School holidays - take one!

These are our first school holidays since the Little Big Fella started school.

It's the first time I've been used to him being out of the house for the majority of five days a week, and now he's not... for two weeks.

And it turns out that our Little Big Fella is pretty social, and doesn't really like being an only child at the moment.

And I really wasn't prepared for any of it!

I wasn't prepared to feel like I was being invaded by my own family, or to deal with the extra mess that appears just because they're home, or the persistent requests for friends to come and play or meet us at the park.

So I've suddenly had to do a big mind-shift.

After only 10 weeks of school, I've had to shift back to child-in-the-house mode and remember that he wants (and needs) at least some of my attention during the day.

I've had to shift back to playdate planning mode and arrange to meet up with friends, or have them here, because that is part of what he needs at this point in time.

I've had to remember to play games with him, and be patient about it.

And we've added learning to our holidays - learning small words and sentences, and remembering what sounds each of the letters make.

So, school holidays - take one has been a bit of a shock to the system.  But I think if I plan ahead next time, we'll all cope with it a little bit better, and maybe, just maybe even enjoy ourselves for most of the time!

Imagine that!

Blogger's block

I feel like I need to apologise, but I've no doubt you'll all forgive me anyway.  I have a bunch of excuses (starting work, trying to keep my house somewhat clean and orderly, computer dying and it's trickier on the laptop or tablet, Christmas, New Year....) but really, they're just excuses.

Reality is that I have "blogger's block".

I don't feel like I have anything to say that anyone would want to read, and when I do, I don't have the time or energy to put it together (hopefully coherently).

So, let's see if we can break the block by writing this little apology.  Actually, it's not really an apology, given that it's my blog and I can write whenever I want.  But I guess it is an apology in the sense that I know that when I read a blog regularly, I miss it when they take a break, so I apologise if you've missed me.

Okay, let's see if we can break the block by giving a quick recap of what's been happening around here then.

I finally started work at one of the big Australian banks and finally, after two full weeks, managed to balance at the end of the day without having to re-count and re-check all of my work.  I literally did a dance!

Working full-time for two weeks was great and really hard.  It was awesome to be working again - spending so much time around adults, learning, and using my head all the time.  And it was hard not being around my Little Big Fella, trying to keep my house up to scratch, trying to fulfill the commitments I'd made as a non-worker, sitting almost all day, trying to get plenty of sleep and keep up with my workout program.

There were Christmas parties and birthday parties, often on the same day!

And, of course, there was Christmas!

My grandparents were going to join us this year but unfortunately that didn't work out.  But we had a great day!  The Little Big Fella got way too many presents, again!  And we had a fun time playing with all of them :-D

The Big Fella had a sleep in the afternoon (he'd done a string of night shifts with very little sleep in between) and I got a little down, I think because I'm used to Christmas day being full of people.

In the evening we visited some friends.  They'd gotten together with others in their street to hire a blow up waterslide and the Little Big Fella had a good go on it.  There were a few drinks and lots of laughs.  It was a great, relaxing way to end the day.

Boxing Day saw us follow a tradition that began early in our marriage, with Lord of the Rings, actually.  The Big Fella, the Little Big Fella and I went and saw the Hobbit at the cinema, 2 hours away.  It was expensive, and mildly frustrating a couple of times, but I think it's definitely a tradition we'll continue whenever possible.

The days between then and now have been very quiet and homely.  We've caught up with a couple of friends who've remained in town, been to the local pool, avoided the few shops that are near (and all of the ones further away!), practiced on my scooter and the Little Big Fella on his little motorbike, put up our pool and hidden away in the airconditioning from the high 30s to 45 degree days, and slept our way into the New Year.

Do you remember last New Year where I mentioned that I don't like it?  Here's the link if you want to look it up.  I actually happened to wake up 15 minutes before midnight this year and during that time I remembered some of the really bad New Year's Eve "parties" I've been to.

One included being at church (not the bad part - I loved going to church and spending time with the people around me who I considered my family), where the guest speaker actually continued speaking through the countdown to the New Year!

Then there were others (probably most of them really) where, possibly because there was no alcohol involved, we were trying to stay awake until midnight so we could count down, yell "Happy New Year" and go home to bed.

But this year I've added another reason to not like New Year.  And I suspect there will be plenty of people who disagree with me, which is absolutely your prerogative.

Many people seem to think that just because we've changed the number that we write to designate the year, their life will change... without them doing anything differently.  Then they whinge their way through the year, get to the other end and complain about what a horrible year it was and how they can't wait for the new year to begin.

Ummmm, sorry folks, that's not the way it works!

If you want your life to change in any way, big or small, you have to make a change!  Whether it's a new year or not!  And change is hard!  Which is why you haven't done it yet.  And, not only change for a minute or a day, but consistently!  And that sometimes feels impossible!!!

