The Airport Scene.

Throughout the whole visit...there was one person missing from this reunion. That was Alister, Haydens father and the Eldest of the Armitage family. He was driving a load back from the East Coast and unfortunately was going snail pace most of the way. Right up to the airport we were hoping that they would finally catch him and get to meet him for the first time. About 15 mins before boarding we had actually written him off and started our goodbyes and who should walk in at the 11th hour, but Big Brother. What a happy time for them and the family. Have you seen that movie Love Actually and at the very start you see happiness when people meet up with each other...Well this was one of those moments. It was sad to see the Armitages go, they had actually brought some life to the family here in Perth. They were like a breath of fresh air and we will really miss that. Just looking at the photos...theres alot of us aren't there....these are Good Times, with many more to come.

Armiguys downunder Pt 6

The ten pin bowling gang

What is it with Armitage blood running in the same room, that when theres a game to be won all males are on deck and ready to kick some candy butt. Competition was high and so were blood pressures and decibels. We were fortunate enough to have the last 3 lanes to ourselves, but that didn't stop the noise or the kids from running a muck. Had a great time ten pin bowling. We won't say who won cause thats just boasting...oh Hayden, it was you...hahaha, but people pulled a fair few strikes outta nowhere that most of our numbers were in the hundreds. Maybe we should have a ten pin bowling tourney at reunion. Now that would be interesting.

So here are some random shots for the blog...Enjoy.

Now this was funny, Uncle clint being the annoying younger brother bowled his ball down the same lane as Uncle Dave totally stuffing up his shot. All in the name of fun huh.

Armiguys downunder Pt 5

PERTH TEMPLE VISIT

A family holiday wouldn't be complete if we all didn't go to the temple together. This was a nice experience and we all thoroughly enjoyed the session.

FAMILY HOME EVENING AT THE THOMSONS.

Now this was crazy and fun. Imagine all the Armitages and Thomsons together in one room, Playing a game...boys vs girls and the competitive streak is so high that the noise level could be heard about 400m away. If you weren't deaf you are now. CKZ did this game where everyone had to write 5 names of famous people on seperate pieces of paper, put them in a bowl and the idea was that we had to get our team mates to guess who the names were without saying their names. Had to try and get through as many names as you could in 30 secs. So could you imagine Hayden and Steve....yeh crazy.

Ady and Maya did a lil number with Mac...I think they sang My Eternal Family

And Mackenzie didn't shy away from the spotlight when it was his turn to sing the Ben 10 song. You are sooo cute Mac...love you.

Clint and Hayden have this magnetic force between them. they were forever mocking and joking with each other. Hey Uncle Clint, you don't need the flash...the glare coming off haydens head should be light enough...hahaha

Armiguys downunder Pt 4

PERTH CITY

So today the family introduced CKZ to the sites of Perth City, starting off at Kings Park. This is Perths most visited site seeing venue and is a place that overlooks the city, the Swan River and strips going south. Was an overcast day...which is the best walking weather.

Now everyone has heard of Jacobs ladder, and its not for the faint hearted. If your scared of heights hold on tight to the rails. Its just a flight of stairs thats going up the side of a hill, but the flight goes on and on. Great for exercising and working out. And great for bringing on labour if your pregnant and overdue... up n down 3 times...thanks Hayden.

Perth City didn't disappoint and it was a great time for photo ops and for the family to hang out.

Clint and Kate outside of London Court. Now London court looks like a scene from harry potter and kinda reminds you of Daegon Alley. It is very English with its tudor style shops etc. We spent a bit of time here with the Canterbury Shop located here and other souvenirs shops.That was the whole reason for coming to the city. Cheap souvenirs.

Awwwww aren't they just sooo cute.

Nice Posing Kate....

Don't you just love this shot. Speechless is all you could say.

Now we came into the city a couple of times, one to do some souvenir shopping the other was to pick up Aunty kates diamond ring that Uncle clint brought her, apparently at his moment of weakness. So she was just anxious to see this ring. It was beautiful and a great score on the price. So there are some photos when we took them on another occassion and also with the family.

The group together on the QV1 sculpture. Don't ask me what it is...its just a big red twisted hunk of metal in the front of a building. Bit of an eye sore really.

Now, it usually takes Haydee a lil while to warm up to people she hasn't met before. But somehow, Uncle Clint has this uncanny affect on the kids...in fact on all of them. They all just loved jumping and wrestling with him and loved his shoulder rides. Not a day went by that he had someones kid on his shoulders and using their feet as a machine gun. Today was Haydee's turn. I think he's missing his police issue gun.

