Monday, May 24, 2010

Gardening, George's Burgers, and Fishing

George and I were up at the Primary School again on Wednesday at lunchtime. We went along to the "gardening club", where we did a bit of weeding with the kids.


George's Burgers is a legendary hamburger shop in Bairnsdale. Max and George got to experience a burger cooked by George himself.

These stuffed and mounted fish were on the wall of George's Burgers along with photos of fish being caught.

And strangely enough, on the weekend we ended up tagging along with Kade and James on our own very first  fishing trip at the Paynesville foreshore.


We saw black swans and a Pelican. We found evidence that pelicans had been walking in puddles.


And then... we went for a walk on Raymond Island and found a koala.


On the ferry from Raymond Island back to the mainland.

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Camping with Cubs, a trip to buy eggs.

There was a family camping trip with the Cubs last weekend. We went to Roseneath Caravan Park near Holland's landing, on the shores of Lake Wellington (30km from where we live).


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It was a pretty ideal location, with lots of sticks to throw and a beach of golden sand onto sheltered Lake Wellington. We will have to come back when it's warmer - it would be great swimming beach for kids.


The Cub leaders had organized a scavenger hunt.


There was a BBQ for dinner. The rule was: Kids get served dinner first, adults get dessert first. The brownies we had brought along had all gone by the time kids were allowed to have dessert.

One of the first things we did when we got home was to make more brownies.



A possum came wandering into the kitchen shed after dinnertime. Someone fed it a sausage and it took it out of their hands.


The kids climbed trees, played hide and seek, lots of running around and lots of fresh air. I missed George's moment of glory when he won some running and ball-kicking game for his team. Max and George played with Jack and Andrew, and they all slept in a tent together. George also made new friends with a group of kids twice his age.


It was a cold crisp night. It probably got down to 3C. Not a cloud in the sky and thousands of bright stars visible including the Milky Way and the Southern Cross. Max has learnt the names of the stars in the Southern Cross: Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta and Epsilon.


There were some very bold magpies around too.


Here we are making brownies with Connor when we returned home. Max and Connor greased the pan, measured ingredients, broke eggs and melted butter and chocolate. George was in charge of licking the bowl.


In other kitchen news, this is what happened to Max's requested roast pork dinner. The pyrex dish exploded in the oven. The meal was salvaged, but Max decided he didn't like crunchy crackling. He likes chewy crackling.


Max's friend Kirby came over to play after school one night. Before going home, we had to go and get some eggs from a farm nearby.


Max George and Kirby piled out of the car and straight into the middle of about 50 chickens. 2 big fancy roosters started fighting and immediately had an audience cheering them on.


Some neighbour kids from Max's school showed up and took Max George and Kirby to see the hayshed. There was a cow and newborn calf in there.


There were quite a few calves, some still wobbly on their legs. There was a daddy pig whose testicles were larger than Max's head. There was sloppy cow poo on the ground. Max's school friend was extra careful because he said he had been covered in it from head to toe, and "it wasn't fun".


We had left Max's bike at school, so we went back and got it and he and Kirby took turns riding it home.