Anyway, I guess I'm off on a tangent, but I guess that means I'm cured of "blogger's block"!

I had a quick look back through my 2013 posts, just to see what I've recorded about our year for you.

• We've had chickens,
• been flooded in,
• the Little Big Fella started kindy and turned 4,
• our house has been painted and we have new furniture,
• we've played with friends,
• the Little Big Fella has spent a lot of time in superhero costumes,
• I joined the CWA and was Treasurer for our playgroup,
• the Easter Bunny and Santa visited, as did my brother, and the Big Fella's parents,
• we visited our old town a few times,
• I rolled our car and we got a brand new one,
• the Little Big Fella and I flew to Melbourne,
• I went to my first "real" concert and P!nk was AWESOME!
• I got a 2nd and 3rd in the state CWA photo competition,
• we went to the local race day,
• I've (possibly excessively) considered various aspects of parenting,
• I cut my hair short (again),
• the Big Fella and I exchanged rings in a private (and moving) ceremony... in our car,
• I've gotten back into papercrafts with some of my friends,
• the Little Big Fella played his first sport (soccer),
• we went to the May Day Fair, and the school fair,
• we've been fishing and swimming and backyard camping,
• we've attempted a sleepover with the Little Big Fella's best friend,
• the Little Big Fella finally worked out how to ride his motorbike by himself,
• I've raised the concept of letting men be manly,
• the Little Big Fella gave some of his face-skin to the concrete, and shared his hand with a knife (thankfully not needing stitches),
• I had some bad days and some bad weeks,
• the Little Big Fella had his first visit to the dentist,
• we had backyard fires and front yard fires, and fires at friends' houses,
• the Little Big Fella played with (manufactured) snow for the first time ever,
• we got airconditioning in our living area!
• the Big Fella turned 40,
• we got a shipping container/workshop,
• the Little Big Fella learned how to teatowel fight,
• we did Halloween again, and ate too many sweets,
• I had a girl's night in,
• I re-learned how to tie balloons and got to do it at two different events,
• the Big Fella and I lost weight, and the Big Fella's kidney health has moved back to the "normal" range,
• we've been to local footy games,
• I ran my first ever fundraiser, and it was a success!
• I've found a million reasons throughout the year to be thankful for my friends and family,
• I totally got into the Christmas spirit in the lead up to Christmas,
• we've had LOTS of fun times with friends at the park, at playgroup, at their houses, at our house,
• we've laughed, a lot,
• the Little Big Fella had his Prep Transition days, and loved them,
• we've spent plenty of time splashing around in water,
• the Little Big Fella and I have done a fair bit of cooking,
• and I've returned to being ScooterShell.

No wonder I've felt so tired these last few weeks!!!!  That was a really big year, with lots of fun times.

Now take a deep breath because 2014 is going to have lots of big moments in it too!  The Little Big Fella is starting real school, we're going to Melbourne in March (as a family), in May (possibly just me) and September (just the Big Fella), I'll be getting my full motorbike license, there'll be birthdays and parties and playtimes and homework and events and competitions and Halloween and Christmas and work and love.  Put that together with whatever "deep" thoughts I dump on y'all, as well as all the random things that you never expect or plan for...

Can I go to sleep now?

Muddy puddles

Sometimes I discover things that my son gets to do that I never did, simply because of the location we're in.

Yesterday we had a very intense little storm go through here.  It didn't last that long - maybe half an hour altogether, and it only rained for about 5 or 10 minutes.  But the rain was almost horizontal, and it was very hard, and you could hear the crackle of the lightning, as well as lots of thunder.

Once it passed, the sun came out.  And so did the kids!

It had rained hard enough for a mild flash flood, so the Little Big Fella and the three kids from next door were out in the street, running up and down the gutters, splashing and generally having a great time.

And it occurred to me that I don't think I ever did that as a kid.

Where I grew up, it mostly rained in winter, so it was too cold to go out and play in puddles! We had summer storms, but again, the particular place we lived meant that most of them went around our town, so we'd sit out in the heat and watch the lightning in the distance.

Most parents of young kids in Australia will know the character "Peppa Pig".  She and her family love jumping up and down in muddy puddles.

Well, the kids discovered a VERY muddy puddle on the opposite corner from our homes and they not only jumped up and down in them, but sat in them, and lay down in them!  Then they'd run across the road to a watery puddle to "wash off".

Their clothes were absolutely filthy, but they had a ball!

And us mums enjoyed watching them play too :-)

In the dark

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrggggggggghhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

That's the sound of eight kids completely freaking out when the power went out last night.  But I need to describe it in a bit more detail for you, because a single scream really doesn't cut it.

We'd been watching the storm coming our way, and I'd picked up a couple of the girls who'd taken their cars home in fear of them being ruined by the hail we'd been told was coming.

