Biennale

Car free Wednesday. What to do?

Take a train then a ferry to Sydney's

Biennale Festival on Cockatoo Island.

Both boys gob-smacked by this installation. How did those cars get up there and who put all those wires and lights inside mum? Here's a link to a better photo. It's even cooler in real life.

We clambered over the roofs of this amazing sculpture of a shanty town. Imagining people below our feet sleeping and cooking and as evidenced by the aerials and satellite dishes, watching TV. I tried to explain to Little D that there are places in the world that look exactly like this. I'm not sure he really understood.

(Yep, he jumped in that puddle. It wasn't the last).

One of the reasons for our visit was a friend recently telling us about this life size replica of the Hubble Telescope on display. I can't think why she thought D would be interested.

Don't feel like tackling the steep gradients of the island? No problem - you can take this tunnel. It takes you literally from one side of the island to the other. I think I was more excited by this than the kids. A tunnel? Why, we must go in and see where it takes us!

And we just couldn't possibly be in Sydney Harbour without the opportunity for playing among the roots of a Moreton Bay fig tree would we? Little D, when reflecting on our day this evening said he'd like to go again and again and again. (I'd say we'll go to Cockatoo Island again sometime...)

Space mission

Little H was drawing today and I noticed how well he is doing with his pincer grip. Not bad huh? He was scribbling what he called rockets and saying "chhhh-choo, lift off!" and then he accidently drew a circle-ish shape and got very excited because it looked like a "boon" (balloon) and he went on to draw a bunch of them. Just this week he has started saying his brothers name properly and it's clear as day instead of his past version which sounded something like "Der der".

In the darkness of the early winter morning yesterday after a quiet 10 or 15 minutes at his craft table Little D brought this to show me - a Lighthouse that he created using a torch inside the toilet rolls. Blue paper for the base represents the ocean, the brown scrunches are rocks. It's all lit up in this photo but it's rather difficult to photograph well- you'll just have to trust me that in a dark room with the torch shining through the yellow paper it really looks quite cool.

While his imagination took him ocean side for a little yesterday, space is still this kids preferred place to 'reside' in. The whole house was apparently a spaceship. He wore his astronaut suit to bed last night because his space mission needed to continue while he slept - there are big distances to cover in space and it can take days to get somewhere. Here he is explaining that when inside the spaceship, due to the lack of gravity, the ceilings and walls and floors are always changing and becoming each other. The suit stayed on today when we went to Little H's music class. He is currently watching his Spaceflight DVD which we got at the PHM last year. It is seriously the most dry documentary I've ever seen, all original (grainy) footage of various space missions without any of the bells and whistles of your modern day doco - he loves it none the less. This morning his first comment was "Well, how far have we travelled overnight? I think we're nearing Saturn."

Daddy-less for a week

A quiet weekend here. A little bike ride in the beautiful sunshine.

We dropped by the warehouse yesterday and I snapped this shot of the team making me a coffee. I'm sure I've shared very similar photo(s) before but it really is such an integral part of the fabric of our lives that you'll just have to accept the repetition! The kids never tire of the warehouse and the exciting things that lie within. Little D mimics his dad. "Double ristretto or piccolo latte? Or do you want both Mum?" he says in his serious getting down to business voice. His beverage of choice is a luke-warm weak hot chocolate which he drinks with a straw. Little H remains unimpressed by baby cino's and we've not introduced him to the delights of a hot chocolate yet so he usually munches an apple from the staff fruit bowl while the rest of us get our daily fix. They finish up elbowing each other in their efforts to load the little dishwasher beneath the counter! (We don't have one at home so it has that novelty factor still)!

We dropped Will off at the airport this afternoon for his trip to Sulawesi. It looks set to be quite the adventure. He'll no doubt write about it in the Campos News section on our website once he is back and I'll post a link to it then.

While Will is away these next 7 days I'm hoping to pick up a few projects that have been gathering dust recently. What else is a girl to do when the kids are tucked up in bed and her husband is away during these long winter evenings? My sewing machine has been very neglected of late and I'm itching for it! The most difficult thing is deciding what to tackle first? Perhaps this little robot for my robot mad son.

Barber visit

Here's Little D dancing his way to the barber's on Monday. He had his fourth EVER haircut. That's right, he is 4 years and 8 months and in his whole little life has only had his hair cut four times. This kid's hair is sloooow growing and as such his mummy is a little precious about it. His locks however were starting to look a little too mullet-like for my liking and I requested the barber to do the bare minimum to take just a little of length/bulk off the back to lessen the mullet look. Of course, easier said than done and....AHHHH! His hair is now a lot shorter. See for yourself. It looks sweet enough of course but I'll be happy to see some length growing back in the coming months.

Little H had a quick turn in the barbers chair too but you can hardly tell. Poor barber was too scared to take much off as I obviously came across as one of those crazy mothers not yet ready for my baby's locks to be tampered with! He did however tidy up the back, which I'd hacked at several months ago when his hair was taking on more of a mullet style than I could handle. (I obviously have some deep seated fears regarding mullets). So now the back is even and those wispy wings that stick over each ear (see below) are here to stay for a little longer!

Today we honoured our car free Wednesday. Which we failed to do last week due to driving to Bathurst. But I think we made up for it today. Little D walked the furthest he has ever walked in his life. Well, possibly not, but he certainly walked a long way and with good cheer the whole time. We took the bus to our destination and wandered from Campos and a couple of shops on to the library. We'd planned to catch the bus home but decided to walk, and then kept on walking all the way PAST our house and onto the warehouse to visit daddy before finally returning home. We were out and about for 2 and a half hours, walking most of that time. I did a quick calculation on a map just now and we walked a couple of hundred meters short of 4 kilometres! Now that's nothing for this grown up but it's quiet the achievement for Little D and he was so proud of himself. Little H enjoyed the journey from the luxury of the stroller.

