Crumpled Home

The good news is that November is over (and we’re exhausted). The bad news is that December is on the way, which is sure to be even busier!

This month we survived a bout of the plague, and went to the city to learn some new skills for Heritage Days. Dad got even older than he used to be and now he’s even older. We built our own shelter and enjoyed a terrific Thanksgiving dinner.

RJ suffered from a horrible bout of chicken pox for a day, but awoke the next morning completely spot free with no symptoms! Vaccine FTW!

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RJ is playing around a stream at a nature playground. He leaps across the stream, climbing stick in hand. Scrambling along the steep bank, he braces his stick and leaps across a yawning chasm between two boulders. He lands safely and sprints over a log that bridges the burbling torrent below. He briefly pauses to gauge the size of his biggest, final jump and with a mighty spring, flies across the gap to land at Dad’s feet.

RJ: Made it! That’s ten times around! I’m also proud to report that we have “Zero days without injuries”!

(while eating breakfast)

Dad: They used catapults to throw enormous boulders and huge rocks at cities. They were big enough to smash down walls, or destroy houses and crush people.

RJ: And apples.

Dad: What? Apples? What about apples?

RJ: They used to throw apples too.

Dad: I didn’t know that.

RJ: Yeah, before they found out about the rocks, and if they couldn’t find any. They used apples.

Dad: That must have been terrible!

RJ: It was! Apples really hurt if you throw them really hard!

(While eating breakfast, RJ picks out a rice bubble/krispie and crushes it between his fingers)

RJ: (quietly to himself, daydreaming) My powers are strong… Mwaa haaa haaa…

(another bit of breakfast is crushed)

RJ: (louder) You can never defeat me. Mwaaa haaa haaa…

Dad: (interrupting) I hope you only use those powers for good, not evil.

RJ: (surprised) Oh! Well, sometimes good… sometimes evil…

Dad: Really? What kind of evil things?

RJ: I crush rocks… I crush certain rocks into poison.

Dad: Nasty! What do you do then?

RJ: I just mix it into people’s drinking water… but usually only the bad guys.

We added a pond to our backyard. Everyone helped out!

You must first recruit your team and get your equipment together.

LR has been doing some rock climbing lessons with some friends on the weekends. There are two main areas, the really tall climbing walls, where she is harnessed to a rope, and a free-climbing area with no ropes, but padding on the ground. It’s great fun!

That's one big wall.

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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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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