The wind picked up and there was a bit of rain.  That was it!  Oh!  And lots of lightning, mostly without thunder.  Really, it was a bit of a fizzer of a storm.

We'd gotten together for a party plan, and most of us had to bring our kids.  The kids had been running around and getting completely revved up, but had moved inside and were watching a movie.

The rain had pretty much stopped when suddenly the power went out.

Now, most of our kids aren't overly fussed by storms.  Most of them aren't overly fond of them, but they don't tend to really freak out about them either.

But they'd been SO revved up already, and someone started screaming.  So they all joined in!  At first it sounded like they were playing initially, but then they managed to really freak themselves out and the screaming got more realistic.

What do us mums do?  Pull out our phones, of course!  I mean, is there a more accessible form of light these days?

Our hostess found a bunch of torches and candles and the kids played torch games and we chilled out, taking a mid-party break to have a drink and something to eat and, for some, a smoke.

A phone call to the electricity company determined that we could be waiting a while, because the fault was somewhere in a 100 kilometre (around abouts) stretch.  So we continued the party in the semi-light, as you do.

The lights came back on, to the cheers of the children, and we continued on our merry, partying way.

And I have to say, I have some nutty, awfully fun, friends!  Most of the funniest stuff I won't repeat because it definitely isn't G-rated.  But it was a great night, with a LOT of laughter, and those moments that join you together with the others around you.

And that's what I love most about living here - practically in the middle of nowhere!  When we get together, we have a good laugh and become even better friends.  And isn't that what life is all about?  That awesome sense of connection with others!

Another step

This week my Little Big Fella took another step in growing up.  On Wednesday afternoon, he had his first Prep Transition Day.

Here in Queensland, Australia, children can attend kindergarten in the year before school.  In most cases the kindy is a separate location to schools, but sometimes they have their own area in a school.

The first year of "official" school is called Prep and my not-so-little son will be starting that at the end of January next year.  To help the kids get used to the school and the routines and rules, they're joining with this year's Prep students for three afternoons this term.

The Little Big Fella is pretty excited about going to school next year.  They've been talking about it at kindy and we've talked a bit about it at home as well.  And we've spent some time at the school for various events since moving here, including Kindysports this term, the school fair a few weeks ago and other events since moving here last year.

He has a lot of friends at the school already, and knows most of the kids who will join him in Prep next year, so he doesn't seem to be anywhere near nervous about it all.

In fact, when we arrived at Prep Transition the other day he didn't even turn around to look at me when the teacher came out and told them what would be happening.  She asked if he wanted to give me a kiss and cuddle!  It's such a contrast to dropping him off at kindy, where he still wants me to come in and sit with him for about 10 to 15 minutes before he's happy for me to leave.

We have two more Transition sessions over the next two weeks, and I'm hoping it goes as well as this one!

During the hour he was there, Miss I, his teacher, read them the book, "The Very Cranky Bear".  It's one we've borrowed from the Library previously, and I'm certain they've read it at kindy a few times as well.  It's a really good book.

They got to do a painting after that, and told Miss I what their favourite part of the book was.

When he came out of the classroom at the end, he was SO excited and wanted to tell me everything they'd done.

Instead of going home (the Big Fella was sleeping), I hung out in the canteen with our next door neighbour.  I saw all the Prep kids holding hands with the Transition Preps, going around the school and showing them where everything was.  It was gorgeous!  I wanted to get a photo, but didn't want to distract the class so you don't get to see how cute they were.  Sorry!

Now I need to start thinking about school uniforms, backpacks, pencil cases and so on.  Hello Christmas stocking fillers and presents :-D  Yep, this marks the start of practical Christmas presents like socks and jocks!!!!  Mwah ha ha haaaaah!

Play time!

Oh my goodness!!!  It's been so long since I've written a post, you probably thought I'd disappeared off the face of the earth!!!

So!  We need to do a little catch up on all the play time we've been having this past couple of weeks!

A couple of weekends ago, the Big Fella was away fishing so I had the girls over for an evening.  I wrote a little about that here.

The Big Fella came home and we had three big days in a row.  Thursday we went to our nearest "city" - 2 hours away on the coast.  The Big Fella had a specialist appointment and a medical test to do.  And we did some shopping and had a restaurant meal.

The Little Big Fella and I spent some time at the major shopping centre getting a few bits and pieces done while the Big Fella was doing his testing.  They have the trolleys that look like a car and the Little Big Fella just fit in.  It was the easiest shopping I've done in ages!

I also let him have a go on one of those shopping centre rides.  Can't make it completely painful for him, right?

We found out that the Big Fella's kidney issues are in remission, which is amazing!  He's been working really hard to lose weight and eat better, and he's mostly cut out alcohol except on special occasions.  Turns out that looking after yourself can make a major difference in his particular case.  We also got a bit more information about what's good and bad for him and other things that can help.

