Happy Birthday Boy

Yesterday my beautiful boy turned seven. We all went to this maze. It was heaps of fun.

We all got a little lost...

But finally made it to the viewing tower in the middle.

When we got home T spotted this Koala up in the tree beside our house.

Not only did he get this awesome box to play with...

but inside it was a brand new mountain bike!

Mr T declared that it was the best day ever!

A tree, a bike and a rope

This morning we found this weird looking fungi in the yard. We'd never seen one before and while having a close look at it noticed that it stinks...Rain gagged when she smelled it.

We then went and looked it up in our trusty fungi book and found out that it is rare around our area and that it smells like rotten flesh!!! Well, we'd already found that bit out!

We then took a car load of kids down the river and after lots of huffing and puffing got all the boats and rafts blown up.

Then Mr T came up with a great new extreme sport this afternoon. He calls it bike sledding!

Courtesy of a tree lopping company that were pruning trees back from the power lines in our street, we now have two huge piles of woodchip to use as mulch on all the gardens. It's also been fun for the kids to ride their bikes over and dig in.

Mr T excitedly came in to me saying he had an awesome idea. He had noticed that when he dug down into the pile that it was really hot, so he wanted to try to cook some potatoes wrapped in aluminium foil like you cook them in the fire.

digging his cooking hole.

Unfortunately they didn't cook but I think that was mainly because he had to dig them up every half hour to check them:)

Rain, hanging out doing a bit of reading up the ladder...

This week it was my mums birthday and we had a lovely family lunch.

More happy Birthdays

Spent a beautiful day at the beach today. It was Mr T's actual birthday today and we had a nice quiet day, just the family hanging out, playing together.

Adventure Party

Yesterday we had a party for Mr T who truns six tomorrow. We went down to the camp where P works and the kids had a go of some of the activities.

First they tried archery.

Then the mid ropes course which was heaps of fun.

Tui and I looked on from our perch in the tree.

Mr T monkeyed his way up the rockclimb.

This was a favourite, the super-surfer...

Zan made it to the top and managed to balance on the surf board.

And the yoyo looked like so much fun, Mr T called out, "I'm flying at last!"...

And lastly we sat by the lake while the kids had a canoe.

Our bush camp

On the weekend Mr T wanted to make a bush camp in the yard.
First we found heaps of stick and vines and hunted around for a good spot to build.

It started to come together.

hen we got heaps of leaffy branches that P was pruning off some trees and tied them on the sides with more vines.

The finished shelter!
It turned out pretty well, just after we finished it started raining so we got to test it out for weather-proofness.

Later he did some tree climbing.

This boy just doesn't like to sit still!

And Tui is now big enough to fit in the small harness so she had a swing on the veranda too!

The amazing Mr T

My amazing boy is learning everyday. Well of course he is! But it is always a source of wonder how quickly children learn and how eager they are to learn. Yes kids naturally want to learn stuff, it is a cultural mis-belief that you have to sit kids down and make them learn against their will.

He is always performing new tricks, here's his "handstand on the coffee table".

Just today he mastered the art of shoe-lace tying.

And last week he bought himself a watch with his pocket money. And is starting to learn to tell the time.

And his creative side??? Well, how about pouring paints all over the outside table, and then sliding around on it on your belly. Makes some great patterns on the table as well as great body art!

So I think this pretty much covers the curriculum areas of Physical Education, Life Skills, Maths and Art and that's a tiny fraction of what he has done this week!

There's fun to be had...

I just love it how seemingly everyday events and object for us boring old adults :) are just more opportunities for fun for our children. It always reminds me that so many of our experiences are based on perception. If you expect something to be boring it usually is. But if you are in the now and not basing your actions on past experiences you see things with fresh eyes.

Children are open to the new, they haven't 'learned' their reactions, they act in the moment. I'm blessed to have four wonderful children who are always teaching me new ways of being.

Yesterday we got a new fridge delivered.
Even the arrival of the truck was exciting for Mr T (and slightly scary for Tui!) The refrigerator was unloaded and Mr T exclaimed 'that's the biggest box ever!'

I didn't see much of him all day, he spent most of it inside the box. It became a hide out, a tunnel and then probably a lot of other things in his amazing imaginary world.

Tui loved that box too!

And the trolley used to move the fridge became a new toy.

What to me was a useful tool and an empty box became hours of entertainment and exploration for the kids.

So today I will try to remember to look at the world around me with the eyes of a child and see the potential for joy and fun in everything.

Home improvements

For Mr T's birthday P made him a work bench.



He loves it and is out there first thing every morning.
Serendipity played a part and his grandparents gave him some new tools.
And the neighbours brought him a box of wood.


He has been trying to count as big as he can lately and with the help of his new tape measure he made it all the way to 100.

Mr T and his big brother have been working on some improvements to the new Van Cubby house.

It now has a solar panel mounted on the roof and wired up so the lights and radio work...clever boys! Zan, Rain and Mr T slept out there the other night!
And my little one is learning to climb, and I mean climb... right up into the tree house!!!

ok, the first steps

thinking about it...

almost at the top...

look at me ma!

ooh, I'm pround of myself.

With monkeys like these as role models what can I expect!