Leighton Beach Open water Sea Swim Race

Late last year Jason decided to re-ignite his swimming career and swim to Rottnest Island (an Island around 18km off the WA coast). Its not a massive Island, around 20 square km. Rottnest is a popular holiday destination for WA locals, but unfortunately it is a little run down and very over priced (in my opinion).

As part of his training for the Rottnest swim, Jason raced the Leighton Beach Open Water Sea Swim Race (5km).

We woke up nice and early on Sunday morning for the race and were expecting a nice, fine, clear day. Unfortunately there were fires down south and the whole city was blanketed in smoke! Not great exercising conditions.

Here we are at the beach all ready to go for the race. It was a little chilly at 6am (hence the polar fleece), but it soon warmed up. We were planning on being at the beach for 2.5 - 3 hours so I had lots of things to keep Ethan entertained - diggers, activity books, lots of food, bucket and spade and his togs.

Here's Ethan watching his Daddy head off for the swim start. 

Despite the smoke haze we got some nice (albeit only iPhone) photos.

Around 10 minutes before I expected Jason in, I changed Ethan into his togs for a frolick in the water so that we could keep an eye out for Jason!

1 hour 17 mins later Jason emerged! A 10 minute improvement on his 5km time from 6 weeks earlier! It shows the training has been working!

Just 6 weeks to the Rottnest Channel swim now!

2013 in review

2013 has been an interesting year to say the least! We have been busier than ever (most due to now being a family of three, increased work commitments and sporting endeavours). To summarise our year:

Health
This year was a tough one for us with Ethan's health.... his issues from 2012 persisted and culminated in surgery (tonsil and adenoid removal, grommet insertion and the trachea-laryngoscopy to try to find out what is going on with Ethan's lungs). Things are still largely unresolved on the lung/breathing front for Ethan but his issues, while still there, are not as bad as they were pre-tonsil/adenoid removal.

Jason had a healthy year, but I was hit with numerous bouts of gastro (at least 4) and two reasonably severe colds. I also underwent a bowel cancer screening colonoscopy due to a family history of bowel cancer. During this procedure I had 5 polyps removed and sent off for testing. As a result of the number of polyps found, I am on a 3-year cycle for repeat colonoscopies.

Home improvements
This year we did a few things round the house, including new wallpaper in the master bedroom, new carpet in the master and Ethan's bedroom, a new side fence and a new limestone garden out the rear of our property. We also drew up many plans for a bathroom renovation and potentially adding a second story/garage to our house. These are plans for future years, so I am sure that we will draw and re-draw numerous times. We finally decided to not progress a swimming pool at our place, although during the mid-December 2013 heat wave we both regretted this decision!

Cars
Jason said goodbye to his precious Betty and we welcomed the new commodore into the family. While not quite as cool and character filled as Betty, the new car is far more practical. Unfortunately the Mazda still gave us lots of trouble with at least two major repairs, the most recent costing in excess of $5000.

Travel
2013 wasn't a huge year of travel for us. In January I went to Melbourne to meet an old friend from Wellington for an extended weekend. Jason and I each had a few out of town/overnight work trips including - Geraldton, Muja and Albany for me and Albany, Bridgetown, and Busselton for Jason. We went to NZ to visit Jason's family and while over there we chartered a plane to visit Ethan's Great Grandad in Takaka. We also spent a weekend in Busselton (for a race). Finally, we brought my Mum and Dad over from Queensland for a visit.

Work
Both mine and Jason's work scope increased, resulting in some long hours worked. Mine was due to a government announced merger with another government owned entity, with which I was appointed project manager for the implementation of a new business unit for the merged entity. Jason's was due to essentially being appointed in an additional role (while retaining his day job). as the merger is complete as of 1 January 2014, my work life balance should be restored in the New Year, however, I think Jason will have a very busy start to 2014 work wise.

Sport
2013 ended up being a busy year sporting wise. Ethan started with lots of swimming (until his grommet operation), he them moved onto Little Kickers soccer and Gymnastics. We will continue with the gymnastics in 2013 but take a break from soccer as he really didn't seem to like the structure of soccer. We will also return to swimming lessons and are doing a 6-week course in surf babies (beach education and familiarisation for toddlers and their parents). Jason's sporting year started very successfully with a Water Polo grand final win. Jason played water polo and canoe polo for much of the year and late in the year decided to train for the 2014 Rottnest Island solo swim (19.2km). My sporting year consisted of lots of running - 3 * 5km races, 2 * 10km races, 1 * 12km race, 1 * marathon (42.2km) and 1 * ultramarathon (48km)... this was backed up by lots of training.

