Day at the beach

Well, the weather certainly isn't warm enough for swimming yet (and is probably a LONG way off being so), but that didn't stop a determined bunch of people from trotting off to the beach and playing in the sand.

I'm pleased to report that Lucas and Alicia (under Lewis' encouragement and guidance, I suspect) are finally starting to actually HELP me when I start making sand sculptures for them. Prior to this, Lucas would simply sit back and tell me it wasn't big enough, and Alicia would try to jump on any part of the sculpture that I'd just finished patting down and smoothing out.

The trio are pictured here on their heavily-modified, ultra-fast three-seater F1 racer.

A lot more fun this time around - pity Melbourne beaches have such coarse sand, though. Still, a beach is a beach...

Handyman and artist

Lucas' school recently had a "student free day", which of course meant that Daddy had to take a day of annual leave in order to have a corresponding "Lucas and Daddy day".

I enforced a strict "one hour maximum" policy of electronic entertainment, and was happy to let him decide what it was he wanted us to do in the remaining time. We chewed up an hour or so on the workbench, trying to sand-down a broken branch into a nice, smooth gun shape. However, once Lucas realised that "Lucas and Daddy day" didn't necessarily mean "Daddy is your personal slave day", he got a bit fed up with having to work at the stick himself. So he asked if he could do a painting, and I said of course. I was about to get him some paper, when he objected, and said he wanted to do a "proper" painting.

"Proper? What, like on a canvas?"

"Yeah, yeah - a canvas. I want to get a canvas! Let's go and get a canvas."

Oh, foolish Dad.

So, off we went to an art store, and bought Lucas a "proper" canvas. He was absolutely chuffed, and immediately drew a picture that he could paint. He then happily sat outside, and painted every last square centimetre of his masterpiece.

A fun day, all in all. And the picture is still hanging in his room. 

Lo hicimos!

We were doing a bit of gardening (i.e. hacking away at the overgrown and ill-tended vegetable matter in our front yard) the other day, when Alicia demanded to help us. Of course, we're not going to refuse, so she got the job of picking up the smaller branches that Daddy had, ahem, "pruned" off the tree, and putting them in the green bin, as well as broom duty.

Don't get me wrong - she was doing a fantastic job of it, and I certainly couldn't fault her enthusiasm. However, one thing that irked me (just a little bit) was the way she was constantly shouting, prancing around and singing about what she was doing in an almost painfully enthusiastic tone of voice. It took a while for the penny to drop, but then I realised what she was doing - she was behaving exactly the way that Dora the Explorer does in the cartoons! I had a little chuckle, but at the same time I made a mental note to perhaps cut back on the Dora episodes.

Dog boy and butterfly girl

Today was Top Dog day at Lucas' primary school, where the kids were allowed to dress up as a dog. Daddy decided to get off his butt and make a bit of an effort this time around, so he got a cheap set of hoodie + pants from Big W, some brown felt and face paint from the craft shop, and crafted a puppy costume for the occasion. Of course, what's good for the daschund is good for the fairy queen, so Alicia was second in line for some face painting as well.