I got to spend over an hour in Spotlight (a craft supplies and homewares store), and even though I had the Little Big Fella with me, I had a ball!!!  Sigh.  I miss living near a Spotlight.

The next night was the school fair.  I helped with some of the preparation in the morning then got all dressed up in the evening and tied balloon animals and swords all night.  I had lots of flashbacks to previous balloon-tying events (like Easterfest for you Mountsiders who might remember it, and Master's Commission).

I made myself a tulle skirt.  It's the first sewing I've done in ages and didn't quite come out how I'd hoped, but it worked well.  I ended up wearing it for our Halloween walk too.

I also did some fun, fairy-style makeup.

This was taken at the end of the night and I'd lost some of my diamantes.  It's not quite as dramatic as I wanted, but I think that's because the makeup I have is for every day, not for stage or events.  Oh!  And I was wearing a bright pink wig.  I'd forgotten how hot and annoying wigs are!!!!

The Little Big Fella mostly loved the fair.  They had a merry-go-round, jumping castle, huge slide and 4WD buggies.  You could buy tickets for each ride or a wrist band for unlimited use.  Because I was tying balloons all night, and the Big Fella was at work, the Little Big Fella got to just go from ride to ride all night.  I stood near the rides and he just came over whenever he needed me to drive him in the buggies (you had to be 8 years or older to drive them).

By about 9:30 the Little Big Fella was done so I tied my last balloons and carried him to the car.

That night the Little Big Fella was sick.  He woke at about 11:30 and then we were up and down until about 3am.  As horrible as it is being sick yourself, watching your child go through it, and not being able to relieve it, knowing you just have to go through it... it's pretty hard core.

Thankfully he was feeling much better and even had some food on Saturday afternoon.

Saturday night was a "Girl's Night In" breast cancer fundraiser at the football club.  Like having the girls over the week before, it was fun and full of laughter.  There were games and prizes and costumes and dancing.  There was even a mob of kangaroos on the grounds... until the girls chased them in an attempt to catch one.  And there was fire twirling too.  It was a really fun night.

I was pretty tired after the last few days and the night of little sleep.  And the Big Fella had to start work just after midnight, so I headed off around 11:30.

And that was another weekend down!

We had the Halloween walk last night, which was brilliant, and we're off to a craft night at the CWA hall tonight.  I did a bunch of crafty things for Halloween, but I'll do a post on that (I already promised it last week, didn't I?) separately because there's a few photos and I want to give you the time and space to admire :D

So, for now, adios amigos!  Thanks for sticking with me when I go through the less write-y times :)

While the cat's away...

I've had lots of things to tell you all, but I've had no time to tell it!!!

The Big Fella was away fishing for a week.  So, to keep myself from getting sad and lonely, I planned a few things to do.

I've cleaned almost as if I was moving house (we're not, by the way) including exhaust fans (bleuch!) and windows (double bleuch!).

I've woken up my (very sleepy) craft bug.  I think it's the time of year.  Halloween is a little bit of a deal here in our little town, so I've made some paper mache pumpkins, I'm still working on some luminieres made from tin cans, and I need to paint my window silhouettes.  I'm also working on a costume for the school fair/ladies' pink night/Halloween walk.  And all of that gets me excited about Christmas so I've been planning and buying stuff for that too.  But there'll be more about my crafty capers in another post (possibly next week).

And what else should you do to fill in time without your husband, but hang out with friends???

We've had playdates and craft sessions and buy-at-home parties.  And I had a few of the girls around for an evening on Friday.  No, there'll be no telling!  But I think it's okay to say that none of us has had a late night drinking and laughing with the girls in a while, and it hit us a little hard the next day.

I have to say that I have some brilliant friends, too!  I love that we talk about a wide range of things and we can say some pretty outrageous stuff and not be shot to pieces for it.

And laughing!  Oh my goodness I love laughing!!!

But I often get so caught up in the busy-ness and stress of daily life that I forget to see the funny stuff.  Life shouldn't be so serious!  Keep reminding me about that, okay?

It was my nephew's 5th birthday the other day!  I got to talk to him on the phone and I miss him (and his brother, my sister and brother-in-law) so much!  That's definitely one of the sucky things about living away from family, and friends too.

The school is running a fair this Friday and I've offered to do balloon animals for them.  I was trying to get my juggling skills back in time, but it just hasn't happened.  I think I stress out about it too much and end up throwing the balls all over the place!

I'm excited to do some kid-based stuff again, though.  It's been quite a while!  I'm hoping to get half an hour to practice some of the trickier ones before then.  Or at least jump online and look at a few!  I think my very basic repertoire of a dog/giraffe/monkey/elephant and a sword won't quite cut it.

We're off to the big town 2 hours away tomorrow.  The Big Fella has a specialist appointment for the first time since we moved here.  It's been very exciting lately, because his most recent pathology says that his weight loss and exercise are improving his kidney health, significantly reducing his potential need for intervention.  I just about did a happy dance in the doctor's office when he said that!

