Kakadu and Darwin (no kids)

One of the perks of having Gran and Grump coming to visit for a couple of weeks is Ian and I get to escape for a few days.  This time we drove (yes drove) over 1500km (950mi) to Kakadu and then an additional 200km (125mi) to Darwin.  The drive itself was fairly easy.  We left on Sunday evening and drove the first 4 hours to Tennant Creek.  We had borrowed a friend's Corolla so as to save on fuel, but we decided when we nearly hit a couple of horses that driving a small car at night on these roads was not such a good plan.  We considered ourselves very lucky to have not damaged our friend's car, so we were shocked the next morning when we came across a group of Wedgies (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wedge-tailed_Eagle) in the road lunching on a roo that they didn't move.  When the last one finally decided to get out of the way, it was a tad late.  His wing broke one of the headlights, but he flew off just fine.

We arrived at Kakadu National Park and our luxury accommodations just in time for a nap before our evening crocodile cruise.

Our Suite

The dining room

Trying my hand at spear-throwing

Ian trying to play the didgeridoo

My turn

Those are termite hills!!!!!  Everything is bigger here.

Sunset on Mindil Beach in Darwin.

Alice Springs Show Day 2012

The day after Gran & Grump arrived was a holiday for the town, so everyone could have the day off to visit the Alice Springs Show (kind of like a county fair).  We got to see and do so many fun things like watch racing and diving pigs.

Gran and Gavin

Grump and the boys!

4th of July/Territory Day Celebrations

Once again the facility Recreation Association sponsored a fabulous picnic to celebrate the 4th of July and Territory Day the weekend before my parents arrived.  Here a few pictures of the boys from the day.

Bradshaw Sports Day 2012

It is a tradition at all of the schools in Alice Springs (and probably Australia) to host a Sports Day at the end of second term (its way too hot to do at the end of the year).  Every school divides the students into houses at the beginning of the year (think Harry Potter) and Jamie was assigned to Lasseter and his house colour was yellow.

So, for sports day I bought him a yellow shirt (which you can't see under the jumper) and we went to his school.  The pre-school did their own round of activities called the Nursery Rhyme Olympics.  For every activity they completed they got a sticker.

Jamie especially liked Jack Be Nimble:

Jack be nimble, Jack be quick

Jack jump over the candlestick

He also really liked Diddle Diddle Dumpling

Diddle diddle dumpling, my son John

Went to bed with his trousers on;

One shoe off and one shoe on

Diddle diddle dumpling, my son John

Pick a sock

Go to bed

Find the matching sock

Of course, Jamie had to immediately find Mrs. Reu to tell her that the socks didn't really match.  Leave it to my kid to be that particular.

Hey Diddle Diddle, the cat and the fiddle

The cow jumped over the moon

The little dog laughed to see such a sight

And the dish ran away with the spoon

Egg Race

Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail of water

Jack fell down and broke his crown and

Jill came tumbling after

Fetching his water

Not tumbling down

After the Nursery Rhyme Olympics, we took all the kids to big school for a running race.  The winner of each race won points for their house toward the Sports Day Trophy.

Ready... (waiting our turn - Jamie is second from the left)

Set...

Go!!!!