Last weekend I trekked out to Penrith, (not bad for me, only 160km drive from home), and met up with Parramatta who placed 2nd on the standings, (behind us) for the rugby season.  After a loss the week before, and an average performance to win the next day, we needed to step up.  I felt this was confirmed when we saw the size of our opposition... Most teams are bigger than us, but these women seem to grow weekly, and I am sure that some would be breaking the scales, and they can run too!  Step up we did; our forwards contained their massive pack and played out of their skins, as usual Cheryl Soon our halfback was a stand out player.  The whole team operated on a totally different level, and we ended up with a 28-0 win, (I thought it was 25, but our website says 28).

MicroMe & MaxiMe writing notes in the 'good boy sticker book'.

It was a huge success for us, and well worth celebrating... Unfortunately I couldn't do so with the team this week, as one of my good mates was back from the UK to organise all of his paperwork to fly to Saudi Arabia, so I headed to the northside to catch up with him and a couple of other friends.  We had a lovely dinner, and some nice red wines, champers and cocktails.  My favourite cocktail was the left hook punch; always a very handy thing to have in your repertoire, and in the case, quite tasty.  It seemed like only a few drinks, and not too late a night, however I was pretty tired by the time I drove home the next day... I kept stopping off at peoples houses and guzzling coffee before I even left Sydney ; )  I missed Fi unfortunately, but I will hit her up for a free yummymummy java next time round.

Cold tap down the road.

Did MicroMe miss his Mumma while she was away?  I think not!  He had a great family day with Daddy, UncleDrew, NannaSylv & PapaPete.  They went up to Mt Panorama and checked out the Billy Cart Derby, (yes, carts not goats Marg).  There were carts there that little kids could have a turn in, and of course he loved that.  They also went down to the Bathurst Miniature Railway and had a few rides as well.  (Unfortuantely MicroMe and MaxiMe aren't looking to happy in this picture, however I am assured by MicroMe's excited garble that it was a lot of fun).

MicroMe & MaxiMe on the miniature train.

It has been very cold over the last couple of weeks, with frosty mornings, sleet, hail and snow (that white rain stuff from the sky according to MicroMe).  It's fun ruggin up though, and MicroMe and I have both been training at the gym when we can, sometimes they have a nice fire going there too.  I have started doing some grappling and karate, though I am missing kickboxing, I will get back into it when rugby finishes.  MaxiMe has had the flu again and has been stuck at home, (i.e. grumped and frustrated), now MicroMe is catching it too... I put oodles of garlic in their bread last night, and started him off with lots of fresh fruit for brekkie.  MicroMe now has a free extra day per week at day care, 'school' as parrt of their 20 year anniversary celebrations.  He is quite happy with it, though I only took him for half a day while I did some messages and a couple of hours at work.  He was very lucky to start the extra day when he did, as the Kelso High Circus (Cirkus Surreal) came out to entertain the kids.

That white rainy stuff that falls from the sky.

In seven sleeps we will be digesting our grand final breakfast and making our way down to the rugby grounds for our grand final!  If we can pull of another win, (which I believe we will) it will be the 4th in a row... It will pretty much cement this sentiment in last years Manly Daily "THREE premierships in three years has confirmed what most followers of Sydney women's rugby have known for a while - Warringah are the best team in the competition's history."  I am concentrating on how good four years will feel, I don't see the point in contemplating the unthinkable.  Right now, we don't even know who we will be playing; Sydney Uni and Parramatta will be slogging it out this afternoon.  As for me, I will be having a long lazy weekend for the first time in ages ; )

Last Friday was bitterly cold, and in the midst of a huge rainstorm, I dropped MicroMe off at MaxiMe's workplace and headed on down to Sydney. We played a 7pm game and it was the first time this year that I have been really cold and reluctant to 'boot up' for the game. Unfortunately we ended up suffering our first loss of the season, (de javu from last year). It was a really fun game to play in, and we all worked our butts off, but Uni played better on the night, and it was them celebrating afterwards with a 12-5 lead.

I stayed the night with one of my best friends, and her husband 'the unicorn' (because he mystically appears and disappears all over the place), cooked us a mighty feast and the red vino warmed us up. We couldn't really do anything too exciting anyway, as we had to play the next day again... It was a home game and we faired much better - 45-7, with a lapse in concentration, (in general among the team), and some tiredness allowed the opposition over in the dying seconds. It was a good weekend, and for once it was good cold dirty footy... I may even feel compelled to wash my boots before the semi finals next week.

MicroMe apparently went great guns at training in my absence; MaxiMe took him to Little Tigers on Friday, then it sounds like the whole family went to fun class on Saturday. He ended up having a one on one lesson with Hanshi Ian Pollet; a big honour for us, as he is an amazingly accomplished, talented, and highly respected man. I was so very proud when I heard about it upon my return, and MicroMe was full of beans showing me all of the skills that he learned. He had been very dodgy on Thursday and wouldn't train, I think it was because MaxiMe and UncleDrew were there getting their photos in the newspaper for their success at the ISKA Winter Nationals the week before; I'll have to scrounge up the photo.