So as you can see 2013 was an interesting year, as we sit on the cusp of the New Year it is time to reflect and be thankful for all our loving family and friends, thankful for the opportunities that we have been given and learn from the challenges we faced.

Christmas 2013

2013 Christmas was a quiet Christmas for the three of us. We had planned to meet a few friends at the beach for an 8am swim followed by brunch and a glass of sparkling.... however Ethan foiled those plans by sleeping into after 8! He never sleeps in, yet he chooses to on Christmas morning!!!

We put out presents (or "prinsets" as Ethan calls them) under the tree 4 days before Christmas - I didn't want to give Ethan too much time to tempt him into opening them!

We placed Ethan's "Santa Sock" in his doorway of his bedroom which he was SOOOOO excited to stumble across once he woke up! He came running down the hallway yelling "Santa Sock, Santa Sock". This was filled with 3 - 4 $2 toys and he really loved it. We probably could have stopped right there hahaha!

We missed brunch on the beach but we still had brunch (croissants with bacon and brie) and muesli, berry and yoghurt parfaits.

We went to the beach after brunch and as we had brunch late we decided to have Christmas dinner instead of lunch. It sure made for a more relaxing day!

Our Christmas dinner was:

• whiskey, marmalade and mustard glazed ham
• roasted cherry tomatoes
• smoked chicken, asparagus and pasta salad; and
• Chargrilled capsicum, corn and avocado salad.

Simple, but delicious!

Dessert was:

• Red velvet cake/cheesecake (good concept, looked yummy but failed to deliver)
• "Red" fruit salad (watermelon, strawberries, raspberries and blueberries) with mint syrup
• Homemade white and dark chocolate rocky road with cranberries, pistachios and macadamias

Ethan had a fun afternoon playing with his new toys, including the water feature!

All in all a lovely, albeit quiet, Christmas.

Summer in Perth - A picture post

Ultra marathon - a brutal day

2 weeks ago I competed in an Ultra Marathon (48km) running race. This, along with work, had been what was contributing to my lack of blogging over the last few months!

The definition of an ultra marathon is any thing longer than a marathon (42.2km). 

This race was always going to be tough as it is run in summer and on some very hilly trails. Unfortunately race week also happened to be the earliest ever heat wave Perth has experienced... with the 5 days leading into the race around 37 - 41 degrees! To combat this heat I tried to super hydrate in the week leading up to the race!

To make it worse there was a bush fire in the vicinity of the race in the week leading up to the race! Luckily it was contained before the race.

The race did start early (4.30am) to try and beat the heat, this meant that my alarm went off at 2.45am for "breakfast". As the race start was an hour away from home I decided to stay the night in a motel closer and for Jason and Ethan to meet me at aid station 2. That meant that they only needed to wake at 5.30am, not at the ridiculous time I had to wake up!

The race started with a 3km uphill - good to get the heart going, the blood pumping and the sweat pouring off me. 

Unfortunately around 6km into the race I started having some dizzy spells and just feeling generally off... it was going to be  a long day as I wasn't having a good run. Every so often you hit a really hard patch in training and it feels like you are running in mud - whether its lack of sleep, stress, busy at work or some other factor.... well this race was one of those days. 

But I am pleased to say I finished, in 8th female place and got to cross the finish line with my little boy!

It was a really hard, hot, dry, dusty and absolutely brutal day... but another achievement.... sometimes you have to have the really tough days to appreciate the good days!

Getting to know my Nanny and Poppy Dalziell... by Ethan Papps

In November my Nanny and Poppy came to visit me (my mummy thinks they came to visit her cos it was her birthday but we all know they really came to see me!).

It was really nice spending time with my Nanny and Poppy... we went to the beach, went mulberry picking at the park and just had a  lovely time getting to know each other!

I loved having cuddles with both my Nanny and Poppy! I wish that I could see them more often!

