Saturday, March 21, 2009
Triple Trouble on the Johnsonville Line
The creche that Guy attends while we are at work has had to move from it's present location due to the expansion of the private hospital with which it used to be associated. To accomplish the move and set up at the new temporrary premises the creche had to close for a week. We arranged between the parents to each take 1 day off work and look after each others children. Thus on Tuesday 24 February, Jack found himself at home with three small boys, Guy, his friend Jack the smaller (3) and Harrison who is 2.
What to do for the day with three small boys? Ride on trains of course! We walked down to the Crofton Downs railway station and boarded a train bound for Johnsonville. Children under 5 are free and Jack had Katrina's monthly pass, "you got good value from that!" remarked the guard on our returnntrip. The English Electric units on the Johnsonville line allow a view of the line ahead, to the delight of Guy and Jack the smaller. Harrison was happy just to look out the side windows.
At
Johnsonville we went to the model train shop, to get some supplies and look at all the trains. As we were leaving Harrison filled his nappy requiring a diversion to the parents room at the mall. There were two mothers already there changing there toddlers and they looked up almost to object to Jack entering before they realised it was in fact a parents room not just a mothers room. Small Jacks mother had dropped him off with a full lunch box which came in handy at this point. There was a container of cripsy noodle snacks. They proved tasty but fiddly to eat, perfect for keeping Guy and small Jack, and the daughter of the feeding mother engrossed while Jack sorted Harry's nappy. Then it was back on train,and walking back up the hill. The boys were vey good in public, Guy and little Jack like holding hands which also proved a useful way to reduce the 'degrees of freedom' and make managing the trio a bit less challenging. Although we avoided using the cars, later in the day we put three across the back seat to go down to the creche and help the builders shovel sand into the new sand pit. It was a big day out for all, and Jack (the Daddy) was a sleep in seconds later that night.
What to do for the day with three small boys? Ride on trains of course! We walked down to the Crofton Downs railway station and boarded a train bound for Johnsonville. Children under 5 are free and Jack had Katrina's monthly pass, "you got good value from that!" remarked the guard on our returnntrip. The English Electric units on the Johnsonville line allow a view of the line ahead, to the delight of Guy and Jack the smaller. Harrison was happy just to look out the side windows.
At
Johnsonville we went to the model train shop, to get some supplies and look at all the trains. As we were leaving Harrison filled his nappy requiring a diversion to the parents room at the mall. There were two mothers already there changing there toddlers and they looked up almost to object to Jack entering before they realised it was in fact a parents room not just a mothers room. Small Jacks mother had dropped him off with a full lunch box which came in handy at this point. There was a container of cripsy noodle snacks. They proved tasty but fiddly to eat, perfect for keeping Guy and small Jack, and the daughter of the feeding mother engrossed while Jack sorted Harry's nappy. Then it was back on train,and walking back up the hill. The boys were vey good in public, Guy and little Jack like holding hands which also proved a useful way to reduce the 'degrees of freedom' and make managing the trio a bit less challenging. Although we avoided using the cars, later in the day we put three across the back seat to go down to the creche and help the builders shovel sand into the new sand pit. It was a big day out for all, and Jack (the Daddy) was a sleep in seconds later that night.
Monday, March 02, 2009
More photos from Katrina's V8 Supercar Race Experience
It was of course a family affair for our trip to Manfeild and Guy thought it was pretty ok too! He was a very good boy while the driving was in progress and thought the car was worth having a blat in!
Katrina's V8 Supercar Race Experience
For Katrina's birthday this year Jack decided to give her an out of the ordinary birthday present - a V8 Supercar Race Experience. It was a session with a racing instructor in the Holden V8 Supercar and she got to do 3 lots of x 4 laps around the Manfeild Race Track with a debrief session in between each set. She's had latent petrol-head tendencies for some years but manages to keep them under control most of the time, but having said that, she was more than a little bit nervous about this. Let's face it, a V8 Supercar is a far cry from the 1000cc Starlet, even the 2.3 litre Mazda 6 is quite a long way off the mark!
So in preparation for the big event we stayed the night in Feilding in a lovely little restored cottage and took ourselves off to Manfeild on Monday morning. Katrina was too nervous to eat much breakfast and was quite worried about either:
a.) stalling the car (the humiliation would be too much)
b.) crashing the car (doesn't bear thinking about)
c.) nana-ing around the race track and wasting such a marvellous opportunity to go hard
As it turns out, she didn't have to worry about any of these. She took to the driving like a duck takes to water - no nana-ing around for this girl! The instructor told her after one of the debrief sessions that she got up to 180kph on the straight so during the next set of laps she dared to take her eyes off the track briefy to see the speedo well over on the right hand side, definitely up around the 180-190kph area!
While speed was not the issue, a few technique modifications were necessary around the tricky corners but she managed a few really great laps at full noise and cornering nicely! I think the photos say it all!
Strapped in and ready for the instruction laps
Here she goes down the pit straight!
Her hair was wet with the sweat of concentration after the laps! 