During the week when MicroMe comes home from 'school' we ask him what he did... Every day he says he did dancing, (he used to have a dance class in Sydney once a week). He often mentions other things too, however dancing is right up there. Sure enough, when we went to pick him up the other day, NannaSylv asked about all this dancing, and they confirmed that he is up there busting the groove every day ; ) MaxiMe had arrived before us, and he had MicroMe in the 'big kids' play area throwing a ball at the hoop. I thought this was a little bit of a tough task, however he got it in 7 times, (out of about 20 or so LOL), and his special reward was to be allowed to do pull ups off the bar, he is getting so strong.

We drove past the museum on the way to 'school' on Wednesday, and MicroMe who was having a crabby morning asked if he could go and see the dinosaurs. I thought it was a great idea, so once again we ventured out into the windiest day ever, (which soon became the wettest day ever as well), and headed to the Australian Fossil and Mineral Museum. We did some lessons about bones and skeletons so that MicroMe would understand why they had no skin. I was worried that he would be disappointed, however he loved it, was very well behaved and we both had a great time. We had planned to go about taking some nice pictures of the local area to show Marg, however it was snowing around town, and a big rain storm hit us, so we scarpered home quick smart.

I had a lovely afternoon getting a Nutrimetics Colour Spa witih facial and all that jazz with NannaSylv. The lady that came out was really nice, and Papa looked after MicroMe watching Thomas the Tank Engine on the computer so that we could really kick back and be pampered. I ordered a pile of girly things, (most out of character), and though I may feel nauseous when I have to pay the bill, I might end up looking gorgeous, so it is worth the effort, (I hope). We spent Friday afternoon with NannaTerri, (one of Jaydee's great grandmothers), we went out for lunch, MicroMe and I both joined the library; he has his own wee card, and he got out some videos on dinosaurs and of course the Wiggles and Thomas. We then took NannaTerrie to watch Jaydee training at the dojo - he loved it. What a little show off, he trained harder than ever, and kept waving on his way past.

N E hoo... I have a big week coming up, and a disgracefully messy bedroom, (that's how the house looks good, just open the door and throw), so I am off to be efficient and organised. Have a great week!

Another week has rolled around, and it is almost the weekend again - YAY!  Last week was a lot of fun for little MicroMe, he really excelled in his Little Tiger's class, and ran, jumped, kicked, punched, rolled his heart out.  His efforts were justly rewarded by Sempai Cory when he received an extra treat (a lovely lollipop), for most improved in his class.  There are some very talented little tykes that he trains with and he was ever so proud.  I can't say that he knew what it was all about, but that chest puffed out and he got a little swagger going anyway. 

We went to the dojo the next day so that the boys could do a bit of sparring and training for their comp the next weekend.  We watched some videos and MicroMe and I practiced the things that he normally does in his classes.  We went motorcycle shopping, which is the best kind of shopping before having lunch in a little park.  It was a nice sunny day, so we grabbed a few bevvies from the bottle-o before heading home for a BBQ and a few drinks to chill out.  MicroMe was in heaven hanging out with the big boys, training, checking out bikes. and mucking about on his bike in the yard with them.  He was tuckered out the next morning though, so we went and had a whack of golf up at the Uni... I use the term golf very loosely in this case.

MicroMe seems to be enjoying 'school'  though all he ever seems to remember doing is dancing... MaxiMe did catch him kicking a ball inside one afternoon when he picked him up.  It went flying through all the pictures hanging off the roof, and hit the air conditioner... Quick exit stage left!  His art work is improving, and he is producing lots of circles and has a basic recognition of some letters and numbers... Though I think he learned a lot of it from NannaSylv and general talk around the house as much as from school.  We are thinking of enrolling him in some music classes soon too, that should be a hoot.

Last weekend MicroMe stayed home and had a 'holiday' with Nanna and Papa while MaxiMe, UncleDrew and I headed down to Sydney.  I played rugby against Canterbury, they were pretty big; even bigger than Penrith I think.  We started 2 players short which was a tough task, however another player arrived before the 2nd half, and we injured one of theirs enough to bring it down to 14 each side ; )  We were caught napping and had our first points scored against us, however the final score was 50-5.  Somewhere in the midst of after match breezers, I lost my camera ; (  Ah well, win some lose some, it may turn up on Saturday.

Drew 1st; MicroMe Most Improved; MaxiMe 3rd!

