Author: cafedave

It’s the end of the school holidays! With Dad’s different work commitments and needing to look after a puppy now, we didn’t go away on holidays this time around but we managed a few local adventures.

 

Many years ago (before even being married) Mum and Dad saw a show called “Slava’s Snowshow”, and then saw it again a few years later. When mum read that it was back in Sydney, at the State Theatre, we decided to surprise the kids with tickets, and not really tell them what it was (to some extent it defies description).

Here’s Puff posing for a photo in a fancy chair at the State Theatre.

Puff enjoyed the show, and the ability to have a paper snowball fight afterward.

Huff enjoyed the show and the snow even more.

Here they are posing for the commemorative photo afterward. It was a great family outing.

Mum had wanted to try out a cafe in Haberfield, and we could tell it would be dog-friendly (Pippin was resting under the seat after a walk in the hot sun).

Afterward, Dad and Huff went to see “Marcel the Shell with Shoes on” at the only cinema that was still screening it that day (the last weekend of the holidays). It was a very pleasant space to watch a film, and Dad and Huff both enjoyed the movie, a documentary-style story of a talking shell who lives in an AirBnB and his quest to find his family.

And then suddenly it was time for Huff to start high school.

Even though Puff started year 10 the next day, because Wednesday is early swimming lessons we thought we would just set up the photo for her first day.

They were, eventually, enjoying the photo process. 

Huff was confident heading in to high school. Many new adventures await!

In the middle of the school holidays, where time has less and less meaning. Lots to think back on from the first fortnight of 2023; a trip down to Wollongong to visit the cousins and enjoy na epic lunch spread.

Mum worked with cousin E on a calendar for 2023 as a Christmas present. 

We had breakfast together at a new cafe, and even managed to walk the dog to the cafe together as a family.

We had ramen as a family one afternoon and caught up with some friends (not pictured).

 

Dad and Huff went to a church together so that Dad could preach, and Huff impressed everyone with her impromptu Bible reading skills.

We went out for nachos together afterwards to celebrate, which was a lot of fun (Dad ended up having the nachos and Huff had something a little simpler from the kids menu that she remains young enough to enjoy, at least for a little longer).

Continuing in the trend of bringing the kids along to work events while they’re on school holidays, Puff volunteered at a conference, working on the AV desk (and playing on his laptop in the in-between times).

He was making some leaps forward in his ability to create pixel-art, even making a diagram for one of the seminars!

Overall there have been lots of late nights and sleep-ins for the kids, the dog continues to take up large amounts of family time and enrich our lives, and we have watched quite a few movies at home on streaming services.

We also managed a lunch with our friends in the west of Sydney which turned into a dinner with our friends as well, and a farewell afternoon tea for some of Huff and Puff’s friends who are moving interstate for (at least) a couple of years.

And we’ve managed to see our newest cousin a couple of times.

 

Christmas and New Year all over now; the main focus for Dad has been heading toward running camp, and everything else has had to fit around that. Dad is aiming to alter his priorities next year to make things run more smoothly for family life.

Here is Huff helping out at Mum’s work with some camp-related things. A tiny t-shirt for a tiny helper at the camp’s leadership program.

Huff also went to help Dad in the office. It was a long day, even with the prospect of pizza for late lunch.

After the day was over, though, with the prospect of gelato, she was much happier.

The feedback was “work was was fine for one day, but I wouldn’t want to do it every day”.

Camp was similarly busy. With both kids at camp as campers, Dad and Mum didn’t see much of them, but there were a few moments of togetherness.

Late in the week, Puff came down with what the Queenslanders would call the “spicy cough” and so had to head home, so camp finished early for all but Dad.

And then after camp, Huff came back into the office with Dad to help take some things back into storage.

Finally it was time for some rest, and Dad and Huff took Pippin out for a walk, and to see what it was like to be on sand, and even (briefly) in the water.

We also had Christmas Day, lunch with the family, but there wasn’t much of a photographic record as we were trying to spend time together.

With School Spectacular over, we head straight into end-of-school-year season.

One afternoon (between work and an evening zoom call) Dad took the kids for a walk with the dog – for some reason, the dog, stressed out by the noise of traffic on our street, once he arrives at the shops can navigate with enthusiasm to the nearby school

Another day, taking Huff home after school, we stopped to get a cheese pizza from Huff’s favourite place. We filled in the time by testing her eyesight with the extreme fine print on the $20.

The kids went out with Mum for gelato.

And then on the weekend there were gingerbread houses.