It was lovely spending time with my Nanny and Poppy, I can't wait to see them again!

P.s. my mummy says she is going to update the blog more often and she says sorry to all her loyal readers for being so busy during the last quarter of 2013!

Albany, WA

The weekend just been I headed off to Albany WA for the Verve Energy 10km fun run. I was primarily there for work to present the prizes (as we sponsor the race), but since I was heading down I decided to run the race as well.

I arrived on the Saturday and had a few hours to kill before I could check in to my motel so I decided to take a drive out to the Natural Bridge and the Gap.

The natural bridge (shown below) is a granite formation caused by the gradual wearing away of the rock by the Great Southern Ocean!

It was an overcast day but that didn't dampen the amazing rock work and coastline! 

 Quite different landscape to the Perth coastline, that's for sure!

 You can see the gnarled branches on the trees showing how much the wind has shaped these over the years!

 The trees themselves snake up the rocks.

 Between the rocks there are all sorts of delights, beautiful wildflowers everywhere. One could explore for ages!

 I managed to get a panoramic photo on my iPhone, which shows more of the coastline for you! It truly was an amazing spot to visit! Although I was pleased to not have Ethan with me as the safety standards aren't like NZ, that's for sure!!

 The following day I ran the 10km race, it was a spectacular point to point race, full of ups and downs. It was a challenging race, that's for sure. I wasn't racing it, just running it at a tempo pace and I managed to take out third position. Here I am on the podium!

All in all a very enjoyable weekend away, although I did miss my boys a lot!

Dinosaur spotting and finding new parks in Perth...

We always like to find new and different things to do in Perth on our weekends, so a few weeks back we visited the Museum of Natural History in Guildford. The museum itself is a Taxidermy exhibition, so there are lots of dead and stuffed animals, mammals, reptiles etc. But the main attraction for Ethan was the plastic dinosaurs (he is dinosaur mad!)...

Its not a long visit, we were done and dusted in around 20 minutes, but that is perfect for Ethan's attention span. Right next door is a gelato shop, which makes this a perfect outing!

From here Ethan, Jason and I went to check out a new and exciting park, the Woodbridge Riverside Play Space. It was AMAZING and Ethan had a ball. It had everything you want in a park. Firstly, it had a good fence so we could let Ethan wander to his heart's content and we didn't need to be worried about his escaping.

I was really impressed with everything to do there.... there were sand and water play areas, loads of swings, tunnels, a flying fox (with a safe swing/flying fox for kids Ethan's age) and more.

Here's Ethan on the flying fox swing! He LOVED it!

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Perth Royal Show 2013

After 5 years in Perth Jason and I finally ventured out to the Perth Royal Show (an institution here in WA). We didn't know what we were in for but we were pleasantly surprised in the end.

The show runs for a 6 days Saturday  - Friday (including a public holiday Monday) and we strategically chose the Wednesday/Thursday to attend as we were hoping it might not be as busy as the Saturday/Sunday or public holiday.

We were overwhelmed down show bag alleyway, but stopped for a rest near the main arena watching the show jumping. Ethan was then spell bound by the old train/tractor steam engines. 

From there we headed off into the garden exhibition, which was an oasis, a haven of calm in the otherwise manic show grounds. I was particularly taken by this exhibition, the herb garden was built into the outdoor table! An idea I really liked!

After the garden exhibition Ethan and Jason had a camel ride. They had a ball!

From here Ethan had a pony ride, we had some dinner, then treated Ethan to a couple of rides at the toddler ride area (fire engine and helicopter).

Here is the fire engine ride:

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By this time we were all quite exhausted and it was time to head home! We all enjoyed ourselves and we will definitely go again next year.

Circus Joseph Ashton

About a month ago we took Ethan to Circus Joseph Ashton  (a traditional family circus of acrobats, bareback horse riders, animal trainers, clowns and trapeze artists for over 150 years/7 generations). If you have been to Cirque Du Soliel and expecting something similar then you would be disappointed, however if you are expecting a traditional circus then that's what you are in for.

We got to see lots of horses and dogs (which made Ethan happy), laugh at the clowns and during intermission Ethan got to ride the little horses (5 times!!!).... 

Ethan was a little restless but he enjoyed it all the same! We will definitely be visiting this circus next time it is in town!