Last Friday was dad’s 70th birthday. It was great that he’s made it this far as we had a scare a couple of years ago but he’s pretty well recovered now.

As it was also Father’s day on the weekend I went over to visit them and we all went out for dinner on Saturday evening. It was a flying visit because JJ had his last game of football for the season and I wanted to get back earlyish on Sunday because I’ve got some extra work on. As it turned out we didn’t get home until mid-afternoon but that was okay in the end.

It’s good driving out in the country this time of year because all the crops are in and everything’s beautifully green and lush. In a couple of months it will be a completely different colour when everything starts to dry out.

Amongst all the green paddocks (fields) are yellow ones – canola crops. They look spectacular.

And here we are at dinner.

My niece and I. She’s now 17 and driving a car.

Party hats don’t really need to go on the head. I get photos of my son whenever I can these days because he doesn’t always like posing for me.

And last, but by no means least, here’s dad after they’d brought him out a cake and a sparkler. I think he was a bit embarrassed. But hey, it’s not every day you turn 70. Hip hip hooray.