Lego Exhibition

Yesterday we went to see the Brickman Wonders of the World Lego Exhibition at Melbourne Museum. I'd been planning to take the kids since I first heard about it sometime in March, though I kept putting off buying tickets because I couldn't figure out a good time to go. The exhibit finishes this Sunday so yesterday turned out to be the only remaining day that we could make it - I've done the same with many of the visiting exhibitions (and other activities) - either scraped in during the last week, or missed it altogether. I don't like to book things in too far ahead in case our plans change, which does sometimes mean missing out. I might try to book a few things and work around them and see how that works.

Anyway - I'd seen a similar exhibition at CentrePoint Tower in Sydney, many many years ago (when I was perhaps 10 or 12, with Mum and my siblings) and I LOVED it and have always wanted to go again. I didn't know if the kids would be as excited as I was - from the first moment they saw the Empire State Building in the foyer of the museum, they were bouncing with excitement and so keen to see more.

We all loved the exhibition and were amazed at the skill of the builders involved and detail of every sculpture. The sculptures themselves were incredibly true to the original, and many of them had little scenes set up around them of people enjoying the site - some of those details were hilarious, and it was all interesting. I spent most of the 2 hours saying to the kids 'hey, did you see the guy over here who is doing ...' and we all pointed out lots of fun and interesting details to each other.

There were buildings (ancient and modern) and paintings, sculptures, natural formations, vehicles, metro maps, jewels and crowns - all magnificent. It was also fun to count how many of them we'd actually been to or seen in real life (12 for me, 5 for Liam and Caitlin. None for Millie which has added to her desire to go somewhere overseas). My favourite was definitely the Titanic, there was so much going on in the set up and the boat design was so intricate and realistic.

Many of the sculptures were surrounded by a moat of lego which we were able to use to build our own designs. These were a lot of fun, we made cars and pyramids and statues and towers. We raced our cars down a ramp put there for that purpose - Liam spent a lot of time engineering his car to make it structurally robust - lots of trial and error and then thinking about how to counteract each new problem. He was pretty impressed with his final product, and amusedly annoyed when Caitlin's vehicle of 2 big wheels on an axle was faster than his car.

As we made our way around we were looking for a particular lego figurine - there was a competition to count how many times he appeared throughout the exhibit, then you can enter your answer online and potentially win a prize. This added another whole level of interest to each sculpture and helped us really look at every aspect of the scene.

There were also tables set up with white flat squares of lego, and lots of coloured one by one blocks, where everyone could make their own design and put it on display on the wall. I tried to make a star and didn't get anywhere (although my statue of David was quite cool), the kids had a lot more success at designing something they were happy with.

Millie's, Liam's and Caitlin's designs

The Flying Scotsman, made from lego. Steam engines and lego combined - super exciting for me!

We explored for 2 hours (although it was hot in there and Caitlin and I started to feel a bit overwhelmed) and loved it all, we could have stayed longer. We made our way out through the shop and bought some road bases to use with our own lego, as we don't have any and this was something that all 3 kids were happy to get.

Upstairs we met up with my Mum and Dad, and my sister's son who they were looking after for the day. We all went in to the new Children's Gallery in the museum - we hadn't seen it before and the kids all loved it. Mum and Dad and I had a coffee while the 4 kids explored, then the kids joined us for something to eat and then we all had a bit more of a play and headed home. It was very cool to be able to combine our trip in to the museum with the kids seeing their cousin and grandparents.

The traffic was heavy though flowing on the way home (leaving just before 5pm was always risky) - we got home in about an hour 20 which wasn't too bad. We grabbed a hot chicken and bread from the IGA and ate that at the hall before going in to karate - Tony came and picked Millie up as she didn't want to do karate that night. Karate was fun and challenging as usual, afterwards we chatted to one of the Sempeis about his recent trip to Europe and then came home to finish our dinner and put the animals to bed and get to bed as quickly as possible ourselves - it was a cold night and we were very grateful for our fire!

