Category: week in review

The end of a very short era – Huff has finished her kindy orientation. She was very glad to get a library bag / backpack and a certificate to commemorate the occasion.

Afterwards, we went out for gelato to celebrate, and even have some burgers together as a family.

The kids are getting more confident in their climbing on (and jumping between) rocks – it was encouraging to see them scrambling around.

On the weekend Dad spent a lot of time away from the kids working on a sermon: the kids played with their cousin, their aunt and their grandmother.They were glad to see Dad again the next day.

It’s great to watch the kids playing together in the morning. Puff often comes up with some way of including Huff in his games.

We had a school concert to listen to – Puff was playing violin and percussion in some different things. Huff was glad to go along.

There was a “gold” theme. Puff had a gold hat, Huff had a gold bracelet.

Saturday morning we had breakfast with Mum before she went away. The kids had a chance to try some fancy cupcakes.

Puff managed to keep the lollies from his for the rest of the day.

After dropping Mum off, it was time to swap over some Woolworths collectible cards, and then – after a quick jump on a bouncing castle – we went to the library. As is their custom, the kids walk through the sculpture as we leave.

We went to a food festival in Fairfield where the kids had ice-cream.

Then, on Saturday night, we went to laser tag with the church youth group – kids 6 and up were allowed to play. Puff had a great time playing.

Sunday morning the kids were ready for church nice and early, so we went out for a quick breakfast before church.

After church, the kids were very keen to play putt-putt golf, so we found a place where Grandragon could come along too. 

There were a few bad dreams this week (Huff had one where a fox was chasing some fairies through the woods), but mostly the kids are sleeping through the night, even if some nights start later than we’d generally hope.

This week was Mum’s birthday, lots of activity – a birthday party for a friend, Puff started practicing the violin more consistently, Huff keeps working away on letters and numbers, and only a couple of photos where there weren’t a bunch of other people in the background whose opinion about photography we didn’t gather.

Here are the kids waiting for Gelato.

And here are the kids at breakfast to celebrate Mum’s birthday.

The kids also had a chance to head down to the Illawarra region to see uncle J preaching.

Puff and Huff both made their own presents for Mum, which was very sweet. It’s good to see them looking out for others.

We’re back into the swing of school term again. Huff is very excited at the prospect of kinder orientation, and her big brother is looking forward to being at school with her.

On the weekend Mum was at a wedding, so Dad and the kids had a birthday party to go to with one of Puff’s school friends, and Huff was invited along too. They had a great time bouncing around a play centre.

Back from holidays, and school term starting up again. Here’s what we’ve been up to in the meantime.

During the holidays, the Powerhouse Museum had a minecraft exhibition on. The kids had the chance to play real-life Minecraft, making stacks out of cardboard cubes. Puff played Minecraft, and Huff had the chance to play Operation on a adult-human-scale board.

Saturday morning we checked out a new cafe, and Dad played Puff at chess again.

The road trip started off on Monday after a leisurely morning packing, and we drove up to visit friends in Gloucester. After staying there, we headed further up the coast to see another cafe Mum wanted to visit in Wingham. The kids enjoyed having a break from being in the car, and then we kept heading up the coast to Bellingen.

This is a look around the place we were staying – it was a farm-stay, with no internet access and free-range chicken wandering around.

The kids enjoyed playing with the chickens (and collecting eggs).

There were three (tame) horses living on the farm.

We had a day trip to Dorrigo to look at the skywalk.

The kids enjoyed a little bush-walk (and, with the promise of ice cream at the end of the loop if there was no whinging) behaved themselves admirably.

The trees were pretty tall at Dorrigo – here’s Puff as a point of reference. 

One of the physical challenges with the place we were staying was the cattle-grid. Puff was big enough to walk across without much trouble, but Huff took it very carefully (perhaps too confidently, but there were no mishaps).

All too quickly (there were board games where Huff insisted on being called by her name, with the suffix “Bank”, or she wouldn’t hand over the cards) the stay was over, and it was time to head north again. We stopped for coffee and gelato in Dorrigo. The kids were still in high spirits.

We spent a relaxed few days with friend in Queensland, where the kids played various games that were probably a little too stretching for them. Uno was a consistent favourite, with many requests for Uno Snap.

There was some cupcake decorating.

The purpose for the trip was a big family reunion event, but there are so many photos, and it’s hard to gather permission for all of them, so we’ll have to leave it for the next reunion next year.

Then it was time to head home. Huff is a big fan of moustaches, so this promo cut-out was too good for her to resist. 

The kids travelled back from Queensland amazingly well. We stopped at Woodburn, Nambucca Heads, and Taree. There was a lot of looking out the window, reading and drawing, some sleeping, and – for the final leg – some screens.

And then it was a lazy day at home to recover from the driving. The kids watched most of Empire Strikes Back with Dad, but were asking a lot of questions all the way through it (and it seems that Puff has already figured out the key spoiler from all the supporting literature he’s been reading). 

On holidays this week. Double-post next week. 

Last week of term was fairly busy for the kids, and we have been looking forward to things being a bit quieter. After a slow start to the day, we went out to celebrate a friend’s birthday for lunch. Huff had a chance to spend time with her cousin.

Huff had a great time at the park, balancing on things and climbing on things. She is going through her usual pattern of not entirely trusting something new, then succeeding at it, then running through it effortlessly.

