Category: week in review

Dad had a rare chance in between meetings and study to spend some time with the kids. It  was great to have the chance in the midst of a busy season.

We downloaded an app so we could get some free food, and then ended up waiting and waiting, only to find out that the food had long been ready, but we had missed them calling our number.

We made the best of the time.

On Sunday night we went to hear uncle J preach in his evening service, so Huff had some cousin time over dinner.

Here’s another one of the kids mugging for the camera while waiting for food on Friday night. We were also playing with Snapchat filters but the videos of Huff with a frowny face are too scary.

The kids have been spending a lot of time in Wollongong of late, visiting their grandmother in hospital, so a chance to walk around (they’re watching the train go under foot here through the underpass) is most welcome. Hoping that soon it’s a walk around with their grandmother.

We also had a chance to celebrate some family birthdays, including Aunty S (and, it turns out, N) but Dad has no photos of that particular event, having arrived late from another meeting. Happy birthday anyway!  

Another first this week: Puff managed to win an election, and is now an SRC (student representative council) rep for his class / school. The school make an occasion of it for the families, inviting them to an assembly, and even letting a parent pin the badge on their child.

It’s always hard to tell if it’s overkill to have both parents at an event like this; we will only know in hindsight.

Meanwhile, one of the times Dad was out, the kids had nachos.

Saturday Dad was busy studying for much of the day, but we managed a family breakfast. Huff was impressed at the super-long bendy straws.

From there, she was back to visit her grandmother and do some more colouring, this time with an exciting set of gel pens.

Another week back at school. Puff is in full swing reading everything he can find. Often at the same time.

When Dad, Puff and Huff were walking in Wollongong, and Dad was trying to pay attention to the traffic and the general surrounds, Huff spotted this tiny ladybird on the ground with her eagle eyes. It crawled up her leg, and she managed to have it crawling along her hands as well before leaving it in the safety of a garden.

Dad and Puff and Huff also stopped for a late pizza lunch. The kids were very well-mannered, remembering to say “thank you” when the pizzas (and the lemonades) were delivered.

Huff was helping Mum to clean out Twitter’s cage (Twitter is on the left).

On Sunday morning Dad and Huff went for an early morning walk. We ended up at a playground where she showed off her newly-won prowess on the monkey bars (not pictured).

And we had another visit from the Tooth Fairy.

And so, like that, Huff has turned 7! We had cake pops to celebrate. With candles. Huff had her aunt and uncle over, her two nieces, and Grandragon.

After a post-birthday trip to Eat Street, the kids walked back to aunty C’s and uncle J’s house with Dad.

Puff is learning a new musical interest.

Oh, and for her birthday, we surprised Huff with a small room filled with balloons, and then as an extra treat for her, Mum had a balloon filled with confetti for her.

At church camp, Huff was given an Elsa costume.

But her real costume was this Garfield one.

Puff’s costume was an old favourite, but his face is more serious and considered than past times he’s worn it. He’s growing up.

Puff’s swimming is also coming along – he’s going faster and stronger and further than he used to, and somehow carrying off super-long days like swimming day – with some level of success.

So a birthday, and a bunch of other signs of progress. Big week!

First week back at school, and the routines are starting up again. We had our first morning of swimming for the year today, and it was so routine that there are no photos of it! There’s something comforting about that kind of return, even as the kids keep getting older.

This bright young thing is about to have another birthday (tomorrow). She’s very excited at the thought of presents, but still thinks of others (wanting to bring cake pops for her swimming teacher and classmates for her birthday eve).

Here she was dressed in something completely impractical for impromptu climbing, but had a great time climbing anyway.

Her brother was more suitably dressed for such climbing, and was leading the charge. We also have some slightly amusing footage of him being just a whisker too short to work the flying fox in the same park.

The kids were very excited to be able to make this feisty pet “bear stack” – they may not have the order quite right, but this is perhaps a reference to a specific cartoon event.

 Why are they called feisty pets? Their faces can change.

 Oh, and Puff tried out for training band at school, and is now carrying this new instrument around (alto saxophone) and finding his way at playing it.

Next week: birthday adventures.

Holidays are over again for another summer. The kids had a chance to sing in a school choir next to Sydney Harbour on Australia Day. Here they were ahead of the performance grabbing some sugar while holding the flags that were being handed out near the harbour.

While Puff spent a couple of hours at a friend’s house, Dad took Huff out for Gelato. There were chaise lounges, of which she was a big fan.

It took a certain amount of joking around to get this smile, but we this is a fair representation of his mindset heading into another year at school.

Here are the two of them.

It was odd standing at a distance to see how Puff was going with meeting new people, but good to see him go from awkward to making conversation. It’s a long, long process of letting go, while trying to equip him with the skills he’ll need to work.

