puff and huff

Another week; Dad is back to uni, kids are back at school, and on the weekend, Mum was out for Saturday, so Dad and the kids had some adventure time.

We went on a train ride to get some lunch from an old favourite cafe. We were aiming for a trip back via Grandragon’s place, but it was getting too late in the day, so we rerouted so we could catch a bus home (Huff’s favourite transport at the moment).

The kids have been listening to an old BBC Radio comedy called “Cabin Pressure” and it’s made them pay more attention to their surroundings, including the endless game of “Yellow Car”. As a result, they notice things like Huff noticing her reflection on the angled train window.

Puff received his SRC badge for the second year in a row. Mum was there to see it pinned on, and to celebrate with some of the other families.

Huff (and Puff) both went up a level in swimming too this week.

So lots of little milestones. Puff even swam 200m freestyle this week (8 laps of the pool they’re learning in).

The holidays already seem a long time ago; we’re back into a regular school pattern of life again.

Dad had some commitments during the day, and a night meeting that put him in the right spot to do the school run, so he took the kids out for ice cream after pickup, before getting back to work again.

Huff was made class captain!

Dad and Puff braved the weather to go on a bushwalk. We bought the last 2x $2.49 ponchos.

Puff was finally able to use his binoculars in the outside world.

There was the occasional break in the weather.

Afterward, he was a bit weary.

So was Huff, for different reasons.

We also managed to have dinner out of hospital with Grandragon! No photos, though: we were too busy enjoying the time.

Huff’s birthday adventures continued this week with a chance to have snacks with uncle M; she had a great mini-outing with him.

It was also her first swimming carnival:

She managed to place in her heat, and ended up fifth overall in 50m freestyle; better than Dad ever managed at a swimming carnival!

More hospital visits on the weekend saw Huff watching screens upside down for a while.

There were some brighter moments, heading down to a better-lit part of the hospital for snacks.

Puff had his school camp this week – he was concerned about homesickness in the lead-up to the camp, but had a great time.

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It seems appropriate that he would have a NASA t-shirt, but it’s hard to see what his next step along the science / maths path would be. He’s crushing his maths homework so far, which is encouraging, but it’s hard to get the difficulty level exactly right.

Swag had a “disassembly” night, and – among other things – they sliced up some cables: he was quite fascinated with the whole process.

That’s about it for this week.

The recurring theme for this week was Huff’s birthday. Yet again she brought cake pops for her friends at school.

It was exciting watching her open her presents. She was grateful and excited.

Saturday we visited Grandragon for a birthday morning tea.

We even managed a couple of quick portraits. Here’s Huff.

And here’s Puff.

We even went ten-pin bowling and having bowling food. The kids had a great time.

Sunday morning Puff and Dad walked to church, and stopped for breakfast.

And then on Sunday, there was one last cake. Which we didn’t photograph.

So now we have an eight year old. Sunrise, sunset!

Final week of holidays. On the weekend, Dad took the kids for a walk; we went for a 3.5km walk together, had lunch, then rush for the train. The first part of the walk was easier than the second.

Puff was hamming it up for the camera a bit when we arrived: it was good to push them a bit to see what they could do.

We managed to make it back to Hurstville for a meeting, then explore some of their new moon festival decorations – hard to believe this was in the middle of Westfield – or is it?

Unhappy with the results of the first-day-of-school photos (this one captured a bit of the mood, but wasn’t a classic textbook one).

We managed to race out of the car just before Puff’s bell-time, and grab one better photo of the two of them.

And then, lastly for this week, a photo of Huff as she prepared to go to school for week 2, to find out who her teacher will be for the year. This is (I think) her first foray into Princess Leia curls.

More school adventures to come next week.

Today is the last day of the summer holidays. Tomorrow, the kids go back into year 3 and year 6 respectively.

Vouchers have been spent – Huff cashed in her smiggle voucher and ended up with this hair clip among other things. It’s odd to be learning about hair clips after a lifetime of relative ignorance on such things.

Saturday was a mix of some down-time after a series of late nights, and a visit to a friend’s house, including a lot of time for the kids on the trampoline and in an inflatable pool.

Sunday Dad took the kids out for a while after church – we had noodles. Huff asked for a fork to eat the noodles.

Puff was confident with his chopstick skills.

We then went to watch Ralph Breaks the Internet together; it was a fun experience, hopefully one the kids will remember. The kids posed for some pictures in an unrelated movie display, with Huff pretending to be sad. Oddly, there wasn’t even a trailer for the film in our session!

