Catching Up - 2019

So, 2019 flew by and I was pretty slack in updating the blog.  Partly because we didn't really do much, partly because I know I'm pretty much the only one who reads this and partly because I was busy (read lazy...)

So here's the quick summary of what happened for the rest of 2019:

28th July 2019:
We went to the Almond Blossom Festival in Willunga.  It is held in the last week of July every year (except 2020 when it is being delayed due to Corona Virus) to celebrate the blossoming of the almond orchids.  It  is a hosts a variety of stalls, rides and food stands.  Alana invited a couple of friends along and we made the trip to Willunga.

The Festival first started in 1969 as the Almond Blossom Ball to raise money to replace the old Willunga Town Hall, supper room and toilets.  It also raised the funds to open the Willunga Recreation Centre. At the time there were 1300 acres of almond trees in the area.

Almond Blossoms

Main Street

Stalls

Rides

Cameron

Tomas

The kids having a shot at sumo suits and not realising they are on back to front...

11-Aug-2019: Barossa Medieval Fair
While nowhere near as big as the viking markets we went to in Sweden, the Barossa Medieval Fair was a fun day.  We had tried to make it to the Gumeracha Medieval Fair earlier in the year, but that was cancelled when Alana got carsick and threw up all through the car on the way there.

The weather was pretty wet and cold, but that didn't stop the kids from trying their hands at archery and sword fighting:

Practicing for the Battle

The boys try on armoured helms

The knighting of Sir Cameron

Swordfight

Owl

No Pin-Cushions... I mean animals... were harmed in the archery

Cameron tries Archery

Tomas tries Archery

Alana tries Archery

Kris tries archery

Some of the costumes

Sir Tomas the Falconer

The Main Battle

The Main Battle

----------------
Of course as with most years, there was plenty of sports. Cameron was playing Goal Keeper for his school soccer team, Tomas and I were playing rugby and Alana had dance.

The rugby team had a lot to play for after the loss of our friend and team mate Daniel, and Tomas' team was pushing hard to get into the top two so they would get a second shot at the finals.

On August 17th, Cameron's team played Woodcroft College - winning 6-5.

The Onka 3rd Grade team played some tough games, and ended up back and forth for top spot against Old Collegians.  Coming into the last game of the season it looked like they would hold top spot as they had an advantage in points.  Even if we won the game and got the bonus point we were 13 points behind on percentage.  The last game was a home game and we won by 7 points.  Old Collegians kicked the ball out to end the game instead of trying for a last try, and celebrated as they believed they took top spot.  But everyone failed to factor that a win by 7 points for us was a loss of 7 point for them, meaning a 14 point turn around in percentage.  We ended up minor premiers with top spot on the ladder.

Onkas vs Southern Suburbs

Setting up a Scrum vs North Torrens

Onkas Vs Port

Onkas Vs Brighton . The Minute of Silence for Daniel J.

Victory over Brighton on the Daniel J Memorial Game

Third Grade Table

 By finishing first, we got the first week of finals off and Old Collegians (2nd) played and beat Brighton (3rd) in the first final (19-18).  In the second final of the week, Burnside (4th) played and beat North Torrens (5th) (47-0).

Our second week final (and first game) was against Old Collegians with the winner getting a week off and a ticket straight to the grand final.  Old Colls were leading most of the game, but in the last few seconds of the game we pushed their scrum back over the try line and scored to take the first win (31-27).  In other 3rd grade games, Brighton defeated Burnside to keep their finals hopes alive (29-10).

We skipped the third week and Old Colls played and beat Brighton for the final place in the Grand Final (36-22).

The Grand Final was played at 8:40am at A.A Baileys Reserve.  It was the third time in a row that we played Old Colls and we were hoping for a third win.  It was also a highly emotional day - playing for our brother Daniel J, who passed away in June.  Overall the game was hard fought and Old Collegians lead for most of the game.  We weren't going to lose such an important match though and fought back hard with a late try and then capped it all off with a  push-over scrum in the far corner to win (34-22).  That one was for you Daniel #12.

Scrum

 

Try!

The Mascot

Winners

Victory!

 

Unfortunately Tomas' Under 12s lost to Old Colls in the first game of finals (31-7), giving them a second chance against Brighton the next week.  The second week they unfortunately lost to Brighton (50-7), who had a single player who scored most of their tries by running around the whole team. This knocked Toms' U12s out of the finals, but it was a gutsy effort by the team to make it as far as they did, considering many hadn't played before.  Grats to coach Seb also, who took them that far.  For the record, Brighton and Old Colls drew in the Grand Final (21-21) and the win was awarded to Old Colls as they finished top of the ladder in the minor rounds.

U12s Ladder

In the week between finals we had Cameron's 13th Birthday at Laser Zone and we once again went to the Royal Adelaide Show (6-Sep):

Ferris Wheel

Tomas the Farmer

Alana and Tomas drive the Ambulance Buggy

Alana didn't want me to include this one of her with a Dagwood Dog

On the ride that used to be the Matterhorn - my old favourite ride

Tom devours a Dagwood Dog

My sister Tara's old favourite ride - The Mad Mouse

Ice Cream

Cam steals a Police Car

Tom remembers the road rules

Cam wears a seatbelt in case the photo crashes

Alana can't make eye contact with the police - guilty conscience?

Alana coerces the boys into stealing a police motorbike so she can escape - she was scared she was going to break the bike as she was sitting on the plastic bit.