived. It had been such a great experience for me with seeing NZ and playing well, but a hellish time away from them. We are such a close nit unit that weeks away seemed like months. I spoke to Jem most days and I could speak to William as he was 3 and had some concept of what I was doing. Jacob on the other hand didnt have a clue why daddy had gone on a plane and left.

Before I left he was such a little daddy's boy, always wanting my cuddles in preference to Jems, making it even harder for her in my absence. I also unfortunately missed his 1st birthday, something I really struggled with. But the time had come and they had finally arrived in Wellington, (much to Jems relief as the flights had been massively delayed and she had to spend the night in a hotel with them both).

As they came into sight I could see Jems beautiful smile and William galloping over to me for a cuddle, it was wonderful. But little Jacob was behind the stroller, defiantley hiding from me and snubbed my attemp at a hug. My little boy didnt want me to hold him? I couldnt believe it, it crushed me. At that very moment, I decided that could never happen again. I would never put myself and my family in that position.

By midway through the next day all was back to normal and little Jacob had completely forgiven me for going away for so long. Its hard to see your own child disappointed in something, but when they are disappointed in you its heartbreaking.

Being at home with the kids every day can get a little tiring, but then again I get to see them every day. Perfect.

Never again

Watching Lucas just recently and how he often just wanders off without a care in the world when we are out, reminded me of the most frightening time I have ever had with any of the kids.

Any parent would be able to tell you that one of their greatest fears would be to lose their own child.

We were living in Albury at that time and Willam was about 3 and Jacob almost a year. Jemma was working and I took the 2 boys into do some groceries in town. We werent there very long as I only had a few things to get and preoceeded to the checkout. Jacob was in the stroller and William was walking. William asked me at the checkout if he could go and play on the Thomas train that was no more than a few metres from where I was standing, so I didnt mind. Jacob was obviously then eager to go and sit on it too with Will, so I unbuckled him and let him as long as he stayed with Will.

Around 20 seconds of me turning around to swipe my card, enter my pin and pay, was all it took for Jacob to totally disappear from my sight. At this point I left the stroller with the shopping, picked William up and asked him where Jacob had gone. He was so busy playing he had no idea. Now my heart was pounding and I had a great sense of dread that someone had taking my little boy and just walked off into the crowd. Even writing this right now makes me feel very uncomfortable.

After a few minutes (which felt like hours!) of charging up and down the mall with William in arm I was really starting to fear the worst. I rang Jem at work and in a flustered way explained the situation. Understandably she dropped everything and was on her way to help me, only being around the corner she could get there in a few minutes.

William was complaining of a severe stomach ache that I had no real time to talk to him about and it was only later when we found Jacob that he felt better and I realised he was feeling sick with anxiety for his little brother. He had picked up on my fear and was feeling very scared himself, beautiful boy.

Jacob had actually walked back into the grocery store through the entrance while I was paying and was looking for me as he couldnt see where I was. One of the ladies that worked there had picked him up and as he couldnt really tell her anything, was just waiting to see if anyone came forward before she made an announcement. She saw me pacing up and down with eyes wide open and asked if he was mine. I cant explain the overwhelming emotional relief I felt seeing him ok. I wrapped him up and kissed him furiously.

Jem met us just outside as we were getting in the car and both still shaking, we gave each other a huge hug, then she bundled Jacob up tightly. Apperently she had already called the police and they were on their way, hearing sirens in the distance.

I hope I never feel that horrible, sick panic I felt that day again. It was simply the most frightened I have ever been for any of their safety. 

Jakey-boy at 1 year

Speed

I went for a ride last night up the 'G' track and decided to go on a mini adventure and climb the biggest Hill I could see.

There are a lot of walking and hiking tracks in the area but only a handfull are really suitable for riding and this particular hill had barely a walking track that was visible. Not letting this deter me, I set off up the knee high grass and rocky fence line of the hill. Looking from the bottom you would swear it just had short grass and although steep, was a farely easy climb up. Yes, looks can be decieving.

I pushed the bike all the way up making sure it was in front of where I stood because in my mind I was imagining hundreds of snakes just waiting to be trodden on. I decided that with my bike in front and ringing the bell every now and then, that would definately be a good snake 'scrarer-offerer'. I reached the top well before sunset and got a great view of the whole area.

