William and Jacob have recently started to get quite keen on Basketball (much to my delight!) and I have been showing them some of the NBA dvd's I have accumulated over time, in particular Michael Jordan's.
I was fortunate enough to be playing and a huge fan of the NBA when M.J. was dominating the world of Basketball. There were many players that I enjoyed watching just as much as him like Pippen, Bird, Johnson and Barkley, but in his prime M.J. was the most skilled, most athletic and most ferocious competitor the game has ever seen. Quite simply, he was the MAN! Top 50 plays, enjoy -
The boys ran their own little toy shop at the Palmerston Schools car boot sale yesterday. They rounded up a heap of old toys that are just lying around and we said what ever they made would be shared, half would be banked and half would be spending money. They did a great job and ended up selling lots of old things, making around $22 each.
Mini challenge number 2 consisted of doing the main MTB trunk climb of Mt Stromlo 3 times in what was a limited time allowance of under 2 hours. Starting at 6am in the dark, 3 times up and down, 29kms, 725m elevation, a dirty bike and a big smile.
While William was at senior camp doing a multitude of different activities for 3 days which included rafting, bmxing, rock climbing to name a few, the other 3 had ride to school day which they loved. Especially as they were greeted at school by a barrage of different flavoured milks!
Legendary Australian basketball coach Barry 'Bazza' Barnes just happened to be watching Williams game on the weekend and in noticing he has some potential, asked if he would like to join in some specialized coaching on Sunday mornings. The sessions are designed to eventually pick the under 14 ACT rep side from the top juniors in the area. Although being a long way off that level, he gave it a go today and did quite well. He is one of the youngest in the group, so competing against older (not really bigger) boys will definitely help his development. There is a lot to learn and take in with a significant step up in abilities and expectations from what he is used to, but he seemed to take it all in just fine.
Memories came flooding back of being coached by Barry back when I was 17 and 18 in preparation for the junior national teams, all seems like such a long time ago now!
William is in red and Barry is the follically challenged coach back left
Some of the school assembly's attended can be a little bland and repetitive at times. Last Friday's however wasnt so, as Williams class hosted it with a 'Year 5/6 has got talent' show. William solved 2 rubiks cubes in mind blowing speed (sitting up the front at the blue table) and Jacob was awarded with a writing award with his buddy Jack. Their class also received the Science award which they were very chuffed about walking up together to collect it.
Our Pre Fabricated house is currently well and truly into the build at the manufacturer in Wagga. Having done all the major construction, now focusing on the fit out and finishing bits and pieces. They only really commenced about a month and a half ago and by the looks of things arent far off completion and preparing for delivery to Murrumbateman, hopefully in a couple of months! (come on Yass Valley council approval!!)
For us pre fabrication = A massive time saving, money saving and sanity saving option! Excited, yyyeeeeeppppp!!
The front of the house with deck minus veranda
The main living looking from the dining room (those windows will frame a lovely view!)
Our new neighbours Richard and Maryanne needed to give their grass a rest from their sheeps constant muncing and we just happened to need our grass kept down. So we arranged with them to keep the sheep on our block for a while, perfect for everyone, especially the hungry sheep!
We all even got to help transfer them, which the boys loved and were like little cattle dogs herding the baaing wooly creatures down Wattle Glen, around the corner down the lane and through the gates. They instantly got to work hoeing into the nice green lush grass on our block. Lucky sheep getting to have a holiday on such a nice piece of land!
“Ever bike? Now that's something that makes life worth living!...Oh, to just grip your handlebars and lay down to it, and go ripping and tearing through streets and road, over railroad tracks and bridges, threading crowds, avoiding collisions, at twenty miles or more an hour, and wondering all the time when you're going to smash up. Well, now, that's something! And then go home again after three hours of it...and then to think that tomorrow I can do it all over again!” ― Jack London
Be it a multi day epic or a 3 hour local, I'd like to think I'll always be up for a bike challenge. I have decided to set myself some local mini challenges around the ACT, some road, some mtb, lets see what I can come up with.....
Although hopefully my mtb rides wont lead me down this nasty trail! At least he still has a smile on his face!!
The 5 peaks of Canberra road ride was the first I mapped out this morning:
5 peaks - Mt Ainslie, Black Mt, Dairy Farmers Hill, Mt Stromlo and Red Hill. Approx 70kms, 1200 metres climbed - a pretty good start.
Jacob turned 8 yesterday! The little man had a good day of opening presents in the morning and then having the school swimming carnival before coming home for some cake and more presents!
Happy birthday beautiful boy!
Jacobs 4 mates, left to right - Aryan, Aryan, Charles, Jack and Jacob at his ten pin bowling party today
It all started about 18 months ago when I came across a cycling app called Strava. I downloaded it and used it for a test ride at Mt Stromlo.
Quite fittingly, without planning, I rode Stromlo this morning with Sime on what turned out to be my 200th strava recorded ride! I must say I'm a bit of a Strava junkie now, regularly checking on other riders and pitting myself against them in a bit of friendly virtual competition. Love it!
I assume the 200th ride trophy is in the mail Strava HQ?!!
Grandad impressed with the new mower and getting in some practice for future visits! There will certainly be plenty of mowing to do soon as the block is starting to spring back into life after the weeks of extreme heat we've had.
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