Planet Margaret

The other day Elliot says to me, "Mommy, did you know that I know everything in the whole world?"

Me: Really, Elliot? Everything? You are pretty clever, but nobody knows everything in the whole world.

E: I do.

Me: Okay. So, can you tell me the names of all the planets?

E: Hmmm. I know that one is called Margaret, but I can't remember the names of the rest of them.

Me: I guess that's one thing you've still got to learn then, isn't it? It's probably best that you keep on going to school.

E: But, Mommy.

Me: Yes, Elliot.

E: The planets aren't in this world. I told you I know everything in this world.

Right. Well, I guess he's already smarter than me then.

Daddy's escape

I had been thinking about returning to Africa for the 20 year reunion of my friend's infamous campsite on Lake Malawi for awhile, but it just seemed a bit extravagant. But my wonderful wife knew I'd miss seeing all my old friends and ex-African overland people, and she said I should go.

A week later I was on the plane headed to Lilongwe with Jeff and Pixie for a week's worth of Africa fix. Once we arrived at the airport in Lilongwe, our friends picked us up for the five hour drive north to Kande Beach.

It was fantastic to catch up with everyone and see how old they've all become and listen to the same-old stories that just seemed to have gotten bigger and better as time has gone by. It was especially good to catch up with Taxi Dave, my boss during my time doing the Africa circuit.

It was a great trip, but I missed my boys and Casey and kept talking about them all the time. And while it was fun to get back to Africa, I'm glad that I don't live there all the time. And the beer's definitely not as good as I remember it. ~ Paul

This Bailey bridge looked pretty sad on the way there
and had collapsed by the time we made our way back.

Typically overloaded local transport

Jeff with Hundred (who we found out is only 78)
a now-retired, long-time employee of Kande Beach

This reunion we eventually got most everyone together for a group photo,
something we were too disorganised to manage at the 10 year reunion
for various reasons (ie. inebriation, hungover)

Jeff, Pixie and Bulawayo Bruce on the way back to Lilongwe.
Thanks for the lift Bruce.

Sack races and slip n slide

The other day Cailey and Aine and Jess and Jareth came over for a completely ordinary play date. First we were just doing the normal stuff: playing in the toy room and cubby house and trampoline. Pretty soon we were playing tag and then statue tag. That led to musical statues which led to musical chairs, and before we knew it Mom was bringing out the pillow cases for sack races.

And what's the only thing better than sack races? Slip 'n Slide!!! And Icy Poles and smoothies too!!!

It was like a spontaneous birthday party without the presents and cake! ~ Elliot

Single motherhood

After months of deliberation and talking himself out of it, Paul made the last minute decision to hop on a plane to Malawi to attend the 20 year reunion of his friend's campsite, Kande Beach, and catch up with all of his old African mates. I was so happy for Paul and also petrified at the thought of a week as a single mother. Lord knows I struggle with motherhood with a terrific partner by my side; the prospect of doing it on my own had me weeing myself.

And even though I really miss Paul getting up early with the boys, I've actually really loved spending this time with just the boys and me.

I don't know if it's because I've eased up a bit on my expectations of myself or what we will accomplish, but it's been really nice to just enjoy my two crazy boys. No, they haven't eaten the best, or made it to bed on time. Heck Ollie hasn't even had a nap two of the days, but we're getting through it, and nobody has had a major meltdown, and I haven't resorted to drinking myself silly on red wine at night.

So thank you, Paul, for running off for a week of fun. You deserve it, and believe it or not, I think it was just what I needed to get my Mommy-mojo back.

A rainy Kelmscott show

This year the weather did not cooperate for us on our annual trip to the Kelmscott Show. So not only were we missing Daddy, but we were also missing the sun!

