Up the hill in beautiful Bungendore

I had such a good time in Perth and didn't miss the kids as much as I thought I would! It's not as bad as it sounds, I spoke to them every day and they were having so much fun with their dad that I just didn't worry about them. It was only three days after all!

They met me at the airport with flowers, handmade cards, big cuddles and a movie-moment arms-outstretched run toward me. 

Not only had they all survived, Greg had even managed to do a load of washing whilst I was away.

And I got so much uninterrupted knitting time on the plane that I have nearly finished my miette cardigan. 

Perfect.

Recently my brother told me that in conversation with our cousin a little while ago, the subject of Bungendore came up. My cousin is from Canberra but hasn't lived here for many years. It seems he is somewhat aghast and dumbfounded by where we have chosen to live. I suspect his memory of Bungendore is quite different to how it is today. It's much more of a tourist town now than the hicksville dump I think it might once have been. I have never regretted making the choice to move out here, especially when the choice was between here or Canberra. I love this town. If only more people were unaware as to how good this place is we might actually be able to afford to buy a place of our own and stay for good.

And just so you don't have to take my word for it, here are a few pictures of us last weekend as we walked up 'Days Hill'. 

It's not very far, just a 20 minute walk (maybe less but it's hard to judge distances when you have to take little legs into consideration)  sort of up behind the main part of the town.

We packed some morning tea and the kids rode their bikes part of the way.

My handsome fella

Dad's beanie as makeshift acorn (treasure) holder

Bungendore is cold in winter but more often that not the days are beautifully clear and bright. Perfect for walking and exploring...and collecting acorns. 

xmarnie

Easter gardening

Greg has been working hard in the garden lately. He has planted heaps of spinach and herbs and filled up a bunch of the pots that were lying around with all manner of yummy things. The garden was really rather unloved when we moved in and already its looking so much greener, healthier and neater. 

 

I love watching the kids hang out with their Dad outside. It does often lead to frustrations, I think Greg sometimes tries to do too much without accounting for all the eager 'helping' hands but its beautiful nonetheless. 

His big project at the moment is constructing an automatic chicken house door opener. There are a few on the web that talk you through how they have done it but it's all too technical for me. Solenoids? Voltage ratios? Micro switches? Torque? The idea is that the door will be connected to a timer and a little motor that when set will automatically slide open the door in the morning and (I believe) automatically close the door after dark in the evening. Initially it will be powered by a small battery however eventually he plans on hooking it up to a small solar panel! Once done the opener will save us from having to trudge out in our gumboots and pjs every morning to let them out and again each evening to lock them in. It will also allow us to go away on short holidays. Someone still needs to visit the chookies once a day to collect the eggs, clean out the poop and top up their water but none of that is really a big deal.

I really am so impressed that he is even attempting to build this thing. He's so clever this bloke of mine. And busy! Each weekend he's out there building stuff, fixing stuff, and being all-round handy (right now he's even doing the dishes). It's really quite daggy, I know, but I'm even impressed by the confident way he handles a drill. I'm gushing? Ok I admit it, I have a thing for the tradesman look. I really do love it when he puts on those blue King Gees and heads out to do stuff. And unlike when he really was a tradie, he doesn't come home worn out and angry with bleeding knuckles and knees and an on-call phone. Now when he gets out the drill it's for fun and he comes home each day in a nice clean suit, at pretty much the same time, he's home all weekend and it's so easy to get time off. Let nothing bad be said of the public service!

Last night the boys set up the tent in the yard and had a sleep-out. Henry has been keen on camping in the yard for ages and last night Greg agreed to set it up for them. They had so much fun getting it all organised; blowing up the mattress and ferrying out blankets and pillows and story books. We worried that Milly would want to sleep out there too but she was cool. After I put Milly down I came out to the sunroom and could hear the boys reading stories out in the dark. It was so cute. 

It didn't last long though. Apparently Greg (who wasn't really that keen originally on actually sleeping out there) was just getting all cosy and sleepy when Henry decided that actually he wanted his own bed. So in they came.

xmarnie