Saturday, November 22, 2008

all grown up now 2

My youngest, Hannah turned 18 today - happy b'day hanzie! She's out clubbing with mates at the moment. They're having a scavenger hunt, wearing costumes and probably getting a little wasted (but in a good way I hope) - they're all booked into motel rooms and have some safeguards in place for themselves. Hannah has a fear of heights, so she wanted to jump out of a plane for her birthday and she did earlier this morning.

This shot features Hannah and the mud cake, yum...Rebecca and her youngest Ella in the background at the family part of the celebrations.

In this shot, Hannah and her tandem instructor are ready to go, and I couldn't believe the size of the plane. I did wonder if it could really climb to 11 thousand feet. She has a dvd of the freefall and the whole experience (including the loud screaming and the excitement, a bit of swearing).
Hannah said it was very peaceful up there once she got into it and freefalling was fantastic.

This shot we got on zoom as they were turning to land. I'm so happy for her, glad that she challenged herself and found more fun than she ever expected.


all grown up now

Because I haven't posted for a while I'm taking this opportunity to post some pictures of my kids. The something else in my life which adds so much pleasure, reminds me that grant projects, book publications, writing and reading new poetry and all the other stuff I do is only part of who I am, only part of what matters about me living my life.

My son Jasper has finished his recruit training at HMAS Cerberus in Westernport and we went to see him graduate a few weeks ago. He's now Seaman Sailor Waller and is training in Avionics at the RAAF Base at Wagga. That makes him a 'birdie' in navy speak.

Jasper is in the middle in this shot of graduation day and it rained for the last ten minutes of the official stuff, but nobody seemed to mind too much.

Jasper is second on left in this shot and yes, they are real guns and he has been trained in the use and firing of his. I hope he will never have to use it.

This shot is one with my first born, his sister Rebecca, which was taken in winter, just before he left for his recruit training.