While we're over there, we're going to be doing a spot of shopping (hello Spotlight (fabric/craft store) and Bunnings (hardware store)).  Just a tad excited about that one.

Anyway, I need to go finish the dishes and get to bed.  The Big Fella is working tonight so there's a decent possibility that I'll be driving tomorrow.

Okay, side note:  I want to kill my dogs!  Obviously not literally.  But when that stinking cat comes by every, single, night, and they bark like there's no tomorrow every, single, night and it doesn't matter what I do they do it EVERY, SINGLE, NIGHT.  Sheesh.

Right.  Time to post this (sorry, it's been a while and this really hasn't been a very exciting post) and get to bed!

Attitude and effects

Yesterday the Little Big Fella and I went and did some supermarket shopping to re-stock for the long weekend.  We also stopped in the discount store for a few bits and pieces.

While we were there, another customer happened to have an armful of items and dropped the lot all over the floor.

Know what my Little Big Fella did?  He said, "don't worry, I'll help you pick them up"!  And he did!

In that moment I was super proud of my boy and felt like I'm doing a pretty decent job as his mum.


This weekend our neighbours have family staying over, and the Little Big Fella gets along really well with the kids.  So today he spent the morning playing over there and they spent the afternoon playing over here.

At one point all the kids were here having a splash in our blow-up pool, so their mum came over to help me supervise them all because, according to her, "my children are the spawn of the devil".

I don't really know this woman.  We've met two or three times over the past 6 months, but in that moment I felt my heart break for those children, and that family.

Between that conversation and this post I read this morning over at Single Dad Laughing, I realised that the words we use and the attitudes we have toward our children create who they are!

Surely there are going to be enough people in your child's life to tear them down and make them feel worthless that you don't have to be one of them!

Surely, as their parent, you should be their safe haven and the place they come to for consolation and reassurance that they're okay!

Surely.

I get that kids are wearing.

I get that sometimes you get sick of saying the same thing over and over and over and over and over and over and you feel like you may as well smack your head into a brick wall

I get that there are some things about your kids, and as they get older their decisions that you're not going to like.

I get that.

But one of our roles as parents is to love our kids and make sure they know it!  They need to know how proud we are of them, how brilliant they are, how creative and interesting and beautiful.  They need to hear from their parents that, no matter what happens, they are acceptable to us!

And they need to hear it in our conversations with other adults.

We parents are very human.  But let's not allow that to be an excuse to break our children.

Let's keep trying to improve our communication with our kids, find out all the wonderful things about their personalities and views of the world that we can be proud of and inspired by.

Because our children, no matter who they are or what they do, are beautiful and inspiring and deserve to be loved.  They are, after all, human just like us.

Can somebody say, "excited"???

I was feeling the trepidation.

It was kindy pick-up time for the Little Big Fella.  I'd had a really full day and was mildy stressed about not getting other stuff done.

But that wasn't what caused my fear.

You see, the Little Big Fella doesn't like snakes.

At.  All.

He doesn't like bugs or even the rubber snakes that boys stereotypically throw at girls to make them scream.

Guess what came to kindy today.

Yup!  A reptile show.

So, I was feeling nervous.

While getting my hair cut and coloured I was imagining a stressed-out phone call from the kindy teacher telling me I had to come and pick up the Little Big Fella, with blood-curdling screams in the background.

Thankfully the Big Fella was with me for pick-up.  I had moral support!

We made our way from the car, through the child-proof gates, and along the side of the kindy building.

I couldn't hear anything!  No singing, no playing, no stories.

Sh!t!  The guy had an anaconda and ate everyone!!!

But, no!  We got around to the closed doors and the other parents were waiting patiently.  All must have been well.

The teacher opened the doors and the Big Fella walked over to get the Little Big Fella.  Out he came and ran into Daddy's arms.

Okay.  He's alive!  This is good!

The Big Fella motioned that I was there as well and the Little Big Fella pelted over to me and gave me a BIG hug.

And then it started.

The non-stop, high-pitched, high-decibel, excited talk about dragons that don't fly and 7 meter snakes and baby crocodiles and turtles with long tongues and... and... and...

It went on until we got to McDonald's (Daddy needed coffee).

Throughout the rest of the afternoon and evening there were sudden outbursts about various reptiles, generally in the high-pitched, high-speed, excited tones.

We had dinner and the Little Big Fella headed off for his shower.  When he got out I could tell he was tired.  His eyes were practically hanging out of his head.

"Yes!" thought I.  "He'll be asleep in no time!"

Ha!

As soon as I went in to say goodnight (the Big Fella had already headed off to work after dinner) the excited stories began again.  They began with him showing me all of the reptiles and telling me all about them.  Then then turned imaginative.