There was this Japanese Guy playing the Didgereedo on Hay Street and he was surprisingly pretty good.

You know how we went down Jacobs ladder. well when one goes down, you must come up. And this is the steep hill that goes up what seems like forever. Some still had the energy to run the rest of the way (you are called freaky people) Oh Deborah and Bailey thats you...hahaha

Perth is not without its quirks. have you ever seen a motorbike with a towball on the back. StrangeI know.

Armiguys downunder pt 2

Girls Craft Day

We got rid of the boys...which was probably a relief for them and they went of to chop wood with Uncle Dave... So they took off early in the morning like 6.45am early. And as for the ladies...well we were in crafting heaven. Kate has this vinyl machine that prints out all these vinyl letterings. So they went and brought some wood and we started making our boards.

The big decision for most was what colour they were gonna paint their boards.

Some did black, others used crackle medium...and lovely Sarah, did stripes. She was their for ages lining the masking tape up and measuring it. it was a long process. But she got through it and prevailed.

Pippa provided us with the necessary nutritional goodness that we all need when crafting, CHOCOLATE from the factory...yummo!! Thanks Pip.

Kate showing us how to lay the vinyl. We each got our names and the year we were established.

So these were some of the finished products. They were all different and all unique and we just loved them. I loved the fact that it was just so easy to do and something we could finish in time. It was sooo much fun and I think it was the first time we had all gotten together as girls and done something together for ourselves...So thanks kate for that.

So where were the boys...almost 7 hours later. Well, according to Hayden, they did go wood chopping, but then afterwards they thought it would be fun to take Uncle Clint 4WDriving. You should've seen the cars afterward...They were filthy. But hey, they enjoyed their cakes and sandwiches at the cafe in Mundaring...Apparently they had a great time.

THE ARMIGUYS HIT PERTH

Welcome Downunder to the Armiguys...this has been a long awaited event...thats because we ahve heard about the elusive Clint Armitage, but have never met the guy. So we finally got the meet him, Aunty Kate (the family Author) and their eldest son Zach... in the Flesh!!! They arrived in from LA the day after we got home. So seeing and meeting them felt to us like we were still on holiday. They stayed with Aunty Di and from then on their house was just inundated with family from the time we picked them up from the airport to the time they left....absolute troopers.

So we started their perth experience by going Supagolfing. Bigger golf clubs and tennis size golfballs. This was crazy...Could you imagine the chaos...balls flying here in there and kids just running around randomly....it was fun and hazardous...It was like speed golf happy gilmore style.

Somehow these photos just make it look like an orderly affair. But it wasn't...hahaha

This was the alternative to golfing.

Looking good ladies!!! Catch some sun while its not raining.

From here we went to the Margaret River Chocolate Factory. A nice place to go and gorge yourself with free chocolate and hypo kids. Somehow... At one stage we couldn't find the boys...and where were they, out the back playing cricket on a kids size cricket set. Their fun turned from cricket, to frisbee throwing(that died quickly) to footy, rugby and then to wrestling!!! Sorry no photos left camera in car...but funny to behold.

Now Uncle Clint was just hanging out for fish n chips and where else but Armies for lunch. This was originally owned and operated by Uncle Dave and Ese...but they sold it. Poor old man didn't know what hit him when we all arrived. So this was a photo of the boys striking a pose for me.

Can't remember what happened later...all I could remember was Hayden and Steve's noise, the kids running a muck, and everybody just having a great time.

Home Sweet Home and Happy Birthday!!!

This felt a lil weird, because we moved into our home 3 days before we left to go on holiday, so we still felt a lil out of sorts. But that still didn't stop us from settling in. Mind you, we were still in holiday mode and we arrived back in Australia the 13th July. And guess what!! it was our birthday on the 14th. Mine and Aunty Ritas...yay...we share the same birthday only she's waaaay older than me. So Hayden shouted me to a 1 1/2 hour massage at the local shopping mall as a birthday pressie. Heaven...is all I can say. Best present from the best husband. Not only that....THE ARMITAGES...arrived from America tonight. Now that is another post.But a fun day and many more fun packed days while still in holiday mode.

The Fun Stuff

LETS RODEO!!!

This was my first ever Rodeo and what a place to do it than in America. Nothing like seeing a man being thrown off a bull or horse. But crazy Americans and some Aussies like to do this for a living. IDIOTS!!! For me getting past the gag reflexes was a bit of a challenge but I got used to it. I just don't deal well with the smell of animals and dung...ya know the whole farm thing...So this was just a whole new experience for me and I loved it.

