Crumpled Home

(on the way to school)

Dad: You’re brining your ammonite fossil?

RJ: Yeah. I want to show it for news.

Dad: Be extra super careful with it… Most kids don’t get to bring ammonites to school. Know why?

RJ: Because they’re really hard to find?

Dad: Yep… but mostly because their parents know they are going to drop them.

RJ: I think there’s a rule. You can drop them one time, and that’s okay, but drop them two times and you’re out. No more fossils for you.

Mum and the kids spent a few days down south. Dad caught up with them over the weekend. We had all sorts of animal visitors to the house: a couple of bandicoots, parrots, cockatoos, galahs, king skinks and even a blue-tongue lizard! LR started each day with riding lessons while RJ spent the mornings exploring.

LR had several riding lessons.

She's getting very good. On the last day we were there, she led everyone back to the stable!

LR gives Seeaney a thank-you carrot.

RJ spent some the time herding snails with a stick. He gets to ride next year!

It's not a rat! A young bandicoot stopped by for a snack.

Mum and LR spotted some fossils while on a walk.

You just can't leave the house without finding them.

(while on a walk with Mum, Dad, RJ and LR after Mum and LR had discovered their own fossils)

RJ: (spotting a fossil from Dad’s shoulders) There’s one daddy!

Dad: Where? Oh there! Nice one!

RJ: Let’s show mum.

Dad: Okay… Hey Mum, look what RJ found!

Mum: Wow, RJ! That’s a great one! That’s a really good find!

RJ: Yeah well, I’m just doing the best I can.

On the weekend, we stopped at a chalk outcropping near Gingin to hunt for fossils. Our main goal was to find some shark teeth, but we weren’t successful. We did find a large assortment of crinoid bits, sea urchin spines, pieces of giant clams, and rhizoliths.

We headed across the fields to the chalk outcropping.

"Wait for me!" The thick mud in the field slowed RJ down a bit.

"Where'd they go?" RJ got to the top and had to search for the other members of our expedition.

LR was already hard at work digging out crinoid stems down in the abandonded quarry.

RJ was desperate to find some shark teeth. "The hammer goes BOOM!"

At one point, RJ found slugs everywhere.

"Can we keep them? They're cute."

Stomp! Squish! Stomp! Squish! Stomp! Squish!

With a bucket full of fossils and some very muddy boots, it was time to head home.