Going away and feeling better

My energy returned slowly after my day of rest, and 5 days up at Mum and Dad's helped me restore my emotional energy a little. They were away, so we had the house to ourselves and shared with our friends who brought their caravan up and spent the days with us. The kids had a wonderful time, playing iPads, lego, zoo animals, the piano, swimming, watching movies, playing hide and seek and other games they made up that involved toys and stairs and upstairs and downstairs, bike and scooter riding, card games, talking and thinking and learning and laughing. The adults also had a great time, helping with all of the above, and doing puzzles and reading and chatting and relaxing. It was perfect timing for a low key trip away, and I felt much better once we got back.

Since then we've had a few quiet days at home, one of them with Tony here all day which was wonderful (he's still been working long hours, nearly every day). We had a really busy day yesterday, with all 3 kids visiting the dentist (teeth all doing well), then meeting friends at the museum for a very fun afternoon, then visiting my sister and her family before they go to England next Monday. The kids had a great time playing with their cousin - who calls Caitlin 'Cake', and the other 2 'more Cake' (possibly some combination of Caitlin and cousin?) - they love playing duplo and cars and trains with him, and being bossed around by a 2 year old. He is pretty cute. Once we left the kids all voted for Subway for dinner (I had been thinking we'd go to McDonalds, but without hesitation they all asked for Subway) - it takes us ages to order by the time 4 of us decided what we want and how many drinks etc, but it was tasty and fun and everyone was happy with their order.

Other things we've got up to in the last several days
- LiAM and I have played cards a lot - it was funny, a few times I started to suggest that he play a different card to the one he chose - then remembered that his strategic understanding of the game is as good (or probably better) than mine, so I kept quiet, and sure enough, he ended up winning doing things his way. He can think a long way ahead in a game and really understands what all the moves mean
-Tony took Amelie to McDonalds on his day off, she was so thrilled to have some time alone with him
-LiAM and I went for a walk around the dam and explored plants and animals and mud and animal tracks, and talked about all sorts of things
- we've watched lots of Heartland, which has sparked discussion about childcare, parenting practices, relationships, horses, jobs, responsibility, friendship, trust, script writing, decision making
- LiAM has played a lot with his Skylander figures, making up a game for them to play with each other and creating a score sheet for them
- More and more often LiAM is saying 'does this say '....'?' instead of asking 'what does this say?' when he sees text on screen or on a sign
- Caitlin has been helping Tony make some wine with some of the local grapes that weren't picked for use this year
- We've been reading random fact books and learning all sorts of interesting trivia
- lots of talk still about planets, dwarf planets and star constellation
- Caitlin had a sleepover with a friend, and the rest of us visited other friends for the afternoon, the girls played dress ups and did puzzles, the boys played playstation games, and the adults chatted
- we're going lots of planning for our big trip which is coming up rather fast

Feeling Content

I've been feeling really good lately. Very happy with the way we're doing things, really thrilled that this is the lifestyle we are choosing every day. That's not to say that my anxiety doesn't pop up at all, or that I'm in a good mood all the time, but lately those lower moments have really only been moments, and even through them I know that overall I am feeling content on a very deep level, so the frustration/anxiety doesn't take over completely.

I realised last week that we weren't getting much consecutive time at home - little bits each day, but I wanted a bigger chunk of time so that we could all re-energise a bit. Last weekend we had Saturday at home, then Caitlin was working at the Girl Guides stall at the Lilydale Show - Tony took the 3 kids to the Show for the day, and I had a day at home by myself, which was lovely. I did a lot of housework and organising, and was pretty tired by the end of the day, but my restlessness and feeling of frustration at never being home was all gone, which meant I was able to be more present for my kids and Tony all week.

