Oscar comes to visit

As luck would have it, Lucas had some spare tickets for the Saints vs Cats game last Friday. So, we managed to convince Deon and Oscar to come up for a short visit, and to join Lucas and his Dad in going to the game. The boys had lots of fun playing together on the Friday, and were very excited on the train trip into the city on the way to the game. (Oscar really was excited, he just has a very good poker face).

Once we got to the MCG, we all went straight to the top tier in order to get the best view of the action. The boys were very impressed with the view, but were far more impressed with the menu of hot chips, pies, sausage rolls and coca-cola! Once dinner was sorted, the game got underway, and we were all very entertained by an extremely close and nail-biting game. Lucas brought his Saints mascot bear, but Ossie was hedging his bets, and brought along a spare "Cats" bear just in case. In the end, the Saints triumphed, and we had a fantastic time cheering them on to victory. Lucas even got into the spirit of jeering the opposing team, although I don't think Gary Ablett would have been too phased if he'd heard the phrase "Naughty Cats!" being yelled out.

We're just having a quiet morning at the moment - the boys have had a HUGE sleep in, and are currently busy with the task of irreversibly mixing up all of Lucas' lego kits into one humungous mega fortress. Ossie and Deon will have to go home soon, and we'll be sad to see them go.  :(

Healesville

Last weekend, the Birds went on a day-trip up to Healesville. Astute blog followers will recall that we've been there once before (the Wildlife Sanctuary), but this time we decided the wildlife could sod off, and we would find out what else there was to do. Also, we went along with the Prothero family for company.

First part of the day was spent at the world-famous Healesville Hedge Maze, and we spent almost the whole morning wandering our way through the maze, trying to find clues and (as a bonus) the way out! The place also had mini golf and a few other activities, so the kids were well amused.

Having solved the maze, we traipsed our way over to the historic Healesville train station, and went on a fun ride up the almost-nearly-restored train line. No fancy carriages for us, we had to rough it in open-roofed trolleys. Kids had fun, and the scenery was nice, but Daddy sorely regretted not wearing an overcoat for the day!

Having done that, we went to the local Hotel for a homely Pub meal, and made our way home. A great day out, and the kids were asleep almost before we'd started the car for the homeward trip!

Happy 6th birthday, Lucas!

Today was Lucas' 6^th birthday! He was very excited leading up to this one, because Granddad and Daddy had taken him to a bike shop to get measured for a new bike. Which, whilst being all very necessary to ensure that he would fit on his bike and not lose confidence, pretty much destroyed any chance of surprise. Even though we didn't actually purchase the bike in front of him (we sneaked out and got it when he was at school), and despite all our efforts to convince him that he might possibly have been dreaming when we took him to the store, he was adamant that we had "ordered" the bike, and that it would appear in front of him on his birthday. He was right of course, but the lack of surprise didn't really lessen his happiness in any way. And in a surprising twist of fate, we actually had two parties to attend that day - Sacha's (a boy from Lucas' class) from 10am to 12pm, and then Lucas' from 12pm until 2pm. The best part was that Sacha's party was being held at a "traffic school" bike track, so he pretty much got to ride his bike straight away. We couldn't have arranged it better if we tried!

Of course, two kids from the same Prep class having two parties meant that all the kids from Lucas' class got to traipse straight from one to the other as well. Lucas' party was indoors (thank goodness - bloody Melbourne weather!) at a playcentre called Kid Space, and the kids had a ball. All in all, a fantastic day, we just need to go on sugar detox for about a week to get over it!