Crumpled Home

During July, we packed up the camper trailer, waved goodbye to our cat and dog and jumped in the car for a massive road trip up north. Our goal? Get to the coral, do some swimming and skindiving, maybe wave to a dolphin or two. The first few days involved lots of driving, but the kids took it well and we had the chance to meet up with friends of ours in Geraldton. From there we continued north to Shark Bay… and encountered some three billion year old creatures, one Barking Fence and a few billion white shells…

Seven hours in the car? There's definitely time for a pit stop along the way. Hello, Cervantes!

Continue reading

(while eating breakfast)

RJ: Dad, do you know what a horsebird is?

Dad: I’ve never heard of a horsebird. I don’t think they’re real.

RJ: They are real!

Dad: Maybe it’s another name for a pegasus? That was a horse with big wings — from greek legends.

RJ: No. I think it is little… There must be a horsebird…

Dad: Why?

RJ: Why else would they make horsebird food?

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.

Continue reading

LR: Mom, I can’t sleep on planes.

Mom: Sure you can. We’ll bring you a nice pillow. You’ll be fine. You fit in the seat perfectly.

LR: No. I just can’t sleep on planes. Can I stay awake the whole way to America?

Mom: It’s a very long way. It’s going to take us a full day and night to get there. I don’t think staying awake is a good idea.

LR: Well, I’m going to need a really good pillow and to lay flat then.

(at the dinner table)

LR: I could be Wonder Woman! What does she do anyway?

Dad: Mostly fight bad guys, just like the other super heroes. She has an invisible jet to fly around in.

LR: An invisible jet? So you can’t see her when she flies around?

Dad: Not quite. You can see her, but no airplane. She looks like she’s zooming through the sky with nothing around her.

RJ: (suddenly paying attention) Are you talking about Martine?

(Martine is a friend of ours… and no, we’ve never seen her fly through the air in an invisible jet.)