The way down was a serious test for my riding skills and the bikes durability. It felt as if I was systematically vibrating the poor thing to bits. Reaching the bottom I headed up to my favourite part of the track where there is almost a kilometere of fast, down hill decent back to the main road. Jems having bought me a speedo for Christmas, I thought this was a great opportunity to see how fast I was actually going down this track. I really let fly this time and almost paid the price, nearly dropping into some recently made rain holes at full pelt. I reached the bottom and my speedo read, top speed - 52 km/h. Not big numbers for downhill on the road, but on a track like that one, it felt like 152km/h. Speed!

Ten pin

Bit of a miserable morning, so we decided to take the boys Ten Pin Bowling. They have been a few times before and really enjoy it, although it can be pretty full on with Lucas trying to run down the lanes, pick up bowling balls that weigh more than he does and walk off when your not looking to go and play the arcade games.

William's getting quite a competitive side to him, not being happy be with anything but a strike! Dont know where he gets it from, Jem and I arent competitive at all!!

Can we go for a ride?

Santa gave William a new mountain bike this year. Its has 6 gears and is the perfect size for him. As he has been riding around on a little 40cm bike since he was almost 4, it is great to see him on a bike that actually fits him.

Six words have constantly been coming out his mouth since Christmas morning, "Dad, can we go for a ride?" I took him out the other day to try and tire him out a bit. I thought it worked as he was getting pretty worn out whilst riding, but a half hour after getting back - "Dad, can we go for another ride??" Apparently not.

The Christmas hangover

We all had an awesome day of opening presents, playing, eating food, drinking and then hitting the 'wall' after Christmas lunch to have a lie down. Then up for some more playing, eating and drinking until bed time.

Santa was definately kind to our boys this year, although we did ask him to only bring one big present for each of them otherwise his sack would be too full. William got a new bike (Although Santa was a bit lazy a didnt wrap it!), Jacob a new remote control car, Samuel a big Power Ranger and Lucas a Mr potato head. Along with the many other presents they got from us and other family, they definately thought it was the best day ever!

The next day they were all a bit tired though with a 'Christmas day hangover', so it was an early bed time that night for everyone.

The bins have taken a hammering over the past few days with the wrapping and all that other waste that comes with the big day, not to mention having 3 extra humans in the house. There is no way I can get it all in to them this week, a severe overflow of cardboard and plastic! Which means there will be a back-log of rubbish, putting next weeks rubbish out of wack!! I might have to go neighbours bin dumping after dark!

Christmas day

The storm has passed.

Trying out the new slip'n'slide and pool in the glorious Christmas day weather.

Chilling out while everyone is having a rest. Christmas is exhausting!

It was great having Ben, Kate and James spend Christmas with us this year.



The night before Christmas

Some very anxious and very excited little boys!

Putting out some carrots for the Reindeer

Last photo before bed with little cousin James

The calm before the storm...



Botanical Gardens take 2

As the boys are understandably a little anxious and excited about Santa coming tonight, we decided to head off to the Botanical Gardens again this morning to stretch their legs. Its a lovely relaxing and tranquil place with mini rainforests, where the temperature drops considerabley the more you venture down into them. Beautiful streams, and boardwalks makes for a lovely place to calmly hang out with the crew. Jem wants to build a house there, I'm sure they wont mind!

The battle

Every other night I try and get out for an evening ride, it clears my mind and brings a smile to my face. Actually getting my gear on and hopping on the bike can sometimes become a bit of a mental battle though.

After a long day with the kids, especially now its school holidays, I'm generally feeling pretty 'spent' by the time we get them to bed. When getting on the saddle and riding off in my own little happy world, I'm instantly reminded of why I do it. Inevitably feeling more energized and refreshed upon returning home.

The 'Battle' can be hard, only if you let it.

Christmas painting

Something I find really hard doing is arts and crafts with the boys. Mostly because of how full on it can be with the little ones and how much I have to stay on top of what Lucas is destroying! But they really do love all that stuff and seem to get a lot out of it.

Today we went and bought some little reindeer's and stars to paint for Christmas. The reindeer for decoration and the stars to hang on the tree. The boys did a great job, although Lucas's attention span is still not long enough for something so intricate. He firstly thought the paint was 'sauce' and tried to lick it and then decided that painting the table was much more fun. The three others did great. Its lovely to watch how proud they are of what they create.

Barricades

A couple of months ago we bought some water pistols preparing for all that hot weather to come. Being the coldest start to summer it has been for decades, we havent used them all that much.

