Boys (the girl comes later)

If you'll excuse this blog for not being exactly current, I can mine a rich seam of existing photos from the last year or so.

Grandchildren! We seem to have lots of them, more than four, somehow. Just once in a while we have to remind ourselves that we are really Very Lucky, a) to have such delightful grandchildren, and b) to have them so close to us. I know that many grandparents would be jealous. Marty is less than five minutes walk round the corner, while Angus, George and the charming Miss Annabelle are 15 minutes away in the car.

Only Angus is full time at school as yet, so we are in a busy phase as far as taking care of them is concerned. So far this year the weekly pattern has been that we have Marty for most of the day on Monday, and again on Tuesday, while Jo works her days at uni. Then on Wednesdays George comes around coffee time and stays until Hugh is finished school in the late afternoon. On Thursdays we pick up Angus from school at 3.00 and he stays until 5.30 while Hugh has a post-school staff meeting. We get the rest of the week off.

And we have fun! Tuesdays with Marty, for example, are swimming day. In first term I was taking him to lessons at a small pool in town, but more recently we have been going to the big Hobart Aquatic Centre where there is a well-equipped kid's pool and slide. It's has been wonderful to see his skills developing, and he now fearlessly plunges under the water in a wriggly underwater swim, or hurls himself down the water slide. He and I often go the wharf for fish and chips afterwards. Boys day out.

At home we spend a lot of time on the floor (ooh my knees) with all the boys, creating car and train tracks, or out in the garden digging in the soil, or flying paper planes off the front step. Crab-hunting at the beach is another of Marty's favourite occupations.

Granma is the expert car track maker. Layouts often include mountains and waterfalls!

Angus' birthday earlier this year. Marty, Angus and George at the head of the table, with some other cousins.

Angus and George had a joint "official" birthday, with a cake shop.

And then there's Miss Annabelle, a determined personality, learning fast from her big brothers. She'll need another post later (when I have some pics).

We really are very blessed.