Moonset, Sunrise

Last Sunday morning Dexter and I rose before dawn and rode our bikes in the dark to Sydney Park.  We watched the super moon setting in one direction and the sun rising over the city skyline in the other direction.  It was simply magic.  It felt like we were the only people awake in the city.  The moon was fat and yellow (and impossible to photograph).  The skies perfectly clear, not even a whisper of clouds. We cycled to the very top of the hill and sat snuggled up against the cold on a park bench. 

For the next 25 minutes we watched the fat yellow moon slip slowly below the horizon.  Dexter was truly tickled by the whole thing.  Through chattering teeth (poor kid was shivering, it was cold!) he kept saying "Wow!  It really is bigger" and "Wow!  You can actually see it moving!"  and "Wow!  I'm so pleased we got up so early to see it mum".  Lots of wow's!

Slipping out of the house in the dark, into the tranquil predawn city; riding past a total of oh, maybe 4 cars; the fact that we actually followed through on our plans to see the super moon set which we only came up with the night before and sharing the whole adventure with a most enthusiastic 6 year old...well, it was a pretty special way to start the day.  A morning I wont forget for a long time.

(Not my photo, taken from here).

The Country Life

We've just returned from a week at my folks place.  I hardly took any photos.  In fact Dexter took the one above.  My friend Cass came with us and my folks were away so it was just her and I and the four children.  And the wide open space and big skies of this lovely part of the world.

We op shopped.   Come on!  Country town op shopping is the best and I was with Cass ~ op shopping queen ~ afterall!  We made a visit Annies Icecream - there is no way we are getting away with a trip to Bathurst without such a visit it seems.  Also dropped by the Sommerville museum, though our timing was out and we did not stay long as several small people needed lunch.  Most of all we just hang out at 'home'.  We trekked down to the creek a couple of times where we built bridges and swung on willow tree branches.  A few times Dexter and Harriet took themselves off on slow walks up the driveway to look for special rocks or 'up the back' to look for ripe raspberries and strawberries.

Each evening the kids gathered around to watch me light the fire - terribly I must admit, I'm extremely out of practice.  With very willing kindling collectors at my disposal it didn't really matter that I had to start over several times.  After the kids went to bed Cass and I sat by the fire and talked and drank wine and stayed up far too late each night!

Such a perfect way to fill the second week of my solo parenting stint while Will is off coffee-adventuring (Panama, El Salvador and Bolivia this time).   I'm so grateful to have this country escape whenever the desire hits me and am just thrilled to have been able to share it with my dear friend and her children.

(Check out Cass's beautiful photos here).

Dexter's Bike Love

Dexter has a new bike!  It seems so recent that we bought him his first bike last year but he has completely out grown it...and we can't have that now can we?  He is so thrilled with his new bike.  We picked it up from the bike shop today after the l o n g e s t  3 week wait EVER for this 6 year old.  He jumped straight on it. 

Even gave me a big ole toothless grin outside the store (he's been a little self conscious about his gap since losing both top middle teeth a week apart).

We chose a front basket and waited while Adam attached it to his bike.  Then after a few minutes practice in the lane behind Cheeky Transport Dex rode his shiny new bike all the way home without a hitch!

Once home, Dex asked me to carry it up the stairs onto the deck so he could admire it and fill his new basket bag with all the necessary things.  Which appear to be:  drink bottle, bike lock, an old hooter bell, a reflective ankle band he got free from City of Sydney council sometime, his visibility vest and cycling gloves and some loose change!  This child likes to cover all his bases that's for sure.

After a couple of hours of this he proceeded to ask me every 2 minutes if we could go out for another ride.  Actually ask is a nice way of putting it.  He whined and moaned and begged and drove me up the wall.  I however have done something to my ankle - a paddock-stomping injury I sustained the other day that has suddenly become rather painful several days after the fact.  Our Xtracycle ride to Newtown to collect Dexter's bike was all my ankle could handle today so we did the only thing one can do in such a situation.   I grabbed a beer and my camera and plonked myself down on our front door step while the boys zoomed back and forth on the footpath out the front.  Really quite a pleasant way to spent the afternoon actually!
 