They had a great time at the Show too, LiAM came racing in the door to show me his Minecraft showbag, with 3 books, lots of Minecraft stickers and a few other bits and pieces. He loves going to the Show (or the Fair, as he calls it) so much, and it was beautiful to witness his excitement as he told me all about it. Millie got a Pokemon showbag, with a backpack, carry bag, temporary tattoos, a hat and sunglasses, and Caitlin got - oh I can't remember the name - it's a picture of a monkey face, and she got a backpack, a make up bag and lots of stationery. Tony got a Bertie Beetle showbag to share with me which was quite exciting - I LOVE Bertie Beetle chocolates, and the only place I can get them is in show bags, so it's a less-than-once-a-year treat. (And they were great!) They went on the dodgem cars (Caitlin and LiAM drove their own cars for the first time - very exciting) and saw lots of animals and played some Sideshow Alley games. Caitlin had a ball at the Guides stall, chatting to people about Guides and helping them make little catapults out of cups and balloons.

During the week we managed a fair amount of time at home, and I can tell LiAM is really exhausted and needs more, because he is watching a lot of television - he usually needs several days of TV when he's quite worn out, and then he suddenly turns it off and plays a heap of really creative games. I love chatting to him when he's watching TV though, he notices holes in the plot or weird assumptions that the characters make, and he thinks a lot about what he would do in the situations the characters find themselves in, and really ponders the decisions that the characters do make. The girls join in on a lot of those conversations too - we've re-written (verbally) a lot of TV shows and movies in lots of different ways.

On Tuesday we went to Healesville Sanctuary with my parents and my sister and her son. A very fun day - and great to have extra adults there, I was able to spend most of my time with Millie, letting her go at her pace (which is often quite slow in terms of moving through the zoo - she wants to look at things in detail, or go back and look at things again, and stop and touch things, and have a little talk or play at any spot she finds interesting - I love being able to go with her on her intricate journey through a place, which is sometimes too tricky when it's just me and the 3 kids, as the others want to move on more quickly).

At home this week we have played lots of games - the Penguin game (like Trouble or Headache, but with penguins, and you can drop your opponent's penguins into the ice which can be fun), Headbanz (like Celebrity Head), games with Millie's soft toys, Skylanders, Pokemon battles, lego, games under the hose, on the trampoline, Barbies, adding and subtracting games, Minecraft, and other iPad and computer games. We've been to the library and the op shop, and had a great afternoon at Homeschool Group, where Caitlin showed everyone how to make the catapults from the Show, 2 different types, and the kids were able to propel little fluffy pompoms all over the room. Caitlin has been practicing cursive writing, and we've been trying to clear out half of the dining room so we can convert it into a small bedroom for Caitlin - a work in progress, but we're slowly getting there.

Caitlin had her first acting performance for the season last night, Tony took her in and watched the show, she came home so pumped and excited, with her stage make up still on and so keen to get back there next Friday so I can see it as well. I'm looking forward to it - she's in a militia scene and has camouflage paint on her face, and is dressed in army gear - she loves it and I know it's a very powerful scene.

Back pain and movies

Tony has had a sore knee for the past couple of weeks, and this week his back also started to give him a lot of pain - possibly from limping on the sore knee, or possibly a separate cause (he'll probably go to the doctor today and see what's happening) - so much pain that he took Friday off work and spent all day Friday and Saturday in bed. Having Tony home but bedridden was not how I thought Saturday would turn out - and it ended up being a really lovely, fun and relaxing family day, and way better than I'd hoped for even before Tony was incapacitated.

Millie and LiAM and I started the day playing Harry Potter - Scene It. When the on screen questions involve unscrambling letters or filling in letters we skip to the next question, and I sometimes reword the written questions from the cards or make them more general for Millie, otherwise their knowledge of the movies is enough to play on equal terms. It was a fun game of Harry Potter trivia, and in there we also had a long discussion about odd and even numbers, leading to LiAM explaining that 1 is a more useful number than 2 because you can just keep adding 1 to numbers and get any number in the world, and you can't do that with 2, and Millie suddenly had a realisation that odd and even numbers 'are like stripes on a tiger' because as you count it always goes odd, even, odd, even. (It's so cool to watch her learning, because she has such a strong sense of patterns, and she applies it to most things that she learns - it's as if she converts everything she's presented with into a visual pattern in her head and then she can understand it). Millie also had a go at reading some of the instructions and was happy at being able to figure out some of the words.