We're home

So we're back from our little trip to Bathurst. As with any trip away from home with little people, we had our share of, shall we say, difficult situations, including a few simultaneous meltdowns (yay for me!) due to late nights, poor sleep and too much excitement. In the end we returned home a little earlier than planned due to cranky children, cranky mummy and well just general crankiness all round. Not to worry, each trip gets a little easier as the boys get older and mum and dad and my childhood home aren't going anywhere! The boys really enjoyed the time they got to spend with their cousin (even though her older brother was missed). Here are some highlights.

Nanny and Pa's fish pond is always the first thing the kids want to check out. The old garden bed which they lined with plastic, filled with water and threw in a few gold fish thinking the birds would probably eat them is still going strong and the fish have been happily breeding for at least 10 years now. Ice often forms on the surface yet still they survive. Who knew gold fish would thrive so well outdoors in Bathurst? The kids like trying to count them.

Little D wanted to find the source of the chorus of croaking down by the dam but the frogs are good at hiding and alas we heard many but saw none.

Little H surprised me with his timidness regarding the vast open space of the paddocks. This is the look he had on his face basically the whole time we were outdoors! Little D was yelling and running back and forth and saying to his little brother "Come on H, lets find the sheep, lets look for frogs. You can run with me, do you see the dam?" and so on. But H was obviously overwhelmed by the very non-urban environment he found himself in and wanted to be carried or to hold my hand. I realised that he simply hasn't spent the time at mum and dad's that Little D has (when there was just one babe in my life and the 3.5 hour drive and parenting without Will - who usually has to stay behind for work -was much more achievable).

Although outside his comfort zone he did eventually get lost (in a good kind of way) in the long grass. His hair matches the colour of the dry grass don't you think?

It wasn't actually very cold and (sadly) there was no need to kit out H in the old ski suit hanging in the laundry cupboard which I'd been imagining him in. Nor Little D in an old parka. Oh well, next time huh!

Little D enjoyed following the sheep around, calling out to H to join him. He was disappointed to find the chooks were no longer around after a fox made a meal of them a few months back but was very matter of fact about it. "Foxes eat hens, don't you know mum."

D feeding the neighbours horses. Notice Little H keeping a safe distance. He was pretty terrified of what he called dogs. I imagine a dog the size of a horse would be pretty scary! I reassured him they were friendly (and not oversized canines) and he was happy to be in my arms while I stroked their noses but not in the least bit interested in touching them or feeding them himself.

The kids first experience of a bonfire was definitely the highlight of our stay and Pa even made them their very own little fire in an old kitchen sink for marshmallow toasting. Although the little one wasn't too keen on eating them he enjoyed the toasting part. His big brother could hardly believe his luck and ate at least half the packet! (His mother may have consumed most of the other half. Yum)!

Little H kept backing away saying "too sunny" and shielding his face with his hands. Little D was extremely interested in how the fire "makes the stuff it is burning disappear". I think that all of our attempts to explain it completely failed to satisfy the poor child. I mean, it's pretty tricky to explain isn't it? He loved it every time Pa or Uncle Matt added something big to the fire sending millions of sparks off into the night.

Little D (AKA apprentice chef) didn't miss out on his need to create in the kitchen just because he was away from daddy (AKA resident chef). He helped Nanny make lemon meringue pies for an afternoon tea party we had with some Bathurstian mates.

It's lovely to come home after a few days away. The latest Ottobre magazine arrived while we were away and I'm going to hop into bed now and drool over all the children's clothes that I'll probably never find time to sew!

Off to the countryside

So my sister and my niece are here on the mainland for the holidays. We are all really enjoying their company and Little D is pretty chuffed to have his same aged cousin around. He's been impressing her with his and Will's pasta making skills and she him with her piano playing skills. They're waking up at the crack of dawn each day to play together. Going hard all day and crashing out pretty early leaving their mummies free to talk the night away. We're heading 'home' to Bathurst tomorrow to stay with mum and dad. There'll be time for sitting by the fireplace, afternoon tea with old mates, star gazing and a big old bonfire one evening and watching the children trek around the paddocks in parka's and gumboots that we once wore. But there wont be time to blog!

Back here in about a week.

A clean house, my how lovely!

I've spent the better part of today madly cleaning the house. We have visitors arriving tomorrow and one of them at least is a clean freak! These boys are soooo good at getting on with their own thing, I gave this place the best scrub down it's seen in a long while. (Perhaps we should have house guests more often?!)

Every time I looked up to see what they were up to - and cause I always vacuum with a camera slung around my neck, doesn't everybody? - here's what I saw.

Little D teaching Little H how to blow bubbles. Awe. (Nevermind him holding the wand so close to H's mouth the kid was basically drinking detergent).

D made himself this musical instrument. I heard a strange noise along with Little D singing from their bedroom. Found him rockin' out to his own elasticised sounds.

And lastly, in his big brothers astronaut outfit, Little H running around with his head inside the suit, bumping into things (a la Parenthood the movie, bucket-on-his-head style) yelling incoherently with the only clear words at the end of each repeated sentence being "to the rescue-ewwwwwww".

Plenty of other crazy business too but one can't constantly be swapping the vacuum for the camera when one is trying to clean the house.

And just a little bit of handmade goodness to finish up. I whipped up this beanie to go with the little appliqued t.shirts I made for our barista's newborn son. Lest the little one think he wasn't worthy of something that wasn't pre-loved! (This was the closest approximate to Campos Green available in an 8ply baby wool). Said little one was born on Wednesday. Welcome to the Campos family Raffety! You're the 6th little boy to be born to our crew. Surely there has got to be something in the coffee consumption/male offspring connection.