These snakes (the mummy, the daddy and the babies) each had their own little beds up and down his body.

This dragon can't fly because he doesn't have wings, but he can breathe fire!   And the turtle can breathe ice so that he doesn't burn when the dragon breathes fire at him.

The cage for these crocodiles only opens when I press this button on the wall and click my fingers.

I can magic this cage from over there.

I need a drink of water.  Can you watch my pets so they don't get scared from being along?

And on, and on, and on!  I don't think he took a breath for at least 15 minutes!!!  Eventually I was able to suggest that it was sleeping time.

The Little Big Fella lay down on his pillow and pulled up his covers (for the 100th time since coming in to his room), but the pets needed a story.

"One story" I agreed.

Up he jumped again to choose a book from the shelf!  (Honestly, I wish I had a fraction of his energy at this time of day!!!)

So the story was read and the child calmed enough to potentially sleep.  And I was left with a brilliant sense of my son's imagination and excitement about something I'd thought would bring fear.  I can't wait to see what happens when he goes to school!!!

Melbourne trip - Part V

After a friend-day, it was time for a family-day!  We had a bit of a slow start then jumped in the car and headed off to the Big Fella's parent's place.

We got there just as Grandma's client arrived (she's a seamstress and works from home).  So we said hi then headed out to the back deck (the Little Big Fella wanted to see the spa).

I saw a couple of parrots in the tree so popped inside and collected the box of seed.  We put some on the verandah's railings then sat back on the lounge to see if they'd come closer.

They did!

We ended up sitting and watching them for quite a while!  Grandpa was at work but came home for "lunch" and sat with us watching the birds.  Then Grandma and her client came down and watched them too!

Eventually Grandpa had to go back to work, but we arranged to meet up with him later.  He drives buses, so we decided we'd go for a ride with him after lunch, when he was back in the general area.

In the meantime, Grandma and I took the Little Big Fella to the nearby lake.  When we first got there, we noticed a bunch of old guys with remote-controlled yachts.  Of course, the Little Big Fella wanted to have a go!  I told him that he probably wouldn't be allowed to, but one of the guys generously offered so he had about 5 minutes of controlling a smaller yacht (with a little input from the owner) and, amazingly, didn't crash into any of the others!

The closest yacht, with the yellow hull, is the one the Little Big Fella was controlling.

The guys then had a race, so the controls were handed back and we walked a little way around the lake to feed the ducks.

Initially, there were only a couple of ducks.  But once the others heard there was food, they came flying in from everywhere!!!!

When we were out of bread, we went over to the playground (another brilliant one) and let the Little Big Fella run around a bit.  This was his favourite "toy" of the morning:

You hit the silver bits at the top and they make different gong-like sounds.

While the Little Big Fella was playing, the Big Fella called.  He was out in a national park for the week and there was no mobile phone coverage, so I was surprised (and pleased) to hear from him!  He'd driven to the only place in the whole park where there was coverage, just to have a chat!

Grandma, the Little Big Fella and I had a bit of a walk and talk around part of the lake, then headed out for lunch before catching Grandpa's bus.  The Little Big Fella liked Grandpa's bus (or maybe it was the lolly frogs Grandma brought to eat on the bus???) and we drove around with him for about an hour.

Back at the Big Fella's parent's place, Grandma put a movie on for the Little Big Fella - "Pete's Dragon".  This movie has strong sentimental value for the Big Fella's family, but I was surprised at how into the movie my son was!  He's not normally a musical movie kind of kid, but he was completely enthralled!

Grandpa came home not long after the movie started and sat with the Little Big Fella to watch it.

We had dinner together, then Grandpa and the Little Big Fella had a spa, absolutely making the Little Big Fella's day complete!

While they were down there, Grandma and I were on the deck talking and we heard something in the tree.  We looked around and there was a possum!

After the spa, a bath and a bit of hanging out, it was time to head back to mum and dad's.  We said our goodbyes, somewhat sorrowfully because it will be quite a while before we see the Big Fella's parents again.  Unsurprisingly, the Little Big Fella was asleep before we'd gotten 5 minutes down the road!

So closed another big day in Melbourne!

Melbourne trip - part Aquarium

Week two in Melbourne seemed to be all about best friends!  I got to catch up with three of my best friends from various periods of my life and it was fantastic!

My best friend from Grade 1 until we moved towns in Year 9 just happened to be in Melbourne at the same time as us, and just happened to have a day free, so we caught up on Monday.

I caught the train into the city with the Little Big Fella, who'd never been on a train (despite his Daddy's job) and really enjoyed it!  We met P at the stairs of Flinders St station and walked to the Burke St mall.  My sister had told me about a place in Myer that have amazing desserts so we wandered our way through to there (stopping at the costumes for the Little Big Fella, and taking our time to convince him he wasn't getting one).