The kids watched Scooby-Doo for a while and I tidied the kitchen and played on the iPad and Tony attempted to stay out of bed, but headed back pretty quickly. He decided to pass the time by watching movies, and started with Pitch Perfect, which he hadn't seen. I was going to go and do the washing or something, but decided to stay and hang out with him and watch the movie, and Caitlin joined us when she woke up. It was so great, watching a movie with Tony - we used to do it all the time and I'd really like to add it back in to our lives as a regular thing.

Tony then watched Australia, which neither of us have seen, and LiAM and I cut up some veggies to make chicken stock and some lunch. He is great with the sharp knife and loves to cut any vegetable I give him - he explores the texture and colour and shape and finds the best way to cut them, even though he very rarely eats them. It's funny, he's probably the most excited about our box of veggies arriving each fortnight, because he gets to play with a whole range of new cutting up options.

After the movie was finished LiAM and Millie and Tony played Terraria together for a while, and Caitlin and I did some logic puzzles. I also watched an episode of Green Lantern that I hadn't seen before and really wanted to see what happened - but it didn't resolve the story line I was interested in so am hoping the next episode is on today. Caitlin and I sorted out a lot of the hair and jewellery baskets that are around the house - she's getting her dressing table set up and wanted to find all her hair accessories, and it was great to go through the baskets and get rid of the things that are broken or no longer used. Millie was given all of the little metal bangles that Caitlin has collected over the years, so she is very happy.

Tony and LiAM put Baz Luhrmann's Romeo and Juliet on next - and I wanted to watch the start of it, then settled in to watch the rest of the movie as well - it's a long time since I'd seen it and I love it so much - the sound track, the actors, the cleverness modern adaptation. It was also the first time I'd ever seen it and not cried - unusual for me to not cry at a tragic ending, even if I know it's coming! LiAM watched bits and pieces of it, but the kissing scenes didn't interest him and he decided to go and play with Millie making patterns on the peg boards instead.

I cooked a late dinner - mince curry - while Tony watched Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, and the kids watched the Batman Lego Movie  (LiAM gravitated between the 2 tvs at first and ended up with Star Wars). While we ate tea, Caitlin skyped with Tony's sister, who is coming down to Victoria in a few weeks for Caitlin's Confirmation, which we're all very excited about. Millie and I had a good chat to her as well, and then Caitlin and I spent some time looking at saints names so that she can pick a Confirmation name.

A double sleepover

Despite going to bed very late the night before the kids were all awake by about 9am (some much earlier). They continued to play Minecraft in S's world. Caitlin was feeling a bit tired and was getting emotional quite easily, so she had a shower and woke up a bit, then went to see if our neighbour was home. She came back to get S and they rode bikes over to visit. I got a call a while later to say Caitlin was feeling really dizzy and couldn't ride home, so I walked over and found her lying on the ground with the neighbours looking after her. I gave her some water and helped her take off the warmer parts of her clothes (it was 5 degrees when we woke up, but the sun warmed the day really quickly and it was getting hot) - she tends to over heat and get very dizzy so once she'd cooled off she felt a bit better and was able to slowly walk home.

She went to bed and had a good rest for a few hours while the others played Minecraft, watched The Lego Movie, and a Pokemon movie, and some Dance Academy, played on the trampoline, and had pokemon battles with their pokemon cards. Caitlin joined the others later in the afternoon and seemed much better. She worked on her loom bands for a while and they all continued to flit between Minecraft and playing outside.

