Crumpled Home

This year, a relaxing sleep-in followed by a delicious breakfast in bed was not in the cards for our adventurous mother. Instead, she woke up before everyone to go and participate in the Perth Mother’s Day Classic, a run to raise money for breast cancer research. Dad and the kids got breakfast ready, decorated the house, prepared our presents and went to meet her there.

After getting back to the house, we presented mum with pancakes and some wonderful presents made by the kids (a cornucopia of hand-made fans, cards, drawings, and paper flowers).

Afterwards, in a wonderful display of independance, the kids engrossed themselves in face painting for an hour. Folowing that, in a wonderful display of support, the parents spent the next hour cleaning up face paints, washing down tables, clothes and children. All in all, a great day!

Mum's runner number and medal from competing in the Perth Mother's Day Classic.

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(in the car, on the way to school)

RJ: Minty eyeballs… It’s a terrible sickness.

Dad: It does sound terrible.

RJ: Our cousins have it. P, M and their whole family, Aunty B and Uncle T.

Dad: What!? Where did they catch it from?

RJ: From Dora at Dora’s house. Dora went in the Poisonous Jungle and got sick. Then they caught it from her.

Dad: Is there a cure? Can they get medicine or something?

RJ: The only way to get better from minty eyeballs is to drink the nectar from a flower that grows from the tallest tree in the Tiger Snake Jungle.

Dad: We’d better plan a mission to find it.

RJ: There’s no way. There are too many tiger snakes…

RJ: They’re going to die, I presume.

While mum was away, dad kept the kids busy and tried to completely wear them out during the day. On Saturday, we went to the zoo. On Sunday, we went to a Wild Fairyland Festival.

We’ll be going back to the zoo again sometime.

LR goes for a close-up of a snake.

At 5 metres long (16feet), he's not a giant, but he is still impressively large.

RJ and LR get face to face with the salt-water croc.

LR takes a moment to record some observations while RJ wolfs down a sandwich.

RJ and LR stop for a moment to let Trisha get past.

They're quick, but dad's pretty fast with the shutter.

Gotcha!

The kids thought this kangaroo needed some exercise.

LR was careful to take pictures of each animal.

The wildflowers are still blooming everywhere.

On Sunday, we went to the Fairy Festival. Just look at the delight on the kids’ faces! They eventually cheered up, but it took most of the day.

Her face painted, LR is ready to have her nails done!

We tortured LR by leaving her in the middle of a tent full of fairy-obsessed 4-7 year old girls. How could we be so cruel?

On the other hand, the Drippy the Dragon puppet show was a huge hit.

RJ was pleased to have cake provided for him.

See? Sparkly nails AND face paint!

A fairy delivers some magic dust to LR so she can make a wish.

It’s September and the wildflowers have gone crazy. We took a quick trip up to Gingin to wish Grammy a happy birthday and spent an afternoon with Poppa helping him with his electronics and designing our own robots.

RJ and LR work on a birthday present for Grammy.

LR admires a huge bunch of daisies.

The almond and other fruit trees in the garden are all flowering.

The field is filled with a carpet of yellow flowers.

LR performs her amazing disappearing stick trick.

Please put down the camera. We want to do something fun.

It's either from a dragon... or a cow.

LR solders a resistor for Poppa.

RJ clips some leads for Poppa.

LR shows off her latest masterpiece - now hanging prominently in her room.

Dad and RJ worked together on cutting, gluing and colouring his robot.

RJ made himself a pair of "mad scientist glasses" -- out of some plastic packaging.

LR and RJ keep each other company during the scary bits of a movie.

LR: Why did the elephant paint his feet yellow?

Because he wanted to hide upside down in the custard!

LR: Why did the elephant paint himself purple, with a green face?

Because he wanted to hide in the purple carrot patch!

RJ: Why was the ship missing?

Because the Kraken already smashed it!

LR: What is a slug?

A snail with a housing problem!

RJ: Why did the chicken cross the playground?

To get to the other slide!

Mum: Why did the fish cross the playground?

To get to the other tide!

LR: Why did the cow jump over the moon?

Because the farmer had cold hands!

LR: What’s the scariest flower in the garden?

A dandelion!

Dad: What’s the scariest flower in the whole world?

A daisy. With a lion hiding behind it!

We stopped by the park last week on the way home before dinner. Surprise, surprise — I grabbed a few photos.

High-velocity boy is quickly chased down by lightning-girl.

You'll have to carry me! ... Umm... No.

12 feet up with no proper foot-holds and not a care in the world.

How are we going to get across there?

Let's go across!

See RJ? You just have to jump across like this.

How to cross a stream in 5 seconds or less!

Look over there! A kookaburra!

If that fountain starts up again, we'll be drenched!

This is the fun crowd I get to hang around with.

Maybe we should have brought some more snacks?

That was fun. Time to head for home.