Happy Mother’s Day, everyone! We hope all you Mom’s had a terrific day. Around here, the kids woke up early, putting together a great breakfast for Mom and tried to let her have a quiet, relaxing morning — before going on their normal weekend rampage.
Wow!!!! LR cooked up a huge batch of waffles and arranged this delicious breakfast for Mum! I'm really looking forward to Father's day.
(While in the car, a strange moaning sound starts from the back seat…)
Dad: Ummm… RJ, Are you okay?
RJ: Woooooohhoooaaahhhhhhhhh….
Dad: That doesn’t sound good. RJ? Is there a problem?
RJ: Yeeeahhhhsssss… But RJ is gooooone. There is only RJ’s ghooooost…
Dad: Oh no. What happened?
RJ: RJ is deaaaaaaaad. DEAAAAAAD!
Dad: What!? He was fine a minute ago, what happened?
RJ: The lollypop… THE LOLLYPOP… THE LOLLYPOP WAS POISONED!
Dad: Disaster! Treachery! Who would be so evil to have done such a foul deed?
RJ: It was… Daaaaaarth Vaaaaaader!!! He poisoned the lollypop with deadly bacteria-aaaah.
Dad: That’s some fast acting bacteria. I hope none of the other kids got those lollypops.
RJ: They did! They’re all dead too! But it’s okay because now we’re all ghosts and we don’t have to do swimming lessons any mooooooooooore.
With a huge overseas vacation looming, the first half of December was filled with the last days of the school year, some early Christmas celebrations… and a lot of silly hats.
December means the Advent calendar gets brought out. We like to pretend the kids appreciate the tradition and fun puzzles and clues that we leave in there for them...
(a discussion over dinner)
LR: When I die, I don’t think I want to be burned up.
Mom: At that point though, it doesn’t matter. You can’t feel anything, because you’re not alive. The body isn’t you any more.
LR: What about you, Mom? What do you want?
Mom: I think I want to be cremated, and then you can take my ashes and spread them somewhere that I love where you can go to remember me.
RJ: I know where that is! Koko Black!
(Koko Black is a high-end chocolatier that recently opened a “salon” in Perth… Apparently, luxury chocolatiers don’t have shops or stores…)
This year, just like last year, many of the parents and teachers from the kids’ school head over to Rottnest Island for their school camp. There are various gatherings and get togethers for the kids and parents — it’s generally just a great chance to relax and catch up with everybody. The major events are the Students versus Parents Games, a sandcastle competition, and the “Fox Hunt” — a treasure hunt in and around the main settlement to find teachers (and some parents) dressed up in crazy outfits. This year the theme was fairy tale characters. Mom always gets roped into this.
RJ watches for dolphins on the fast ferry across to Rotto. LR was the first to spot them though!
(RJ is sitting next to his 5 month old cousin at the dinner table)
RJ: (holds up a grape) Now this. This is an olive. It’s delicious.
Vi: (flaps arms, yells)
RJ: And these are veggies. They are very bad for you.
Vi: (shrieks of joy)
RJ: Lollies are great though. Definitely eat lollies.
Vi: (loving the attention)
RJ: … and you can always eat rubbish.
RJ: (turns to everyone else at the table) I’m the worst teacher ever!
We survived our massive annual Halloween ordeal party. Last year’s party was talked about at school for the whole year, so this year’s was heavily anticipated. From apple bobbing, to treasure hunts, a nigh-invulnerable piñata, to a wet and soggy caveman, we had all the major attractions.
This year, however, we decided not to do the haunted garage. Too many kids came out of that one completely freaked out and crying… Next year, however… MWAAAAHAAHAAAAHAAA… Look out kids!!!!
It was a dark and stormy... err... bright and spooky afternoon in the park that day. Jim decided to hang out at the slide; his diet had been a huge success!
Cody, Wyoming is home to the Buffalo Bill Historical Center, a marvelous set of museums which we spent a while exploring. Out front, a blacksmith worked a historically accurate forge and anvil making nails by hand (a job that I do not envy), while someone cooked up some buffalo stew over a campfire. The smells were delicious!
We also had a great time watching the Fourth of July Parade, complete with cowboys, horses, skiiers, cowboys, hamburgers, horses, cowgirls, poodles, horses, Shriners in little zoomy cars, cowboys, marching bands and horses!
We visited the Buffalo Bill Historical Center. It houses several museums in the same building.
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!!!
