Crumpled Home

Despite the hot weather, we made it up to Gingin for the grape harvest, but Grammy, Poppa, Kath and Brad had already picked all the grapes and crushed them the day before we got there! We made the most of it anyway, picking a lot of figs and table grapes that were ready to eat. Mum cooked up some fig jam and we had a big sewing ’sesh’ during the heat of the day, before going for an explore out in the paddock.

Our incredibly brave**, heroic** and good-looking** dad rescued us from this marauding beast** that had been ransacking the countryside and was intent on destroying the farm.

We found this guy having a drink from the dog's water bowl. He's a bobtail lizard which are pretty common around here.

**Hyperbole employed as official privilege of the author

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RJ: Mummy, can I tell you something?

Mum: Sure, RJ. What is it?

RJ: (worried) When I grow up, promise that I can go and live at Grammy’s house, with Grammy.

Mum: No, RJ. When you grow up, you’ll probably have to live in your own house.

RJ: But I can’t build a house! I don’t know how!

Mum: You don’t have to build it yourself, you pay someone else to build it for you.

RJ: But I don’t have a wallet with any money in it!

Mum: You’ll have to get a job, so you can earn some money.

RJ: But I can’t do anything!!!

Mum: That’s why you go to school, to learn that stuff.

RJ: But they don’t teach us about jobs there!!!

Australia Day (January 26th) is a national holiday, similar to the 4th of July in the states, with the major (tragic) difference being that we can’t buy explosive devices at the shop just around the corner. We tend to go to the beach, eat a lot of barbequed food, and in most towns and cities there are big fireworks displays.

RJ getting his snack on, just before we head out the door.

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We took a bit of a break last week and head off to the Southwest. It was very relaxing and the weather was just fantastic. The days were filled with horse riding, beach trips, exploring and even a couple of fishing trips.

Grammy and Poppa were there with the Melbourne cousins for the first couple of days, but couldn’t stay the whole time.

Grammy, LR, RJ and Daddy checked out Ngilgi cave. This huge room is called the amphitheatre and has great accoustics (especially for people who appreciate yelling children).

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In Australia some families (ours included) carry on the British tradition of the Christmas pudding. It’s a magical beast, vaguely like a fruitcake (in the same way a rhinoceros is vaguely like a lamb), but heavier, denser, drenched in brandy and delivered to the table covered in blue flames. Fantastic stuff.

One of the traditions when making the pudding takes place after the ingredients have been put together and mixed. Everyone in the house gets to stir the bowl and make a wish. This year, the kids (LR, RJ and their cousins from Melbourne) helped out.

Grammy: And after we mix everything together, we each get to stir the pudding and make a wish!

LR: Why do we get to make a wish?

Grammy: Because the pudding is magic.

LR: Why? When does the magic get in there?

Grammy: After you put everything in and mix it together.

LR: (inspecting the bowls of ingredients in front of her) But where does the magic come from? Is it in the ingredients?

Grammy: No. It just happens after it’s all mixed together.

LR: … but…

Grammy: It’s like birthdays when you cut the cake. You just get to make a wish, okay?

(Unsatisfied with the explanation, LR drops the issue and adds it to her long list of the nonsense that adults insist on believing.)

Sorcery! Witchcraft! Complete and utter rubbish!

This year, our Halloween party was the biggest ever. Every kid from both of the Year 1 classes at LR’s school was invited, as well as all the children on our street and a bunch of RJ’s friends. It was absolutely crazy, but we did our best to keep them busy. Activities included the Haunted Garage, a “Yucky” dip, a piñata, a broom race, a treasure hunt, making disembodied hands and the grand finale, a total, all-out assault on Dad with water balloons.

LR, as Supergirl, decided the world needed rescuing.

RJ and Mum put together a great snapping turtle costume.

Follow the link to get to the rest of the pictures and see what went on!!!

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On the weekend we visited a couple of places and went mulberry picking. It’s a messy, messy job, and people were only too happy to have us come along and make a dent in the huge number of berries falling from their trees. Grammy came along to help out and we ended up with a few buckets full.

RJ helps get the mulberries into the bucket.

LR helps Mum by keeping the bucket steady.

Grammy came along too. She was usually helping out on the smaller ladder.

Mum really gets up into those trees.

RJ climbed this tree so he could reach the berries better.

Grammy brings the bucket over so that RJ can drop his berries right in.

LR explored the highest reaches of the tree, picking a huge number of berries.

The curse of the mulberry picker... Purple hands!!!

The reward... Mulberries!

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.

Pictures taken during the last half of August: Lego adventures, frog hunting, Dad goes to Canberra, trampoline time and some stories.

Rescue 1 and Rescue 2 are on a mission to save the world!

LR shows us some of the features of Rescue 1.

RJ takes Mum through some of the critical features of Rescue 2.

Some emergency repairs are needed for Rescue 2.

RJ and LR went looking for one of our back-yard frogs.

We can hear it, but we can't see it anywhere!

Dad went to Canberra for two days. This is Parliament House.

Dad's cousin Jo took him to this place for dinner. They had the best hamburgers there!

LR explains the workings of the world to RJ.

Many days end with lots of bouncing on the trampoline. Get rid of some of that energy, kids!

Time for some stories before bed. Apparently, there's a hippopotamus on the roof.

A few more pictures from our last trip to Gingin. Our friend E stopped by to visit and we had a great time playing in the shed and chasing the pinballs around the fields. The next day we had to prune the grape vines to get them ready for the next growing season. It should be a great crop this year!

RJ gives LR a lift on the block and tackle.

E, RJ and LR decided to bury a small finch, instead of feeding it to Mr. Bitey

Pinball wizards!

Playing fetch with the kids. Sticks don't work, but giant pinballs do!

Look out Poppa! Floating pinballs are dangerous!

Poppa had a bat take residence in his computer.

Mum gets to work on one of the more pathetic grape vines.

LR gets the low branches; Grammy gets the high ones.

RJ helps chop the weeds... unless it's one that he thinks is cute.

Scarlet helps by sniffing everything.

LR harvests the olives, lemons and rose hips.

These olives need to be pickled before we can eat them.

LR carried the bucket everywhere. Strong kid!