"The best picnic spot in Melbourne"

We are enjoying having Mum & Dad/Grandma and Grandpa back. This picnic was during their overlap with Tony, before he returned to England. We had a lovely picnic on the banks of the Yarra.

Yoga

David sometimes likes to join Seren when she does yoga in the morning. This time, though, it was Pretty and Scoop who wanted to join her. David was very impressed with Scoops ability to bend and make shapes!

Farewell Helen

We had such a lovely time with Tony and Helen here. We're still enjoying Tony's company...these pictures are from our farewell morning tea the day Helen left Australia.

It's a while ago now but David still says "Where's Helen?" every time we see Tony!

The lovely kangaroo backpack was a gift for David from Helen. Very appropriate since we'd seen a kangaroo with her joey together at Hanging Rock.

David's buttons!

We look forward to visiting you one day in England!

For Zach

Dear Zach,

This is for you.

Do you remember the painting in my house that was done by an elephant? You liked it when you saw it on skype.

Here are some pictures of that very painting being done by an elephant named Thongperm. He was 5 years old. That's young for an elephant! You can see that Grandpa, Aunty Seren, David and I were all there watching.

That's my painting on the far left. The others are pretty good too, don't you think?

Brunch this morning

Mum and Dad, this is for you. I thought you might like to see the new carpet, chairs and brunch set-up. (And the great musicians!)

We've discovered a new park!

Pipe Organ National Park

We had a lovely 3-day visit from Barbara during the school holidays. The weather was terrible - cold and wet - so we had to spend most of the time sitting around in our pjs chatting and drinking cups of tea!
But the day she left it cleared up enough for us to enjoy at picnic at Organ Pipes NP.
David loves Barbara.

Looking for platypuses (platypi?) in the river...
A wave for Grandma and Granpa at the rosette rock...

David discovering moss...

Heading back up the hill out of the gorge, David singing happily "Jesus, Jesus loves..."

"Mummy look! My is a big 'rangutan!"

Beautiful morning at the Zoo!

This morning David and I went to the Zoo with Klara and Angelika, friends from Mothers' Group. It was such beautiful weather and we seemed to be the only people at the zoo for the first hour!

Klara and David in the butterfly house (being orangutans!)

Watching the orangutan family. They were so affectionate with each other. Can you spot the baby?

David and Klara...there was plenty of hand-holding!

Percy and Cranky Crane

David loves reading stories and always begins with "One sunny morning..." I'm not sure where he got that from but it's very sweet!




And here is the picture of Cranky that he wanted to take:

Coco and David hard at work...

David the builder

We finally moved David's cot out of the house. (He hasn't slept in it in over 6 months!)

David loves anything resembling handyman's work, so as soon as Dad got his spanner out of the back of his car David raced off to get his toolbox...

David loves videos

David's 1st photo!

David took his first photo today. (First entirely unaided, that is.) I was taking photos of my garden and David was very insistent that he be allowed to take some too. It turned into a photography lesson as I showed him which button to press, how to press it, how to check that what he wanted was in the viewfinder, etc. He has his father's amazing knack of being able to do things just after watching someone else do them. And it turns out he's quite the artiste...

This is his first shot:

Getting better!
Enjoying himself! (I took that one!)

As he discovered his artistic side there was no stopping him. He told me to lie down on the grass for this one. (Again I took it, but the concept was his!)

And this is all his own work. He told me where to stand, told me to put the camera case on the ground on the other side of the lime tree, backed himself across the lawn, lined it up and shot! He was so funny to watch, especially leaning back to get the camera to come up high enough to see me in the picture!

At one point he wanted a video. I'll try to post that too, but often have trouble with videos so we'll see how we go...

Yesterday's purchase

(And all going well so far!)

Today at Bunnings

Just popped in for some soil and mulch...and stayed for the excellent entertainment!
(David pulled up the chair himself!)

(Apparently this guy used to perform on Mr Squiggle!)

Maker Baker!

David had a baking session with Grandma. David loves playing a rhyming game, so loves to call himself "Maker Baker!"




Rubbing the butter into the flour...





















...rolling out the dough...




















...cutting out the shapes...














...onto the tray...

















...drying up while the biscuits are baking...










...looking good!














Plating up...





















...just checking...
















...hosting afternoon tea in the garden!






(Thanks Grandma!)

Thomas Day at Puffing Billy

On Saturday we went to Thomas Day at Puffing Billy. It was GREAT!

I'm having trouble getting these pictures in the order I want - I can't seem to move them about today, so they're just coming as they do.

Here is David enjoying the Puffing Billy steam engine ride through the beautiful Dandenongs. This was before we boarded, watching Puffing Billy getting up steam, them shunting our carriages into place. David is a bit obsessed with steam engines at the moment (his favourite DVD is the made-for-adults "Steam Trains of Australia"), so this was a highlight.
Looking up the train. I enjoyed the ride so much. I knew David would like it but was surprised at how much I did too.

David with The Real Troublesome Trucks. (And The Real Thomas in the background.)

Here is David with Grandma, Grandpa and "Pudda Billy". And here discovering the joys of bouncing castles!

We went for a ride on The Real Green Bulgy Bus.

And saw The Real Trevor (one of David's favourites).

And, of course, saw The Real Thomas!

What a great day!