We were down on Cronulla beach one sunny summer morning as part of a community activity to support a friend in need

Summer is a time for stepping outside, stretching the legs, putting on the sunnies, cranking up the barbie and perhaps working up a bit of a sweat.  We’ve been following these rules with an action-packed couple of months, including being part of a memorable baseball game, camping at our property and enjoying a huge family celebration at Easter.

It may not be such a good idea to put me in charge of a sail boat but we survived the afternoon

With our friends John and Caroline we enjoyed a delightful day on beautiful Sydney harbour, sailing their boat in and out of the picturesque bays that make up these stunning waterways and enjoying a delightful picnic lunch onboard as we anchored in Watson’s Bay.  Julie and I don’t get to spend too much time out on the water but by the end of the day we were begging for more.

We did go to our property in February with the intention of putting in a few hard days of much needed work but the rain slowed us down and gave us a great excuse to just enjoy the beauty of the place without having to work for it.

The early morning mist coming off our dam is a great way to start the day

Like father, like son.

Mum gives the star catcher a victory hug and Zach gives our magnificent scorer a hug back

In March Zach’s baseball team, in which I nominally act as assistant coach, had two huge comebacks to win their grand final in the bottom of the ninth.  Zach has played with most of these guys for about 15 years and they form a tight group of young athletes and great mates.   Makes a dad proud.

Beat that! Nana celebrating her birthday under a tarp in the bush surrounded by family.

Brave Alice cautiously approaches a killer wombat lurking near our camp

Easter this year up at our property was special for many reasons (not including the frequently damp weather).  We had 26 people up there in total, including four generations of the family.  In addition to the two beautiful kids from our niece Sarah we also had the matriarch of the family, Julie’s mum, celebrate her 87^th birthday while we were there.  How many 87 year olds can say they went bush camping in the rain for their birthday?

He may be a good outdoorsman but he’s still our son and he still collects Easter eggs.

Anna and Carl taking a break on our bush walk into the green rain forest gully

And we finished the holiday festivities off with a great bush walk up Petrie’s Gully, something a small group of us had done a couple of months ago but it was so good we decided to take all the keen walkers – 18 in total – up there again.  This is a beautiful walk past ruins of the old Newnes shale oil mine and up into the narrow rainforest canyon where we stood amongst its narrow walls, tall trees and clear running water.  Very special.

Julie and others amongst the canyon walls, tall trees, and green rocks deep in Petrie’s Gully

Remotely steering a drone in the wind can be tricky, as Will found out when it crashed on our shed roof. Luckily the tractor came to the rescue.

Of course we can always rely on Will, our family gadget guy, to be into the next big technology thing.  So if you want to see our camping spot at the property from another perspective take a look at this video shot by Will’s little drone that he remotely flew over and around us during the weekend. Try this: www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYvRrjJRdAk&feature=youtu.be       (there’s no sound – it’s a cheap drone).

Scenes from our campsite at Easter – 26 people, 13 tents and a bit of rain

Unfortunately all good things must come to an end and so did summer with the conclusion of daylight savings time, cooler temperatures and a bit more rain.  Never mind, we’ll be out there amongst it again, but maybe with an extra layer on.

More pictures from the last couple of months:

Most of the gang gathered for the Easter egg hunt on Sunday morning

Even wet soggy wombats look kinda cute!

What’s in a number? Well, its kinda important for lots of reasons but we still waited 15 years before getting it.

The whole team – catcher and clean-up hitter, star scorer, wise old third base coach