Art Appreciation 101

September school holidays have been long and boring most of the time for my kids as I have had to work quite often. We've managed to fit in trips to the beach, the park, the Water Park and today I took the kidlets to the Museum and Art Gallery.

The museum is the boys' favourite place to visit. Aiden and Conor both love the animals and seeing all the bones and gross bits. I love identifying the birds that are around our area. Today they also had science experiments where the kids made whirlybirds and balancing clowns.

We also popped into the Gallery of Modern Art where the kids came across this giant sculpture by Ron Mueck, titled "In Bed". They were all fascinated and you could see them itching to touch and explore. I think we spent a good ten to fifteen minutes looking at this huge woman. Caitlin said that she thought the woman looked cold. Not a bad observation for an 11 year old.

After we came home, I showed them some more of Muecks work and the kids are absolutely fascinated by him and his take on humanity. A little bit of culture for the kids!

Cheers,
Cin

Persistence Pays Off

It was Aidens birthday last month and he had been hoping to get a Ripstick for Christmas. This skateboard on two wheels is very difficult to learn to ride but lotsa fun when you get it right. Aiden told me he had learnt to ride one at his friends place and was really good at it.

So we surprised him with one for his birthday instead and the very first thing he did was fall off in spectacular style! There was blood, there was torn flesh, there were tears...turns out Aiden told me a furphy. He thought a little lie wouldn't be noticed, much.

Anyway, he has been practicing and practicing and practicing...

So, he's not ready for any gnarley jumps or anything and he's no Tony Hawke but geez I'm proud of him!

Cheers,

Cin

One Piece of Tape

They say a picture tells a thousand words. Well, I'm hoping this picture saves us thousands of dollars!

Caitie went to remove a piece of tape from her wall, accidently leant on it and broke the wall. She flew out of her room in tears thinking she had done this horrible thing. In truth, if she hadn't of leant on the wall, we wouldn't have discovered the horrible truth.

As husband went to repair the very small break in the masonite, he turned to me appalled and said those awful words...."We have termites!" Ohhhh, crap! After destroying a fair amount of wall inside as well as removing the capping on the side of the house outside, he determined we had caught them just as they were starting to build. There was no damage, just alot of mud and some really annoyed crawlies. Its hard to have a Happy Sunday when you've just been sprayed with insect kill.

Now the bets are on for how long it will take for him to FIX the wall!

Cin

Dump and Burn, Baby!!

Today was the start of the Brisbane River festival, a three week long celebration that highlights life in our River city. We spent it, and a belated Fathers Day, down at Kalinga Park. It is a stunning park, interwoven with a burbling creek that attracts kids like moths to a flame. Today the kids even saw two clutches of ducklings bumping along the creek with their Mother and a big water dragon!

This park has special significance for our family as Tony and I were married there, along the banks of the creek where we loved to run the dogs, playing in the shallows and exploring. We hoped to bring our kids to the playground and watch them grow and explore as we had. It wasn't to be as vandals burnt it to the ground.

We hadn't been to the new playground in some months when we came to the Park one day and were met by a kids absolute wonderland! The playground now nestles amongst the trees, inviting the children (and parents) to indulge in wild games of tag, fanciful imaginative play and exercising young minds and bodies....and its great fun too! Its consists of four tree houses, all interconnected with slides, ramps, moving bridges, ladders and firemens poles. There is also a large sandpit for the toddlers to explore and build in.

We enjoyed a simmple picnic lunch sitting under the trees and watching the birds come down and pilfer our scraps for their nestlings. The park was alive with the sounds of children playing ball, bicycles, scooters, laughter; quite simply, it was a beautiful spring day.

After lunch the kids and Tony went down to paddle in the creek. Caitie of course got thrown in while the boys splashed around like seals. The water was cold today but the boys still had a blast. I was quite content to enjoy the scenary, our own little piece of the bush right in our backyard!

I had to include this fantastic photo of Caitie who loves to mug for the camera. She is getting so big. At one point her father was pretending to throw a ball at her while she was on her bike. When she got close enough, he did throw it, where it promptly bounced off her and beaned him fair in the head. I don't think I've laughed that hard in ages...the look of shock was priceless.

Tony took the opportunity to have a ride on Conors scooter where of course Conor had to help him. They were so cute together. Papa Bear and Little Bear.

And here's the three rats, together, probably planning something naughty!

After we came home, it was time to plan for the nights entertainment. Every year, the River festival is started with Riverfire; a showcase of fireworks set off in time to music. This year we had halo's, hearts, happy faces, waterfalls from the bridge and lots of OOOh's and AAAAh's. We have enjoyed it every year, watching from home for one very good reason.

DUMP AND BURN BABY!!!!

Sorry, I get carried away with those four words. The dump and burn is the F1-11's screaming over the city and doing a fuel dump, blazing across the sky. It can be clearly seen from our home and is the highlight of each year. Sadly, after this year, the F1-11's will be retired and its the very last dump and burn....but gosh darn, it was fantastic!!! Right at the end of the clip you can hear the roar as the jets fly over heard, two small fireballs that lit up the sky.

It was a poignant end to a great day. Happy River Festival everyone!

Cheers

Cin

These Little Wonders

I watched the movie "Meet the Robinsons" again the other day and heard the song "Little Wonders" by Rob Thomas and the lyrics gave me pause.

Our lives are made in these small hours

These little wonders,

These twists & turns of fate

Time falls away,

but these small hours, these small hours still remain

I suppose what hit me was that, when our children are wee babies, time is measured in the tiniest increments, a sigh here, a smile there, each moment is remembered with perfect clarity, each tiny memory is cherished and put away to bring out in our darkest times.

This week has not been dark but quite dim for my oldest, Caitlin. She has aphthous ulcers, which means her mouth is full of ulcers, shockingly painful ulcers and there is nothing that can be done until the virus runs its course. As a mother, it is killing me that I can't do anything. I can't take the pain away, I can't eat for her and I can't stop her friends drifting away as they are scared of this thing that has turned her into a mumbling, dribbling, foul breathed child. I can't help her...except in these small hours, I can hold her and let her cry.

But it made me remember, as did the words of this song, the other small hours. Those moments when I had stumbled from my warm bed to feed a crying baby. Wrapped in a quilt, in my rocking chair, there were just the two of us. Whether it was Caitlin, Aiden or Conor, there were only the two of us, in the small precious moments of the starlit evening. We were in our own tiny world, nothing existed except the sleepy contentment of a milk-drunk baby and a mother, holding that which is most dear and precious to us.

So, I thought I would share two of my favourite photos of my kids...they were only little then and now, they are big kids...but there is always room in my arms for a hug that heals all wounds.

Aiden on the left, our Michelin Baby and Caitie on the right, adoring big sister.

This is my all time favourite photo of a newborn Conor taking his first cautious peep at the world, safe in the arms of Dad.

And my three now...they may not like each other but I know they love each other!

Cheers,

Cin