A play by the creek

At last a few posts after such a long gap. It was lovely and sunny today and my sore throat was feeling a bit better, so we took the dog to Darebin parklands for a run and a play.

Hugo did a bit of fishing and they threw stones in the water.

And became koalas and monkeys in the tree. But they wore themselves out and I had to push and carry the bikes part of the way back - up the hills.

Science party excitement

Daisy wanted to have a small birthday party at home this year and not share it with Hugo. We discussed lots of ideas, cup cake making etc, that didn't seem to interest her. Then I suggested a science party with lots of experiments - slime making, dancing raisins, coloured water that doesn't mix, ice cream making and a cola mentos fountain - and she leapt up and down with excitment. I'm having such a lot of fun organising it, I'm now not sure who's more excited.
Here are the invites we've just made and stuffed into plastic test tubes, ready to hand out at school next week.

Queenscliff

We went for a long weekend in Queenscliff but managed to pick the rainiest weekend that there's been since we moved to Australia. It was cold, wet and windy but we still had fun. Our cottage was nice and cosy with a bit gas log fire and electric blankets.

There were plenty of puddles.

and by Sunday the there were breaks in the rain so we stopped for a quick walk along the beach to collect some shells and smooth glass. Django discovered a jelly fish.

New birthday bicycle

Here is Daisy showing off her new (early) birthday present from Grand - a new bike. She's a bit between sizes and after lots of thought we finally opted for the bike that is too big for her, rather than the one that will only last her a year. She test rode it and did fine, so we got it.
It was definitely the right choice, since then she has cycled to school several times and this weekend clocked up 13 miles. She is enjoying using the gears and tells me I go to slowly!

Dress ups

Friends Claerwen, Richard, Winter and Baxi came over for a play and dinner on Friday. The kids enjoyed dressing up. Here's Daisy the horse being ridden by knight Winter.

followed by Iron Man Hugo. A good evening was had.

School musical

Daisy has been in her first school musical. It was an amazing production. The pupils, with help from the teachers, wrote the musical and the songs. Everyone was in it with three different casts, one for each night. Daisy was a goose on the moon.
I've got some video but I haven't suceeded in uploading it yet. I'll keep trying.

New Desk

New desk finally sanded, polished and installed properly today - just need to paint the walls now and build shelves... and... and