A visit from the Shields family

On Tuesday afternoon Becc, Brise and William made the 3 and a half hour trip from down south. William did so well in the car and slept the whole way up. He's laughing heaps now and seems like he's already lost his newborn stage. The kids love their new cousin. Little Alex would ask Becc (in his own way) where he was when he wasn't in sight.


It was great having them stay, they were great company and a great help. We headed to Lactos Cheese Factory one day.


We also visited to The Makers Centre in Burnie. Little Alex loved playing in the Cat machine. Luckily when it was time to leave, he didn't throw a tantrum like he did at the Cat Open Day.

Amongst the outfits made out of paper.


Becc and Brise got the kids some Jelly Barff. The kids were so keen to have a bath that night! Linc didn't join them in the bath as he still hates baths.

On Thursday they headed home. Maddi asked why they didn't stay lots of nights, but understood when we told her they had come on a little holiday.

Cradle Mountain

On the Queen's Birthday holiday we headed to Lake St Clair National Park. We all rugged up and we were hoping to see some snow. We were missing Eden, Aaron, Noah and Jared and Becky and their kids.


We dressed Little Alex in a snow suit. He looks so funny all padded up. Maddi named him 'Bubble boy". It was Big Alex's and the kids first trip to Cradle Mountain so it made it a bit of an adventure.

Little Alex walked most of the way and I was hoping it would make him sleep well. Unfortunately he didn't get to sleep till about 9pm that night.


Maddi has been asking for a long time to go to the snow. There was snow on the mountain peaks and patches up high but none close enough for us to touch. We all boarded the shuttle bus to go on the Dove Lake walk. It was a tight squeeze as we sat the kids on our laps to fit more people into the bus.

It was a gorgeous day with hardly any clouds.


Lincoln was very content being so close to his Dad. He could sit in the front pack all day quite contented if we let him.

The kids had such a wonderful time together, and all looked out for each other. They are such little explorers and would stop and look at different things. They all had a taste of ice. Jalen thought it was a race and raced ahead of us all.


We thought that perhaps we would make it right around Dove Lake, as it was supposed to take about two hours but made it about a quarter of the way. It was a good distance for the kids to make. This was the point where we got to.


Chloe and Maddi held hands most of the way. Chloe said that there were bears around and wanted to find some. Maddi got quite cross with her and said "there's no bears in Australa!"

The view from one of the rocks was amazing.

Packed in the bus on the way back to the carpark. Such a memorable day for us all.

Football Day

On Saturday we headed to the Hawks versus Crows game at Aurora Stadium. Maddi went to Chloe's house for the day and Alex went with Uncle Jared and Auntie Becky for the afternoon. Before we left Maddi asked if I was going to miss her, while I was at the game. She told me to take a photo and make up some sad music while they got their photo taken.

When we got to Aurora Stadium we saw the King' van. As we queing up to park we honked and reved the engine at them. The parking attendant got really worried and thought we were after the King's with roadrage!

It was Lincoln's first game at the football, and he absolutely loved it. I think he mainly enjoyed having one on one time with us and loved being held for 4 hours straight! Everyone seems to take a special interest in babies, so he loved all the attention from he got from all the other fans around us, he kept giving them smiles and grins.


For the first half of the game he slept peacefully.

At the start of the 3rd quarter he popped up all bright eyed.


We had the same seats as last year on the Gunns Stand. Usually it's good as you are covered by the roof when it rains. But this time I was wishing we were out in the warm sun. It was a beautiful winter's day, but quite cool in the sun.

The final score was the Hawks 124 and Adelaide 77.

A while ago we decided to all go out for tea while Chrish was down. We all thought the Casino Buffet would suit us all best, so we headed to Links Restarant, after the game. We had a booking for 21 people. I didn't realise there is so many of us! I don't think it will happen again as we'd perhaps have to book out most of the restarant next time with all the kids that there are.

Maddi had a great time at Eden and Steph's playing with Chloe and was inseparable from her the whole night.

Our kids got into the food, as they do. Little Alex enjoyed the fondue so much that Uncle Eden had to pin him to the chair to save him spreading any mess!

The kids had a great time playing together, but we had to keep reminding them that it was eating time and not playing time. They thought the restarant was a great place to play.

Afterwards we got some photos of course. The Papparazzi were out in force.

William's Blessing

On Sunday we were privlidged to be in attendance for William's baby blessing. He was blessed by Brise. It was such a lovely blessing with some wonderful blessings that are in store for William. All of Brise's family came as well, which made it special as all of William's family were there except Gina and Damien, who we all missed. It was so lovely to see Becc and Brise as parents. They are so calm and patient.



We met William about a month ago and in that time he has grown so much. He is catching up to Lincoln in size and is gaining weight very quickly. When we arrived in Hobart on Thursday night he even managed to give us a big smile and is interacting already. Lincoln and William were even having their own little 'conversation' at one stage. Babies just don't stay babies for long these days!