Crumpled Home

(while eating dinner)

RJ: Can I have some more lamb, please?

Mom: Eat some salad first. You haven’t even eaten any pine nuts, and you love those.

RJ: I can’t eat that!

Mom: Why not?

RJ: Because that pine nut is the God of Victory! I’m still praying to him.

Mom: Well you’re not getting anything else to eat until you eat those.

LR: Don’t worry about that one, RJ, there’s about twenty more gods on your plate right there… I’ve eaten all the gods on my plate, and they were great!

Dad: So what have your gods done for you lately, RJ?

RJ: Well… They helped me at the beach today?

Dad: Really? How?

RJ: I didn’t get eaten by a shark! They kept all the sharks away.

Dad: Good point. I guess they kept all the thunderstorms and earthquakes away too.

RJ: (Bows head and prays to the pine nut). Yep. They’re powerful and delicious. (chomp)

In October, we drove south to Eagle Bay with some friends for a few days, and north to Gingin for a weekend with Grammy and Poppa. RJ had his first t-ball game and… his team won! In the middle of all of this (and the Royal Show AND Halloween) we somehow found the time to visit Scitech with some friends to see some of their new exhibits. Wow! We need a break!

We took a trip down to Eagle Bay and had a great time in the water. It's a lot easier to do now that the weather's warming up!

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Another crazy month went by! This time around, Mom and LR got a thousand and one things done before they left for the USA, leaving Dad and RJ behind to survive on a steady diet of buttered toast and cereal. The cousins came over from Melbourne, and Grammy’s house STILL isn’t finished! Finally, RJ entertained an entire school with his own special moves during his class concert.

RJ's friend C visited for a sleepover. The next morning, the two of them insisted on pancakes, the internationally recognised breakfast of bloodthirsty pirates and fierce centurions.

In August, as many of us suffered colds and ear infections, another birthday rolled around, RJ played his soccer final, and the kids dressed up for Book Day. We also spent a great weekend up at Gingin with some friends and discovered LR really can be an angel when she wants to.

Make a wish! Mom slices into her favorite cake, pinapple upside-down cake!

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For most of the month of March, a massively diverse array of sculptures are set up on one of the beaches near our house. We go almost every year!

The kids had several trips down there, one with school and a couple with the family. It’s fun seeing some of the the bizarre creations that have been put up.

LR and RJ explore the two sides of a giant steel structure... vaguely reminiscent of a steam engine.

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It’s been a while since we posted a bunch of photos, so here’s a quick wrap-up for February!

LR lost another two teeth this month, and the kids did some home experiments with dry ice. RJ discovered a fascination for disguises and interesting clothes. Mum sang her heart out at a South Pacific concert and we had a couple of trips to the beach to have fish and chips for dinner. Mum and Dad even got dressed up for a party, and at the end of the month, it was the kids turn with an evening picnic and disco down at the school.

One of the last pictures of LR with all her upper teeth... One of her front incisors came out the next day!

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During the Summer holidays, the family spent a lot of time down at the beach. Its a pretty great spot: calm, predictable surf (i.e. none) and these days the kids are old enough that we aren’t perpetually worried that they’ll drown, eat a toxic blowfish or get carried off by a seabird or something.

The afternoons are filled with splashing, riding their boogie boards, chasing each other and snorkeling along the shore – your typical beach-side activity. Their cousins even came over from Melbourne for a few weeks, so the games and activities were correspondingly more intense. With so much going on, you might think they wouldn’t need a lot of extra entertainment… and for most kids, that would be true.

Unfortunately, RJ is not quite like most kids.

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On the weekend, we took the kids fishing on the beach. The best bait for this area is frozen prawns (similar to shrimp). After throwing a couple of lines in the water, and getting no immediate response from the fish, the kids lost interest. It was time to start building sand castles.

A few minutes later, RJ wandered back over and asked if he could have a prawn to play with for a little while. Unaware of the commitment involved, I agreed.

For the next thirty minutes, that dead crustacean must have been the happiest in the world. He had castles built for him. He was carefully washed in the waves lapping against the shore. He was taken for a splash and boogie boarding in the waves. A bathtub was dug in the sand for him, so that he could relax safely without the risk of being washed away.

No expired decapod crustacean, belonging to the sub-order Dendrobranchiata, has ever been treated so well.

When the time came to pack up and leave the beach, I broke the bad news to RJ.

Dad: RJ. It’s time to go. Prawny can’t come with us.

RJ: But he’s my friend! We have to bring him!

LR: He’s a dead prawn, RJ.

Dad: I’m sorry mate, but he’s a prawn and we’re people… and prawns belong in the ocean, not in a house.

RJ: (pleading) I’ll take really good care of him.

LR: He’s stinky, RJ. He’s gross.

Dad: It’s time to set him free. Let him go in the ocean, where a lovely stingray or other bottom feeder will scoop him up in his mouth and take him for a ride. He’ll be happier there.

(LR giggles)

RJ: (turning on his sister) You’re not allowed to be mean to him! Don’t laugh!

…

RJ: (sighing) Okay… (walks down to the ocean and gently releases Prawny) Goodbye Prawny!!!

We returned home and RJ was uncharacteristically quiet. After walking through the door, his eyes brimming with tears, RJ told mum about his friend and everything that had happened.

To her credit, she managed to keep a straight face.

“I loved him. Even though he was smelly and dead, I still loved him.”
RJ, age 4

(On popular beaches in Australia, the lifeguards set flags marking the safe areas to swim. These areas are watched by the lifeguards for swimmers in trouble, sharks and other water hazards.)

(at the beach)

RJ: (planting a stick into the ground) I’ve got my own safety flag. I’m going to put it here, then this area will be safe for swimming!

RJ: … Actually, I have a better idea. I’ll bring it with me when I swim. Then it will keep the sharks away!

Dad: But it’ll only work for the arm holding the stick.

RJ: Okay, then I need two shark repeller flags. One on each shoulder. Then the sharks will never get me.

RJ: … and then I can chase the sharks!

Lots of great things happened in November, here’s the run down: Summer is slowly arriving with only one or two hot days here and there, RJ and Dad see some airplanes take off, RJ goes to some birthday parties, Mum catches LR at camp for a day, Dad and RJ hit the beach, someone got older, and LR’s year one class visits a wildlife preserve.

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Time for a quick icecream break on a hot summer day.

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