Banjo Update......
Well, he mostly, walks from the house now without having to be carried at all and I even managed to walk him on my own today without him being stressed at leaving the others behind!!
He is so good now that I can even trust him to bath the kids!
Champion Dog.
I wrote this post about a week ago and apparantly forgot to publish it, so here goes.
Banjo graduated puppy school with flying colours he even got a medal and 2nd place ribbon for performing all his training and tricks to order. I was so relieved because he had been tempremental all day and wouldn't perform at all, he was obviously saving it all up for the evening. We have even managed to get him to walk from the house for 3 days in a row now! So far, Jake has been with me but tomorrow I plan on trying to take him out own my own - fingers crossed.
The boys have gone back to school after the Easter holiday so I have spent a couple of mornings sitting in the sunshine with some friends drinking coffee - ahhh it's a hard life. The weather is amazing for autumn, still very dry, lovely blue sky and reasonably warm at about 22degrees. It does get chilly at night though.
Elliot had his 'end of semester 1' report the other day and had got 'excellent' or 'very good' for every subject, including effort and behaviour - so a great result for him.
We're soon back into the routine of swimming lessons and after school clubs again for the next 9 weeks or so.
First week of the boys Easter holiday is over, it sure has gone fast. We have had a couple of trips to Torquay beach, a day out in Geelong, Elliot got together with some friends and we went to the cinema to see Monsters versus Aliens - if you get the chance to see it - don't bother!!
Lots of time spent with Banjo, trying to coax him into walking without having to be carried at all - no change there though really. He seems to be suffering from separation anxiety - he likes to know where each of us are and if anyone is left at home then he just won't walk!!! He graduates from puppy class on Wednesday night, all being well.
Easter Monday we went to Barwon Heads, a lovely little village by the sea. We spent most of the day on the beach just enjoying the mild weather and relaxing. It's hard to believe it's autumn, the weather is lovely.
The boys practiced sand sculpting for the next competition in the summer. For those of you that don't know, Elliot and his friend David came second in the sand sculpting competition in Torquay back in January - they had their photos in the local paper and won some things from Rip Curl (a surfing shop). Next time Jake and Lewis want to enter as well.
Time Change....
We changed our clocks here, back 1 hour, so there is now only 9 hours between us.
We actually forgot to change the clocks and wondered why nowhere was open! Still, we managed to park really easily!!
My mom has booked her flights to come and visit us in October, for 6 weeks, yes 6 weeks (only joking Mom). How brave is that - first ever flight and she's coming all the was to Australia - on her own! Trust her not to do things by halves!!
I've posted a random picture of Elliot, taken last weekend. I know he reads this blog and doesn't get a mention very often - sorry Elliot - it's
nothing personal!
More Decorating..
Spent most of this week painting the boys bathroom and toilet and finishing off Jakes room. I'm having a break from decorating now until after Easter - there's not too many more rooms to do now.
The back garden is progressing quite nicely and I have bought lots of planters and plants to tart up the new trellis area - hopefully this will be easy to maintain once it's all established. I've found it quite difficult trying to remember new plants and it's all quite confusing 'getting my head round' what season it is. Although it is autumn, this week the temperature has been up in the 30s again although it is cold first thing in the morning and in the evening.
The boys are now on school holiday for 2 weeks. Jake and Lewis's headmaster left school on Friday for a new adventure at an International School in Bangladesh so there was a big assembly to farewell him. Jake was given a school award at this assembly for "being so principled and caring in making sure our grounds are watered and for using his initiative and always helping out". That is Jake in the picture above, on the far left in the yellow t.shirt - the photo is not too good but I was caught off guard.
Update on Banjo - he's neurotic! He is happy to go out in the car but won't walk past the car for a local walk. I have spent many hours trying to coax him along, dragged him on his tummy, dropped his leash and walked off without him and, mostly - carried him!! I mentioned this to the vet at puppy school and she suggested me putting Vegimite (Marmite) on a stick and "he will definately follow this" - will he heck. He just sat watching me, as did people passing in cars! So all that happened was I got Vegimite all down my trousers whilst I carried the dog!!! There was me thinking we have moved to this lovely new place and that people might think we are a normal, ordinary family but no, once again we are the 'odd' pommie family on the corner!