Someone mentioned the Anzac biscuits the girls had had at our neighbours in the morning, and the others wanted to go over and get some. I suggested we make our own, which everyone was happy with. The boys and Millie helped. I had talked up the excitement of the bicarb bit, where it fizzes up when we add it to the butter - but it didn't fizz and it was very disappointing! I said we could do some painting with bicarb and vinegar to get our fizz fix once the biscuits were cooking.

I took bicarb, vinegar, water, trays, paper, food colouring, spoons, cups, jugs and straws outside, and started by spreading bicarb in the bottom of a tray, then mixing some food colouring and vinegar in a cup, and dripping a bit into the tray - it fizzed up beautifully, lots of blue coloured bubbles. From there the kids and I all experimented in our own way, the boys tipped large amounts of different coloured vinegar into the tray and got large bubbles and mixed colours, the girls used smaller amounts and created more specific pictures, we tried putting the bicarb on the paper in a pattern then fizzing it up with vinegar, or painting with a bicarb, water and food colouring paint and then fizzing that, or just mixing it all together in small and large containers - it was a lot of fun and everyone did their own thing for as long as they felt like.

Explosion!

A great afternoon to be playing outside

Painting with bicarb paint

R arrived with hot chips to share for tea, so we had a picnic in the back yard - throwing the ball constantly for Buckley so he wouldn't join us on the picnic rug, and the kids played on the trampoline and swings in between eating chips and then Anzac biscuits. As it got colder they moved blankets and pillows and iPads out to the trampoline and played and talked out there for a while. Both kids decided to stay overnight again, so R and I had a cuppa and a chat then she went home alone. The kids watched an episode of Dance Academy then Tony put the football on. We watched the football and talked about it and played Minecraft and I went and had a bath and read my book (The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater - like everything else she's written, I find it very hard to put down). After the football the kids put Dance Academy on again. LiAM had taken himself to bed earlier and the others watched a few episodes then fell asleep in their beds in the lounge room.

Settling back in to home

We've had a couple of quiet days, mainly at home, which was exactly what we needed after our trip away and then birthday preparations and celebrations.

We made up some of the craft kits that the kids got for their birthdays - plaster of paris fairies for Millie and a glow in the dark T-Rex skeleton for LiAM. Caitlin and Millie also started on a make-your-own Angel doll - there was sewing involved so Caitlin is enjoying it more than I would. We've talked about making cake pops in Millie's new cake pop maker but as yet haven't gotten any further than wiping the surface down with a clean cloth before use. Maybe today...

The kids have been playing Minecraft again - I heard of a server run by an unschooled Australian teenager, so we have logged into that for the first time and they are enjoying playing with other kids and learning how to negotiate someone else's server. I've been impressed with the ease with which they ask questions when they aren't sure about something, and also with the speed that they are answered by more experienced players.

They also played Skylanders, and some new games on the MacBook, and games on the ABC2 and ABC3 websites. LiAM was thrilled to find a new SlugTerra game, which is based on his current favourite TV Show.

We've watched a bit of TV and talked about the shows, played with animal toys, played the piano and the ukelele, read books, looked after all our animals - our little chicks are now not so little - the roosters are now bigger than their dad and soon I'll be looking for options to move them on - I don't think we can easily keep 4 roosters with our flock!

We went to the library yesterday afternoon, nice to be back after a 4 week break. LiAM watched YouTube videos, the girls used the hall to dance, we read some books and borrowed some more, then the girls went to Girl Guides. Millie is 5 now so old enough to begin - I stayed as well in case she found it too much. She loved it and joined in all the activities - and looked so tiny compared to everyone else.

Millie has been practicing her addition facts, asking every day 'what's plus 1 plus 1' and 'what's plus 4 plus 3 plus 2 plus 1' or 'what's plus 68 plus 2'... and she's starting to notice patterns, like that if you add 1 to a number you get the next number! It's quite exciting to explore it with her and be reminded of the patterns ourselves!

