Given the opportunity to have another 4-day weekend it seen myself and Audrey take an annual leave day today with Anzac Day to follow tomorrow. Anzac Day is one of my favourite days of the year and it’s probably the only day of the year “public holiday” wise that means something to me, that’s the atheist in me perhaps.

I have sincerely tried to over the years to instil the same value into my boys of the day, in fact I have probably scared them in the earlier years by dragging them out of bed for several dawn services, not only are they generally moving I see it as a small sacrifice on our behalf to what has been sacrificed currently and from our forefathers before us. Over the years, I have also had the opportunity to be sitting in the MCG on Anzac Day to witness Essendon and Collingwood do battle 3 years in a row and it’s hard to separate what gave the more Goosebumps hearing the last post in an eerie silence that is magnified due to the fact that you are sitting with over hundred thousand other people or the fact you bleed red and black and your happy to see your boys play on such a big day. It's truly an Aussie Day of celebration, worship and remebrance said with nothing but respect that the Anzac Boys all deserve, without their sacrafice Austalia would not be the Nation that it is today. 

It’s been another pretty big weekend – “we planted our 20^th fruit tree” yesterday and we have just completed our third garden ring, I would hate to think of the dollar value of all the plants and fruit trees we have so far planted but I take solace that we have close to a 100% strike rate so far with our odds being enhanced by all the recent rains – I so can’t wait to some of the plants start taking off and the fruit trees start bearing the bounty of our labour and hard earnt money.

Saturday also seen Beau, Julie and Grahams horse return from agistment and it didn’t take the three horses long to remember each other again “welcome back Beau”.

Today I started to separate the two paddocks again and I hope by next weekend I will have it completed with new white PVC horse wire. We also managed to have a chainsaw day yesterday even Audrey managed to have her bookmark moment, one thing I am sure she would agree on it totally looks easier than what it really is, still I admire her eagerness to have a crack, something about boys and their chainsaws - it brings out the testosterone in us.

It wasn’t all work without play though, we finally managed to try out the new skate park that has recently opened on Saturday night. It was a great reality check for me on “where the bloody hell has my youth gone” once a upon a time I would have torn that ring up – this day in age I managed to knock over a little girl and boy all whilst looking like a baby giraffe on wheels – “did I mention how good the arcade was lol” it was safer in there, my youth never left me when it came to Gallager though……it was great to see Audrey in her element, can still skate she managed to show Maudie and Rupert up amongst three quarters of the other participants. It was a great return to my youth in memory though being reminded of all the old games we use to play whilst listening to great tunes under the laser lights and disco ball. I was actually more comfortable skating with the lights on perhaps it was the hint I needed to leave the rink and disappear into the arcade, I should have taken my skates off though, another embarrassing moment for all that witnessed for me that is.

In closing it was also great to see Rupert and Boris bonding over Boris’s new car which is currently being kept here on the farm. Boris’s also managed to get some valuable driving in using the manual, I must have seen him go up and down our road at least 20 times – each time getting better though.

This weekend has also seen Larry move in (to our city house) temporarily for a couple of weeks and whilst I expect it’s all going to be a little hectic it’s going to be great having all the kids under the one roof. So one more night at the farm, with a couple of hours in the morning to finish off a couple of things then it will be a mad rush home to watch the footy with the kids – “Go the Dons”

“At the going down of the Sun and in the Morning we will remember them”