1,2,3,4,5...Once I caught a fish alive

Yes...we did let one of these fellows go again but luckily it didn't bite our little finger.

There is a daily limit of one rockfish so we threw one back again - however after throwing it back we shook our heads in dismay because we realised it was one per person, not per boat.

For those of you who are fishermen - this was a Copper Rockfish.

4th July

Yesterday was 4th July. For our children, that means Independance Day. More importantly to them it meant Fireworks!

Elizabeth has never seen fireworks and Isaac, only as a baby. However, because we are on vacation we decided to stay up late (remember that the sun sets at 10.00pm) and see the fireworks display.

We were a little apprehensive to start, waiting to see how they would react. I have memories of children screaming in terror at seeing fireworks. But there was none of that in our household. Isaac's face was a picture of delighted surprise and he applauded all the ones he liked. His favourite were the multi-coloured fireworks. Lizzy was more vocal in her appreciation. Her first response was to squeal in laughter and loud crys of "Look!" and "Ohh...that's so pretty!".

Overall - it was a very enjoyable evening with two little exhausted bears by the end of the evening.

My style

We were driving home today and Isaac was asking what he could do when he got home. I suggested that he could either ride his bike or play outside.

He paused for a moment and said "Playing with trains is more my style"

Isn't it great to know that your five year old has his own personal style of play?

Riding Along on My Push Bike Honey

We have a new bike. Or is it half a bike? Our new bike is an attachment that I can put on the back of my bike, turning it into a tandem bike for the kids. It's lots of fun, and alot of work for me.

We tried it out today, riding up our drive way and up to the top of the hill. Despite Isaac weighing more than Lizzy, it's much easier to ride with Isaac as he actually pushes on the peddles. With Lizzy, it's hit or miss whether she's actually pushing.

I have certainly done my exercise for today.

Spider

Ben & I were chatting when suddenly we hear:

"Look Mummy! A spider!"

Lizzy holds out her hands and proudly displays her spider to us. "What do spiders like to eat?"

"They like to eat insects, Lizzy. But did you know, if you find a spider you shouldn't pick it up. It's better to leave it where it is. Or if you have to move it, move it back to somewhere it would like to live."

"Where do spiders live?"

"Outside." Although this one is a house spider, I'd much rather see it outside.

So Lizzy takes the spider outside, and as we close the door she puts on her best mummy voice.

"Now don't come back inside."

A Day Early

Lizzy has been begging me to bake a birthday cake for the past few weeks. We have a wonderful kids cookbook, and each day she finds the picture of the birthday cake and asks if we can make it.

Today I finally gave in, and looked for an excuse to have a birthday cake.

First of all we sang...

"Happy Half Birthday's to us....".

It's 6 months to all of our birthdays - give or take a number of days.

Then I realised we could sing Happy Birthday to Emma - just a day early.

So we all sang "Happy Birthday Dear Aunty Emma" and then enjoyed a slice of cake on your behalf Em!

Happy Birthday!

Sports Confusion

I love watching Isaac playing the Wii. Today he was playing Tennis, and I could not help chuckling. In the time it took for the ball to go from his end of the court, to the other and then back again, he managed to swing his racquet about 5 times in fast little swings.

Then to top it all off, as one of these little swings managed to connect with the ball, his right leg would suddenly kick out, as though he was kicking a ball.

He certainly managed to get some exercise in whilst playing his own version of tennis-soccer. That was the point of the Wii, right?

When I grow up...

Lizzy has a new goal in life.

When she grows up she wants to be a boy.

I suspect that we have a little bit of big brother hero worship happening.

Memorial Day

Today is Memorial Day. The Australian equivalent would be ANZAC Day.

As we drove past the cemetery yesterday, Isaac noticed all the American flags in the ground and asked us why they were there.

I told him "Memorial Day is a day which we remember the people who have fought for our country." Pause. "Well, actually, for your country. Because it's not my country. Memorial Day is an Amerian day."

I really should have just stopped after the first explaination. Explaining Memorial Day to a five year old is hard enough, without the added confusion of nationality.

Appearances

Isaac is such a boy these days. He's starting to like boy things, he's starting to get rough in a playful way. He also couldn't care less how he looked. Present him with clothes and shoes, and he'll put them on without a care.

Elizabeth, on the other hand, cares. Not only does she care, but she knows exactly how she wants to look. Heaven forbid if you suggest something she doesn't want to wear. However, when it comes to shoes she is very particular. She knows the shoes she wants to wear, and they must be clean.

As we were putting on her fairly new shoes yesterday morning, she starting saying "No, no no! I need new shoes."

"But Lizzy, these shoes are new."

"No - they are old. I need new shoes."

