Fathers Musings

Happy Fathers Day!

We purposely had a very restful fathers day – with little structure or plans… delightful! The kids jumped into bed with us in the morning and presented Adrian with handmade gifts and pressies we had chosen together. Lilly had a book with a little scruffy haired girl called Molly – and very like her and had worked hard on a beaded necklace – which she wore immediately.

Morgan had a little pair of shears and a larger Daddy one – so of course they had to go out and cut things down together! He also made a little dog made of pegs which holds a pen – for Adrian’s desk. Its so cute – should have gotten a photo before it headed off to Adrian’s work. I can’t imagine being a craft teacher thinking – what crap thing can we make out of this rubbish? …. And then go ahead and create something quite funky.

I have just taught Morgan to make us a cup of tea. He knows to be very careful with the hto water and the safest spot to pour it is on the floor. Quite disturbingly he likes to have a head set on while he makes tea – it’s an Australia Idol thing – a gift from a friend of mine who works in call centres – but it makes him look like a McDonalds check out dude. Too funny.

Talk about little mirrors – Morgan has decided that he won’t be wearing a top to bed any more- Daddy doesn’t – and the other night he announced he is not wearing PJs at all – as Daddy doesn’t.. after nearly choking on my cuppa – a family decision was made that we all wear PJS thanks very much….

So the rest of Fathers Day was spent pruning bushes to make a sort of cubby house in the front yard, weeding and then a respite to go to the new park the kids had discovered near the airodrome. Very cool – lots of great things to do and a flying fox which Morgan could just swing on till it got dark.

Home again – and Age made the kids a Bobby Dazzler – a mocktail he makes for me when I have a cocktail night – lots of sugar and whipped cream and 100s and 1000s – a kids dream.

Age washed his bike with Morgan – it had been raining the week before and it was pretty muddy and gross. Age is now riding at least 7 trips a week – trying for the magical 10 trips. It’s a bit over 26 km into town and takes him an hour and 15 mins – but is slowly beating that time down. Not amny bikeways to go on – but he has chosen back streets as much as he can and he reckons its very restful and distressing.

Had Mum and Dad up on Thursday – they actually drove themselves up ( with the help of a new Navman) wow!! So impressed. I took them out to lunch at the kids favourite restaurant – the Lone Star. So proud of them that they made it that far – so no excuses now – not to pop and see us hey?

My exciting news this week of course is that I was interviewed by Mr Dad – a USA radio guy – on my book I co-wrote with Jodi Cleghorn. I have ot admit I was very nervous beforehand – but did some voice exercises and re jigged my thinking and then was cool after that. I am kicking myself as you always think of perfect answers afterwards – just hope we sounded like we knew what we were talking about…. Will keep you in the loop on the release of the podcast.

Well – best be off – hugs to all and happy fathers day!

Is This The Face of Evil?

So I ask you - is this the face of evil? allow me to inform you that YES - it is.....

On Saturday, we went to a Mad Hatters Party to play croquet. Its beyond me why and how lawn bowls became more popular. Apart from our team not knowing who went next and confusing the colours up – we had a hoot and I am sure once you get those things down pat , it is a very fast and sociable game. Adrian was on the ‘other’ team…( oh and he had a possum stuck to his hat. I might add here that when he was looking for ways and means to attach the said rodent to his headware, Lilly was most insistant that he NOT staple it as it would hurt the possom.)

We played a competitive game called gateways –where as a team you strategize to get one of your team members through the hoop before the other team. There is a lot of bumping the other teams balls out of the way to ensure the next person in your team could have a clear run through the hoop. Adrian, without fail, knocked my perfectly formulated hit, right out of the way. A definite game to play with friends or workmates to improve communication and strategizing… I’ll have to do some internet searching to see if I can include my experiences with Captain Juan!

The kids had a good knock around with the mallets too and it seemed to be popular with each group we went and had a chat to. The party was in honour of a good friend – Sarah – turning the grand age of 40. not that I should laugh or think thats old.. not far away for me at all.. what a terrifying thought.

The weather has started to turn into sultry summery temperatures, having skipped spring all together. The rains have come and I love to hear it on the tin roof out the side. I am sure it won’t be long before the kids get in the pool – but its still got iceburgs in it as far as I am concerned. We are all looking forward to getting back into camping – with our first date set at the end of September – up in Girraween.

My week is filled with writing articles or short stories or lately working website updates and tweeks. Its so frustrating and takes so long. What we want on the site changes – and so does all the parameters. I am learning lots – doing a fair bit in HTML – as I have no software to build it with… so its all good experience I guess.

I am doing a bit of a chuck out and overhaul of cupboards – so anything not tied or nailed down is being scrutinized and chucked out. How many damned towels does one family need… and don’t get me started on t-towels..

A bit scatty tonight – haven’t had much of a chance to write or do stories this week – all website stuff which I have promised myself to stop doing – I can be up till 3 am fiddling.. and its not good for sleep patterns ( which are getting more and more out of whack)

Thanks for reading and keep commenting- makes me feel like this matters….

First Performance

My heart is about to burst.

Friday marked Morgans first public performance.. and yes I was there – camera in hand –and shot both photos and videoed it. Pathetic. I nearly wept the whole way through (obviously hormonal) and my hands nearly fell off with clapping at the end… and this is prep year.. Goddess Help me in future years. This is a picture of him about to start - with his favourite teacher - Mrs Allen ( who prompted all the kids) This is a project that they formulated and scripted themselves on their favourite subjects in the last 6 weeks - Dinosaurs, flying objects and volcanoes.


The quality of this clip is not grand - and I am aware Morgan put the microphone too close to his mouth -making it very difficult to understand what he was saying - but he did very well - an no stage fright. There were about 40 people in the audience -as well as his classmates.

Below are a few more photos from his classroom - and of the dispays they had. He was so thrilled to show them off to everyone. The dino world one is a collective mini world they made and each child made a miniture dinosaur out of playdo - really detailed..

I have to say I am really impressed at the breadth of knowledge and subject areas the class is doing. The teachers are constantly presenting them with complicated and detailed words and pieces of information – and the kids ‘get it’! part of Morgans presentation was explaining why things fly – the forces used and required! ( far out) they really integrate lots of fun things in with the learning.

Morgan was so delighted to be able to show Lilly around as well.. Such a shame she isn't going to school next year - she is so ready!!