Crumpled Home

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!

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We took a quick trip up to Gingin over the weekend and discovered that some of the trees had fruit on them. We also drove around the farm, stopping at the big pit for an explore. On the way back, we scouted for bones in the fields and discovered a complete fox skeleton, with teeth and everything else intact!

Foxxy made the rounds at the kids’ schools for show-and-tell, and was a big hit!

LR is fully loaded up with mandarines from the citrus trees.

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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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(LR and her friend T spent an hour planning their next album)

Band: Zulu Leprechauns

Album: Zulu Leprechauns (self titled)

Tracks:

1. Progress Hurts
2. Answers are Free
3. Tricks are Looking for You
4. Horses Rock
5. Freezing Bubblegum
6. Disco Rainbow / Silent Rainbow
7. Gimme Some Robot
8. Dogs and Cats Skydive
9. 100 Dollar Monsters
10. Step Away from the Pig

What the critics are saying:

“Everyone’s favorite hipsters open with one of their reliably depressing musings on life and time, accompanied by shimmering, aquatic xylophones and drums crashing in a fractured march while a woozy bass spills like a cloud of ink all over everything, before shifting unexpectedly to slowly undulating strings perfectly hinged on a bubblegum melody which is instantly moving, yet nailing gothic disquiet both on and off the page. The second track is a step back in the band’s development, in part due to a beat that sounds like what might happen if “Flight of the Bumblebee” got mixed with the theme from Psycho and random female utterances. The band returns to form, however, with a moving coda of snowballs packed with rock-hard chunks of melody, and in each case, the lead singer’s voice abrades the solid lines down to the bare minimum, and the band fills in the resulting space with pure venom.”

– Pitchfork Review Generator

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!

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(over breakfast)

RJ: And she just follows me around everywhere. She wont stop!

Dad: Maybe she wants to be your girlfriend?

RJ: I already have too many girlfriends! There’s Jenna… and Erica… and Heather… And that’s just too much!

(phone rings, it’s T, one of LR’s friends from school)

T: I’m going to go to the movies with LR.

Dad: She and her mum aren’t here right now. Do you know which movie you’re going to see?

T: Yes. Coraline in 3D, but you can’t come.

Dad: Not fair T. You’re always so mean to me!

T: (laughs)

T: We’re trying to pick a good time to go.

Dad: Okay. I’ll tell LR and her mum when they get home.

T: Okay. (pauses)

T: I think maybe we shouldn’t go right now though. My mum is asleep.