Crumpled Home » RJ

BOINNNGGGGG!

Luke — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 03:07:53 +0000

Last week, RJ and LR went off to try out trampolining. Their coach is an Olympic medalist and they are using full-sized Olympic equipment — these are some BIG trampolines. While LR’s schedule is pretty heavily booked up these days, it looks like RJ is going to stick with it after we get back from our trip.

RJ catches some serious air time as he works on his tuck jump.

LR and RJ wait for the next round after being hit in Dodgeball.

LR goes for a star jump.

Montgomery Hall, where trampolining is held, is part of an abandoned and boarded up mental hospital. The architecture is terrific!

Olympic class trampolines are not made for easy access to four year olds.

LR has an advantage: she does this at gymnastics twice a week!

RJ has it figured out too.

Click go the chelicerae, Click Click Click!

Luke — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 03:07:58 +0000

(while eating breakfast)

RJ: Scarlet’s feet are clicking… Click click click.

Dad: Is that a problem?

RJ: Yes. It reminds me of giant spiders walking around the house… Giant spiders that eat people.

Dad: Maybe we could train one. We could have it as a pet!

RJ: No. That’s not a good idea.

Dad: Why not?

RJ: Because Grammy doesn’t mind little spiders, but she would be scared of a giant spider and she would freak out.

Dad: Fair enough. Can’t say I’d blame her.

Not to put too fine a point on it

Luke — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 03:07:45 +0000

(while eating dinner)

RJ: I don’t like the vegetables, but I will eat ALL my rice.

LR: Rice is a vegetable, RJ!

RJ: No it’s not. It’s a grain. It’s a seed!

Even Malaysians get the blues

Luke — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 03:07:15 +0000

(while eating dinner)

LR: (singing) We all live in a yellow submarine!

RJ: I know that song! I love that song!

LR and RJ: (joyously singing together) We all live in a yellow submarine!

RJ: (after the cacaphony quiets down) When I was a little kid (in Malaysia), we used to sing that song all the time… But it was a bit different. It was about a blue submarine.

And up from the seafloor came a bubbling crude

Luke — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 03:07:29 +0000

After looking at an underwater video of the disaster going on in the gulf, Mum asked the kids how they would go about stopping the oil gushing from the sea floor.

RJ’s suggestion:

RJ: The oil looks like a black smoker. And you can’t make those stop. They come from under the earth. So you have to make the earth stop pushing out the oil. And I don’t think you can do that. I know… You can go back in time and make the dinosaurs not die!

LR’s suggestion:

LR: You need to find a bacteria that eats oil. And make sure that it will turn into plankton when all the oil is gone so that it doesn’t hurt the ocean.

Good thinking guys!

Early June Wrap-Up

Luke — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 03:07:30 +0000

A big couple of weekends… Mum took LR and her best friend to go and see the stage performance of Mamma Mia, RJ and Dad spent the day building projects and eating sushi, RJ catches a birthday party with his friend C., and Dad took RJ and LR off to the aquarium!

LR and I. are SUPER excited to be seeing the live performance of Mamma Mia!

RJ catches some ZZZ's after a big morning of building projects.

RJ, the sushi thief, prepares to steal his next delicious morsel.

RJ waxes philosophical on the nature of sushi... How can eight pieces disappear so very quickly and still leave a four year old wanting more?

Sushi's done. Time for miso!

One of the day's projects... building a light sabre for a jedi knight.

RJ and C. discuss the better moments of S.'s birthday party.

S. blows out all the candles! Happy Birthday!

LR investigates the clown fish and the coral up close.

RJ and LR touch a fiddler ray, some starfish and a sea cucumber in the touch pool.

Look out! There are sharks... lots of them!

There are two big turtles swimming around in there too... but the real giants are the smooth rays.

LR and I. get something delicious to eat before the big show.

The girls are buzzing with excitement before the show.

LR and I. show off the evidence! Happy Birthday LR!

LR spent several evenings making her mask for the school disco. At each of the school dances, there's a challenge to make the weirdest and most interesting outfits.

RJ's dinosaur costume didn't last long. It got in the way of eating the hotdogs.

LR gets into a groove on the dance floor.

RJ does a great 'Y' as music from the Village People plays in the background.

Revealing our glass ceiling

Luke — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 03:07:17 +0000

(a sudden outburst, while eating dinner)

RJ: Okay, new rule! No one in this family is a allowed to turn into a giant!

