A Trip Down Memory Lane

I was looking through some old photos tonight and thought I'd take you on a trip down memory lane.

"What do you get if you wear a yellow jacket?"

"A Bee Sting."

Well technically, it would be a wasp sting, but I had to smile at how far Lizzy's jokes have progressed over the past year. Was it really only a year ago that she made up knock, knock jokes that made no sense?

Just Like Daddy

Kai is a good imitator. He obviously wants to be just like all the older people in our household, but of everyone, Daddy is his idol.

Yesterday, as Ben was getting ready for work, Kai was in the bathroom watching him. He then reached up and picked up Ben's deodorant, took off the lid, lifted up his shirt and dabbed the deodorant on his belly.

Mmmmm. Kai will be smelling fresh all day long - just like Daddy.

Can you spot anything different?

Take a close look at this photo? Yes - they are 3 gorgeous Armstrong's but there is something different..

Any guesses?


Well - I suppose it's a bit hard to tell from the photo but you are looking at 3 Australian citizens :)

Yes. Kai is now an Australian. Sometime in the next 2 months, he & I are going to go on a little vacation to San Francisco to get his Australian passport. Without it, I'm told we won't be allowed into the country.

Reading with Rover

There is a local charity here called Reading with Rover. Their mission is "to inspire children to discover the joy of reading while developing literacy skills and confidence in a safe environment using Reading with Rover Dogs." If you want to read more about it you can look at their webpage at http://readingwithrover.org/

Yesterday, our local second-hand bookshop had a Meet the Author with a children's author. We took the kids along to listen to her read her book "Don't Lick the Dog", which is about how to approach a dog. Afterwards the kids were able to read to two Reading with Rover dogs. Isaac insisted on reading to both dogs and read the book by the featured author. Lizzy was hesitant about reading to start with - but then we found a second-hand book called "Olive My Love". It's a book about a dog called Olive (you might know her from Olive the Other Reindeer) and it just so happened that one of the Reading with Rover dogs was called Olive. This tickled her fancy, so she happily read to Olive. Kai was Kai. He ran all around the bookshop and happily patted the reading dogs. Who cares about authors at this age.

All over it was a fun experience, and I was very impressed with the Reading with Rover program.

What does a bird say?

If you ask this of most people, they would tell you that a bird says "tweet, tweet" or something to that effect. However, in our household, if you ask Kai what a bird says (or if he sees a bird) he says "caw, caw".

I think this might be a good indication to you about how many crows we have around us.

House Extention

Yesterday, Isaac and I had an interesting conversation in the kitchen.

"Mum, are you going to have another baby?"

"No" Pause. "Do you think we need 4 kids instead of 3?"

"Yes."

"But Isaac, we don't have room for another baby".

"We could get a house extention."

"And where would this house extention go?"

"We could get a 3rd floor. Nathaniel & Jonathan have a 3rd floor."

Yes I suppose there is a solution for anything. However, I think we'll skip this one.

Dare Devil

I think I have a little dare devil on my hands.

For a while now, Kai's been trying to climb up on my small (but tall) round footstool. Yesterday he suceeded. He then stood on the footstool, huge grin on his face and arms out wide.

The other thing he loves to do is stand on our bed and do a free fall forward onto the matress. Usually he'll stand up with his feet under my legs and then throw himself forward, keeping his body straight. It's worth lots of giggles.

Ben & I have been debating whether our first broken bone will come from Lizzy or Kai.

Growing Up

It's a bitter sweet day when you are folding your washing and suddenly realise that you have sorted one of your sons shirts in with one of your husbands. He's getting bigger every day.

Math Helper

Lizzy came home with a worksheet which she completed during math time. It was all about greater, between and less. I looked at it, rolled my eyes and asked "Was that easy, hard or just right?"

"It was easy, Mummy. But I finished first and then I got to help other kids in the class."
"Did anyone else help?"
"Just Mrs Lenderman."

The next day she bought home another. This time I simply asked whether she helped anyone in her class. The answer was yes.

I do hope she's going to get something a little more challenging than helping others with their math.

Daddy Preference

It has started. Kai is going through his daddy preference stage. I knew it would happen sooner or later, as all my kids have done it. I'm still good for food, but he'd much rather Ben do everything else for him.

The cutest one is each night after dinner. Kai gets down off his chair and I tell him it's time for a bath. He walks over to Ben and pulls on Ben's leg. He often will head off towards the bath but if Ben doesn't get up straight away he goes back and pulls on his leg again. The funniest thing is that once he's in the bath, it's OK for Ben to leave. I wonder for how long though. If Isaac is any indication the amount of daddy preference is only going to grow over the next month or two.

