puff and huff

Another one of those weeks where Tuesday rolls around and not many photos have been taken. Dad was again a bit busy, though he still managed to go out with Puff and get haircuts together. Saturday

Saturday evening we had dinner with friends – Huff watched (and didn’t want to help) our hostess feeding kookaburras on the balcony, as the previous owner of the house had done.

Sunday after church we went out for lunch and gelato. Puff was cheery enough to smile for a photo.

The kids enjoyed a feast of noodles, but dessert was the real treat.

Oh, and Huff sewed a toy all by herself. Here she is, with singular focus on threading a needle.

People who understood such things said her stitching was very neat and tidy.

Dad has been spending more time studying (and working) this past week than usual, and so time with kids has been particularly scarce, but still present to some extent. Here are the short highlights.

Picking up Huff from school (racing back on the bus with moments to spare), and then going for hot chocolate. The barista drew a bear on the top of the drink, which was pretty cute.

Buying a new tent for Puff’s regular camping trip with his boy’s group, and testing it out with the kids (big enough and certainly dark enough with its white, heat-repelling outside and dark inside.

Puff continues to love spending time with his bird where he can, though the bird doesn’t always reciprocate.

Then on camp, Puff set up the tent by himself and was helpful throughout the weekend. Here he is washing up on the last meal of camp.

Meanwhile, Mum and Huff enjoyed some chocolatey treats without the boys.

Puff had a great time playing outdoors with his friends at the camp, but there were a few times when he wanted to read in the tent. Here’s what that would generally look like.

Home safe and sound from camp. See you next week!

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.