After school today William asked if they could have a water fight. Being the last day of school for the year and a fairly warm day I had no problem with it. Somehow, like always, I got 'roped' into playing when someone snipered me from behind, I had no choice but to defend myself. An innocent little squirt, turned into a full blown 'water war'!

We instinctively devided ourselves into teams. Sam and I verses William and Jacob. We even set up army style barricades for protection and ammunition buckets. Army crawling tactics werent appreciated when William cried foul as I crossed the imaginary 'no-go/too-close' zone. Lucas was so brave taking on 'no-mans land' on several occasions to surpirise me with a 'sneak attack' to the back with a cup of water. Sam was just as happy shooting his squirter up into the sky to watch the 'rain fall' rather than battling the 'enemies'. Jacob was constantly adjusting the size of their barricade for maximum protection, but unfortunately left himself wide open on many occasions for a super soaker bombardment from Colonel Daddy.

The war ended in a truce, with 4 pairs of cold wet bum cheeks running upstairs for a 'debrief' and a warm shower.

Last day

William and Jacob finished school for the year today. They both walked out to the car just like any other day, but today William had just finished his third year of school and Jacob his first! Amazing to think its also been a year almost to the day that we arrived in Canberra, so much has happened, time has just flown.

How does a year seem like an eternity when your a kid, but when you get older weeks and months are moulded together and before you know it another year has past. The years are moving so fast that my maturity is struggling to catch up with my age!

My 2 little boys having an end of year 'celebration' ice-cream

Butterflies

I took the little boys to the public Library this morning. They have this cool projection onto the ground that the kids can interact with. There are all sorts of activities loaded onto it like soccer games and bug squashing. Today they had butterfly chasing. They loved it, Lucas so much so that he was having a 'giggle fit' at one point.

Ride

The pleasures of riding off the beaten track. Things look different every time.

My Bike

As I have been doing a lot of riding lately and slowly increasing the distance I go, I decided to get my bike in for a well deserved service. It needed some new parts and a good once over. After a lot more of Dads christmas money than what I was expecting, its now running like new. Its brilliant to feel the difference, everything just feels 'smooth' compared to before. A new chain, new cables, new freewheel, new brake pads and a thorough 'tweek' has done the trick.

Its over 7 years old, Its not the perfect size for me, it hasnt got all the modern features of todays top notch mountain bikes, but its my bike. Its my first proper bike and I bought it new, so all the scratches, chips, all the rubber worn off, the additions, were all because of me.

I purchased my first mountain bike magazine yesterday. I guess this means I'm now 'into' riding. I really enjoy it and its nice to have a 'hobbie', that apart from a potential future upgrade, it doesnt cost much money, I can do it whenever, wherever and not take away from the family.  I'm not going to be one of those people that have to buy all the most expensive gear so I can parade around saying "look at me!", but it would be nice to have a new bike, one that is the perfect size for my, (to use the words of Lucas) "Bigmungous" body. Lets just say, my 'power to weight' isnt in my favour. Although I consider myself being pretty strong, I'm 110kg. Thats heaps more than some of the little 'pocket rocket' riders I'll be up against in the 'Capital Punishment' next year. Its going to be a struggle up some of those hills but I should be fast on the way down!!

Daggers

Friends of ours from Mount Gambier Kurt and Mel, have a little girl called Shayden. She used to pull these funny faces at people, like she was really angry with you and just stared you down. Pretty funny, and they used to refer to this face as 'Daggers'.

Lucas for some reason has just recently started to pull his version of the 'Daggers' face. Even if you smile at him and try to get him to smile, he continues to stare you down! Intimidating little bugger. Very cute though, even if he does secretly want to kill us all!

Just caught the end of a session of 'Daggers' last night.

Remember that song - part 2

In 2003 Jem and I were living in a town called Avellino in Southern Italy. I was playing basketball there and as we had some days off we decided to take a trip up to Venice. Em and Rich just so happened to be riding around western europe. When their amazing journey crossed paths with us, cycling up the Italian coastline they made a detour and decided to stop at our place for a few days and come with us to Venice.

We had a wonderful time with them, truly an amazing place and somewhere I will always want to go back to. Em, Rich, Jem and I stayed at a small hotel called 'Reiter' out on an island a few kms from Venice itself. We all shared one room that consisted of one queen bed and 2 singles. Jem being pregnant with William, we scored the queen! Thanks Will. Therefore Em and Rich had a cosy little fold out single each. Having spent the past few weeks on a saddle and in a sleeping bag, they didnt seem to mind.