Bob

Kai has a new love in his life. It is Bob the Builder - otherwise known as Ba Ba Baa. However, there is an episode where Pilchard (the cat) gets stuck in a tree over a pond. Without fail, Kai will sob because Pilchard is in trouble. Unless Ben & I are sitting down holding him, we no longer let him watch Pets in a Pickle. It's just too upsetting.

I've got to think it's because he loves our cat so much (much to Cleo's dismay).

Family History

While Kai is napping, I'm spending my time on a volunteer family history project called "FreeReg". I am helping transcribe historical parish registers, and right now I am transcribing records from the 1700's in Rochester, Kent, England.

I wish my ancestors died in Rochester. The vicar is a rare man for his times, and he records lots of interesting information on his parishioners. I know who was an Alderman (obviously you had to be pretty old to be an alderman because quite a few of them are dying), I know who committed suicide, who was accidently killed, and I even know the ship on which someone captained. I know who died in the workhouse, and who had a higher social status, as they are recorded as Mr or Mrs. Even better, every entry has whether they lived in Rochester or somewhere else. This is a historical gem field. Most registers at this time usually only had a name and date - if you are really unlucky a widowed woman is recorded as Widow Smith.

I am enjoying this project, despite the fact that Ben laughs and tells me he couldn't think of anything more boring.

Ouch!

Ben commented that my blog makes it seem like we lead an idealic life with a happy family, which has nothing go wrong. Well just to proove a point, I'm letting you know that I slammed my finger in the car door on Wednesday. Oh how it hurt! I actually looked at it and my first thought was "I think I've broken it" thanks to the indent the door left. Luckily it wasn't but now I have a pinky which is slowly turning purple.

Ben was on his way home from New Zealand, so I was so thankful that I have friends whom I can call and say "I need to go to ER. Can I drop my kids over at your place?" And I was especially thankful that Kai has been to Kristina's house often enough that he didn't scream when I left - which is what he does at church nursery each week.

For Mum...

While Mum was visiting, she gave me the pattern for her sleeping sacks. I didn't feel up to the challenge of making one with a zipper, but I was willing to try one that could be pulled over the head. When she left, I'd sewn the seams but not put on the ribbing. I finally finished the bag today.

I'm not a sempstress. Whilst I feel great that I managed to do this, it's not something I want to do again any time soon. Mum - you are amazing.

For Dad...

Dad and Mum did some awesome work in our backyard while they were visiting. They laid a path, leveled off the soil and planted grass seeds. Just before they left, the grass was beginning to sprout. It seemed like it was growing before our eyes, as each time we looked out there was more grass.

Dad - I thought you'd like to see it now..

Lefty

It looks like we might have a lefty. Ben & I have suspected for a while that Kai was showing a preference for his left hand. He looked much more comfortable holding his spoon in his left hand and would often reach out with his left hand. However, he would also use his right hand.

However, today Kai was was struggling to put the straw into a juice box using his right hand. After a little bit, he swapped hands and instantly got the straw through the tiny hole with his left hand.

Ben looked at me and said "Perhaps we should start handing him everything to his left hand - I heard that's one of the biggest mistakes right-handed parents do to their left handed kids".

I had to agree.

Yellowstone

Let me just say that Yellowstone is beautiful. We have seen beautiful scenery, amazing animals and interesting natural occurances and thats just in one day, in the Northern part of the park. Our day started with a bear sighting - what an awesome welcome!

As we entered the park, we were greeted by a huge stone arch - signifying the beginning of our adventure.



Our first stop was Mammoth Hot Springs - located about 5 minutes from the park enterance (and our motel).

We did a hike up to Minerva Terrances and Palette Hot Springs. We then drove up to the higher springs and viewed them looking down. It was amazing how trees would grow in the middle of the thermal area but then the water would reach them and they'd die. The colors were specatular.

We then headed south, towards Norris Geyser Basin, however we turned off before seeing the Geyser (that's for tomorrow!). However, we saw our first bison here.

We pulled off the road many times to see little sites along the way and to admire the scenery. I have stacks of photos but I wont burden you with them here :)

By mid afternoon we were at Tower Falls. Isaac, Lizzy and I hiked to the bottom of the falls. Let's just say coming up was hard work.

This is Lizzy, with the Canyon near Tower Falls behind her.

Then we headed up the Lamar Valley, where we ended up seeing hundreds of Bison.

Tomorrow we head off towards Old Faithful, where we'll spend the night.

Roadtrip - Part 2

We are now in Missoula, Montana. We spent about 4 hours on the road yesterday, including breaks and reached Missoula in the late afternoon. We ate breakfast in Washington, lunch in Idaho and dinner in Montana. It's not often you can say you ate 3 meals in one day in 3 different states.

Spokane was very pretty. Before leaving we took a walk along a river which goes through the middle of Spokane.

By lunch time, we were on the eastern side of Idaho in a little mining town called Wallace. It was a great place to stop, explore the mining exhibit and eat our lunch.