And, after church, we went to visit Doc.

Oh, and Puff, whose hair is growing every longer, is becoming more comfortable with how much taller he is than Dad or anyone.

This week has been overshadowed with Schools Spectacular, but also had an event at NSW Parliament House.

With Huff starting rehearsals super early, Dad took Puff to swimming lessons. It was pretty quiet given there was also an international sporting game on TV that morning, but Puff battled on and is improving in technique.

Mum was watching a Friday night and a Saturday afternoon performance of School Spec, the former while Dad and Puff were at Thanksgiving dinner, and the latter while Dad and Puff went to a morning tea for a friend who has recently finished a ministry apprenticeship to hear what she would be doing next.

Meanwhile at School Spec, Huff was being given a gift of pie to keep her energy levels up during the final performance.

Dad and Puff finally made it over to the stadium.

Huff’s favourite installation near schools spectacular was the reptile display – that’s where she wanted a family photo to be taken, so we obliged.

Dad and Puff enjoyed watching the spectacle.

And one last thing for this week, Huff had her orientation day for next year’s high school.

It’s been a long two weeks. While Mum and Dad were preparing to go to a marriage course, our bird escaped! We were not expecting to see him again, but then on Friday we heard from a neighbourhood family that they had found him, and now he’s back.

Puff continues to be responsible for his commuting to and from school (except on his many early starts where we give him a lift).

To celebrate (after another marriage course session) we went to the movies.

And Huff still loves the swings as much as she ever has. There was a brief chance to go to the swings on the way home from school.

Also this fortnight, we had a baby shower for Aunty S, and visited Doc together.

Dad has been travelling a bit so there are not as many photos as usual. Lots of events, though.

Huff was performing at the Opera House in a choral concert. In between rehearsal and performance we had ice cream.

There was a father/daughter event at Huff’s school so we played some games together (including Dad being the unlikely teacher of Huff in how to bounce a basketball), and play on the slide that she has largely outgrown.

Puff has been using his emerging AV skills to do more and more volunteer work, and then Dad has the occasional opportunity to spend time catching up with him. Finishing his maths exams for the year has helped him feel like he has more time.

On Sunday morning Mum went out for breakfast with friends, so Dad and Huff and Puff went out separately for breakfast. Huff found a transformer toy and figured out how to make it transform.

Huff had a dance recital for her school dance group and did an amazing job of dancing.

Huff also went to a camp with some friends from church. Puff and the dog went to see her off (Dad was away on a road trip for work).

While Huff was away at camp, we went out for lunch, where Dad and Puff practiced our being-photographed-together skills by actually smiling. It’s still a work in progress.

Puff had a couple of significant maths exams this week, which we don’t really have photographic evidence of, and a dental update, for which we do have photos! Here’s his last photo with braces.

And here he is without his braces. He looks a little different to when they were put on. And happier.

 Dad and Puff went for a walk together on Saturday morning, followed by breakfast.

 In the afternoon we had a friend’s birthday party to attend. The kids had a great time.

Pippin continues to be a great addition to the family. Here’s Dad and Huff patting him after he’s taken a rest from running in circles around the backyard.

 And for some Huff-Dad time, Huff suggested we do some clay sculpting and painting of the sculptures together. Dad had a great time, and huff made progress on the clay she needed to use for a school assignment. Multi-tasking at its finest.

Back to school and regular routines again, in the lead-up to Mum’s birthday this week. Huff was keen to tidy up her hair in anticipation of upcoming events.

Mum was interested in having some Kurtosh, a type of pastry, so we went to Wollongong (with Puff at a friend’s house) to grab some, and see aunty C, uncle J, and E and T.

Sunday after church we went to “chaos lab”, where they had a lot of fun family activities. There was a hall of mirrors, where the kids showed off their respective comfort level with mirrors.

Puff enjoyed the place, even though it was aimed at a much younger audience.

Huff’s favourite thing was perhaps the glow-pencil she received.

Having made herself her own eyebrows, she made some for Dad too.

There was a ball pit of clear plastic balls, with coloured light underneath. Adults were even allowed in.

We each had a custom artwork on the back of our hands.

Then on Tuesday was Huff’s long-anticipated choral concert at the Opera House. We had dumplings for dinner (the seagulls were less interested in them than other food options).

The kids were happy to pose for photos in an iconic location.

In fact, the whole family was, even if there were some photo-bombers.

Huff was a bit hard to spot among the giant choir, but we managed to find her, and enjoy the performance.

Next week: Puff’s exams and the long awaited removal of something.