Some quality time in the garden

Luke — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 03:07:32 +0000

Yesterday afternoon, while building a new raised planter box for an extension to the veggie patch, RJ and LR came out to help. Putting on my “Responsible Father” hat, I decided against letting them carve up the planks of wood with the saw. Determined to help do something, they chose to attack the rose bushes with the hedge trimmers.

This wasn’t a problem — the roses are scheduled to be deleted sometime soon when Mum reformats the gardens. To give the kids some purpose, I suggested we try to make perfume or rosewater out of the rose blooms. “Great,” they said, and asked how to make it.

I managed to describe the processes while trying to sink the posts for the garden bed without destroying the incredibly convoluted system of pipes and tubes that make up our irrigation system. LR picked rosewater and immediately ran off and got to work. RJ decided to make perfume, and then asked where he could get alcohol.

(out in our fairly small back yard, neighbours just a few metres away in all directions)

RJ: Can you get me some alcohol?

Dad: I need to finish this bit of the project, RJ. I can’t help you right now.

RJ: (getting upset) But I need it now. I need to make perfume.

Dad: I understand. You really want to get started, but I can’t help yet. You have to wait.

(this repeats a few times as RJ gets more and more upset)

RJ: (angry and screaming) I NEED ALCOHOL. YOU NEED TO GIVE ME ALCOHOL NOW!

Dad: No! No alcohol for you until later!

RJ: (at the top of his lungs) I WONT WAIT! GIVE ME SOME ALCOHOL! I NEED ALCOHOL.

(this repeats a few more times and eventually he breaks down into tears)

RJ: (sobbing, yet still somehow very loud) Please daddy, please get me some alcohol. I only need a little bit.

I’m just waiting for a knock on the door from family services… They’ll probably be taking my “Responsible Father” hat with them.

They’re not just for breakfast any more

Luke — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 03:07:24 +0000

(while eating breakfast)

RJ: Daddy, do you know how to make rice bubble glass?

Dad: Nope. You tell me.

RJ: First you get rice bubbles, but only the really clean ones. Then you heat them up so they’re very hot and they melt. Then you cool it down slowly and then you have rice bubble glass!

Dad: That’s great! What can you use it for?

RJ: You can make rice bubble bottles to put perfume in. They’re very nice.

RJ: … and you can also throw them at bad guys. They’re allergic to rice bubbles.

(In Australia, Rice Krispies are called Rice Bubbles. Same company, same box, and same trio of little guys helping to sell it.)

LR turns six

Luke — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 03:07:36 +0000

LR’s birthday rolled around and, despite appearances, we managed to keep it fairly simple (no giant parties, sleepovers, movie nights, etc.) LR loved every minute of it and is already making plans for next year!

After searching nearly ten bike shops in the area we finally found a bike cool enough for LR.

Good timing. We've had a long-standing arrangement that we would get LR a new bike when LR learned to ride. Fortunately, it happened right around her birthday!

Great Grandma Dot and Great Grandpa Maurie met us for lunch at a cafe. This is where LR had birthday cake #1!

LR and RJ head to the cake cabinet to pick the best ones.

Grammie hands her present to a very appreciative LR.

iLR LOVES her new iThing.

RJ got a new dinosaur lenticular image. So far it's become a video game, a movie, his pets and a useful demonstration of evolution in action.

Poppa gets a spontaneous thank-you hug from LR.

LR gobbles down her cake, ice cream and a chocolate cake with chocolate sauce over the top... Over the top is right!

Instead of a birthday party, LR invited her class to come for a play at the park after school.

There were kids everywhere! LR had a great time!

Cake #2 consisted of cupcakes for each kid. Thanks Grammy for the hard work!

RJ eyes the mighty stack of cupcakes... We kept a careful count to make sure none disappeared ahead of time.

RJ attempts to negotiate for an early cupcake by trading a cup full of worms.

LR blows out the candles with just a little help from her friends.

LR hands out the privileged 'L' cupcakes to special people.

By carrying buckets of water to the top of the playground equipment and pouring them down, the kids created their own waterslide!

LR eyes light up for cake #3, an icecream cake that we had after our family dinner.

LR blows out the candles with mum holding her hair back -- she's trying to grow out her fringe.

Poppa and RJ help put new batteries into one of her presents.