Another hard day at the office?

Yesterday was a tough day at the office. It was the 6th event in Kenny's department's Olympic teambuilding summer games. It is basically 10 events that run over 10 weeks where 7 different team compete against each other to be top of the medals table and win gold!

So far there has been everything from basketball and volleyball to an Olympics quiz and even a Ms PacMan competition.

Event 6 was Tug o' War ! Below you can watch the video of Kenny and his team in their first round match which the won convincingly (2-0).

Kenny can be seen at the front of the rope for his team.

All good fun! But need to work on that technique now that they are through to the next round.

1....2....3.....HEAVE !!!!



Tug o War

I want to ride my bicycle

In the words of the song by Queen....
"I want to ride my bicycle, I want to ride my bike"
"I want to ride my bicycle, I want to ride it where I like"

So that is exactly what we did today. Kenny, Cameron and Mac went on a bike ride to the park.

Mac gets 10 out 10 on the cuteness scale as usual, esp wearing her brand new doggie helmet







Cam looks like he is too cool for school. But next week the summer vacation is over and he will be off to his new school. Cielo Azul Elementary.....home of the Ravens!



Kenny and Mac on the "Mean Machine".

A serious work out for Kenny in the engine room of the Mean Machine, especially when Mac is sitting back with her juice in her hand shouting "GO FAST DADA!!!!!"



We also got to fly the kites at the park, however Cameron was the only one who had any success in the light winds we had this morning.

Another fun day in the Black household

Mac's Bath time

Mackenzie, just like her Mum, loves her baths!

Unfortunately for her, Mum was busy tonight, so Dad was on bath duty.

But Dad can be fun too............really!

Is there anything more fun than making strange hair styles or bubble beards in the bath?

But what do you do when your cool hairstyle becomes a flop?

Just get more bubbles and keep on smiling!

But then just as your having fun Dad says it is time to get out.......Uh-Oh!!!!

When does Mama get home?

Angry Face & Sea Lion Impressions

There is no end to the talents of our Mackie Moo as can be seen in this recent video clip taken in a restaurant while on vacation in San Francisco where she shows us some of her "talents"

In the beginning she shows us her "Angry Face" (which it seems she can never do for long without laughing and shaking her head) and then as the clip progresses we get to see her impression of a Sea Lion (we had just seen them from the pier and Mackenzie seemed to really love them).

You will also notice in the clip how well she takes direction on her performance!

I am sure stardom can wait for a few years yet.........but not as far as she is concerned

Our California Vacation

The Blacks are back from vacation!

Genevieve had to go over to Folsom, CA on Intel business for a few days so we decided to make this into a family vacation trip. We all had a great 10days over in California and manage to cram in far to many things to mention here in one short blog post.

Some of the highlights included:

• Getting to visit family (Grandma (several times!) and Todd & Dee)
• Day trip to San Francisco (WOW....way cool, to many things to list)
• Going on a WWII amphibious vehicle tour of San Francisco (Cameron even got to drive it)
• Visiting the Jelly Belly jelly bean factory (no other comment needed except yummy)
• Swimming in the American River (beautiful but cold water)
• Going to Fairytale Land in Sacramento (Mackenzie loved it)
• Folsom Zoo Sancuary visit (cute little zoo where all the animals were rescued from labs, horrible owners/breeders etc)
• Snooks Candy Store visit in Old Folsom (handmade chocolates to die for!)
• California Railroad Museum (tons to see and do, Cameron loved seeing all the fancy sleeping cars but Mac was disappointed that the trains did not have a swimming pool, LOL)
• Wandering round Old Sacramento (visiting cool old stores and eating too much saltwater taffy!)
• Going swimming almost every day (I think Cameron and Mackenzie are almost part fish by now!)
• Cameron jumping off a 12 ft springboard at Folsom Aquatic Center (Go Cam!)
• Eating at ton of great places (the 7lb weight gain I made on the trip will be testament to this)
• etc
• etc

Just too many things to go on about to be honest.

I think one of my longest lasting memories of the trip will also be one of the simplest ones. Every time we returned to our hotel room and opened the door Mackenzie walked in and said "Mmmmm, nice. I like it". i.e. basically mimicking Genevieve's comment that she made when we arrived on the first day.

Below I have added a slide show with a load of pics from our vacation which you can watch. You can also view the pics separately and download them by clicking on the photo of Mac in the plane ready for the trip

Enjoy the show:

California Vacation - Jul/Aug 08