At this point I turned to Ben and said "I think we have a cronic shoe shopper on our hands."

Ben rolls his eyes and Lizzy says very seriously "Yes, I think so too."

Leatherback Sea Turtles

Our bed has somehow become an "imagination" spot in our house. It often is a boat, although sometimes it is a train or even a plane. Sometimes, when nobody can agree, it is both a boat and a train at the same time.

The other day it was a rescue boat. Elizabeth had tossed all our pillows off our bed and they were Leatherback Sea Turtles. She would then swim out and rescue the turtles and bring them safely back to the boat.

It's fun to see how a child's imgaination can grow - and it constantly amazes me how much they pickup about the world around us without us even knowing.

What is a Friend?

The other day, Isaac and I were talking about preschool. I asked him if Jackson was his friend. The answer was "No". I then asked him "What about Joshua?".

"No, but I like playing with Joshua. Can he come over and play with Daddy and I?"

After a quick shake of my head I had to announce the news: "Isaac if you like playing with someone, they are your friend."

"Ohhh." And the light comes on.

Doggie Update

Our old visitor has been claimed and will be spending the evening at home with her owner. I am very relieved, as I did not want her to have to be taken to the pound. However, I'm not sure how the reaction will be tomorrow morning from our two children. Hopefully the ground work we laid today will lessen any disappointment tomorrow.

Before and After

We are getting our house painted - it used to be pink and now it is brown.

Before....

After....

There are a few finishing touches to be done, but I'm sure you get the general idea.

Temporary Visitor

We had an unexpected visitor turn up today.

She is a very old dog, and appears to be blind. We walked around our neighbourhood and could not find an owner, and we took her to our vet to see if she was microchipped. No luck. So we've aquired a temporary visitor. I've stressed to the kids that she's only visiting and they seem content with that. Hopefully someone will claim her soon.

Walking

One thing I love about the weather warming (and drying) up is that we have more opportunities to get out to our local nature trails. Today, we headed out to the Redmond Watershed Preserve. It was about a 45 minute (child-paced) walk, filled with lots of exciting things to see. The highlight was seeing a snake slithering off the path into the wetlands. Isaac was thrilled and has told everyone about the black snake that looked like it was cut down the middle with a yellow line. As exciting as our walk was, I'm glad we didn't have the excitement of a jogger who came off one of the longer trails. He told us to be careful if using the trail he'd been on because had nearly run into a black bear.

Here are some photos of our walk.

Isaac is my trail blazer. Normally a boy who'd rather be sitting quietly, once he's on a walk he's wanting to take off ahead of everyone.

On the other hand, Lizzy, who seems to never stop moving, is constantly stopping to touch or admire something.

Going Up

Lizzy went tree climbing again. This time Daddy was home to be the rescuer.

Tree Climbing - Part II

We picked Ben up from the airport on Thursday afternoon. He had already read my blog, and started to ask Lizzy about her tree climbing experiences.

Another voice suddenly joins in...

"I'm going to climb a tree when I am seven!"

Ahhh. That's my little planner. He might not want to climb a tree at 5, but it appears that he somehow knows that it's something that a child should do and has a definate plan to achieve it.

My response...

"Jolly Good Isaac. On your seventh birthday I'll send you up the tree - rain or shine."

Spring Afternoons

Spring has finally arrived. The weather is warming up, marginally. It feels like an Australian winter right now. The flowers are blooming. The kids are playing outside. It's great.

This afternoon Isaac and I were around the side looking for bugs, when suddenly we hear Elizabeth, "Mummy, come and look at me!"

Isaac and I walk around the back, but I don't see anyone.

"Mummy, look at me!"

I look up. Half way up the Italian Prune tree is a girl in pink.

"Wow Lizzy, you have climbed high. Can you climb back down?"

"No. I need help."

She is just high enough that when I stretch out my arm I'm a few inches away from her foot.

"Lizzy. Can you see the branch below you? Can you put your foot on it?"

"No. I need help."

Oh dear. What do I do? I could climb up myself, or I could leave her there while I get the ladder.

"Wait there Lizzy. I'm going to get the ladder"

So there I am, on this lovely spring afternoon having images of rescuing kittens from trees. Luckily this little kitten of mine was quite willing to be rescued.

California

Ben is going to California today.

I think Isaac knows that he was born in California. However, I found out Lizzy's extent of knowledge on California while at the airport this morning.

"Where are you going Daddy?"

"I'm going to California for work"

"Oh. California! That's where the Cars went"

After a moment of confusion, Ben realised she was referring to the movie "Cars".

"Yes - Lightning McQueen went to California didn't he? But Daddy is going for work, he's not going to race in a car"