I celebrated the return to good health and big appetites for all of the boys after nearly 3 weeks of illness.
Sam celebrated a BIG footy win for his team this weekend that places them in the "Grand Final" championship game for the Riverina region next weekend - not bad for a rooky's first and only chance at AFL.
The boys and I celebrated a beautiful Sunday with a walk among the gum trees and the billabongs and a koala sighting.
FOOTY
Saturday was Sam's big game in Ariah Park which is an hour's drive away. They were playing their arch-nemesis, the Giants. The last time they met, the Eagles were on the losing end of the draw in a hard fought but bitter game. This was a grudge match and the winner would go on to the Grand Final for the league title next weekend.
The game began with each side strong and focused and fighting hard for possession of the ball. Unfortunately, the Giants drew first blood with a score of 1-0. The Giants quickly gained a lead with a goal and went up 7-0 and finished the first quarter with a lead of 8-1.
Narrandera came out strong in the 2nd quarter and took the lead with a couple of 6 pointers as well as some single point kicks. We were feeling good at half to be ahead on he scoreboard and the boys seemed to be in high spirits.
The Giants fought back in the third quarter to take the lead once again. It seemed to be that we just couldn't get the ball into the score zone and by the end of the quarter, we had been shut down. The score was 21-17.
The Giants scored a single point with a kick in the fourth quarter to go to 22. The Narrandera "defense" played extremely hard and managed to shut down the Giants from further scoring although it was tense as the ball came dangerously close a few times. finally, Narrandera scored a fantastic goal that put us in the lead 23 to 22.
I have never in my life experienced the feeling I had as I watched and prayed for the minutes to tick away and that siren to blow. I was torn between wanting to turn away as I saw the Giants head down the field and wanting to run on the field and help Sam's team. I found myself pacing and willing that horn to blow. People were yelling and screaming and cheering and moaning as both teams fought in the dying minutes of the game. 
Relief gave way to elation when the siren wailed and we were the victors! We were so proud of the boys and their hard fought win.
Good luck next weekend as you play for the Championship Sam and the Eagles!
KOALA SIGHTING
The boys and I woke up to a beautiful day on Sunday and having no footy to go to, we decided to all go together to the Common for a walk among the gum trees. Maybe we would see a koala if we were lucky.
We packed snacks and water and headed out. As we parked the car at the Common, we started to chat with a family from Victoria who had also come by. The fella told us that we passed a koala as we were pulling in so we walked back about 20 steps and sure enough, on a branch about 10 feet up and over the road, was a chubby round little koala staring down at us. We took a few pictures and marvelled at him for a while and then set off on our trek.
Little did we know that would be our only koala sighting this day - oh well. The walk was lovely, the boys had "light saber" duals with sticks and threw rocks in the billabongs as we meandered along. Jacob found a tree he couldn't resist climbing so we stopped and ate our snacks and fruit there. Before we knew it, 2 hours had passed and so we headed back to the car. It was lovely to be all together and to do something fun and relaxing. It was the first time since Dan left, but it certainly won't be the last now that the days are getting longer and spring is definitely in the air!
When we got home, we decided to have Canadian style burgers (which Jacob made - yum), Aussie sticky date pudding (which Sam made - mmmmm) a nice green salad (which Jack made - m-mmm-mmmm) and potato salad (which mom made - goood). What a fabulous day - it was so fun and relaxing and exactly what each of us needed! Thanks boys! Love Mom
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