I've had a couple of moments when I've been really pleased to back, too. I wasn't quite ready to come home from our holiday - I rarely am (actually the only time I've ever been pleased to finish a holiday was at the end of our 5 week trip to Europe with a 1yo and a 2yo...). And this time I didn't really miss anything while I was gone. But there's been a couple of little moments - like opening our cutlery drawer and seeing all of OUR spoons - where I've felt very content and happy to be back in our space, and grateful that we have such a wonderful space to come back to.

Rest day

We've had a lot of time at home lately and it's been lovely. Exactly what we all needed after a very crazy Term 3 and the first half of Term 4.

Yesterday we had nothing planned except resting at home and we had a varied and interesting and overall restful day. Some of the things we did

- Jigsaw puzzles
- dominoes
- lego
- watching and caring for the chickens, collecting eggs, observing the evolving pecking order now that we have so many new chickens
- gardening - watering, weeding, mulching
- planning a cubby house, drawing up plans using a drawing app on the iPad, and starting work on clearing the area
- drawing pictures on the iPad
- playing on the trampoline and swings
- Millie pretending to be a kitten and eating and playing like one
- packing picnic lunches and eating outside
- reading books (the bear books by Nick Bland, and others)
- playing games on ABC3 website - the 5th Boy, and Huebrix (this is a great puzzle game, Liam and Caitlin and I all had a go and between us were able to solve a lot of the puzzles. Liam really grasped the concept and quickly solved some that I struggled with)
- maths games on the computer
- playing Red Fish/Poisson Rouge on the computer - this is the best kids website I've come across and Millie can spend hours exploring it, while the older kids and I still enjoy it as well
- playing with MAB blocks
- Movies - The Incredibles, Cats & Dogs - the Revenge of Kitty Galore, Winx
- lots of discussions about all of the above as they were happening

It was interesting too, when I said on Monday night that we'd be having a rest day on Tuesday, the kids all said 'cool, we can watch movies all day!' I wouldn't have minded if they did, but they were so busy playing games and exploring other things that the movies didn't get put on until 5.30. And while there was a fair bit of computer and iPad use, it was all collaborative and very social

Climbing Trees

There has been a lot of tree climbing happening for us lately. Well, not for me so much, I prefer to stay on the ground, but the kids have been climbing and I've been watching, helping, discussing, taking photos and generally been involved in the activity while not actually taking part in the bit that involves heights.

There's been wonderful fig trees to climb at the Botanic Gardens and at Collingwood Childrens Farm. 

We watched Stripey go up an oak tree and then walk across a beautiful horizontal branch to end up on top of the chicken shed, so Liam tried it and has found a wonderful place to hang out and be alone. There were trees to explore in the bush near our tent at the Eco Festival in Yarra Junction.

 Yesterday while I was pushing each of the kids in turn on our big swing, the others climbed the tree that the swing is hung from. Stripey went up as well, then Buckley came to the bottom and barked incessantly at him (he was so intent on barking at the cat that he wasn't interested in chasing his ball -  those of you who know Buckley know how hard it is to distract him from ball chasing, so this cat-up-a-tree business was obviously extremely engaging). Anyway, Caitlin was worried that Stripey wouldn't be able to get down, so decided to go up after him. She tried to follow him the way he went, but the branches were a bit steep. So she came down and went up one of the smaller trees underneath the big one, and was nearly able to pull herself up onto a big branch. Liam tried it as well but found the distances between small tree and big branch a bit much. Caitlin ended up with a lot of scratches but seemed to have a lot of fun.

In the Botanic Gardens last week Caitlin pushed herself quite hard and climbed out on some very long branches with challenging forks in them. She said she was stuck a few times, and it can seem that she's scared - but I think really she's just not sure which way to go next/where to put her hands and feet in order to keep moving. She stops and asks for help, and can seem to resist suggestions for a little while, but she processes it all, listens and thinks and looks, and then she's able to move on. When she really gets scared she stops and comes back down.

