Out with the Old and in with the New

Hi All!

In the long period where I wasn't posting on my blog quite a lot happened, most of what happened you will probably already know from my Mum's blog called Pieces of Contentment, but I thought I would try posting on my blog again!

So the first major thing would be our Granny unfortunately passing away, then consequently we had to clean out and sell our grandparents' home which was very daunting when we had our first look at the state it was in. It was quite a lot of work but the result was better than we could possibly imagine! Altogether this took roughly eight months.

Before we cleaned the house out and After.

Miss V and I playing on the soft carpet floor of the house.

Seeming as we knew we were subsequently going to move, we started to gradually preparing to move from our house, putting this in the bin and taking that to an op-shop and saying 'I could probably get rid of that'.


Then we started the search for our new house...
Our top priorities were within walking distance of a beach, not too close to the highway and it had to be big enough to fit our family over the holidays. On a few occasions a lot of the family were all at the table looking on their laptops or phones for a possible contender.

We went to multiple open houses while also getting to know the area around us. Some we thought were very likely but when we saw them we realised it had many problems or it wasn't as nice as it was in the photos. We eventually had a very good option, the house was extremely close to the beach and in a quiet little area only a 10 minutes drive from a regional city. So while Miss V, Miss O and I were at a cricket camp, Miss V received a text from Mum saying we had put an offer in for that house and were waiting to see if it would be accepted. I was in total shock, the particular house I was all for but I was just very surprised at how quick it all was. When we went home the day after Mum and Dad told us the whole story.

So we started to pack up our home, moved into our new place and put our old home up for sale and it sold very quickly, thankfully.

And that brings us to the present, we have nicely moved into the house that we put an offer on, we have ordered a new, comfy lounge for our tv room and we have just bought a new car!! I also have my own room this week for the first time in my life (my 19 year old brother, Mr T, has just headed off to uni)! Everything about 2019 looks to be so exciting and I can't wait to tell you all about it!!

Good Old Australia

On the 29th of October we went down to the Coffs Harbour International Stadium to see the Australian women's cricket team battle the fourth Ashes match against England. Unfortunately we lost by around 20 runs but Australia still won the ashes with a 3-1 win. We went to Coffs and as expected we met with our fellow cricketers from the North Coast Academy while we watched the game. England decided to bat after the toss which they won and made a record breaking 284 runs which was their highest amount of runs scored against Australia in a ODI match (*ODI One day international)

Megan Schutt took 4 wickets and England made 44 runs off her bowling. Ellyse Perry not only bowled and took 2 wickets but she also took a catch from Ashley Gardner's bowling and Jess Jonassen stood with one wicket. Around the beginning of when we batted rain came. But that was not enough for them to call it off (It takes a lot of rain to make the games called off). Alyssa Healy, who's is a exceptionally good batter and keeper, opened for Australia and scored 71 runs off 71 balls and was unfortunately caught on her 72nd ball. After that her opening partner Nicole Bolton made 62 runs off 82 balls. And after that the wickets kept falling and runs were drying up. In the end Australia were 9-257. All though they lost I was still quite happy as I brought my local cricket club hat and had it signed by Elyse Villani and Jess Jonassen.

Cricket Semi Final!

Last Thursday and last Friday Verity (My Sister) and I had a cricket semi final. It was a very very VERY close game, getting too intense and tight for comfort it came down to 1 wicket and 1 run to win.
By the end of our bowling we had to chase 235 runs with only 5 wickets in hand. The first 3 wickets fell fast leaving Verity and another batter of our team out there with just 2 wickets left. At drinks we only needed about 50 runs! We were tied before you knew it but Verity was unfortunately run out on a no ball and if you are not familiar with cricket you can only get out on a no ball if it is a runout and a no ball also equals a run so we won then but the people who were keeping track of the runs did not realise it was a no ball until after the game so everyone thought we were still tied. And so the next batter came in but the batter that Verity was batting with hit up high and someone caught it we all thought we lost but Miss G (My sister and coach and umpire of our team) called it a no ball so we won! It was a very tight game but we made it and even we tied I think we would of won anyways.

P.S My sisters Verity and Han have made their own blogs. Links>  Verity's Blog  Han's Blog

A Hot Summer day

Yesterday three of my sisters and myself (Miss G, Miss O, Miss V and I) went to watch the Southern Stars (Australian female cricket team) play against South Africa's women's team. It was the first time that I had seen cricket stars in real life! My favourite player is Elyse Perry who is probably one of the most famous female cricketers. Australia won the toss and decided to bat first. I saw all the players bat and most of the players bowl. It was a great game and ended up being a draw which is very rare in cricket. I was very happy since I also got to see Nicole Bolton and Elyse Perry get their 50s! I also got 3 signatures! Here are some photos I took and edited I hope you like them. (To help tell the difference Elyse Perry is number 8 and Alex Blackwell is number 2)

My First Cricket Game

 Yesterday I played the first day of my very first cricket game! I took 4 wickets! I was very happy and my family were there to see it. It is a two-week game so next Friday our team can finish the game. Miss V (my 12 year old sister) took a wicket too, she was the first bowler of the day and a couple overs later it was my turn to bowl. I took 2 wickets in my first over and then another 2 wickets in my second over, so all up I took 4 wickets. I could not have done it without the teaching and practice my sisters and brothers have given me. Miss G (one of my 18 year old twin sisters) was coaching and I couldn't have had a better coach for the day. Miss V was playing with me and my family was watching me so I had quite a lot of company. Here are some photos that show how excited the team and I were when I took those wickets! Hope you enjoy! And I am sorry I haven't posted in a month.

 

Bird Buddys

Today my Mum and I found these two Crested Hawks but now called the Pacific Bazar. They may not look big in the photo but when you really look at them in real life they look like the size of your leg if you're me. At first look I thought they were just normal causal birds but when I got a good look at them they gigantic! This type of bird is unusual to see around houses, my dad said that they are probably looking to make a nest.                                                                                                                                                

 

Having a Little Dip

Today we found a little friend in our pool area taking a little dip in our pool.