Today we drove about 30 minutes south of Missoula and visited the Lee Metcalf Wildlife Reserve. It was a peaceful, beautiful spot.

There was a visitors center where the kids enjoyed looking at the animal displays and then we went on a nature hike. I gave Isaac my little camera, and he happily took pictures of all the displays. Lizzy took charge of the camera outside and took photos of the flowers. (I haven't downloaded their photos yet though).

Tomorrow we head off to Gardiner, Montana. It is a small town right on the outskirts of Yellowstone. We'll be basing ourselves there while we explore the northern part of the park.

Roadtrip

We are on a road trip. Ben's been left behind, earning all that money so we can spend it on the road trip - thanks honey! Mum, Dad, the kids and I are heading towards Yellowstone. So far we've made it to Spokane.

For cousins interested in mapping our trip - Spokane is on the eastern side of Washington, quite close to the boarder of Idaho. For a short time tomorrow we'll cross across the narrow part of Idaho and then enter Montana.

Today we drove to Ellensburg - where we stopped for lunch. The kids played on the playground until our picnic lunch was ready. Kai found a nectarine in our bags and insisted on eating it without it being cut up. I've got some really cute photos which hopefully I share soon.

Soon afterwards, we crossed over the Columbia River and stopped at the Wild Horse Monument. It was a lookout overlooking the Columbia River on one side and on the hill behind us, there were metal horse sculptures. Once again - I'll share some photos soon.

Tomorrow we press on for Missoula, where we'll spend a couple of nights and then to Yellowstone.

Cruise Highlights

I have to wonder why we spend money going on vacations. Over the past week, various people have asked my kids what they liked best about their trip to Alaska.

Isaac has talked in raptures about the hand sanitizer machines, which automatically dispense sanitizer. Lizzy has told people that she had onion rings every night.

Hmmm. Maybe we should have bought a sanitizing machine, deep fryer, oil and onions and saved some money.

Alaska - Prince Rupert

Prince Rupert is actually in Canada but it was our fourth and final stop on our cruise. Prince Rupert is very pretty - this was our view as we approached the port...

We went on a trip called Sealife Discovery and Crab Extravanganza. The main cabin had a touch tank, where an ex-school teacher turned Marine Biologist talked to us about what could be found in the waters of Prince Rupert. It was definately a fun, hands on lesson for the kids.

There were lots of eagles to be seen, however mosts of my photos were blurry or looked like this... (yes, there had been an eagle there a fraction of a second previously.)

However, I did manage to get one half decent shot.

Dad helped clean the crabs up the back of the boat. The two Gordon's had a race to see who could clean a crab the fastest.

We all got a feed of crab - although Ben & Dad were given the challenge of eating most of the crab considering that I don't really like crab and the kids only at about 1 or 2 legs. It worked out to be 2 1/2 crabs each - although I don't think Dad managed to eat his quota.

And we were all given a chance to hold our own crabs - although Lizzy passed up the opportunity.

Alaska - Skagway

Our third stop was in Skagway. We had a wonderful time in Skagway, going to a Musher's camp, and being pulled in a wagon by a team of Alaskan Huskies. (As it's summer, there is no snow so the dogs keep in condition by training on dry land). Lizzy squealed in laughter the whole time and Kai was in raptures. Isaac loved it too, but was less vocal about it during the ride. However, afterwards he said it was the best!

After the ride, we listed to a talk about dog training and then the kids were allowed to hold the puppies.

Alaska - Juneau

Our second port of call was Juneau - the capital of Alaska. We visited Mendenhall Glacier while here and also went up the Mt Roberts Tramway (although I didn't take any photos up there!)

This first photo is of Ben and the kids, with the Glacier behind them.



We took a walk towards a waterfall, but got distracted by the rocks on the side of the lake. As you can see the glacial temperature water did not faze my children. Notice how everyone else just walked past - there was a reason for that!

You can just see the glacier behind Lizzy and I.

I love this photo of Kai, as it captures how he was always on the go. Unless he was in the backpack, he was in constant motion.


After we left Juneau, we sailed up the Endicott Arm and saw the Dawes Glaicer.

Along the way there were bits of ice, which were just floating in the water. When were were lucky we'd see seals on the ice.

Alaska - Ketchikan

We've just come home from our cruise to Alaska with Mum & Dad. We had a wonderful time and I thought I'd share a few photos. These first few are from Ketchikan, where we saw our only sunlight.

Kai has joined the club

The tea drinking club, that is.

Yes. He's done his grandma's proud and likes the taste of tea. My friend and I go to a tea house every few weeks for lunch and yesterday Kai kept on insisting on having tea. Kristina would put some on a spoon and he'd drink it. When she stopped he'd grunt and point at the teapot. Food was thrown on the floor and tea was demanded.

