Anzac weekend

What a fantastic long weekend we have had. Even though today wasn't officially a public holiday, Duane's work offered all the employees the option of taking Friday or Monday off. He wasn't going to choose the Monday as that's the day that Grace goes to Pre-school, but as luck would have it, her school day has changed to a Tuesday. I always wanted her to go of a Tuesday (Mondays = a gazillion public holidays), so it worked out perfectly in the end.

Saturday morning we had a lovely breakfast outside of pancakes and cereal. We then headed to one of the local schools as they were having a car boot sale. I picked up a few bargains - a set of Tupperware icy-pole makers and also a set of walkie talkie for the kids. The kids have had so much fun with them already, although coordinating pressing the buttons and talking at the same time may take a while to master!

We then headed over to the Anzac day March and service in Nerang. I was hoping to get to a Dawn service this year, but the thought of waking the kids so early and then having them cranky all day was enough to squash that idea, so a 10am service was the compromise. Maybe next year we'll aim for the service on the beach at Currumbin.

The kids released some energy at the playground as we waited for the march to begin. Once we realised it was about to start we headed up the road to get a good vantage point. I found the most perfect spot. It was elevated, shaded and plenty of room for the kids to run around without annoying anyone. For a while it was just us, until EVERYONE else realised what prime position we had found. We watched as everyone marched, the kids clapping and waving their Australia flags high and proud. I wiped away a few tears as I thought about what a lot of them had been through and also thought about all the stories my dear old Pop had told me.

I don't believe in war at all, but I still want my children to understand about our history and how so many people were sacrificed doing what they thought was best for our country. Its a part of the worlds history, and unfortunately in some parts of the world its still going on. I hope one day that there will be no diggers left to march, but I highly doubt it. War will always go on and we will keep loosing precious husbands, wives, children and friends.

After the march we headed down to the RSL for the service. The kids were fantastic for most of it, only starting to get ratty towards the end. Xav did yell out "Oh, Uh" very loudly during the last post, but apart from that they were perfect. We headed off towards the end of the service, hoping to avoid the stampede back to the cars.

We headed home for a rest and then spent the afternoon pottering around the garden. We had bought some eco-wood on Friday for our veggie gardens. I had searched everywhere for treated timber sleepers that weren't treated with the nasty arsenic. Finally I found some available at the treatment plant, and the best bit was they were only $10 each! Perfect, so we bought 6! Duane nailed them all together and then levelled out the ground to put them on. So now I have 3 nice raised garden beds ready for my veggie crops to go in.

Sunday was a lazy morning. We finished off the veggie gardens and tidied up the front yard. In the afternoon we headed up to Duane's work so the kids could see all the animals that come out of an afternoon. It was nice and peaceful up there, so we took 2 golf carts out on the course and went looking fro wildlife. We found lots of kangaroos, ducks, wallabies and rabbits. The kids love sitting on our knees pretending to drive the carts, and having races with each other.