Anzac Day

Well me and three of the kiddies went to our very first Dawn service! So at a very early 3.30am I started to rouse up the little ones, Sarah and Harrison got up real easy but I had to work extra hard to get the sleepie head Jacko to his feet. But once dressed and in the van covered with their quilts and beanies their faces started to brighten up.


We got to Kings Park at about 4.20am and grabbed a beaut spot just off to the side, at the park they had about ten big screens set up with movies of the wars on and the kiddies sat back and watched them, it was a real beaut set up believe me mates. After awhile the service started and they showed it all on the big screens so we didn't miss a thing, and bit by bit the sun started to raise and then they had a few old tiger moths do a fly by. Then a fly by with an old war plane and the saying of 'The Ode' and the 'The last Post' and that was it. To be fairdinkum to ya I reckon it's not only my responsibility by just about every Parent to encourage their kiddies to be involved in Anzac Day, and to know all about the Anzac spirit!

As you can see it got a little nippy, well okay it was friggin' cool but it's for only one morning and they survived. And look on the bright side, we don't live in Armidale! This was my very first dawn service and it was a beaut experience one i'll never forget and the kiddies just loved it.
And were does the origins of The Dawn Service come from... well the half-light of dawn plays tricks with the soldiers eyes and so it was the most favoured times for an attack. Soldiers in defensive positions were therefore woken up in the dark, before dawn, so that by the time the first dull grey light crept across the battlefield they were awake and alert. This was, and still is known as 'STAND-TO'. With symbolic links to the dawn landing at Gallipoli, a dawn stand-to or dawn ceremony became a common form of Anzac Day remembrance during the 1920s.



We then had a wonder down and got a photo of us and the Vietnam War Memorial , as you probably know yours truly was born during the Vietnam War. And so it's probably the one War that I can relate too and was also one of the saddest. The response that the soldiers received when they came home, was one that they did not deserved. But as they say 'That is War'.




Then it was back up to the flame of remembrance where we sat down and just took in our surroundings, which turned out to be a bit different then we expected. See as I took this photo I was just looking at the kiddies and hoping that Harrison didn't decided to take a morning dip. But as I grabbed the kiddies and started to walk away, two blokes in suits asked me if I could have a chat with them. It was two fellas from channel Ten News! Turn it up. If you look just behind the kiddies you will see they were filming the little nevilles being nice and quiet just sitting their thinking about the War and the old diggers...... okay they were probably thinking about breakfast at hungry Jacks but still give them a bit of credit. Anyway I had a short talk about how i'm just teaching them all about the diggers and how they should always remember the bravery and courage that these great soldiers showed......(while I was shitting myself, cameras do that sort of thing to ya) then they asked Sarah something and then Harrison which got a 'mmamamahaga' response, then they turned to Jacko and asked him 'did dad get you up this morning' .... 'Yes'. Then he asked him 'So what was it like being woken up..... and Jackos answer was .... 'HARD'. ha,ha,ha So that was our first and probably last time we will be on the TV News but at least we got their hay.


But it was a real beaut morning and well worth getting up for, trust me.
And as the saying go's...


At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

LEST WE FORGET

Oscar n' Harrison's first Swans match

Well now that the misses has picked up a job working afternoons/nights, Yours truly doesn't have any choice but to bring the whole friggin' mob to the local Aerial ping-pong matches. Or we just stay at home and lisen to the match on the radio, which at times last week seemed like a bloody good idea. Talk about taking you to the limit and back again! But the kiddies survived to see another day (only just) and also saw the Swans first lose for the year.
Here we are doing the walkabout around the boundary line, it's a good way to wear the little nevilles down a little.







Harrison was a little beauty of a kid, he sat down with his old man for most of the match and just watch the game. But I had to keep an eye on the rest of the ratbags as I don't like the idea of going home to the misses and saying 'well I lost one', somehow I don't think that would go over very well!








Then we come to this little fella, well he was just a friggin' hand full. He wouldn't sit still at all and was just a bloody pain in the freckle, at one stage I said to him to just friggin' act ya bloody age (well deeeerrrr, he is two!). Near fulltime we were losing the match and their was crying, sooking, yelling and carrying on (and that was just me). But even if he did give his old man a hard time he just loved being at the game.














As usual at the end of each quarter they let the little nevilles onto the ground and let them have a kick to kick, not my kiddies they just play kick and run and run and run till someone tackles them. As you can see Oscar was putting his weight into it after bringing' down Jacko, as Harrison was just hanging back around the ruck (as they say in this game). But if ya keep pushing your weight around your bound to cop a head high sooner or latter, and as all parents would say.... 'well keep it up and it will end in tears'. As you can see Oscar came of second best to one of Harrison's THANKS FOR COMING but between you and me he gave as good as he got, believe me mate.




But as for the match we played probably the best team in the comp Subiaco (last years Grand final winners), and they just played that much better then us and went on for an easy points win. It was a replay of the Pre season Final which we won that game but today we just didn't step up, again it was played at their home ground Medibank Stadium so I can't wait till we get them in our backyard.

Kings Park lights

Well as you might know over some summer nights King Park puts their night lights on, the lights shine up over the trees that line the main road into the park. So a hell of a lot of people come up to the park on those special nights and just sit back and look over the city and also to have a gander at the Park lights.




This photo gives you the best idea what the trees look like under the lights. Pretty cool hay.










Here are Sarah and Jacko hanging out at the Eternal flame of Remembrance and the Pool of Reflection. In the background you can see the State War Memorial which was erected in the memory of the 7000 soldiers who gave their lives in action during World War 1, and for the 4000 who died during World War 2.





And here is the little sheilah herself Sarah showing us that she is really just a little pink angel..... yeah right!