Puff is looking for tougher challenges: he balanced his way along this rope and then…

Tried some sloth-ing (with some encouragement from Mum).

Then all the kids from lunch had a (carefully orchestrated) go at the see-saw. There were several nervous parents just out of frame.

Tuesday was movie day with Mum, Huff and Puff and Grandma (Dad was at work). 

Sunday morning the kids wanted to have a go at Settlers of Catan (a board game for Dad, for Father’s Day). With some careful management, the kids enjoyed their first go at it, and are keen to try it again. Dad had an epiphany that board games are more about helping kids learn to communicate and collaborate than about winning the game. It’s taken a while but it was a good insight to have.

Sunday afternoon we visited an uncle, and the cousins had the chance to spend some more time together.

Oh, and Monday night a very tired Puff made it through Bingo again with Mum. 

Dad has been spending some extra time with Huff practicing her reading skills: she’s getting a few new words, and building up her confidence.

Another big week; Dad has been a bit unwell, and even had a couple of days out of the office. Mum brought Huff in for a lunchtime visit, though she was already pretty tired (but too tired for cuddles).

Grandparents day was at Puff’s school, and there was a chance afterward for Huff to visit Grandma’s work.

On the weekend we went to a couple of cafes. Huff found one of the taller plants to be hilarious, calling it her “umbrella”.

Puff was in a bit more of a sombre mood, reading about maths for fun.

Sunday we went to visit cousin; she might look unhappy, but this was actually a happy moment where they were mugging for the camera.

This, perhaps, better captures the mood of the afternoon.

We also managed an updated family photo (thanks C&J).

Then, on the way home, Huff and Dad had a quick gelato break. After Dad and Puff getting to go for a walk earlier in the day, it was good to be able to have some one-on-one time with each of the kids.

Huff is continuing to make progress with her reading. Like everything new, she brings a stubbornness to it, wanting to learn in her own time. She will put up with reading a few words here and there, and then wants to move onto the next thing.

Huff fell in love with a toy Baymax, from Big Hero 6, which we watched with a friend. It was the friend’s toy, which made her very sad when she realised it wasn’t going home with her.

Puff’s health too has been up and down this week, but he – like Dad – has a hard time resting when sick. Let’s hope for better health next week!

A bit of an under-photographed week as we tried to spend some time together as a family without the devices (and then the kids were sick, so they had a bunch of extra time with the devices… so there’s that). Dad and the kids watched “Big Hero 6” on Sunday night, which was a fun, relaxing way for everyone to rest and try and get healthy.

Huff was in good spirits on Thursday, walking along a high fence, and quite reluctant to be helped down, even as the fence was higher than Mum’s head!

Friday morning was the Father’s Day breakfast at Puff’s school, so Puff and Dad went over for some bacon and egg rolls and some father-son time. He seems to be responding well to having regular access to Dad one-on-one, which reduces the pressure on any one particular encounter to be “now tell me everything that you’re unhappy about”.

Saturday morning we went out for breakfast at a friend’s cafe. The kids loved its outdoor environment, and climbed all over and under our table while we were waiting for food to arrive.

Saturday afternoon was another father/son thing, this time with church people instead of school people. Dad and Puff played catch which, if not the first time we’d done it, was the first time in a long while. Puff’s skill at throwing and catching was improving as we kept at it: need to make this a more regular occurrence.

Huff had a birthday party to go to, and despite being increasingly interested in an Elsa costume, she was persuaded to try out this dragon costume. She loved it, running around the house saying “Ra!” in an uncharacteristically loud voice.

Here she is with full face paint on, doing craft.

That’s about it for the week. Mostly we had the kids being a bit sick and tired, a quiet father’s day celebration (including a visit to Grandma and Doc’s house), with not many photos being taken. See you next week!

Happy birthday to Puff, whose name is seeming less and less fitting as the years go on. He has his own preferences and personality, brings his own insights to the world as he’s experiencing it, but still has a great time with imaginative play, and talking with his sister about a range of different topics.

For his birthday Mum, Dad, Puff and Huff went out for all-you-can-eat food (and dessert), and he declared it his best birthday yet.

The next day was book week. Huff reprised her costume from last week’s blog post, and Puff had his matching costume, complete with ears.

Dad had the chance to watch the parade at school – lots of book characters (and still quite a few from movies and video games) before heading in to work.

On the weekend we headed down to Canberra to see some friends, stopping over at an aunt and uncle’s house. It was cold enough for Huff to spend most of the weekend in her new jumper (which seems like it will still fit next year!)

Where we were staying there was a wood stove, and Huff was keen to learn how to put wood into it (only when carefully supervised, but it held her attention).

There was also a shed with a mezzanine floor to explore. The kids loved it.

We spent Saturday mostly in Canberra with friends, looking at the miniatures in Cockington Green, and what would in some cases be the miniature dinosaurs at the National Dinosaur Museum.

Sunday was a surprise (for the kids) trip to see the Lego Expo, where there were various people in different costumes, and a broad range of Lego creations to look at.

Puff met some storm troopers (Huff was happy to high-five them, but didn’t want to be photographed with them).

Puff had the chance to drive a Lego front-end loader, with a Lego remote control.

It will surprise no-one to learn that the kids were keen to play with Lego when they returned to Sydney. Huff had a new, ice-themed Lego Mixel toy to assemble, which she did with almost no help (impressive effort), and then managed to work some kind of Princess Elsa from Frozen concepts into the way she played with it. Kids!