Habits

How lamentably easy it is to break good habits and form bad ones. We have been busy, but you make time for the things that are true priorities, and blogging has managed to get dropped from the break away and then from the peloton (I do hope you understand my cycling references!), but, with concerted effort, I'm sure I can bring it back. We have done plenty of things worthy to be recorded here, but I have managed not to take a photo of any of them. Alice, Andrej and the kids visited from Melbourne last weekend and we had a lovely catch up over lunch. It wasn't until long after they had left that it occurred to me, we had taken no photos at all. We could have recreated the famous shot of Bethany and Andrew...



We must remember to do that next time.

I suppose I ought to attempt some sort of catch up. Well, our three weeks of visitors and the Tour de France ended with a mix of disappointment and relief. We enjoyed having everyone so much, were so pleased with how well the house coped with extra people, and the Tour was thrilling, I love it more every year. Staying up late every night, along with all the added cooking, can lead to fatigue, hence the tiny bit of relief, but we are looking forward to many years of holidays with a full house.

I do need to wake the kids up and get going for the day, so the last update I shall give is on sport. Bethany has had a brilliant season with soccer. They haven't won a lot of games, but they have played so well as a team and Bethany has really gotten into it and played well. She isn't afraid of the ball, or the ground! On Saturday, she was goalie for one half and she made three saves, two of which were spectacular. She was even winded by one of them! Connor, her fifteen year old coach, told her that it was a professional standard save, better than any he had seen on TV for ages, and he gave her the sports award for the week. She was so thrilled, as was I in watching it.

I must confess that, usually, children's sport is one of those aspects of parenthood that I tolerate, rather than revel in. Standing on a soggy oval, listening to everyone moan about the cold (I save my moaning for the heat), making small talk with other parents you don't know very well, it isn't an exciting proposition for me. This year, however, something has changed with Bethany's game. As Bethany's, and the whole team's, skills have increased, so has my interest in the actual game, and we are all at the side cheering and calling out the children's names. They don't all know each other off the field, Bethany is the only girl and there are no other children from her school, but they all enjoy playing together and the parents are at the stage where we have learned all their names. We even had a barbeque at the coach's house on Saturday and it was a lot of fun. It was extraordinary to see a fifteen year old boy (who knows all the parents' names and always uses them, asking how we are) playing with the year three kids.

Joss and Tobes are having a fabulous season at cycling, with big races coming up, and even I have a sporty update - I am on track to share a marathon as part of a relay team, each running 10.5k, the week after next. More on that later.....