Its been interesting to watch my reactions to each of the three of them climbing, and also the different ways that they react to tricky bits or when they reach their limit. They are all quite adept at recognising their limits, and while Caitlin's limits are WAY beyond where I would be comfortable myself, I know that she will stop and calm down before trying to come back down, and also that she can be talked through it if she does get stuck or too scared. Liam's limits are more within my own comfort range, and he likes to have help to navigate back if he's become scared. Often just putting my hand on his body somewhere, or even standing right underneath him, is enough to calm him down and he'll be able to get back. Millie's limits are, I think, way beyond Caitlin's. She's normally stopped by physical limitations way before she gets scared. I'm a bit more nervous watching her, simply because I don't know if I'd be able to talk her down, she often wants physical help when she gets stuck/scared - and often that happens at a point where I'd be too scared to go myself. 

A couple of weeks ago the kids were climbing up an irresistable wall that looked a lot like a ladder. We were with some friends and all the children were climbing as high as they felt comfortable. Millie went right to the top, then headed out across the roof part, which was constructed in the same way. As soon as she started to go across, my anxiety levels sky-rocketed - not because I was worried that she would fall (I was confident she wouldn't) but because if she got scared or stuck, I didn't know if I would be be able to talk her down, and I knew for sure I wouldn't be able to go up there and get her down... Luckily one of my friends who was there is quite a good climber and quite comfortable with heights, so I asked her to look after Millie and I wandered away a little bit and watched from a distance. L was able to talk her through climbing most of the way across the roof and then turning around and coming back, and she had a wonderful time. L said that Millie was fine as long as they maintained eye-contact, so maybe that's something I can use next time.

In the past I used to not want to help them get up tricky bits in the tree - I would say something like 'If you can't get up yourself then you won't be able to get down' - which is something I heard myself as a child and have heard other adults say. Now I think about it very differently - often the first bit of the tree is quite high, with wonderful, more easily accessible branches once you get past that first bit. Its not fair to stop the smaller children climbing in that part, just because they can't get up the first step. And if I'm there to help them up, then I can be there to help them down as well. So I've given lots of legs up and lifted people down from branches and trunks and I'm looking forward to exploring many many more trees in our adventures together.

2 months in one quick summary

Its been a while since I posted - we've had very slow internet combined with a very slow, about to die laptop and internet time was very limited. Now however we have a Macbook, the internet is back to - well, not fast, but less slow - so blog posts and other non-essential internet use can happen again.

So a bit of a summary of what we've been up to over the last couple of months
- a day at Collingwood Childrens Farm - the kids got to milk a cow, we saw some gorgeous week old piglets (I could have watched them all day), Liam took to the microphone and led a group in singing Baa Baa Black Sheep at the book launch of Alanah Campbell's 'Under the Persimmon Tree', there was a tractor ride and lots of tree climbing, and Fi and James joined us for a while

- an afternoon at Healesville Sanctuary with some friends
- lots of mornings, afternoons, days and even sleepovers at friends' houses
- activities at homeschool group in Yarra Glen and Yarra Junction
- exploring Op Shops
- a train ride to the city and hanging out in the Botanic Gardens with friends (and more tree climbing)
- watching the vineyard slowly turn yellow and then the leaves all falling off - they are nearly completely gone now

