Birthdays

Maren is 2 years old! This is a bittersweet milestone as I want her to continue to be my baby but at the same time I am excited about seeing her sweet personality develop. She became interested in using the toilet in March and her birthday gift to us has been freeing our lives of nappies (diapers)! We celebrated with a weekend of fun.

After soccer games on Saturday we stopped by the red stag and emu farm to feed the animals and pet baby goats and a fawn. Then we had friends from church over for dinner and cake.

Which large animal will try to take the bucket of food first? My money is on the ostrich:

Maren has everyone eating out of her hands:

Baby goats! The kids all wanted to take one home until the goats started nibbling their fingers:

Maren opened a few presents Sunday morning (June 4) and was really excited to have her very own backpack like her older siblings:

On Sunday we went straight from church to our good friend Jackie’s house. We met Jackie our first few days in town and she has been so generous to us. She threw a Care Bear party for Maren complete with rainbow fruit, Care Bear games and prizes, and adorable decorations.

Maren was asleep in the car when we arrived and so we started the party without her. The party crew minus the birthday girl:

She’s awake! Birthday cake #2:

Birthday blocks:

This past weekend we celebrated the Queen’s birthday the way Australians do – with food and footy. We attended a local footy (Australian Rules Football) match with the hometown Alpine Saints playing the Wangaratta Magpies. This is an intense game with 36 players on an oval field. There are no set plays or positions – play continues until the ball goes out of bounds. It is much of a free-for-all with kicking, punching (not throwing!), running with and dribbling the rugby-shaped ball down the field to try to get it through the other teams posts. Middle post scores earn 6 points while side posts get 1. Tackling is allowed and there can be fouls (although I’m not sure what differentiates a foul from normal play).

The female Saints and Pies were playing netball at the same time and place (stadium park area). This is another new-to-us game that is fascinating. It is much like basketball except there is no dribbling and the players have to stay in their zones on the court – some can only stay on the back half, or some the front ¾ of the court. Contact is not allowed and “goal” positions get a 3-foot buffer when shooting the ball. Cady has been learning this sport in school and she tried to explain it to us.

Monday we had a day off of school and work and met friends at Botanical gardens in Albury for a picnic and then to a playground to tire the children. Jackie made apple crumble cake fit for high tea with the queen.

Botanical gardens with Jackie and Jane in the background:

It is winter here and mornings are usually foggy but the mist lifts by late morning and we have had sunny and fresh (in the low 60s) afternoons. Our nights get down to the 30s and we can see snow at the top of Mount Hotham!