Peeling potatoes, sneezing, singing, fishing

Max has found something which is "More fun than computer games." That activity is: peeling potatoes.

He peeled about 8 little purple potatoes that grew in a friend's backyard. George was very interested in the process but then disgraced himself by throwing potatoes around the kitchen.

It's cold season. There's been some sneezing this week.

It was superhero night at Cubs. Max dressed up as Aang, his friend Jack was Heatblast... which reminded us of our friend Kai's Heatblast Costume.

George refused to be denied the opportunity to dress up as a superhero and join in the fun.

On the weekend we went to the footy, and we saw Junior (Anthony Edwards) who is planning on shaving off his mullet to raise money for leukemia research. You can donate online here.

The blue and white team are the "Cavemen" from Buchan.

Max found a droptail lizard. He was careful not to touch its tail but the lizard was able to get it's tail to drop off anyway without any assistance. If you look carefully you can see that the tail is about to break off.

Max and a friend from Cubs made a cubbyhouse in the bush behind the football oval.

There were frogs heard croaking in the swamp and evidence that a very tall Wombat lives here.

This is a game called Singstar. Max was singing "Never Tear Us Apart" by INXS. George accompanied on the bongos.

We have 6 guineapigs. There are two cages, one for boys, one for girls. Here is Max holding Tony, the baby girl guineapig with the extra toe.

We took Max fishing with his new fishing rod in a private lake.


View Larger Map

There was very soft mud on the banks. One of Max's boots got stuck. A yappy little dog had appeared out of nowhere and started trying to dig holes in the mud like a mad thing.

Max got so wet while canoeing that he had to go home wearing only his underpants.

Swimming, Riding, playdoughing, our future Macquarie Shortnecked Turtle

The school did a series of 9 swimming lessons over the past 3 weeks. The kids took a bus into Bairnsdale to the indoor swimming pool. George and I were present at the last one. The kids had to swim in their clothes that day to teach them swimming survival skills. These pictures were taken by Leah.

Max has been continuing to ride his bike to school. Most mornings George and I watch him take off. He does a few circles in the court before he goes, one day he scraped his pedal on the ground and nearly fell off.



George secretly took Max's birthday silly putty to bed, thinking he'd like to sleep with it in his hand, and woke up glued to his horsey.

It turns out you CAN get silly putty out of  fabric, by freezing it and then scraping and then dissolving the residue with WD40. The horsey has been saved from the bin. George said I was his hero.

Here we are eating icecream at the Lindenow Footy Club 1980 and 89 premiership reunion dinner. 

We went to the Riviera Pets and Aquariums with  Max's birthday money. He fell in love with the baby Macquarie Shortnecked Turtles. He put $20 of his birthday money down as a deposit (reserving his other $15 for the toy shop) and over the next few months we will gradually pay off the turtle, and find a large fishtank, a floating island, UV lights, basking lights, and a water heater for the turtle's habitat. 

They are cute, and interactive - when you go near the tank the turtles come and beg for food. They tuck their neck sideways when they hide. They will grow to the size of a bread plate. 

If Max wants to earn money to help pay off his turtle, I said I will employ him to do the vacuuming.

We made some playdough. That's a playdough "thumbs up" in between Max's and George's hands.

Once Max was reminded that we have food dye he just had to do some experimentation. 

Thanks for reading. We love your comments. 

Happy Birthday Max

Holly and Pia came over for a sleepover with Max and George the night before Max's birthday. The shenanigans went on until midnight!

They helped Max open his presents in the morning. We had a box from Dad and one from Nanny and Gramps.

We don't have a pan the exact size so we made 2 birthday cakes. The kids decorated the Chocolate Fudge Ribbon Cakes with icing of many colours.

At Howitt Park there is a giant slide, a flying fox, traditional playground stuff and a big hill to roll down.  There were 14 children present, 14.5 if you count Malikai.

Zac, you were very impressive on the flying fox.

Nick, I'm sorry about George.

Jack Rockstar, you got air.

Max, Connor, Kirby, Lachie, and Jack Chatterbox waiting for their turn on the flying fox.

Max and George slept well that night.

Max said "This was the best day of my life."