CHECK OUT THE CLOWN...HE WAS FROM AUSTRALIA!!!




There was this part where 4 guys had to get a bull on its back and milk it. That was just hilarious. Have you seen four grown men hanging on to piece of rope and being pulled by a bull...But not just 1 group of 4 men...6 groups at the same time. the funniest thing you ever saw.

Hayden was also able to go out onto the rifle range and do some shooting with Uncle Greg...Boys stuff. This was Haydens first time shooting anything with real bullets and it really surprised him. Some of these guns packed a real punch. He almost knocked himself out with the punch these babies pulled. Uncle Greg was loving this and the guy in the red is his mate who owns the beast.

And lastly, for Haydee's sake we were able to visit the set of High School Musical. Yeah for all of you that didn't know. It was filmed in Salt Lake City. Heres the proof!!!She is so obsessed with HSM, that she watched it on the plane the whole time. We brought the CD HSM 3 as well as Hairspray and listened to them religiously...non stop in our rental car. So if you need to know the lyrics to some of the songs. Just ask her and of course Hayden. They know them all.

Where amazing happens.

Ya know what...we had such a geat holiday and enjoyed every minute, including the stressful ones. Our highlight was our family right up there with the Church history sites. There is nothing like spending time with family and having fun with them. Even those we had met for the very first time. Well face to face anyway. Gotta love facebook huh!! We had an amazing time and thank you Cochran family plus extended, for giving us a great gift that we will never forget. We love you all and appreciate everything you guys did for us. We so enjoyed our conversations with each of you and know we have certainly built eternal relationships...miss you !!!!muah muah

Pioneer Trek @ Martins Cove

Ok so this was an exciting journey for us because we actually did something that not alot of Australian Tourists have done and that was to do a Pioneer trek across the countryside in Wyoming. This was also a great opotunity for us to stay in Uncle Gregs Motorhome...which Hayden was drooling over..hence the photos. Plus it was an opportunity for us to get a lil taste of what it may have been like to pull a handcart through rough terrain. So Trish , Haydens cousin and her daughter Maggie came along for the ride and they were so much fun...Love ya heaps along with Aunty Karen and Uncle Greg. It was a 6 hour drive...felt more like 2 hours...oh yeah thats right, I was asleep for most of the trip there and back. Word to the wise...if you can sleep while travelling, then do it. helps avoid the whole jetlag thing.
Anyway, our first stop was Independence Rock. This landmark was a prominent and well-known landmark on the Oregon, Mormon and California emigrant trails. And it was prominent for its mosquitos. I swear I swallowed a whole lot of mozzies that night. If you thought the flies were bad in Australia...these were worse.

So this is the site. It us about 8 minutes to climb to the top.

So this is Hayden and I on top of Independence Rock..Kinda reminded me of Ayers Rock. A rock in the middle of nowhere.

While at the top you see all these inscriptions. This one was the clearest and form what I could determineas being the oldest. Apparently the pioneers used to incsribe their names so that family or friends following would know they were alive. at least.

All that said and done, we saw the remainder of night playing rook or bakers bridge...Can't remember who won but it was fun. At least there were no cheats...aye Uncle Clint.

The next day we started our Pioneer Journey. Each group was given a Handcart and because we had children...opted for one with shade. It was so much fun. We learnt alot about the history of the pioneers, thanks to uncle Greg and we were able to get to know each other a bit more.

On the trail. This was our cart and the girls had a makeshift bed in the back. Soooo inviting. Made you wish you were a kid again.

The family at Martins Cove. You'll see on the Martins Cove map at the top the track that we actually walked. See the lines...yeah walked the whole thing and pulled the art throught the Sweetwater River. Yeah...Haydee thought it was a blast. We felt a lil awe inspired because as the story goes...4 young men aged about 18 walked back and forth carrying approx 400 people across this river during the winter. Imagine doing this in the snow. And this was the very spot they did it.

From here we walked another kilometer to the finish, thank goodness. Its not comfy walking around in wet clothes and sand rubbing between your thighs... But we made it. I think we walked about 8 miles in 28 degree heat. Well it felt like 8 miles give or take.

When we finished, Haydee wanted a turn pulling the childrens handcart around the complex. She lasted about 10 meters and dumped the handcart for the pram. Yes, she's our lil princess. Likes to be pushed around and doesn't like to miss out on a thing. But what an experience. After a hot shower I absolutely crashed for about 5 out of the six hours home. The walk kinda took it outta me and outta the whole family...because we all conked out on the bed...