In the hotel one night I played a song by an Italian artist called 'Elisa'. She had a hit at that time in Italy called 'Broken'. Rich ended up singing the song in his own rendition that he liked to refer to as 'His mums opera voice' - high pitched and out of tune. He sung with 'red faced gusto', definately making his mum very proud. We all joined in for the chorus in our own 'classically trained' voices! Im sure the staff of the hotel were very happy to be working that night, listening to 4 idiots from Australia destroying Elisa's no.1 hit.

Funny night, and whenever I hear that song it always takes me back to 'Hotel Reiter' - Venice.

Botanical Gardens

We had a unusually lazy start to the day on Sunday. Lying in bed for a while and then having Jems famous blueberry pancakes for breaky! We then decided to go and have a look up at Telstra Tower again as Will and Jacob havent been up there before. After that we stopped at the Botanical Gardens at the bottom of Black Mountain for a milkshake and a look around.

Having never been there before we didnt know what to expect but it was really nice, somewhere we will definately be going back to. Lush trees, Boardwalks, bridges, stepping stones over little water falls, streams and mini rainforests, made for a very nice Sunday morning with the crew.

Lucas talk 1

I have been updating the blog with recent funny things that Sam has been coming out with so that one day we can look back and have a giggle. As Lucas is starting to really string some words together now and coming out with some amazing sentences, I thought it was time he got a mention too.

He has a new word he has just recently made up called "Bigmungus". He uses it to describe huge things - Big and Humungous joined together! Very cute when he says it.

He has also been very quick to say sorry lately. We try and encourage him to apologise if he has done something silly, but I think he has taken that as 'its ok to be silly as long as you say sorry' attitude. He has been hitting the other boys and then saying sorry straight away, but then doing the same thing over and over.

I find it hard not to laugh when Lucas hits Sam, Sam then screams at him to 'Stop!', then Lucas says 'Sorry Sam', then Sam says 'Thats ok', then Lucas hits him again and Sam screams 'Stop Lucas!' Then Lucas says 'Sorry Sam' and so on and so on!!

Hoop Summit

The other day I went through some boxes of old basketball gear, trophies, newspaper clippings and photos. I came across some photos, my playing singlet and shorts from the 'Nike Hoop Summit' that I was fortunate enough to be a part of. It consists of a week long training camp in Chicago finished up by a 'Live on ESPN 2' game where a slelected team from the 'world' under 20's, take on the best highschool basketballers going onto college.

A pretty big deal looking back, and it suddenly reminded me of how I found out about it.

I was actually at a Canberra Cannons training session,  when the local media came on to the court after training (which was a common occurance for the team). They asked me to come over for an interview. I wasnt sure why, as I was a rookie and amongst some of the premier players in the NBL, but I naively said 'Sure' and went over. Straight away the question was, "So how does it feel to be selected to play in the prestigious Nike Hoop Summit?" I hadnt a clue what he was talking about, had never even heard of it and had no idea I was selected. A little awkward! I think I replied, "Im not sure what that is, sounds good though, and how did you hear about that?".

Im not exactly sure how the media found out about it before I did. I recieved a letter later that day inviting me. In Chicago for a week long camp, coached by some of the best junior coaches in the world, to see 2 NBA games, a college final 4 game (in front of over 40,000 people, inside!) and play a game against the junior USA team at the Conseco Fieldhouse in Indiana. An incredible opportunity that I couldnt refuse and of course accepted.

It was an amazing experience playing with and against some of the best juniors in the world at that time. Some of which have played or are playing in the NBA now, Chris Duhon, Eddie Griffin, Zach Randolf, Darius Miles, Gerald Wallace, Bostjan Nachbar and NBA allstar Tony Parker. China's 7 foot 5 inch,Yao Ming was supposed to play for the world team, but was forced to stay in China by the government to play in their national league.

I ended up playing pretty well, after a scare earlier in the week rolling my ankle quite badly. I scored 12 points in the first half, but for some reason only played a handfull of minutes in the second half. I was pretty bummed about that, but what can you do. We lost in the end by 1, so it was a pretty good game. Getting to know those guys and spending a week like an NBA player was just awesome and something that Ill never forget.

