Crumpled Home

(while eating breakfast)

RJ: Scarlet’s feet are clicking… Click click click.

Dad: Is that a problem?

RJ: Yes. It reminds me of giant spiders walking around the house… Giant spiders that eat people.

Dad: Maybe we could train one. We could have it as a pet!

RJ: No. That’s not a good idea.

Dad: Why not?

RJ: Because Grammy doesn’t mind little spiders, but she would be scared of a giant spider and she would freak out.

Dad: Fair enough. Can’t say I’d blame her.

(discussing nightmares over breakfast)

RJ: My dream was about robot emus. They were really scary because they could run faster than me.
Dad: Whoah. That sounds awful!
RJ: Yes. They had guns on them on too.
Dad: Did you have a way to stop them, or to get away?
RJ: I found out that when you put toothpaste in their eyes, it kills them.
Dad: So you killed them and escaped?
RJ: No! They came back to life! They turned into zombie robot emus!

The trip to Rotto with the school was full of all sorts of events, beyond the amazing LR learning to ride. A series of school competitions and activities took place on Saturday, despite the massive bursts of rain that showered down throughout the day!

RJ explores Longreach Bay on a final wander around the island.

Continue reading

After months of practice running, pushing, holding, catching, steadying, balancing with dad, LR hadn’t yet got the hang of riding her bike without the training wheels on. The big motivator was to learn before the school camp at Rottnest — EVERYONE else was going to be riding without training wheels and LR was determined to have it figured out.
On Thursday, LR, mum and RJ took the ferry over to Rottnest Island for the school camp. They stopped at the bike shop and rented two bikes: one with training wheels for RJ, and one without for LR. On Friday morning, amidst cheers from her classmates, LR wobbled away on her first two-wheeled bike ride!

LR à Grande Vitesse!

Continue reading

(while eating breakfast)

Dad: So guys, what should we get mum for Mother’s Day?

LR: I’ve already made something for her at school!

RJ: So did I!

Dad: Great! So what about something from all of us?

RJ: We should get her a toy because grown-ups like toys.

Dad: Umm… Sure. Got anything in mind?

RJ: How about… a toy goat!

Easter and the Autumn break rolled around once more, so we took off down south to unwind and relax a little. We brought our friends M, J, J, and I along with us and we all had a great time. Big events this time around were several extreme rock climbing sessions, decorating eggs, the Easter morning hunt, a hike through the Karri forest and the required horse riding.

We made it to the top!

Continue reading

(while eating dinner)

RJ: And those monkeys were evil…

Mum: Monkeys aren’t good or evil RJ. They’re animals; they just are.

(RJ thinks for a moment)

RJ: Not super monkeys. Super monkeys are always good!

Last weekend, we took another trip down south — this time much shorter, but still lots of fun. We went exploring a Karri forest, visited a wildlife park and climbed some huge rocks.

Not siblings... Just friends. These are three of the many rescued joeys at the wildlife park.

Continue reading

RJ: I want some medicine too!

Dad: What’s that RJ? Medicine?

RJ: Yeah. I want some deer medicine too.

Dad: Do you mean… venison?

RJ: YEAH!

January was a really busy month! With the kids on summer holidays, we had lots of activities during the week and on the weekends. While down south we also did a bit of fishing, life-size animatronic dinosaurs came to town, we caught up with some friends and grandparents, and lots of wildlife around our house stopped in to say ‘Hello!’

A total of 5 very small fish caught over two nights -- the kids rated it a massive success!

Continue reading