The year started off busy as usual. The renovations to the Studio made it more appealling so we had a few more customers than usual, which is good since we now need to pay back the extra loans.
We all went off to the Brian Ferry Leeuwin Concert at the beginning of March, which was very enjoyable though it did take us quite a while to actually find Brian on the stage. He was hiding behind a piano on the right side. This was followed later in the month by the Michael Buble concert at Sandleford. This was the first concert we had been to at Sandleford and we were all very impressed with the set up. A few things to learn for next time, but this will become a regular event.
Liam started Year 7, again with Mr McLeod and Bruce keenly went back to work, revitalised after a good holiday and a lack of finacial options. Retirement has suddenly disappeared.
Towards the end of March, Bruce had the old man's operation to repair tendon damage to his shoulder. Had to try and get it in quickly so that it could repair before the ski trip. It was only after the operation that the Doctor told him it was unlikely to be strong enough by July.
Daen is now being kept in line by Sophie, who has even managed to force Daen to start smiling normally in photos. He started work in Collie this year, working for a mining contractor and hopefully this will enable Daen to set himself up financially while the mining boom continues.
Liam loves to eat Pizza, as we all know, and thoroughly enjoys making his own pizza every Sunday, using the bread mixer to make the dough. We are sometimes not sure where most of the flour ends up, but he is getting better all the time.
We have had Vegas now for just over a year and in general he is a lovely dog. Very friendly to all our guests and quite an attraction because of his size. Unfortunately he does love to chase kangaroos and motorbikes so we have to be careful when we take him walking. He is extremely protective of anyone being harrassed, so you have to be careful about hugging or play fighting, he might bowl you over.
Daen had a good year with his football, as did the Hawks. He played in the reserves and they won the Grand Final. The league also won the grand final and Sophie's netball team (full of the WAGS of football players) so overall a very successful year for AMR.
Liam improved in his football this year but his team lacked Year 8's so they were beaten consistently by the other two MR teams. Liam did get the coaches award this year for his improvement and effort during both training and the game. I think it was well deserved.
It is hard to believe, but Liam is going to the High School in 2012 so he attended the orientation days during the year. Here he is photographed in woodwork with John Noble the Canadian exchange teacher. John and Annette were a great asset to the school, unlike some previous exchange teachers, and will be missed. Liam loved the day and looks forward to coming to MRSHS, where his dad will teach him Maths (everyone thinks this is cruel, but he wants it)
As usual we took the school group skiing in July. It was a great season with snow everywhere. We had a change in staff this year taking Geoff and Paul for the first time, both were great assets and hopefully they will continue for a couple more trips. Liam is now keeping up easily with Bruce and just needs to develop better turning skills to exceed his dad. Merv and Robyn had another good trip but we are all getting older now and slowing down.
The kids were fantastic and very appreciative of the effort we all went to. We are taking a break in 2012 so that the family can go to France for a month.
We had a few high winds in July and woke one morning to see one of our large Blue Gums crashed to the ground, it just spun off its stump. Bruce has had to spend a lot of time cutting it up and stacking it to burn it, there is only a small piece left for the next burning season.
Unfortunately Rosie's brother Doug died on 28th July and for the second year in a row we went to Geraldton for a funeral. Doug lived a good life but cancer caught up with him in the end. It was great to see all his friends get together and we met his estranged daughter for the first time which was nice. Rosie read the family eulogy and did an excellent job. We stayed at a hotel on the waterfront which was really nice and relaxing.
Rosie is back into her golf full time again and spent a week in September in Perth playing country week golf. She had a successful time coming runner up in the Nett and best overall from the Margaret River crew. She has now won the coveted Purple Jacket and will need to think of what she can add to it when she presents it to the new recipient next year.
Liam and Bruce held the fort together while she was away and on some mornings didn't even realise she wasn't there (since Rosie is not much of an early riser).
Later in the month Bruce went to a retirement seminar and found most of the school staff there. Everyone is hopeful that retirement will happen soon so we all wanted to know about superannuation and the transition to retirement options.
Liam finished the football season during September and thoroughly enjoyed his game again. He has made big leaps forward with his getting into the packs and pulling out the ball. He now kicks the ball instead of hand balling it which is a great gain in confidence.
Bruce has decided that this is the year of garden reclamation. During the September holiday, he decimated the gardens at the side of the house, completely stripping all the ground covers (weeds) and all the plants that had gone woody. As you can see, this didn't leave much. Rosie's mum, Betty, was there to help so it became a full family affair. We have now put wood chips everywhere and replanted these gardens. Before Christmas, Bruce attacked the first of the front gardens, as you can see below, and then decided to build a limestone retaining wall to replace the sleepers. This has been a major job and it took a couple of weeks. Just finishing off this one now before moving on to the next.
Rosie's birthday in November was a quiet affair, we went out to the pub and then just rang a few people to see if they wanted to join us. They all turned up not even realising it was her birthday. We may not look a happy group, but it was a great night.
After this Bruce went to Perth for a week of conferences and the HOG's visited town with their rally. By all accounts it was a great event and a bit of a surprise to everyone.
The end of November saw devastating fires sweep along the coast line taking out 30 houses in Margaret River, one belonging to Garrath, a teacher in Bruce's department. Our Beach House is somewhere in the middle of the photo below and due to the fantastic efforts of the fire brigade we had no damage at all. The fire caused the area where we live to also be evacuated but it didn't actually get to us so our house was competely unaffected. I took the photo on the right on the drive to Prevelly to see our house for the first time.
Christmas 2011 and Daen and Sophie are still going strong, Daen bought Sophie a scooter as a combined Christmas/Birthday present and she loved it. Liam got some more Lego, computer games and an iPad for him to use at school and improve his social networking.
Vegas got a big bone, Bruce a retracable hose and Rosie lots of clothing and golf gear. We are all getting back into our golf and enjoying going out with Merv and Robyn. Later during the holidays we are all going to the Vines for a couple of nights to play a bit of golf and relax.
Between now and then, Bruce has to finish his garden project and then contemplate which one to do next. He also has to fix the Chicken coop since it is falling down.
Hope everyone has had a great year and look forward to keeping up on Facebook or email. We have a twitter account as well, but l haven't worked out how we will use it.
Top Left is a compilation of the little video clips that we have taken during the year. With iPhones and Flip cameras it is all very easy to take video, the problem is what do you do with afterwards. YouTube is a great way to store all the clips.
The bottom Left is Liam, Jamie and Vegas playing fetch and the bottom right is Vegas playing with a fearless puppy that came to visit.