On my behalf - I'm starting to tolerate tea. Maybe I'll join the elusive tea drinkers club one day.

Is Archie Coming?

Our kids are very excited about the fact that Grandma & Grandad are coming to visit soon. However, today Lizzy wanted to know if Archie was coming too. She was quite disappointed when we told her that Archie was staying at home with his parents. This was quickly followed with the statement: "Well I hope they come and visit one day too".

I just smiled and said "Me too".

Maths Challenge

Each afternoon I look through the kids folders. Often there are bits of art or worksheets. Today I pulled out a piece of paper from Lizzy's bag. "Lizzy? Did you do this?" "Yes - Ms Beaver gave me a math challenge."

On a sheet of paper were the following...

37 + 4 + _ = 43
25 + _ = 45
100 + _ = 326
79 + 4 + _ = 88
473 - _ = 421
888 - _ = 726

Lizzy had gone through and filled in all the blanks. She got them all right, except the last where she was wrong by 10. "I like math Mum".

I suggested that perhaps she might grow up to be an accountant like her Aunty because they deal with math. She liked the sound of that.

It appears she's got her math skills from her Daddy - because they certainly haven't come from me.

One Year

Who can believe it, but a year has passed since Kai joined our family! What a joy he is. He's an easy going boy, with a ready smile. Most will tell you he's a flirt - and I have to agree.

Here are some pictures of the birthday boy...

Kai about to get his first taste of cake:

Kai having to be convinced to eat the cake..

And finally he decides it really does taste great!

He loved the balloons. This did not surprise me, as every time we go shopping he points at the balloons and says "Dis, dis".

And finally - he got a sandbox for his birthday. It was definately a hit.

Milestones

Some milestones are more exciting than others. Ben & I have been thrilled this week that Kai has started taking his first steps. They are very wobbly steps as he bravely lets go, taking one or two steps, enabling him to get from one spot to the next.

However, if you judge things by the expression on Kai's face - it's being able to flush the toilet which is the most exciting milestone reached this week. The laughter pours out as he pushes that handle down over and over again.

Who cares about walking when there are toilets to conquer.

Getting the message through

When someone is not quite one, they don't have many words - at least not the kids in our family.

Despite the fact that Kai doesn't say much, he knows how to get a message through. Today's message was "I don't want to eat that". For lunch, he had egg, pear and cheese. He quite deliberately threw the pear over the edge of his high chair, and then signed "more". I gave him some more pear. Silly mummy. He looked at it with disgust and threw it over the edge again and signed "more" again. Right. You're still hungry but you don't want pear. I've got it.

Impromptu Vacation

We went on an impromptu vacation on the weekend. Our reason was probably one of the worst you could ever think of - Church was doing a Seder service and our food allergy family can't think of anything worse than a food related church service. Our desire to miss church made us think about what else we could do. The result was a trip to Canada - Harrison Hot Springs, to be precise.

As you can probably guess from the name, there are hot springs at Harrison. We visited one, and as you can tell from the picture it was a smelly one. It was a sulphur hot spring, which gave it it's foul smell. Lizzy refused to come near until we suggested that she hold her nose while looking at it.



All in all, it was a lovely little vacation spot and we had a fun weekend away.

Rough and Tumble

If you asked me to describe Isaac, I would tell you he was a quiet cautious boy, with a wicked sense of humor, an observer of the world. I would tell you that he prefers quiet play over active play. I would tell you that he adores his little brother.

It never ceases to amaze me how my two boys get along.

I loved watching my boys play today. We were in the waiting room at Speech Therapy, and Kai & Isaac were wrestling. There really was no other word for it. Isaac would lay down on the ground and Kai would climb on him. Isaac would flip him over causing Kai to giggle and climb on him again. I was stuck with how boyish this play was - and amused at how fun they found it.

I wouldn't trade my boys for anything :)

Daddy to the Rescue

Yesterday evening I was talking to Ben on the phone as he was driving home. We hung up just as he was coming down our street. When I hung up, I heard sobbing. It was Lizzy. I had sent her for a bath about 20 minutes beforehand. I ran to the bathroom - it was the heart-wrenching kind of sob. I turned the handle, and I tried again. It was locked. "Mummy - I can't open the door". I look, and it's not the butter knife kind of lock breaking. I had no idea but luckily Daddy was home. I was so thankful I was able to reassure her that Daddy was home and he was going to get her out. He bought up his handy little screw driver and opened the door in a jiffy. There's nothing like a naked 6 year old who jumps on her daddy, thanking him for being her rescuer.

Baby Monitor

We have a video monitor for Kai. Such things were not around (or maybe we just didn't know about them) when the other two were babies. I have to admit that I love our monitor. I love being able to see our baby sleeping peacefully - or not sleeping in some cases. There is nothing as sweet as a baby asleep.