9th birthday

It was Abi's 9th birthday yesterday. Her day was spent doing regular Saturday fun things including a bike ride and breakfast at her fave breakfast spot and horse riding in the afternoon. But having plenty of presents to open and a special family dinner last night certainly amped up the excitement factor for the day.

Abi's riding class went on a trail ride yesterday so we couldn't see much of the trail action. Abi rode Tinsel then had the responsibility of "un-tacking" her at the end of the ride. She removes the saddle, the blanket and the bridle and carries it all to the tack room. It's a big load for a nine year old, but she wouldn't want it any other way.

Abi explains all the steps to us .....

Abi gave Tinsel a hose down too. It was a very warm afternoon and the horses had sweated a bit under the saddle.

The good byes at the end of horse riding sessions are always lengthy. Abi's favourite pony is Pumpkin who always gets an extra long, loving pat and feed of carrots.

Back home afterwards the brand new birthday Orbeez proved a soothing balm to a tired, dusty rider.....

Until Rob started doing some mathematical calculations with her to break up the soothing zen of these weird little balls of polymer.

Abi's choice for dinner was ribs and potato mash (and coleslaw), and no cake this year. She wanted doughnuts! We were given our choice of flavours as long as we didn't pick her double chocolate mega confection.

Happy 9th birthday darling Abi - we're so lucky we could share it with you!

We heart Coogee

It's been such a long time since we've been in Coogee -over 12 months at least! But with no current COVID cases, and the need for a long delayed AGM for our apartment EC it was a wonderful opportunity for a short stay (for now) at our favourite Eastern Suburbs beach this week.

We had PERFECT weather, so we really enjoyed the chance to reconnect with some favourite haunts: lunch in the courtyard of the Coogee Bay Hotel..........

..... and a paddle in the beautiful Pacific Ocean.....

..... absolute beach perfection this day.

We checked out the newly remodelled Surf Lifesaving Club (we don't like it at all!!) at the south end of the beach ......

And stopped to admire the antics of this group of kids - breaking loose in the ocean pool at the end of their school day - what a place to live!!

The front view of the surf lifesaving club is decidedly better than the beach view!

Our AGM last night was predictably hilarious and frustrating in parts - We followed COVID protocols for the meeting and sat in the back garden of our apartment block and kept socially distanced of course. 

Last stop this morning was a late breakfast at our favourite Pool Cafe at Maroubra, before heading back to Canberra.

We noted quite a few changes this visit.. a lot of businesses closed and new ones opened while some businesses (like the Coogee Bay Hotel and our Adina Apartments) were completely remodelled during lockdown last year. Even the Mahon (ocean) Pool Park over the road from this cafe has had a complete upgrade. It looked really inviting - we promised we'd try out the pool and its beautiful suroundings, next visit!!

 

Hello Skywhalepapa - you make our heart sing!

We joined thousands of Canberrans before sunrise this morning to get our first sighting of Patricia Piccini's Skywhalepapa - the second sculpture (balloon) in her skywhale series for the National Gallery's contemporary art collection.

This was how Skywhalepapa looked at our first sighting - on the ground, slowly inflating - taking all of 40 minutes to fill with the hot air it needs to get aloft (cue: all those Canberra is "full of hot air" jokes!).

and nearly there ........ in all his glory ...

and a close up view at last ......

And finally, up and away, but only for a short ride today (we didn't have the right wind on the lake this morning for a full flight).

Skywhalepapa is the spouse partner for our original Skywhale - completed in 2013 for Canberra's 100th birthday celebration. Skywhalepapa is a nurturing, loving figure - looking after all 9 offsprings of the new skywhale family - a perfect partner for the eternally maternal, original Skywhale.

Our beautiful original Skywhale was there this morning too ..... we hadn't seen her in a while .... She was very controversial in her day - but now (almost) everyone has fallen in love with her .....

And then a beautiful skywhale dance began, right in front of our eyes .....

We had front row seats for this lovely show (although Rob was wishing those seats were heated - he was a bit under-dressed for the occasion) ........

It was the ultimate feel good event with live music (composed especially for the launch) a children's choir and "skywhale croissants" for everyone, created and baked by our own Three Mills Bakery ("a cone shaped purple wheat croissant filled with honey milk custard and plum jam and topped with freeze-dried raspberry and puffed grain meringue")... and free for everyone at the launch!

We loved the skywhale dance, just as the sun rose to the East ..........

As we drove back home afterwards around our side of the lake we saw lots of people (including kayakers) out trying to get a glimpse of the balloons at the launch site - it must have been so disappointing for them not to see them fly on this perfect Canberra morning ...

Another lovely event this week was Jurgen's birthday lunch, hosted by Jennie and Wayne at Murrumbateman. On request Jennie had made Jurgen a German Puffer cake, to end off a beautiful meal.

Happy birthday Jurgen. We loved your cake!