Dexter practiced his handle bar braking and worked hard to get out of the habit of back peddle braking which his old bike had and this one does not.  He also practiced changing gears.  Yes, his new wheels have gears.  How sophisticated is that?!

Tonight he actually sat on his stationary bike in the living room while listening to an audio story before bed.  Seriously.  It's a wonder he didn't try to take the thing to bed with him.  I'm so tickled to witness this love affair.  May your bike love only grow stronger little one. (And may my ankle feel better tomorrow so we can head out for a spin together and share the cycling love).

The past month or two...

I know, I know.  Three posts in one day doesn't really make up for the weeks and weeks of zero blogging.  Ah well.  Moving on!

Just so you know our lives go on even when the blogging doesn't, here are some snaps from the last little while.

Baby doll wearing.

A real haircut (i.e. by someone other than mummy).

 Our homeschool groups annual Bike-a-thon.

Cooling off.

 Upside down antics. Photo by Cass.

 Crappy iphone photos Brotherly laughter (above), brotherly love (below)...

These two hold hands all the time, oh my, may they never stop.

 ...and rockin out!

Easter

How has your Easter been? We enjoyed a lovely quiet weekend beginning with kite flying...of course.

Did you know that in Bermuda the whole country heads to the beach to fly kites on Good Friday?  We like to continue the tradition.  We had the most perfect day and kite flying conditions that we've had in years.  Last year at the farm it just wasn't quite windy enough.  The year before on the cliffs in Coogee it was too windy. This year conditions were just right! The day was made even better by sharing it with our friends.

This one is for you mum - check out that toothless grin! 

Flying four kites at once, that's right.  What a dag that it even occurred to him to try this stunt.  I love this guy!  

Big (cycling) Moment!

So the other day, on Hugo's 4th birthday to be precise, we went out for a short bike ride.  No ordinary bike ride mind you (and I'm not referring to the helium balloons that accompanied our return trip that day either).  Extraordinary because the Xtracycle remained under her tarp in the backyard.  This ride was a Big Moment because...wait for it...Dexter, Hugo and I ventured out on THREE SEPARATE BIKES! 

They ride their bikes all the time at the park or on the footpath the short distance to Don Campos while I walk along beside them.  But its only now that I've felt confident that they can both behave sensibly enough on their bikes for me to cycle also.  

Today we ventured much, much further than Thursdays short outing and cycled all the way to Sydney Park, looped all the way around the duck ponds and then onto the mini road system before returning home.

Dexter has been sensible and alert on his bike for ages now and he and I have even cycled off the footpath and on the road where appropriate at times.  But I've always felt more at ease with Hugo strapped into his child seat on my Xtracycle until now. He still isn't anywhere near ready for on-road cycling but wow, it felt pretty fantastic to be able to each ride our own bikes. 

Birthday Boy(s)

Oh do stop growing please!  Hugo turned 4 last week.  FOUR! And of course his dad celebrated another birthday too.  It's pretty fun having half of our families birthdays on the same day.  I documented the day in photos, though of course there's a disproportionate amount of photos of the youngest member of our family.  We didn't fancy following Will around at work with a camera, though I managed to snap this one later in the evening of him receiving his gift...a frying pan.  Yep.  Exciting stuff huh, but really it's what he wanted! 

Our day was spent cycling to the balloon shop where Hugo picked out balloons (of course) and party hats.  He chose green as his colour of the day because he said it was daddy's favourite colour and its his birthday too you know.  It was great fun cycling home with helium balloons tied to our bikes! 

He played with his birthday presents. Favourites include a spinning top, glockenspiel and marbles.

 

 There was a lot of running around like maniacs with the balloons and we made a cake which Hugo didn't eat because, well, kid doesn't like cake!  Must be something to do with being born on the 5th of April as his father doesn't like cake either.  More for Dex and I!

And we finished the day with a late night dance party.  Hugo danced so hard he ended up crashing out in my arms about 2 minutes after asking for a cuddle around 10pm.  Dexter is still telling everyone how he stayed up until nearly midnight!