From the movie, we went back to the hospital to visit Grandragon, where the kids found the “danger” tape around the broken elevator to be hilarious.

Monday, the last day of the long weekend, we spent at a friends house. Huff may have had too many lollies. It’s hard to tell.

The kids are sad to see the end of the holidays, but having an early morning swimming lesson on the last day was helpful in getting back into the familiar routine.

Dad is back to work again now, on a conference no less, but there was still lots of family time during the week.

Wednesday morning started with a morning walk, and Huff came along for the adventure. She loves coming on walks so much that she reminisces about what she’d been imagining on the previous walk. Her expression is grounded in “why have you stopped, Dad?” rather than any other sense of unhappiness.

Wednesday was a bit of an errand-running day, with a trip to the dentist for Mum and the kids. While not desperately looking forward to going to the dentist, they’re nonetheless happy to be there. One of the highlights was seeing an x-ray of Huff’s teeth, both the ones that have come through, and the ones in waiting.

Dad took the kids around Hurstville for a few hours while waiting for Mum; we stopped at a cafe on a hot day.

Puff and Huff both tried this indoor jumping setup; Huff loved it, and Puff enjoyed it to some extent.

Thursday was the long awaited trip to the movies with Grandma, which we went to by public transport; the kids walked up to the station in the heat like troopers.

They were much happier in the shade of the train station waiting for the train.

And we all enjoyed the movie (How to Train your Dragon 3), though some scenes were a bit intense for Huff.

Afterward we headed back to Grandma and Doc’s for dinner, and then home to see Mum again after a long day.

We have spent a fair bit of time in the last week visiting Grandragon in hospital; on Saturday Dad took the kids a bit further down the road to realise our ambition of a trip to the blowhole. They liked it enough to want to stay and wait to see it go a few times, but then were happy enough to keep running around in the nearby parks.

It was very cold!

It’s been a lot of fun for Dad to spend the extra time with the kids, and to be freed up to be a bit more helpful than usual. Hopefully it will stick!

Another week of annual leave; we’ve managed to fit in a few fun things amidst the structure of family life.

We visited aunty S (and uncle N) and the kids met up with their now-much-larger dog.

We stopped for brunch one morning as a family, and Dad took some updated photos. Here’s Puff.

Here’s Huff. Still has the gap-toothed smile.

Sunday, Dad and Puff walked to church. This was a surprise photo from Puff’s perspective. It’s a good chance to chat to people.

Yesterday (Monday) Dad took Puff and Huff on a public transport adventure to visit Grandragon in Wollongong.

We detoured via Mascot for lunch; the kids wanted eggs. Different levels of happiness on display.

It was four trains, and a long stay in a quiet carriage, but we made it! It’s been fun having the extra time with them.

With Dad finally taking some annual leave, and Mum feeling quite tired and unwell, it was time to resurrect the tradition of Dad taking the kids out to a cafe; where we were playing one of the Christmas presents Dad received: a 3D puzzle game for ages 8 and up. Huff is still only 7, but we decided it would be okay if she played. 

They both had more fun than Huff’s expression might suggest.

One thing Dad learned was that Huff is not fond of jam. Here she is, just buttering the bread with the part of the butter that wasn’t touching the jam.

Much happier times were had walking to church the next morning for some Huff/Dad time.

Then today, taking a break from a visit to Grandragon, we went to Kiama, and (at Aunty C’s suggestion) checked out their library. It was a very cool library indeed.

Both kids enjoyed looking at some books, and then it was time to head back, so we missed out on the sights of Kiama… neither of them can particularly remember the famous blowhole.

Looks like it’s been five years, so that’s probably fair enough.

Hoping for more holiday adventures this week.

Just arrived back from Summer Camp, where the whole family has spent the week helping Dad in a somewhat hectic week of work. Highlights were mealtimes:

Walking around the site from one thing to another:

The sunlight being bright enough that the kids needed sunglasses (Huff’s were orange)

Puff’s were green, as all the blue ones were already gone by then.

There was slightly more time for family than previous years (but perhaps less sleep).

And on NYE there were glow sticks, though the kids – tired from a huge week – went to bed before midnight.Sensible.

Mid-week, the kids also had a trip down to Austinmer to visit some family, and we capped off the week at Camp with a visit to Grandragon for the new year. Dad is back to work tomorrow but aiming for a break from next week.