Apparently this store within Myer, Brunetti's, is the smaller version, and there's a much larger one elsewhere in the city.  I'm so glad we didn't go to the bigger one!  It was really hard to choose from the "small" selection!!!!

Eventually I chose a chocolate tart and the Little Big Fella chose an ice-cream/gelato.  For the first time in his life, he couldn't finish an ice-cream!!!  It was pretty rich, but absolutely delicious!

Realising that the Little Big Fella wouldn't cope well with being dragged around shops, I suggested we go to either the Museum or the Aquarium.  We chose the Aquarium and I'm so glad we did because it was brilliant!  Yes, it was expensive (although, if I lived in Melbourne I'd seriously consider buying an annual pass and going in pretty regularly - especially the shark area), and yes, we had to line up for ages to get in (and guess who had to use the facilities right then!).  But it was great fun, really interesting, and definitely worth it!

Here's a few pics to give you an idea:

As soon as we'd paid, we walked through an area where we were told to pose for a picture.  We knew they'd try to sell us the photos, but didn't realise they'd come out so well, and that we'd have access to the digital copies too.  The photos (3) were put into a book about the aquarium and the various creatures in it.

The first creatures we saw when we came in were the seahorses.  Seahorses are definitely my favourite sea creatures - not only because they're so interesting-looking, but the whole male baby-carrying thing has always fascinated me!

There were heaps of them, and in so many different colours and shapes (if you want to include the sea dragons in the seahorse category, of course).  I loved how they wrapped their tails around the seaweed to hold on.

There were several of these bubble things, where kids (and parents when they get dragged along) could crawl under the tanks and look up into where the fish and other animals were.  It was pretty cool.

There was also a really big tank/pond with lots of archer fish in it.  When the Big Fella and I lived briefly in Darwin, the couple we stayed with had archer fish in their pond in the middle of their living room (with a spiral staircase going over the top of it, mind you).  At night, when the flying termites came out, they'd turn off all the lights except the one over the fish tank.  The termites would fly over there, then the archer fish would spit at them, making them fall onto the water where the fish would eat them.  They're really good shots!

We went downstairs to the shark tank.  This was at the top of the ramp:

The shark tank is really amazing.  You walk through a tunnel, but the tunnel is made of very thick acrylic, and the fish, rays and sharks swim over and around you.  It is such a great experience!

I think if I lived in Melbourne, and had an annual pass, I would come to the shark tank as often as possible and just sit and watch them all.  Especially when it's not school holidays :-)

Eventually we headed back upstairs and had lunch.  Just next to the cafeteria area was a coral reef tank.  It was here that the Little Big Fella made a friend:

He sat talking and singing to this Moray Eel for ages!  And the eel seemed to be responding to him.  It was watching him, and even looked like it was talking to him, and didn't go away until he did!

Eventually it was time to go.  We headed back to the train station (on the tram of course!) and said our goodbyes.  I was really grateful for the chance to catch up with my friend, and that the Little Big Fella was entertained enough that we actually got to talk quite a bit.  There's even a chance that we might keep in touch a bit more than we have of late (I'm so bad at long-distance friendships!).

Melbourne trip - end of week 1

Okay, I think we need to speed these up just a little bit!

The day after the P!nk concert I got to sleep in a little (yay!), and we had a relatively slow day.

When I was a late teenager, my family had a great girl/lady live with us for about 3 years.  We'll call her Cadbury J because of the regular late night runs to the supermarket we'd have to collect junk food, particularly chocolate.  Cadbury J is now married with 2 gorgeous kids - a 6 year old boy, and a 4 year old girl (only 6 weeks older than the Little Big Fella).

After a sufficient sleep in and slow morning, the Little Big Fella and I went around to Cadbury J's house and ended up spending the rest of the day with her and the kids.  The kids got along brilliantly for the most part (after a slightly shy start), and the Little Big Fella wanted to play with them every day after that while we were in Melbourne.

On this particular day, we ended up making and decorating cupcakes - a slightly messy affair (cooking with kids always is), but definitely fun and delicious (has to be when Cadbury J is involved)!

The boys had a go at a Wii dancing game and did surprisingly well.

And all three kids ended up with gumboots (galoshes?) on, playing in the mud outside.

The following day we ended up at the big park near mum and dad's place with my sister, and Cadbury J  and the kids turned up too!  Again, the kids played well together and the Little Big Fella was not impressed when it was time to say goodbye and go "home".

That morning we'd joined my parents at their Ulysses brunch - checking out all the motorbikes and saying "hi" to some of mum and dad's friends.  I expected that the Little Big Fella would be excited by all the bikes, but he was focused on wanting to play with Cadbury J's kids and was a bit of a cranky pants.

It was amusing hanging out with the "bikers", because the Little Big Fella told everyone he met there that he rode his own motorbike, and they were all suitably impressed.

