Parliament & Parties, Canberra

I took this picture the night before last after Mum asked me why there had been no photos of Dougie yet... here you go Mum, this is Dougie in all his glory....

Dougie in fine form, with Max

Sonia & Dougie

It was dark when I woke up yesterday morning, Friday the 11th of May, ready to do a mountain walk with Noels. We drove to Noel's friend's house nearby and 6 of us climbed Mt Ainslie together - in between huffing and puffing - we chatted most of the way up. It was exhilarating to get to the top.
For Noels and her friends, it's an early morning ritual and a great way to start the day.

After getting home and getting sorted, we ventured out to the National Museum, but by accident we ended up at the Canberra Museum.
They had a great Sidney Nolan exhibition and a Children's Book artist's exhibition, so it wasn't a total waste of time.
We then headed towards the real National Museum but, unable to find a car park we ended up at Parliament House.

It was exciting to be at the country's decision making mecca...

The kids at the front of Parliament House

We took the kids into both Houses of Parliament and explained how it all works (although they already knew after the football analogy).
Unfortunately or fortunately :-) Parliament wasn't sitting but it was still interesting to see it all with our own eyes...

Jack with the flag on the roof of Parliament House

Harry holds the flag

Nina has her turn

After Parliament House, Richard dropped us off in the city where we caught up with Noels for lunch and did some shopping, while Richard went to lunch with Dougie and his mate.

Noels & I at lunch

We all arrived home around 4ish and went to the local pub for another catch up with Doug and Noels mates, there's another daily ritual.

We got home in time to have Richard's pumpkin soup and watch the footy, where Noel's beloved Demons were slaughtered AGAIN!!!

This time it was Noels turn to fall asleep on the lounge - in sheer disgust.

The team at the top of Mt Ainslie 

This morning Saturday the 12th of May, was a sleep in after yesterday morning but again we walked the mountain - again it was hard work but a great feeling to reach the top.

While I was trekking up the mountain, Richard took the boys to a Canberra Raiders training session.
To all the West Australians, The Raiders are a Canberra based rugby league club....

The boys watching the Canberra Raiders train

The boys with Trevor from the Raiders

The boys were excited to meet one of the players. We have no idea who he is other than his first name was Trevor...

Nina gets her hair done

Everyone arrived home at the same time and after a joint effort by our hosts - of bacon and scrambled eggs, Nina and I treated ourselves to a wash and blow dry at the local hairdresser while the boys went to the pub to place a few bets.
This is Richard's punters club weekend round of betting, so he was very stressed (he's the wood duck at the moment i.e. the loser)

Tonight, much to our surprise, Richard's Uncle Glen arrived, driving his motorbike from Sydney.
It was great to see he'd made such an effort to catch up.

We all had a mad but great night out together, with dinner at a chinese restaurant called Ruby's.

The madness began when we got back to Doug and Noels house, some of their friends arrived and well, what more can I say.... the photos tell the rest of the story....

Hammo, and yes - that is pasta on his head!!

Richard, Tanya and Noels, dancing on the kitchen bench.... need I say more :-)