Boomerang maker

Daddy has been re-trying his hand at making boomerangs lately. Lucas was initially interested, but once he observed how much actual work was involved, he quickly lost interest up until the part where it was ready to be painted by him. Alicia, on the other hand, was quite keen to get in on the action!

Happy Birthday, Pocket Teddy!

Whilst our dear Aunty Nin was off celebrating her 60th birthday in Tassie last week, we over here in Melbourne had a birthday of a different kind to celebrate. Alicia insisted that this weekend was Pocket Teddy's 2nd birthday. (Yeah, he's called Pocket Teddy because he fits in a pocket - we're not the most original namers in the world, OK?) So, Mummy went and whipped up a delicious chocolate cake, and we helped celebrate his birthday this weekend.

Alicia was happy with the cake, but she seemed to think that Pocket Teddy should also have been given a present. At this point, fearing repeat performances for every one of Alicia's prodigious collection of stuffed toys, Daddy stepped in. He said that was fine, but because Pocket Teddy was Alicia's baby, she would have to pay for his present out of her own pocket money. After that, she kept quiet.

Lucas' culture presentation - the United Kingdom!

Lucas has been working all week on a special cultural assignment for his school - he had to research and write up a report on the United Kingdom.

He was very studious, and spent quite a few nights on the home computer, looking up Google and writing his learnings into Microsoft Word.

In addition, the students were encouraged to dress up in the national costume of their assigned country. Having no better ideas, Daddy went and rented a Union Jack waistcoat from a costume shop!

Here are some pictures of the results!

Fun in the valley

The Birds recently went to the Yarra Valley for a weekend getaway. We hired a lovely little cabin near Healesville, with a quaint (and quite effective) wood heater (Mummy was very adamant about this detail). Aside from that, it also had a stunning view, and best of all - a tractor!

Sadly, the weather was not as nice as it was the previous weekend, but we nonetheless were able to get out and about. There wasn't much snow about, but we decided to take our chances and headed up to Lake Mountain to see if there was enough - lucky for us, there was. The weather was a bit blowy and windy, but we were still able to get in most of the requisite activities (tobogganing, snow-men, and snowball fights) before being forced to take shelter in the cafe.

The tobogganing part was fun, but the slope of the mountain was perhaps just a little too gentle for Lucas' tastes. He certainly wasn't breaking any land speed records, in any case:

We also got to feed a few goats, go on a historic train ride, and visit the
Mooroondah Reservoir National Park. All in all, a fantastic and fun time was had by everybody!

Some photos of Alicia

Just a couple of miscellaneous pics of our little darling girl. One playing dress-ups with her best friend, Sienna, and the other of her decorating a boomerang that Daddy went and crafted for her. (He went a bit overboard with the four-prong design, but the important thing is that it looks good!)

Birthday party bonanza

Saturday was an exciting day for Lucas. His birthday falls on the Monday, so we elected to have his party two days early. Of course, to his mind, this meant that we were actually moving the birthday itself, such that he came into our bedroom early Saturday morning and demanded to know where his presents were. We tried to explain it to him, and although we're fairly certain he understood, he nonetheless felt a bit gypped.

However, he soon cheered up when I got him and Alicia to help put the finishing touches on his birthday cake. Several strips of licorice, smarties, and silver balls later, and space shuttle Scorpio was ready for launch!

Lucas' 7th birthday party was brought to you this year courtesy of In-Sports, an indoor play/sports centre. They started off with some beach volleyball/basketball and races, then after a good one hour of running around, they were shunted into the party room for some eating and (rather loud) festivities. And after that, they rounded off the party with a bit of indoor soccer. Lucas was awarded a big championship trophy at the end of the proceedings, and was very chuffed with the whole affair.

After that, we went home for a bit of quiet time, and Lucas set about constructing the numerous Lego kits that he'd been given for presents. After a while, the cousins came over, and we had a nice quiet dinner party, with Lucas' choice of menu: Lasagne, followed by trifle!