The following day Mum, my sister, the Little Big Fella and I went to the Queen Victoria market (after meeting my sister's cat).  It was a very different experience to when we lived in Melbourne, mostly because the Big Fella wasn't with us, so we went to other areas of the market than just the deli :-D

Of course, we did go to the deli because that's a complete experience in itself, but it wasn't the same without the Big Fella's enthusiasm.

Going around the general part of the market was good fun!  We looked at art and clothes and bags and whatever else happened to catch our attention.  The Little Big Fella was just starting to get antsy when we spotted a toy stall.  They had a pack of superhero figurines, including his favourites Thor, the Hulk, Wolverine, Batman, Spiderman and Superman, for only $10!  My sister decided that she needed to buy them for him and for the next hour or so, he was completely engrossed in them and happy to be dragged from bag stall to clothing stall :-D  Thanks sis!!!

We decided it was time to eat and ended up at a little dumpling bar.  We ordered a selection and shared them, enjoying the food, company, sights and being out of the wind.

A little more market-ing then we headed back to my parent's place.

That evening was a family dinner at mum and dad's.  My brother, sister and her husband came and we all hung out for the evening.

I'm sure I've mentioned it before, but I love my family.  I love that we get along so well and that being together is fun for us!  And I think each and every one of them is pretty darn awesome, actually.  I'm super, super lucky!

That was the end of our first week in Melbourne!  By this stage I was happy, exhausted, having a blast and missing home (particularly missing the Big Fella).  And there was still four full days plus a day of travel to go!  Time to get some sleep for it, hey?

Melbourne trip - Part IV

After a day with the Big Fella's family, we got to spend a bit of time (when we weren't exhausted even!) with my parents.

Mum had taken the day off work and Dad ended up meeting us for lunch, which was awesome.

One of the local shopping centres had a dinosaur display for the school holidays.  There were large and small dinosaurs, all very realistic, as well as some that moved!  They were pretty cool!

Unfortunately, there was a very long line to see them up close.  Double unfortunately, the Little Big Fella wasn't in the mood for queuing.  We got to the end of the line and within about a minute he'd started losing the plot.

Just at that moment he spotted Toyworld.  And that was the end of us lining up to see dinosaurs!

We went to Toyworld and he conned Nanna into buying him a Spiderman glove that makes web slinging sounds when you put your hand the right way, as well as an Optimus Prime costume (incidentally, he was wearing his Iron Man costume at the time).

Mum and I decided that it was time for a coffee, so we headed for one of the cafés and partook of some very nice beverages.  The Little Big Fella was happily distracted by his new Spiderman glove :-)

After that we thought we'd have a little walk around, but first my son had to have a play on the digger.

We wandered around Myer and a couple of other places, and I ended up buying a new top (which I wore to the P!nk concert - post coming soon!).  Then we met up with Dad and grabbed some lunch.

Have you ever been to a food court in a shopping centre?  It's an area where there are a bunch of tables in the middle, and a range of fast food places around the outside.

They tend to be very loud.

Especially at the lunch rush hour.

Especially at the lunch rush hour in school holidays!

Thankfully we got a seat very easily and the noise started to settle when we were about half way through our meals.

After lunch Dad had to get back to work, so Mum and I wandered around a few more stores before the Little Big Fella started losing the plot on us again.  On the way home we stopped at Spotlight (a large craft store), which really pushed the Little Big Fella a bit too far.  He'd pretty much run out of patience for shopping.  That, and he wasn't allowed to put on his Optimus Prime costume until we got "home".

So we took him "home" and he was quite happy.

While we stayed with my parents, the Little Big Fella developed a couple of routines in the evening.  These included setting the table in the "winter room" for dinner with Nanna, lighting the candles for dinner, saying grace (which always includes holding hands and giving people a kiss after "amen"), blowing out the candles when everyone is done, then having a bath (definitely the most exciting part of the night!), and putting on Superman pjs.

We don't have a bath in our current house, so going to my grandparent's place in our old town, or now going to my parent's place has to include a bath... preferably with lots of bubbles!  And mum's bath is a spa bath, so lots of bubbles can become even more bubbles!!!

Grandma gave the Little Big Fella a Superman onesie (all-in-one pyjamas).  They're fleecy and very warm, and suited sleeptime in Melbourne.

They even came with a cape!  The Little Big Fella was in love :-)

A couple of nights Nanna got to read a book to the Little Big Fella.  They had two favourites; a book about a digger trying to find home, and a book of funny poems (which he's been partially repeating ever since - Oodnadatta, Paramatta, and Triantiwantigongalope!).

Some nights it was a little too warm for a fleecy Superman onesie and Batman covers!

I was very relieved that the Little Big Fella settled into a happy routine at Mum and Dad's.  Not only did it make night times that bit easier, it also meant that there was no stress when it was time for me to go to the P!nk concert!  But more about that in the next installment ;-)