- playing with Stripey (the cat) and Buckley (the dog)
- Guides, Scouts and Gymnastics
- returning to ABA meetings
- having Tony around a lot again after the end of Vintage
- playing the piano, recorder and violin - oh, and buying a violin for Caitlin at the Healesville Markets
- busking in Healesville and Yarra Glen - Caitlin playing the recorder, and Liam occasionally whistling or playing the drums in accompaniment
- playing Minecraft lots - individually and connected on the ipad, and now on the new computer as well
- playing lots of other ipad games
- lots of lego
- horse riding
- trip to Maroondah Dam
- reading books of all descriptions
- drawing and writing and inventing
- a day at an Eco-festival in Yarra Junction - I was helping at an ABA Feed and Change Tent, and the kids helped there as well as going on donkey rides, doing wet felting, playing hopscotch, hanging out in the women's Red Tent, tree climbing, exploring the forest, trying to buy a guinea pig, eating ice cream etc
- trips to the library
- watching movies
- birthday parties - including a wonderful day at the Yarra Valley Chocolaterie for my birthday - we were there from 11-5 and lots of friends and family joined us at different points through the day, we sat in the sun and ate chocolate and ice creams and other food and drank milkshakes and the kids played in the grounds and it was a beautiful day all round

- -conversations about all of the above
- puzzles, board games, card games
- magic tricks
- and LOTS more

If you want to know more about any of our activities, let me know in the comments and I will expand

Insect hunting and fishing

Yesterday I bought Liam a fishing/bug catching net. I'd seen them at the discount store in town when it opened a few weeks ago, and had been meaning to buy him one. Caitlin was going to my friend's house for the afternoon and Liam was disappointed that he couldn't stay - I offered to buy him the net as compensation for coming to the shops and then home with me, and he was thrilled. We did some groceries first, then he asked for the money to go and get his net, and ran ahead to the shop. When I got there he was coming out the door, looking very disappointed, and the people in the shop were looking concerned. He said he'd asked for it and they said they didn't have them anymore - there were certainly none in the bucket at the front door like I'd seen previously! He was starting to get upset, and I said we'd have a look and then I'd ask again. Up the back, in a tub with all the left over Halloween gear, there was ONE net - and it was blue, perfect for Liam! So, waving it triumphantly and luckily not knocking anything of the shelf, he took it up the front and paid for it himself (which is a new thing he's started doing recently).

He chased Millie with it and caught her a few times on the way back to the car, and couldn't wait to get home to try it out on bugs. He rushed into the yard as soon as we pulled up and ran around after bugs and birds and bees, but wasn't able to catch anything. I tried to help for a while but I had no luck either. (On Monday there was a swarm of bugs through the yard and it would have been impossible not to catch anything, but most of them had moved on by yesterday afternoon). Liam said he'd like to try to catch some fish with it and wanted to go down to the dam. I'd been feeling dizzy and light headed all day and didn't feel up to a walk to the dam, which I explained to him. He suggested we drive - at first I thought 'I'm not driving such a short distance' (my instinctual response) then realised that it could be the difference between him getting to the dam or not.

So Millie and Liam and I jumped in the car - Millie wanted her seatbelt on, while Liam was excited about not needing it as we were just on the property - and we drove down. As we approached the dam there was a bird of prey hovering near the edge, it moved ahead of us as I slowly pulled in, then landed at the the edge of the water for a drink. It was bigger than the birds we normally see hovering around here, with a speckled brown coat and white underneath its tail. We looked it up in the Field Guide to Victorian Fauna on the ipad when we got home, and I think it was a Little Eagle. I've never seen one before and it certainly made the trip to the dam worthwhile!

Liam fished in the dam for a while and I was going to stay in the car and rest, then thought a better decision would be to hop out and enjoy the wind and the fresh air and the feel of the dam. I scooped up some mud for him with his net and we found one little slimy creature. He was so happy playing there, and after a few minutes he said he'd had enough and we could go home and dry out his net. We tried to catch a few bugs from the reeds around the dam, and I got one - the same ones that were swarming on Monday so he wasn't overly interested as he'd caught several of them with his hands. We drove home with the net out the window to see if we caught anything in passing - I don't think we did, however he was satisfied that we'd really given his net a good try out and he no longer seemed to care that we hadn't caught anything.

The whole trip to the dam was a really lovely 10 minutes and I'm so glad I was able to say yes and find a way to make it happen, rather than dismissing his excitement and saying I was too unwell to go.