Crumpled Home

During the school break, Mum and the kids head off down south for a holiday. Dad caught up with them on the last few days of the trip. There was lots of swimming and surfing at the beach, as well as a trip to Ngilgi Cave.

Something always goes wrong with the house when Mum visits, and this time was no exception. The water from the taps was coming out brown, with a strange smell to it. The house is fed exclusively by rainwater from a large tank beside the house. We called in an expert to go inside and clean it out. The good news is that it wasn’t because some creature had gotten inside and died… The bad news is that it was caused by collapsing, rusted roof supports that were suspended in the water. A little extra bit of iron in the diet never hurt anyone, right?

LR and RJ take a ride on the giant echidna outside Ngilgi cave.

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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Here’s a smattering of pictures from the first half of the month: RJ’s sudden fascination with Superman, a visit to K and J’s place, trips to Gingin, lots of tree climbing, legos, marbles and painting, oh my!

Compared to his obsession with dinosaurs and prehistoric creatures, RJ’s interest in Superman is fairly mild. You’re more likely to catch him pretending to be biologist Nigel Marven.

Don't fear, Superman is on the way.

RJ and I made some Superman badges. I told him, "We don't need no steenkin badges!" but he just wouldn't listen.

K and J’s have an amazing treehouse. It’s multi-level, and is outfitted with a flying-fox, a giant tyre swing, a climbing wall and harnesses and attachment points for everything.

LR and K ride the tyre swing to pretty amazing heights.

LR tackles the climbing wall at K's place.

RJ and J discuss some of the problems they've been having at home.

LR’s tree has grown into one of the best climbing trees imaginable – kid capacity, 15. We’ll find out for sure at this year’s Halloween party.

RJ and LR found an egg shell under LR's tree. Does that mean there's a nest up there somewhere? They've searched all the lower branches and haven't spotted it yet, so maybe not.

RJ climbs up without assistance these days. The monkey genes... they run deep.

Some other recent moments…

Sometimes he just has to yell it out. Negotiating with a hungry three year old who needs a nap is not always possible.

LR tries out Dad's camera while RJ attempts to escape.

LR and RJ worked on this massive castle project. We still haven't managed to use every piece of lego yet.

RJ and Mum adjust their complicated marble run and sling marbles all around the room.

LR adding some details to her big canvas, "The Planet System". It depicts an asteroid crashing into a prehistoric volcanic landscape leading to the collapse of the dinosaur populations on Earth.

Remember this picture?

... Most of the universe is empty space ...

LR was very excited to receive a package in the mail yesterday from Double Helix magazine. It turns out that her wonderful Solar System picture won her a prize in the competition!

LR and her letter of congratulations.

LR's prize painting is now up on the wall next to her robot picture.

LR won this artist-signed print in the competition.

LR has been working on this one intermittently for a few weeks now.

Well done kiddo!