Crumpled Home

(We’ve been planning our haunted garage. After deciding to have bats, a ghost and even a big alien guy, RJ came up with another suggestion.)

RJ: (excited) And we could have a big elephant hiding in the corner wearing a coat with spots and lots of colours and he could have a mad scientist face that is crazy and he could be wearing lip balm and we could use lip balm to draw more spots all over his face and he could be wearing man pants and more lip balm on top!

LR + Dad: (silence, crickets chirping) …

LR: RJ is a bit weird isn’t he.

Dad: Yeah. Just a bit.

LR: I like that.

Dad: So do I.

(There’s been lots of excitement preparing for our yearly Halloween party!)

LR: (wearing plastic vampire teeth) Bewaaaare… Bewaaaare… I’m a vaaaampiiiire.

RJ: (also wearing plastic vampire teeth) Woooh-wooooooh… I have some plastic teeth too…

RJ: I call them “teeth complainers”.

Dad: Why is that RJ?

RJ: Because they make people complain about your teeth.

(before school)

Mum: RJ! You can’t take your teeth complainers to school.

RJ: (very upset) But I love them!

Mum: You can’t. They’ll scare all the little kids.

RJ: (yelling) But they’re good for you! They keep your teeth protected!

On the weekend we visited a couple of places and went mulberry picking. It’s a messy, messy job, and people were only too happy to have us come along and make a dent in the huge number of berries falling from their trees. Grammy came along to help out and we ended up with a few buckets full.

RJ helps get the mulberries into the bucket.

LR helps Mum by keeping the bucket steady.

Grammy came along too. She was usually helping out on the smaller ladder.

Mum really gets up into those trees.

RJ climbed this tree so he could reach the berries better.

Grammy brings the bucket over so that RJ can drop his berries right in.

LR explored the highest reaches of the tree, picking a huge number of berries.

The curse of the mulberry picker... Purple hands!!!

The reward... Mulberries!

(at the Western Australian Museum)

RJ: I want one of those. It would make a good pet.

Dad: A carnotaur? I’m not sure that’s a good idea.

RJ: No. A hypsilophodon. We could keep it in the back yard.

Dad: That’d be fun. It would probably eat some of the plants in mum’s veggie patch, though.

RJ: Maybe we should get two then.

(while driving home from school)

Dad: Red light. We have to stop.

RJ: Yes. Time to stop… No! Don’t stop here!

Dad: Why not?

RJ: Red vampires! They look like red people and they get you if you stop.

Dad: We have to stop; it’s a red light!

RJ: No, no! It’s a trap! They turn into bats and hide in the lights. Then they turn them red and get you.

Dad: Can’t I just lock the doors?

RJ: They’re too strong. They can break the locks.

Dad: We’ll drive really fast and get out of here.

RJ: No. They are very fast too.

Dad: I guess we’re doomed.

RJ: Yes. Doomed… doomed… doomed…

(while preparing dinner)

Dad: Okay. Let’s add some peas! Everyone loves peas!

RJ: No! No peas. We can’t do peas.

Dad: Why not?

RJ: They’ll make me turn green.

Dad: That’s okay, I’ll just rinse you off in the shower.

RJ: That wont work. The green will be… under… my… skin…

Here’s a smattering of pictures from the first half of the month: RJ’s sudden fascination with Superman, a visit to K and J’s place, trips to Gingin, lots of tree climbing, legos, marbles and painting, oh my!

Compared to his obsession with dinosaurs and prehistoric creatures, RJ’s interest in Superman is fairly mild. You’re more likely to catch him pretending to be biologist Nigel Marven.

Don't fear, Superman is on the way.

RJ and I made some Superman badges. I told him, "We don't need no steenkin badges!" but he just wouldn't listen.

K and J’s have an amazing treehouse. It’s multi-level, and is outfitted with a flying-fox, a giant tyre swing, a climbing wall and harnesses and attachment points for everything.

LR and K ride the tyre swing to pretty amazing heights.

LR tackles the climbing wall at K's place.

RJ and J discuss some of the problems they've been having at home.

LR’s tree has grown into one of the best climbing trees imaginable – kid capacity, 15. We’ll find out for sure at this year’s Halloween party.

RJ and LR found an egg shell under LR's tree. Does that mean there's a nest up there somewhere? They've searched all the lower branches and haven't spotted it yet, so maybe not.

RJ climbs up without assistance these days. The monkey genes... they run deep.

Some other recent moments…

Sometimes he just has to yell it out. Negotiating with a hungry three year old who needs a nap is not always possible.

LR tries out Dad's camera while RJ attempts to escape.

LR and RJ worked on this massive castle project. We still haven't managed to use every piece of lego yet.

RJ and Mum adjust their complicated marble run and sling marbles all around the room.

LR adding some details to her big canvas, "The Planet System". It depicts an asteroid crashing into a prehistoric volcanic landscape leading to the collapse of the dinosaur populations on Earth.

A few interesting phrases that RJ has been using lately:

Fred the Bean Lizard

• He bounces in the air and gives you all the kinds of beans that you want.

Blooming

• When everything is beautiful… Like a pencil.

Vagume

• When you’re in the toilet, but you can climb out.

Suskitten

• Super secret. He wont tell me what it means. Has nothing to do with cats.

Gingerpanna

• Corn flakes with sliced bananas on top

Remember this picture?

... Most of the universe is empty space ...

LR was very excited to receive a package in the mail yesterday from Double Helix magazine. It turns out that her wonderful Solar System picture won her a prize in the competition!

LR and her letter of congratulations.

LR's prize painting is now up on the wall next to her robot picture.

LR won this artist-signed print in the competition.

LR has been working on this one intermittently for a few weeks now.

Well done kiddo!

(RJ getting increasingly agitated attempting to attach porcupine quill to large inflatable hedgehog)

RJ: I need to stick it on. Hedgy wont be safe.

Dad: Safe from what? He’s in our living room.

RJ: He has no spines. He isn’t safe from predators.

Dad: (get increasingly worried about Hedgy getting punctured) We don’t have predators in here. The worst Hedgy has to deal with is that pile of unfolded laundry on the couch.

Mum: RJ, he’s a fuzzy hedgehog. They’re bred specially for living rooms.

RJ: He isn’t safe! What if… if… a lot of hungry dogs come in here… through the window?

…

Dad: (under his breath) Better Hedgy than us, then. We’ll remember him in heroic verse after we make our escape.