Friday 6th June.  I can't sleep!  It is 4.15am and I've decided it is time for a blog!Our three weeks at home is nearly over and we said our goodbyes again, to some family members last night.  Yesterday was Peter's 65th birthday, part of the reason we came home for a 'Family Fix' when we did.  We are very lucky to have all our family around us here in Geraldton.  All familes have finished seeding and we celebrated Peter's milestone with an early dinner of finger food.  Grandies have school today, so it was not a late evening.  Fiona made him a 'Smash Cake'.  Well I think that was what she and Lani called it, and I ordered some finger food from Culinary HQ.  He had a very enjoyable evening and full day in fact. It was also Tammy and Sando's 5th wedding anniversary and "Yes" they were married on Peter's 60th birthday.  The last of our four children to be married and we organised the wedding in 3 weeks and had the reception here in Bluff Point.  It was another very special 5th of June.  Five years on, we have two more grandchildren to add to the six, and of course one is our newest little granddaughter Issy.   We certainly have enjoyed giving her a cuddle or two!  She is such a delight and last night she had four female cousins giving her plenty of attention.  Nathaniel idolises Jack and Denva and can you believe I didn't get a photo of the three boys together?  Definitely will have to be a Christmas shot!  Peter made the comment a few times yesterday, that his milestone was pension age!  I wonder how much longer reaching 65 will mean you can retire and get something from the Government, for all those taxes you have paid?  It is planned that in 2017 you will have to be 65 years and six months before you are eligible for the pension.   Then every two years the age will increase by another six months.  Time will tell no doubt and we would certainly have to make a lot of changes, before we did battle with Centrelink.  Thankfully at this time, it is not something we need to be thinking about.Many of Peter's birthdays have been spent on the tractor.  During the boarding school years, it was quite often a teary day as he said goodbye to kids going back to boarding school after the long weekend.  Being the 5th June, we have always been thankful for a rainy day on his birthday.  Our records do show that quite often we have had a good rain, or at least some rain on his birthday!  Well not yesterday!  It was a beautiful sunny day in Geraldton.  I think the temperature got to the forecast of 27 degrees.  Hopefully there will be some rain after the weekend to keep the farm looking as magnificent as it is!Last Sunday we went to lunch at Bitez with Fiona, Aaron, Jack and Lani and yesterday I took Peter to lunch at Saltdish, courtesy of my Mothers Day voucher from Jase, Nic, Soph and Ella.  Dining out twice in the one week.  "Times are a changin"!  Well maybe!  Both cafes Peter has not been to and both he enjoyed.The rest of his birthday was enjoyed with visits or phone calls from his four sisters and family.Ted and Coralie are off to England for 5 weeks next month and Coralie had asked for current family photos.  So Aunty Coralie's request was the opportunity to get some updated family snaps.  We did come home for 'The Family Fix', so I think I should share them in the blog.  Too bad if I get into trouble for it!  Hopefully they'll be over it by the time we are home again!  Just three days to give the house a bit more of a clean, enjoy watching grandies play their sport on Saturday and say some hellos and goodbyes to friends.........and we're on the road again.  I have had my moments, especially during the middle week of our three weeks at home, where I have had mixed feelings about coming home for the break.  I was even saying to Peter "We should be just going back to Adelaide, getting the van and heading west"!  Never a consideration for him!  I'm right now though.  Back into the blogging and I'm looking forward to the next four or five months... "Travelling Oz".

I needed some more photos to go with this blog when I came to edit and compile the book of 'Travelling Oz'.  So some treasures of 'Little Peter' have been pulled from the 'Archives'!  20 photos