Looking back I had no idea of the significance of that game, playing on the world stage, in front of NBA and European scouts and also being on ESPN was a pretty big achievement.

Funnily enough I ended up watching myself by mistake on TV, back home in Canberra at the AIS visiting my then girlfriend Jemma who was working there. Quite bizarre seeing yourself on TV, especially on ESPN! when you werent even sure anyone even knew about it.

Its really amazing the opportunities that come out of playing sport, whether its going on your first trip interstate with a rep team or travelling to the other side of the world and seeing things you might never have had the opportunity to see otherwise.

Pilko's Thoughts - part 2

The worlds best 'Super Hero' in the words of the genius Karl Pilkington, if only this was real! -

People are awesome - part 2

Incredible people doing incredible things, amazing.

Remember that song - part 1

Remember that song?

I love hearing those songs again that you have shared a special time with whilst listening to them.

Music can remind you of significant times in your life, and almost take you back to that place when you hear it again. All those memories come flooding back as the song is played. Goosebumps.

I have numurous songs like this, some of them are not 'popular' songs with great heartfelt lyrics, but they are the ones that are timeless to me, and often the ones I keep revisiting in my music library.

Matchbox 20 was introduced to me by Jem. She had one of their earlier CD's, 'Mad Season', that we used to listen to whilst driving from Canberra (soon after we first met) through Albury and to her dads house near Cobram VIC. We did this trip many times and every time we would cruise along listening to Rob Thomas and his bands classic hits. It brings me feelings of love for Jem and sense of freedom that we had on those drives. No commitments and no responsibilties, just a drive with your best friend.

Matchbox 20 - 'If your gone' from their 2000 Album 'Mad Season'

Content

I constantly lose track of days, most of the time having no clue of the date and I sometimes cant remember what happened just yesterday. When a day can seem like just any other, I think about the 'content' - the things that made up that particular day, branding it different from the rest.

I like to break free of 'routine'. Take the kids on an adventure, somewhere they have never been before, seeing things they will remember and look back on, spending quality time. They dont have to be big expensive trips, because more often than not they will remember 'feeding the ducks' more vividly than going to the 'Opera House".

Getting excited about something rubs off on them and the pleasure they feel is what makes my day fullfilled, even if I dont know what day it is.

Totum Tennis

William and I got up to 59 hits without a stopppage yesterday, thats a record! I think Will and Jacob here were more interested in doing the 'trickiest' shots rather than the longest rallies.

Number two's for our number 3

Little Sammy Tyler has lets say, 'been interesting' to try and toilet train. He just doesnt seem to care when or where he goes. Thankfully we have now got to the point of him in jocks for the day and nappy pants at night, which seems to be working. There are still the od wetting of pants during the day, and he seems to need to be constantly reminded to go. (He is a busy little 3 year old, why would he waste his time in the toilet?) He can just be playing right near you when he'll say "Dad I wee'd myself" quite calmly, without seeming to be worried.

Thankfully it has been a long time since a "number 2" accident. I make sure I get him on the toilet on a regular basis whether he knows he needs a poo or not. Got a pretty good routine going with that at the moment and fingers crossed it will keep working.

He has even started to call out if he needs to go. Sometimes playing upstairs, while I'm doing something downstairs, Ill hear a muffled yell of "Dad I need to do a poo!" I think my reaction time has gotten to the point now of him not even finishing his sentence before I'm upstairs and undoing his pants, rushing him to the toilet. Having the experience of cleaning poo's out of carpet seems to elevate ones awareness and reaction too.

He is doing great now, but we definately learned the hard way with him, put it that way!

Say cheese

I said to them, "Say cheese!" 

But they instead decided to scream it!

I heard a few dogs start howling over my ears ringing!

Sammy talk 3

Sam woke up all chirpy this morning. When I went in to say good morning and give him a kiss, I asked him how he slept and did he have any dreams? He paused for a bit and then said -

"Yeh, and I had a dream that obi-wan kenobi chinged my head off." (Obi-wan Kenobi from star wars and chinged, being the sound a lightsaber type sword would make)

What do you say to that?

Icey poles!

To the boys excitement, its finally getting warm enough for ICEY POLES!!

Big Brother

All the boys playing happily together is a kind of rare and wonderful sight. William is doing a great job of trying to include everyone in the games the boys are playing recently. Good big brother.



