Jacks Graduation

Last night we attended Jacks Graduation Ceremony which was held at Sandown Racecourse, as he has now officially left school in Australia, although he still has his exams to do. This is equivalent to him completing his "A" levels in the UK and the score he attains will determine which University he goes to and what course he will do. He may do a football coaching course first (called SEDA) before going to Uni but at the moment he is keeping his options open.

Other things happening this week :- Monday was a year since we met Natalie, so her and I celebrated by spending the day at the Peninsula Hot Water Springs. Then, in the evening, we all got together for pizza (Nat makes immense pizzas!)

Tuesday was Nat's 40th birthday and she has been celebrating all week! Tomorrow they are coming to ours for a celebratory birthday dinner.

This weekend is Melbourne Cup weekend, so a 4-day weekend. Chris and I went to see the film "The Cup" last weekend so on Tuesday, when we watch it at Nats, we will have more idea what it's all about! (Recommend the film!)

Sam had another tennis training day and it's only a week till the Triathlon Season starts!

Back to School

Well, the holidays have ended and the Boys have gone back to school ( a year since they started school over here!) A lot of the time was spent sleeping. And sleeping. And sleeping! Sam managed a P.B of sleeping in till 1p.m having gone to bed at 11p.m the night before!!! Even Will turned into a true teenager and slept in till 10a.m most days! Jack was very good for most of the holidays with me waking him up at 9 so he could get on with his revision. He, too, set a new record - having his first "all nighter" in Melbourne, managing to get into a nightclub and then also the Crown Casino, where he won $40! As I was going out for my 50km bike ride on Saturday morning at 8a.m, he was just coming in!

I did manage to get Will up early on Friday since we had decided to visit "Sovereign Hill" at Ballarat, a 2 hour drive away. This is where the first gold-mining took place in the 1850's. The place was set up just as it would have been all those years ago (as you can see from the pictures above) with people walking around wearing traditional dress and events going on throughout the day. It was a good day out.

Sam had some good news the second week of the holidays - he got a phone call from the bike shop where he worked for a while this time last year, asking him if he could go in and make up some bikes. So he worked 3 afternoons and hopefully has got his foot in the door again ready for the run-up to Christmas.

Monday morning proved a bit of a tricky one! Sam got up and off to school ok, but for Will it was a bit of a struggle being woken up at 7.45a.m! He got up, then promptly lay down on the sofa for another 15 minutes trying to wake up! I drove Jack to school because he goes in late on a Monday so I drop him off on my way to tennis. It was the quietest journey I have ever had with Jack in the car! He uttered not a word as he was still in a comatose state due to coming home Sunday morning at 4.45a.m! Think those late nights will have to be put on hold now for the next 6 weeks till his exams are over!