Huff was also in a good headspace about her new school year.

It will be great to see how the school year pans out. The first week, with no homework, is still a little like being on holidays.

Busy week with Dad away at a conference for 3 nights; here are the remaining highlights of the week!

Dad went out for a bit of a walk with Huff and they spent some time catching up at a cafe (Huff had a cannoli, Dad had a long black). There was some face pulling, and some working out the best way to spend time together (currently Huff’s preference is for playing together at home).

Saturday was Dad’s day off between work and the conference, so we headed to (among other things) an Apple store, and they were running a workshop on how to make music with GarageBand on an iPad. The kids were keen, and were soon learning.

They have different musical tastes and levels of confidence with the app, but it was a fun experience for both of them.

After that, we made the trek to Leichhardt, and – it being a hot day – we had an early dinner of pizza (kids) and pasta (adults) and then gelato for dessert.

Much of the rest of the week was Mum and the kids driving Dad to his conference for drop-off and pick up, then we headed home again via a gelato shop and dinner with the cousins and Grandragon.

Dad’s last week of holidays (back at work today), so trying to make the most of the last little while. Puff has been for a few walks with Dad, and Huff hasn’t had the same chance, so after going to the dentist, Huff and Dad went into the city together.

Meanwhile, Puff was getting a mouth x-ray.

Huff at the cafe, having a hot chocolate.

From there, we went to a nearby uni library to play with a sphere-based robot. Huff loved it, and spent long enough that we changed our plans to allow more time there.

We stopped for some more food, and then coloured in together on the train home.

On Sunday we caught up with friends at a cafe. As you can see, Mum and the kids had a great time.

Then on Monday, still making the most of the science opportunities, Mum and Huff worked on her lava lamp kit. Huff wore protective gloves.

After a lunch that involved too much fruit for Huff (strawberries in particular) Dad, Huff and Puff ended up at another cafe. Puff had the dragonfruit smoothie.

Huff had the safer mango smoothie.

It’s been great for Dad to have blocks of time to spend with the kids.

A day late this week as we were away for a couple of nights with Uncle J and Aunty C and Grandragon. Rest, walking, swimming, meals, rest. It was a good break. Or “vay-kay” as Huff was calling it. Because she likes to use the short version of things.

Dad continues working on a jigsaw puzzle he received for Christmas: Puff and Huff have each tried to help with it, with varying levels of success.

The kids worked together to help pack away the Christmas tree. We’ve come a long way from needing to chase toddler-Huff away from the ornaments!

After some time spent tidying the house, we ended up at a Thai restaurant for a very late lunch, where – as a treat – the kids had drinking coconuts. This was about the level of enthusiasm we saw for the coconuts; we probably won’t get them again, as they like the drink, but not the rest of the coconut.

We also managed to watch the excellent Paddington 2 with Grandma.

Oh, and at Puff’s nervous insistence that school would be back in a few short weeks, we went to Officeworks to buy back-to-school items, and they had free face-painting! Huff couldn’t resist, and so was a butterfly for the rest of the day.

More holiday adventures await.

Back from Summer Camp now, which was a packed week with no time for blogging. So here’s Christmas and Summer Camp in the one post.

Here we are at a cousin’s house, with the kids opening up their presents. It’s good to see them old enough now to be able to be thankful without being prompted too much.

On Christmas Day we had a quick pause for photos before church. On the wall you can see the advent calendar we finally used this year.

Uncle M sent some presents to us from his current overseas location. Puff was wearing his hat (and new hydration vest thing).

Huff really liked her scarf, which is still big enough to be a skirt for her at the moment.

One of Huff’s favourite presents at the moment is Elf Lego. Dad was helping out a little with the build, but she was mostly able to get it all built by herself!

We were finally at Summer Camp where Dad was working on all sorts of things, and Mum was working on looking after our kids, and a bunch of other kids. Most of the time Dad saw the kids was at meals. Here’s Huff (her new tooth is already coming back to fill in the gap).

Puff also had a great time during the week.

Here’s a rare picture of Dad at camp.

We had some other friends from church at camp; here they are encouraging the kids to pose.

There was a masquerade ball at camp, so the kids had masks. Here’s Huff’s.

Puff’s was a light-up mask so he didn’t have his at dinner, but he was having a good time getting into the swing of the “survivor” theme with his bandana.

There was a lot to do for the kids, and so there wasn’t a lot of screen time for them (though he continues to keep in touch with at least one of his school friends via email).

Oh, and the highlight of camp for the kids? Getting to ride on the scissor lift during pack-up.

There’s no telling what kids will enjoy the most.

We had a quiet day at home today. It was a pleasant change of pace.