Monday - I was tired... So so so tired. Austin had been up and down all night. For what i didnt yet know! All i could think was how the hell am i going to drive all the way to Mudgee today? Still not exactly sure how i pulled it off, but i did. We got out to Dads place and said our hellos had something to eat and a bit of a chat. Well, just as i was about to head over to the other house (where we were sleeping) It started to absolutely piss down rain!! So bad in fact that i had to get a rain coat to wrap around me to cover Austin up. Just as i had covered us up, bbzzzt, the power went out. Just fabulous! Oh well i thought, this will be a long quiet night. We got everything  into the little house and the fire started and i settled Austin down to sleep. I was hoping against hope that the power would come back on, because i didnt have any bottles made up for Austin for if he woke up thru the night. I went back over to Dads house and got some drinking water and put a pot on the fireplace to warm it up. Typically, Austin woke up twice thru the night, and i was just lucky that i had enough water to give him his bottles...

Tuesday - We got up and ready to go and pick up Angelique, Tyson and Cherish from Lithgow. We left at about 9.30 and the power still hadn't come back on, so i thought, i will wait til i get to Lithgow and see if i can get Austin's bottle heated up for his lunch time feed. HA, they dont do that! I had to buy a bottle of water and a cup of hot water - yes they charged me for hot water - anyway, while we waited for the train to get in, i fed Austin his lunch and he drank half of his bottle. We headed back out to Dads place. When we got there, the power was still out (this was about 2pm) so we set sleeping arrangements up and went up the hill to a friends place to fill up a thermas of hot water (she has solar power, so no blackout for her). I must have seen 6 country energy cars and trucks driving up and down the road that afternoon. They had to go to every transformer pole in the area, take down the fuses, then go back and put them up so they could figure out the problem. Just as i started to get nervous about spending another night in total darkness, how i was going to feed Austin his dinner and how we would entertain 2 kids quietly enough not to wake Austin, the power came back on *HOORAY*!!!!! We had dinner and a few drinks with Dad and Chris. Dad had to go home thou coz he was exhausted. Chris stayed and got a little tipsy LOL. It was a good night. It was great to see Dad and Chris and Angelique all in the same room. It has been about 3 years i think.

Wednesday - We woke up to SNOW!!!!!!!!!!! I couldnt believe it. I knew it was cold, i had to restart the fire at 4am, but OH MY GOD!!! SNOW!!! I had never seen snow at dads, i knew it had happened before, but i had never seen it. It was very light, but beautiful and amazing all the same. We packed up our stuff and headed over to Dads place to say our goodbyes. Just as i was reversing out, i couldnt see a bloody thing coz of the cloud and mist and i reversed right into a massive pole!! Spewing! But at least everything still works. I can still close by boot and the lights all still work. But grrrr.. Anyway, we said our goodbyes and headed back to Dubbo. It is a very long trip back here - especially when you have someone sitting in the back seat saying "how many more minutes Aunty Cass??" So we got home, and had a quiet afternoon. Thank God!!

Thursday - Off we went to the Western Plains Zoo! We were the first ones thru the gate!! YAY. We had to get there early so that we could get tickets to feed the Girrafes. So we headed off around the zoo. It was FREEZING!!! I'm talking about 6deg. Angelique and i (stupidly) had both forgotten to put our jackets in the car. So we were like ice cubes til lunch time when the sun finally decided to come out! It was a great day and Austin was so well behaved, i was in shock! We got to see all the animals, some of them twice. The kids got to feed the Girrafes 3 carrots each. While Angelique was trying to get a photo of Tyson and Cherish in front of the Giraffe, it actually licked Tyson on the cheek and Cherish on the shoulder. Tyson freaked out but Cherish thought it was great!! So we spent Thursday just looking around coz the tickets are a 2 day pass, so we decided we would come back on Friday to watch the feedings and talks. When we got home on Friday we were all so tired. It was a very early night for all of us.

Friday - A considerably warmer day and Angelique and i both remembered our jackets! We went to watch the Hippo feed and talk - that was really cool. Then the otter feed and talk - Angelique loves them, i am not sure why, but she does. Then we went over to watch the Siamong Monkeys be fed. Now this was the coolest thing i have ever seen in my life! They were so funny when they were running around and playing, but then they started doing this echoing call thing they do. Their chin puffs up like a frog and it is sort of like a really deep WOOT sound. It echoed so loud. Austin loved it until i took him to the edge of the bank. Once he could see what the noise was, he wasnt so entertained! After the apes, we headed over to info centre, where we had to meet to go on a reptile ramble. The kids got to touch a blue tongue lizzard, a shingleback, a frilled neck lizzard, a thorny dragon, a childrens snake, a diamond python and a carpet snake. Austin LOVED it. He actually grabbed hold of the childrens snake and afterwards i watched the keeper pat the snakes scales back down - oops - LOL ... We headed back home after this and waited for Shannon to get home.

Saturday - We went to the Old Dubbo Gaol. I found it  interesting to see that a man who failed to provide food for his children got 6 months hard labour, but a man who stole some sheep got 3 years gaol!. But a woman who failed to provide food for her children got 5 years in gaol and a woman who stole (something) got 1 year hard labour. We went and had some lunch after the gaol and dropped Angelique, Tyson and Cherish off to the train station. I was sad to see them go, i  had had such a great week. but i was very happy to think i wouldnt have to get in the bloody car again for a while!!!

Sunday - My baby took his very first steps!!! He had been playing belly flops on daddy all day, which sort of goes stand up, arms up in the air, then throw yourself on daddy LOL. Then His Aunty Melissa and April came over and he just stood there for a second and the took 3 steps to get a toy! The about half hour later he took another 2 steps!!!! I am so so so proud of my baby! But man im going to be busy now!! LOL

OK that is it from me. Unfortunately i couldnt upload the pics on to minti because they are too big in size, but here is a link to view them online for anyone who wants to see them.

What a week!!

Have a great week!!!!

Cass xoxoxox