Decisions

In my 12 or so years of playing basketball at a pretty high standard, I have rarely seen it as a chore. There are obviously the ups and downs of any season thats all part of it, but last season was tough to get through for many reasons. That poses the decision I have to make farely soon, whether or not I'm capable and willing to make the commitment with the Gunners again for 2012.

I had a meeting with Matt Glasson, the new coach of the 'Canberra Gunners' basketball team the other day. He came around to meet me and to ask if I was interested in playing next season. He seemed like a nice guy and pretty commited to turning the program around from the disappointment of the last few years for the team. As the Gunners are the only team in the league that doesnt (for some ridiculous reasons) have the resources to pay its players anything, it makes it tough going up against the much wealthier and talented teams in and around Melbourne and also makes it very hard to recruit any players from overseas or interstate. Also tough to get the commitment from people to give up a few nights a week and every other weekend away, without any financial gain.

Its difficult to grow a professional mentality in a team, although not being paid like a professional. Thats where I had problems last year. Putting in a large chunk of me and my families time to a team that didnt really seem to care about doing what it takes to be successful, makes it a hard decision because I still love the game. Being injured for half the season didnt help either. Bruised elbow, hyper-extended knee, sore back, bout of Gastro, Broken nose TWICE! and a Hyphema to the eye which ended my season, and apparently could have easily blinded that eye. I have never had so many injuries in my entire career like what I had in that one season. I cant really put those kind of injuries down to my body telling me its time to hang up the boots, because most were unusually freaky injuries that arent a product of over use. But I definately struggled to get through the year physically, not having enough time to put into the extra things that get you through a season, was probably a main factor for that.

The main decision I have to make is whether I'm capable and is it worth it? I still love the game and want to play, but can I sacrifice our time as a family to keep going? Jem will be working full time, plus doing Uni a few nights a week, also everything the kids are doing during the week and on weekends makes for a tough weigh up. We want to travel and visit places and people, so having your weekends dominated for 7 months of the year makes that hard. Because of all our family commitments, last year I barely scraped through with the absolute minimum of commitment to the team. Being the captain and a senior player, that was frustrating.

When you do something with a passion for so long and then it comes time to possibly say goodbye and move on, its not easy. Luckily I have a lot going on with my family and we are always so busy that I dont really think about basketball too much. If I compare playing basketball with being away from Jem and the kids, and taking away from the family dynamics, then its a no-brainer for me.

Hmmmm, decisions......

This photo was taken in New Zealand while I was playing for the 'Hawkes Bay Hawks'. Always makes me smile, although I wasnt particularly happy that day and the kids with the sign were loving it!

Worry

I have always been interested in weather. Especially seeing images and videos of severe weather formations in 'Tornado Alley' in America. The sky above this region can become extremely unstable because of the unique way 'warm moist air' and 'cold dry air' collide and produce incredible thunderstorms spawning 'killer' tornadoes. It just amazes me how insignificant a severe storm can make you feel and over there if you are caught in the wrong place at the wrong time, your whole life can be turned upside down. Or in their case, round and around!

We have experienced some pretty spectacular storms in the eastern states of Australia recently. Its known as 'storm season' at this time of year, not that we are likely to be getting tornado's but I have never seen a storm of which passed over Canberra the other week.

We were woken at about 11.30pm to some seriously heavy sideways rain, pounding against our bedroom window. Everywhere you looked there was lightning and with every flash (doing the old counting trick to see how many kms the storm is away) that ominous sound wasnt too far behind. We both got up and went downstairs to check it out although not game enough to step outiside! Our roof in the laundry was leaking quite badly and our linen cupboard door was like inside a shower. We checked the radar on the internet and there were all kinds of severe storm, hail and damaging wind warnings across the state of NSW. The lightning was obviously right over head at one point as there was no pause in between 'flash and boom!'. Apparently the suburb of Hall, 10 minutes down the road recorded 3cm hail stones. The wind was something else as well and I'm surprised there wasnt more damage than a few branches down the next day. I think the biggest thing that stood out about this particular storm as apposed to many others, was the time it took to pass over. It seemed to be everywhere you looked and didnt calm down for at least 2-3 hours. I was more than a little concerned for my families well being, put it that way.

A storm passed over just last night, not as bad this time but still impressive.

