one of those weekends

We had one of those weekends. It started Friday. I turned up to the school at 12:15 to do art with Alex's class and they had just started sport. It wasn't as though I really had the time to do art but I had made the time to get out there for his class, so I was mighty miffed when it turned out they were doing something else and I had wasted my time. Not wanting my time to be completely wasted I informed his teacher that I would go and do some work in the library and to send a child in to get me if they needed me. While working in the library my phone rings which sends the battery flat. Great. I sat there putting stickers on the books hoping the call wasn't important but feeling safe in the knowledge that I had signed in at the office so it wouldn't be about the kids. WRONG. Half an hour later Alex's teacher comes running in to the library to let me know that they had just discovered Alex was missing from the classroom and was down in sick bay. He had taken sick at the end of second luch and another kind teacher had escorted him down to the office. Am I the only person that finds it a tad disconcerting that it took 1/2 an hour to discover that Alex hadn't returned from lunch?

The next debarcle was going out to the movies with my friends. Everything was organised. I was really looking forward to going out with a great group of girls. My usual paranoia surfaces and I think "I'll just check the movie times". I had already checked 4 times that week but a fifth couldn't hurt. Aaaargh. The movie time had changed. It was now earlier than I had expected which mucked up our dinner plans. Fortunately everyone was understanding and we still managed to have an excellent night, even if we had to see a different movie.

Saturday morning I had to take Alex to get his hair cut because he had hacked at his head with a pair of scissors. Not impressed. Dani did a good cover up job. While there I noticed that she has a sign up wanting to sell her trampoline. Spent the rest of the weekend working out how to get the trampoline into our backyard. Technically we have enough space. It just isn't all together. So if we move the washing line, butcher a tree, dig a ditch and flatten a twelve foot square of lawn we should be able to fit it in. Ben is not amused.

We then proceeded to have a long serious of minor upsets which peaked with Ben's work going pear shaped and taking up most of his Sunday afternoon. We went to bed exhausted but happy we had got through everything. Lying in bed dozing off and my cat Zuess jumps up and walks up the bed between us. He starts making this horrible coffing noise which can only mean that he ate his dinner too fast and is about to bring it back. Ben and I are urgently saying "no Zuess, no" as he walks up the bed making horrible noises. Ben puts his hand out to grab the cat before he makes it to the pillows and the cat stops walking and pukes in his hand. Goodnight.

These were some lovely shots from our picnic at the park. Emma was using the bubble sword and bubbles were blowing everywhere. Alex enjoyed popping them. Suddenly there was a swarm of children chasing bubbles, it was worse than the pigeons forming groups to plan stealing the bread rolls. I liked the other photo of Al and Ben sitting together, Alex is becoming such a little man.

This is what Ben does with his spare time. He plays with Alex's toys and sets them up to take amusing photos. He calls this photo "the dark side of pet ownership". Apparently the sith lord did not appreciate puppy biting the hand that fed him. An important lesson in life....don't bite men with a light saber.

We went to an indoor rock climbing centre today. The kids had a great time, although it did wear them out very quickly. Emma only lasted about 1/2 an hour before her fingers became too sore to go on. Alex went hard for an hour and had worked up a sweat by the time he was ready to stop. It was a great way to spend some time together. Would love to try it myself some time, the only problem is that you need to have someone else there to hold the rope. Not sure that I trust enough people in my life to hold my rope. Too many people I like to spend time with have way too wicked a sense of humour to be trusted.

Family outing

Ben is off work this week, so we are doing stuff together as a family. Today we went to Yum Cha for lunch over at Blakehurst. Emma was very brave and tried 8 out of the 9 dishes we had. We finally beat her with the pork balls, I don't think that she was particularly disliking the look of them but possibly just too full. She had been keeping up rather well until that point. Alex on the other hand was a little fussier and stuck with the spring rolls and dim sims and a couple of prawn thingees. We ended up having to ask for more spring rolls because he was still hungry. Fortunately the waitress that brought them over was a lovely person and was giggling at him bouncing with excitement on his seat, at the prospect of more spring rolls. I would have thought he would be over them by now, having lived on spring rolls and fried rice while in Thailand, but no apparently there is no such thing as too many spring rolls. Waiting for the spring rolls fortunately gave Emma a bit of a breather so she finished off with a couple of the egg tarts. Thats my girl. Helene my love we have some competition, Emma loved the BBQ pork buns, ate the prawn and garlic dumplings, devoured the prawn won tons and hoovered down the sweet pork buns. She definately would have given us a run for our money.

After eating a delightful array of tasty morsels we went across the road to Carrs Bush Reserve. Such a lovely little spot. It has a tiny (possibly man made) beach. The water is pretty flat but does have a net. One ponders what they thought the net was going to keep out, it didn't look up to keeping out anything more dangerous than the odd lost goldfish but the thought was there. A nice big park with a lovely little walking path. It also had BBQ facilities. Surprisingly empty with plenty of parking, although it is mid week and October so possibly it gets much busier during Summer. The kids had a splash around in the water. Emma was in one of those loose fitting hippie looking tops wading through the water talking to nature. If ever there was a child that should have been named "Galadriel Moonchild" there she stood. Blissfully unaware of those around her she communed with nature while Alex was on the beach head down, butt up digging like a dog. Suddenly Emma calls Alex to the water to see the fish she had found swimming around. He responds "cool" and tries to club one to death with a stick. Okay maybe that was exaggerating a little, he threw a stick in the water to see how fast they would swim away but it originally looked like that when we were watching. I stand by my origingal wish to name him "Thor".

Alex just came running into the room to tell me "trust pink, forget stains" and ran back out. Not sure what he has in mind for the rest of the week but apparently he feels I may have trouble getting it out of the wash.

Hope everyone else is getting as much joy from their school holidays. Will let you know how rock climbing goes tomorrow.

Dan xxxx