Nevermind! Elliot, Mommy and I made the best of it anyway! We patted the animals, jumped on a wet bouncy castle, ate hot dogs and hot chips and fairy floss and cupcakes, went fishing for prizes, got our first ever show bags (Mommy somehow talked us into ones with NO candy--what were we thinking!?!?), and rode on a couple of rides. Elliot was brave and rode on a roller coaster all on his own, but I was happy in my Ninja Turtle car.

We were too wet and too cold to stay for the fireworks like we planned. Lucky for us we could watch them from the street out front of our house after we got dry and warm! ~ Oliver

Bits!

Conversation with Nana over coffee today . . .

Ollie: Nana, you don't have a willy.
Nana: No, Oliver, I don't have a willy like boys do.
Elliot (professor-like): No, Nana, you have three holes.

Thank goodness, Yvonne doesn't ruffle easily. I think my uncensored answers to the boys questions might get me into a bit of a pickle one of these days!

Pirate Cowboy Mason Oliver Thomas

Ollie (or Mason Oliver Thomas as he calls himself these days) has been all about dress-up lately! This one was my particular favourite!

Theatre buffs

We've been visiting the theatre heaps this year.

A few months ago, Mommy took me on a date with my friend Hugo and his mom to see the puppet show, The Bugalugs Bum Thief which was HILARIOUS!!

And then a couple of weeks ago, we visited the local Roleystone Theatre's open day, where we toured behind the scenes to see the costumes and the makeup room and the green room and even got to go up to the light and sound booth and play with the lights on the stage. Best of all, we got our faces painted. Ollie was a doggie, and I was a tiger of course!


And then we went back up to the Roleystone Theatre to see some kid's performances that were really funny!! And we learned a really funny new version of Twinkle, Twinkle:

Twinkle, twinkle little star
My dad's got an electric guitar
You might think he's kind of old
But he still loves his rock and roll
(And then you just jam the last two lines)

But we're not done with the theatre yet. Nope! Next month we're going to see Peter Pan with Daddy and Mommy and Nana and Grandad too! I can't wait. ~ Elliot

Life is good!

All it took was a forecast of 28 degrees Celsius, and we were headed for the beach! After a cold rainy winter, it was just what we needed. Elliot and I splashed and swam in the big waves, and Ollie who has no plans to go near the ocean until he "gets bigger" was happy to dig in the sand with his Daddy for hours. BLISS!

A day at the zoo with mom and dad

Today was pretty cool because Daddy is on school holidays right now and got to join Elliot, Mommy and I at the zoo. Mommy and Daddy didn't say "maybe next time" this time and rented one of the cool wagon thingies to pull Elliot and I around in (which I stood up in to get a better look of the African painted dogs, and Elliot decided to pull it over to the rail for a closer look, and I landed thud on my back on the concrete! But it was still a pretty stylin' ride.)

And do you know what else is cool? We always end the day with the elephant show, and today only for the second time EVER, we got to see Trisha and Permai paint!!! Trisha did brush painting and Permai did trunk kiss paintings, and it was really really cool. They were very proud of themselves--showing off their art work just like El and I do.

The funniest thing about going to the zoo though, is that it always seems to take forever to get there, but somehow like magic, the ride home is like a flash, and I wake up in the car in our driveway every time. ~ Oliver

Go Dockers!!!

This year, Daddy's footie team, the Fremantle Dockers went to the grand final for the first time since its inception 19 years ago. You can bet he was pretty excited. And Mommy, Ollie and I got into the spirit too! We all donned our Dockers gear and put on anything purple we could find and went next door to the footie final party Steve and Nikki were hosting next door. 

Sad to say, the Dockers didn't win it in the end, but it was a pretty good game, and we were really happy for the thrill of it all this season. In fact, the mommies and daddies were a bit too happy and danced and laughed all night. This meant the older kids were left looking after us. Not sure they're quite ready for the responsibility of babysitting--would you look at the state Ollie went home in!! ~ Elliot

I may be getting older . . .

. . . but, I'm still a dancing machine!!! ~ Elliot