Oma, Opa and Liz Arrive on Sunday

The count down is on - Oma, Opa and Liz arrive in Darwin on Sunday afternoon. We are heading into Darwin Sunday morning for some shopping and then picking them up and heading back to Jabiru. The boys have lots of fishing planned and the girls will be doing lots of sightseeing!! Friday sees us head back to Darwin to pick up the other half of the arrivals - Donna, Joe, Rebecca, Tom, Evelyn and Tony. Saturday, the Sydney siders are off to Litchfield and the Ams boys are off to the V8 Supercars. The Ams girls are SHOPPING!! Sunday all Ams' are going to the supercars and the others are sightseeing. Monday we are all heading back to Jabiru to show everybody the sights. Then Thursday sees us offically start our big road holiday. LOOK out Broome here we come!!!!!

Update

Well we spent another exciting weekend camping. This time we went to Mardigal and took the boat. We celebrated Jarred's birthday - camp style with a yummy breakie of pancakes and then a few hours out on Mardigal Billabong Fishing. Back to the tent for a late lunch and then birthday cake!!! Slightly squashed Birthday Cake but hey it still tasted good!!! We had a bush BBQ for dinner before the Mozzies tried to carry us away!!! There were so many....... I'm sure if we had stayed out any longer they would have!! Sunday saw us head out on the water again this time to Yellow Waters. It wasn't hard to spot a croc today - there were heaps of them. The lillies are out in flower and the waterway looks so pretty. We all had lots of fun and cannot wait to do it again!!!

Our First Camp Trip

The kids had a fantastic time at Gunlom. It was very cool and windy - so the fire on Sunday night was a big hit. Even bigger was toasting Marshmallows on the fire!! Everyone had so much fun we are going camping again this weekend - two nights this time!!

Long Weekend Camping Trip to Gunlom - Waterfall Creek

Termite Mounds on the Highway











Gunlom - Waterfall Creek








































The New Camper Trailer (Well it was new until we went down 40kms of dirt track!!!)












Camper Trailer Open

Total Exhaustion!!!!

After two big days at Kindy, Jarred often crashes in a big way!!

Jabiru is slowly starting to be Cleared

The constant noise of chainsaws and mulchers is still going everyday! There are now large cranes working, all over town to remove fallen trees. The school newsletter reported that they lost more than 75 trees and still have large sections of the school taped off. The walkway from our house to school has finally been cleared of trees - we spent two weeks climbing over or under trees to get to school. The once very shady town, now looks very bare!

The Calm after the STORM

Beautiful Sunsets and even a Rainbow after Cyclone Monica!

The Clean Up begins!

This Gum Tree fell across our driveway usually where Chris parks his ute! Lucky he decided to leave it parked up the road undercover, otherwise it would have been slightly shorter! This was the first tree to be moved, so we could get out of our driveway.

Tree's Everywhere!

Menacing Monica!

Our Friends House

This is our friends the "Spicers" house. A tree came down crushing their carport causing damage to their car. They are still without power and water.

Trees Down at Jabiru Lake

The New Bush View in our Back Yard

Thank you to all who kept us in your thoughts and prayers. We are all safe and well. Monica arrived about 2am yesterday morning, she lined us up nicely! She hit as a Cat 4 and then weakened to a Cat 3. She lasted for 2 hours before moving on. I had a few "Oh, my god moments!.....but I had to be brave for the kids. Poor Zac was so frightened he almost made himself sick. We were extremely lucky and escaped with no house damage, however outside is a different story! What's that saying "Looks like a Cyclone has hit" We had 5 big trees come down in our yard - one of which hit the roof and has left some nice dents in it. We were lucky and had power back on by 11am, parts of town are still without power or water - so we are lucky! The worst part part of the clean up is the "Green Ants" they are everywhere! There is a chorus of chain saws and mulchers going constantly as they try to clear the roads and get trees off houses. It will probably be months before they can clear the mess! There is no School for the rest of the week, so the kids are most impressed!

Cyclone Monica

We are now on Cyclone Warning as Monica does her little trip around the coast. We are a few hundred kilometres from the coast however with a large Cat 5 system expecting to cross the coast and head straight for us, it is hard to predict what effects we will get. We have done as much cyclone prep as possible and now it is a watch and wait situation.

All is Calm here with only a light shower of rain so far this morning! The kids all want to stay home!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! However they are all off to school and if things get worse as the day goes on, they will get an early mark!

Kloe and Jarred

Jarred just wants to be like his big sister Kloe - he wants his teeth to fall out too!

Toothless Kloe

Kloe had a double surprise on Easter Morning as not only had the Easter Bunny been but the tooth fairy also had to make a visit. She lost her 2nd top tooth on Easter Satuday.

It's Hard Work Being a Puppy!

Anzac out cold on the lounge room floor! Life's tough when your a Pup!

Look What I Got

Jarred was really sick with Tonsilitis on Easter Morning, however he can always manage a smile!

We knew he was really sick when he didn't even want to eat his eggs - chocolate would have to be his favorite.

Kloe with her Barbie Eggs

Kloe was so excited when she woke up and found the Easter Bunny had been, especially when he left her a Barbie Bucket with Easter Eggs inside

The Bunny Has Been!

The Easter Bunny has Been!