I dont know why things like storms seem worse to me now than they used to. Is it because of global warming? that I'm a bit older and take more notice? or that I have kids? dont know. I worry a lot more about these type of 'out of control' situations much more after having kids though. Situations that make me the most uncomfortable now are things that can potentially put my kids in danger or put me in danger of not seeing my kids.

Example - Plane trips.

They never used to bother me as I have flown many times all over Australia and around the world, but ever since having the kids I worry about every bit of turbulance. I think its the whole thing of - you cant see where your going, you have no idea whats going on and you cant do anything about it.

We had a really scary experience on a flight back from England when William was only about 18 months old. Mid way through the flight we suddenly dropped a few hundred feet, like the plane had just fallen in a hole. They said it was an air pocket that wasnt detected by radar so there was no warning. Luckily it wasnt meal time because a few people that werent buckled up hit the roof! William was thankfully strapped into the baby seat and Jem and I both had ours done up. People were screaming, it was pitch black and I got a real feeling of 'This is it'. Luckliy no one was hurt and more importantly to me, the plane was fine.

Heights -

I have never been a fan of heights. Ever since I can remember I wouldnt go up high structures and on scary rides. I dont get that feeling of thrill some people get, I just get completely paranoid that something will go terribly wrong. I honestly cant understand how people can enjoy sky diving or bungi jumping, it goes against every part of my instincts. Although I applaud those that have done it, it just seems like a "Lets see how close we can come to death without actually dying" type scenario. It just doesnt interest me at all. When my boys go near any over-hangs or high railings I cant stand it, even if I know they are completely safe, I need them away from it. I guess its the over protective side of me coming out now that I'm a dad. Its funny because I dont get that feeling about anything else, just heights. I like to be adventurous and test my limits physically in all sorts of activities, as long as I'm safely on the ground!

Karl Pilkington again, this time from his new DVD "An Idiot Abroad 2". This and his first one are a must see. Hilarious!

'I think this is what I would have done in that situation too Karl' -



Footprints

Sam and Lucas like to do all sorts of wierd and wonderful things during the day when their older brothers are at school. They annoy each other regularly but have also really bonded recently and become good little buddies.

The other day I noticed they were outside together making footprints on the concrete with what looked like water. Investigating further I noticed that Sam had wet himself through, to the point that he had created a puddle on the ground. Yes, that 'water' was actually 'WEE'! Lucas was having a merry time splashing his foot in it! Gross little cretins.

Santa 2011

We went to Belconnen mall this morning to get this years Santa photos done. Its was madly busy so we had to wait a long time, but the boys were very patient and excited about seeing the great man. Santa even made some time to have a chat with them which they all thought was amazing! He asked them their names, how old they were and what they wanted for Christmas. Lucas's answer to all 3 questions was 'A toy'.

Feeding time

Meal time is like feeding time at the zoo in our house. When the boys are hungry, they are hungry! Im wondering how we are going to have enough food in the house when they are all teenagers!

 Here are the little animals at breakfast this morning.

The 'breaky bar' is a VERY regularly used area of the house.



A little bit of wee...

A few months ago I learned that the comedian Carl Barron was coming to town with his new tour called 'A one ended stick'. We had seen him 'live' once before in Townsville back in 2002 and absolutely loved it. I quite vividly remember how sore I was afterwards from all the laughing. One of his quotes from a previous tour is 'To laugh so much, that a little bit of wee comes out'. Lets just say its lucky we wore dark pants that night.

Therefore I snapped up some tickets straight away and last night (with Patrice kindly babysitting) we again went to see him, this time at the Canberra Theatre.

He didnt disappoint, once again it was side-splitting laughter. My cheeks got sore after this one! They were constantly raised and I got so tired from all the laughing I started to yawn and laugh at the same time. We did a wee before we went in this time in preparation. Hilarious!

Some classic Carl (Explicit language!) -

Italy

I have had the opportunity to visit some amazing places through basketball and Jem has experienced a great deal of that too. Unfortunately because some of that travel was pre digital cameras, I dont have a lot of photographic memories of places like France, Spain, Portugal, Hungary, Switzerland, USA, Phillipines, Japan, Korea and Argentina. All of which were venues of basketball tournaments or individual games.

We loved our time in Italy, from a scenic point of view there isnt a much better place to see amazing natural and man-made wonders and to soak up their famous culture.

Here is a look back at some of the incredible places that were on our doorstep whilst living there.

Firstly the splendor of the Amalfi Coast

Incredible Pompei

Beautiful Venice

The Venician mob!