We stayed the night in Windsor, because the next day MaxiMe and UncleDrew had their debut Karate tournament which was the ISKA Winter Nationals...  We tend to do kickboxing and boxing mostly, however the few Karate classes they attended, paid off.  Even though he has had tonsilitis for 4 weeks, and was up all night with food poisoning the night before, MaxiMe managed to get up and was 3rd in the continuous point sparriing.  UncleDrew who trained hard all week; knocked out his first opponent with a head kick, beat MaxiMe in the semi finals and won the event!  All in all, it was a good weekend and they are now training hard for the World Champs in a couple of months, and I am trying to get my act together for our finals which start in 2 weeks, hoping to have time for lots of training, and to do a couple of Cert IV training courses I have coming up.  MicroMe said it is ok for me to go to 'Big Girl School' I may have a train the trainer type course right before our Grand Final...Country living is good! xox

MicroMe has developed a new obsession, (to add to his list), of telling everyone to belt up. You barely get a foot inside the car, and it is, 'seatbelt Mumma, seatbelt Daddy' etc until everyone can confirm, (and prove) that their seatbelt is done up. Lucky for us that he takes it so seriously, as yesterday we got a couple of metres down the driveway, and he advised us that his belt had come undone! Speaking of belts, I managed to do his belt up on his gi yesterday well enough to keep it on for a whole session... Wonder of wonders!

As per the end of my last blog, we did keep our promise to take MicroMe to the park when he woke up from his 'little sleep'. Unfortunately by then the light was fading, so I didn't get many shots of him, (plus we were playing at the same time), however here is a little collage of us doing our thing at the park. The kids there were really nice too, and when I was up on the climbing 'thing', this little girl didn't hesitate to help MicroMe with his climbing. We are finding the local kids are really friendly and look after him very well when we take him out, which is awesome because he loves playing with 'big kids'. The week seems to have flown by; I think it has something to do with that saying, 'the older you are, the faster the days go by,' or whatever it is, I am too senile to remember such things now. Yesterday I got another step too close to becoming an Antique! This is Wikipedia's definition of it anyway: 'An antique (Latin: antiquus; old) is an old collectible item. It is collected or desirable because of its age, rarity, condition, utility, or other unique features. It is an object that represents a previous era in human society.' I will try to console myself with this, as it doesn't sound too bad LOL!

The day started well, I woke up snuggled between MaxiMe and MicroMe, (for some reason at about 2am, MicroMe woke up and insisted that he wanted me... Yay). MicroMe woke confused, and he wasn't sure if it was a 'school' day or not. I told him it was a special day where we were bunking off and doing nothing that wasn't fun. We had a shower together, and blow dried our hair, (I never usually do my hair at all). We did a fashion parade, then we went down the street to do some messages. MicroMe was very good, so he got a ride on the merry go round, before we set off for MaxiMe's work to meet him for lunch. We whipped out to NannaTerri's, then back into town and had time for a quick play at the park before Jaydee's Little Tigers class. He is going great guns, and I was a very proud Mumma, even when he snuck off the side of the mat and hid under my legs and did a poo in his nappy. (He still wears nappies when we are on excursions and at bedtime). I was having fun talking to Angus about being firemen, (well he is, I am interested in being a fire person), and I thought a cat was rubbing against my leg, looked down and there was MicroMe looking all embarrassed. We managed a quick change and he got back on the mat in time for a last run, to say thank you to his class mates, and of course to get his special treat from Sensai Laura who is very talented and absolutely lovely.

MicroMe had a great time running around with his new friends, and he seems to have respect for the training mat now, and I don't have to worry that he will run on while the next class is running. He showed some of the kids his sticker book, and showed off to the other mums a bit before we headed off for afternoon tea. As you can see, we had the creamiest, dreamiest, ice-creamiest afternoon tea at Annies Ice-Cream Parlour. It was so scrummy, NannaSylv shouted us, and MaxiMe had the same ice-cream that he used to get when he was a little boy. MicroMe fell asleep in the car on the way home, so we slipped on his jammies and popped him in bed before heading back down to the dojo. I was going to do my usual boxing class, except the boys got geared up for Karate. I was umming and aaahing, when Sempai Cory said to get on and do Karate. So, I had my first class and it was pretty awesome. The stances are weird, and lucky MaxiMe had taught me a Kata, (which we did), and I really enjoyed the 100 sit ups, (a most unusual occurance). The class was a bit longer than boxing and kickboxing usually are, however when Hanshi dropped in (after just flying in from Japan), and advised us that he had been training 11hrs per day; the extra time seemed quite insignificant.

I got some lovely pressies! I got my hair cut by MicroMe and MaxiMe's AuntieLorraine and I need to make a time for to get highlights and all that jazz... Thanks to MaxiMe and NannaSylv. I got an uber groovy Billabong scarf and matching gloves from MicroMe and UncleDrew. PapaPete replaced the broken spokes on my bike wheel, and got the wheel straightened... It took me a while to notice, I kept thinking 'why is he riding that bike inside, and why hasn't anyone told him off yet?' I cleaned up with poor NannaKate's extra funds when I was on NZ already; however MicroMe and I had a lovely chat with her and my niece Livvy yesterday, which is always a treat. NannaSylv has booked a lady in to come and give me a colour consult/makeup/skin sort of thingo, and some $$$ toward getting something to make me look preeetttty after that ; ) All in all, I am feeling rather loved up and spoiled. xox