Archive for the ‘Toby’s third year’ Category

Fun in the Water


05 Dec

Last week, ironically the day AFTER we had a 40 degree day (or whatever the temperature was, it was close if it wasn’t actually 40 degrees) I took the kids to the local outdoor swimming pool. It is a great pool for kids and we had a lot of fun. I took a few photos of the kids running through the spraying, spurting and falling water.

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Science and Maths


22 Nov

Nathan (kids have just run into the lounge room to get some Matchbox cars): Now I have two and you have two.
Toby: that makes four!
Me: that’s right Toby, two plus two equals four
Nathan (to me): I’m teaching him all about maths and science.
Nathan (to Toby as they walk out of the room together): Do you want me to tell you about maths and the science of the world?
Toby: yes!

2-year-old wisdom


28 Oct

Toby, while carrying his 2 shoes to me so I could put them on him said “if Nathan had four feet he would need four shoes, but he doesn’t. He as two feet so he has two shoes.”

Can’t fault his reasoning. 😀

Brotherly friends….or not


09 Oct

Nathan (to me): do you know who my best friend is?
Me: hmmm….Toby?
Nathan: yes!
Toby: do you know who my best friend is?
Me: hmmmm….Nathan?
Toby: no, it’s Fred the millipede (the kids named a millipede and a cockroach a few days ago).
Me: oh, really? Don’t you mean Nathan?
Toby (decisively): no, it’s Fred!

So, apparently Toby likes a bug that he probably tried to squash by standing on it more than he likes his brother! Lol.

Toby’s Jeans


08 Oct

Today I finished some new jeans for Toby. They are an Ottobre Design pattern (Issue 4/2012, #21), and were described as ‘narrow’. They certainly are narrow, and I’m glad that I didn’t cut any out for Nathan because this is not a pattern that would work for him. I made size 92 for Toby, and they fit him really well.

I had a play with my coverstitch machine for the details on the back pockets. I’m reasonably happy with how it turned out, but I think it would look better if there were no points where lines change direction. I’m also thinking that I should have added some elastic to the waist, but after Toby wore them all day today without them ending up at his knees, I’m hoping we can get away without a belt (which would just make them too hard to get on and off by himself for toileting). All in all I’m pretty happy with them, and I think Toby is too. 🙂

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Camping on the Murray


01 Oct

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Our camping trip at the River Murray was great! We ended up finding a spot near Ulupna Island which is in the Barmah State Forest near Cobram. This was after carting the trailer along a track that ended up quite rough but we couldn’t turn around, so we just had to keep going and hope we could get out again. The official camping area was on a sandy beach where the river is wide and is relatively slow moving, but we were camped on the river bank about 1 km downriver where the river ran faster. It was nice and peaceful with no one else around, until our last night when some people camped some 50 metres from us and we were subjected to listening to the Rugby commentating as well as the koala grunting.

Our first full day there was relaxing. We stayed around the campsite, and went for some walks and a short drive around the immediate area. Our other full day was a driving day where we drive in a loop through Cobram and Tocumwal. The river had been rising since we had arrived, and the road into our campsite was nearly under water when we returned. We discussed what we should do and Andrew, with much more confidence than I had, said we would be able to get out in the morning. Thankfully we did get out.

The weather, which wasn’t great the first couple of days with lots of cold wind, improved during the last two days and we had some lovely days, but a little too cool to go for a swim. We enjoyed having a campfire every night and even cooked our breakfast on the fire the last two mornings. The kids rode their bikes like crazy, and we all enjoyed koala spotting. We were camped up on the bank of the river, with a fairly steep drop to the water. The boys liked going down to the water on foot, but yesterday afternoon Toby decided to ride down but didn’t make it and ended up scraping the side of his face. He tearfully told us he would have been ok if he had pedals, so hiding our smiles we solemnly promised him he could try the little pedal bike when we were home. We had fun despite our few scrapes and spills. 🙂

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the Tent Mahal

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the kids making a train out of our kindling

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Toby cooking breakfast

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eating pancakes with strawberries for breakfast

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Toby was a bit obsessed with setting the ends of sticks alight

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playing on the ‘beach’

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fishing

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dinner, roast chicken and veggies

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getting out of our campsite

Snow!


04 Aug

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On Sunday last week we decided to see if we could find some snow. Snow was forecast down to 1000 metres, and Mount Donna Buang is 1250 metres high and only 1.5 hours drive from us. We packed all our warmest clothes and headed off with lunch including some soup in the new thermos I got for my birthday.

We didn’t see any sign of snow until we were practically at the top and finally we saw a sprinkling of snow on the ground. It was quite cold, but with his beanie, scarf, waterproof mittens, raincoat with attached fleece vest and gumboots, Nathan was as warm as toast. He had so much fun and didn’t want to to get back into the car. In contrast, I was feeling pretty cold and wishing I had gloves, and Toby was really cranky about being out in the snow….until the very end when he just wanted to keep eating it.

We had our warm soup and sandwiches for our second lunch. We sat in the shelter on top of Mount Donna Buang where it was marginally warmer while it snowed. The snow showers made everything white, but it didn’t take long for most of the snow to disappear, leaving just a thin sprinkling on the ground.

We ended up going up the mountain twice, taking a trip to nearby reservoir in between. We didn’t plan to go back up until we were on our way home and it was raining quite heavily, so we went back up to see how white it was.

We had a lot of fun, but it is quite clear that Andrew and I need some gloves and I need warmer jumpers if we plan to spend any time in snow.

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Open House


29 Jul

Yesterday we had a very interesting day in Melbourne. It is the open house weekend where some 90 buildings around Melbourne are open for tours and inspection. On the website is a Children’s Programme, and from that we chose three interesting places to have a look at.

We started with the Brain Centre at the University of Melbourne. We had a tour through the state-of-the-art research complex, starting with a short video presentation, then touring a couple of floors including some labs, and finishing with a demonstration of extracting DNA from strawberries and fluorescing bacteria (they fluoresce due to the insertion of a gene from a jellyfish into their DNA….the gene that makes the jellyfish fluoresce then also makes the bacteria fluoresce (got to love genetic engineering!)). Nathan was most impressed with a giant brain that is used for teaching purposes.

After a tasty lunch in Brunswick of Turkish food we drove to South Melbourne to visit the Australian Tapestry Workshop. We didn’t take the tour because Toby wasn’t cooperating, but we still wandered around and saw some beautiful tapestries hanging on the walls and one being made. We had seen a video of a tapestry being made at the museum recently, so it was wonderful to see it happening for real. There was also a kids activity which Nathan really enjoyed but Toby didn’t really get, where they wove their own small piece with the same woolen thread that is used in the tapestries. Nathan took some extra wool home to make another one.

From there we went to the mounted police which was also in South Melbourne. We had a tour of the stables and got to see a couple of horses being ridden around a ring practicing walking on strange objects like mattresses and walking through curtains. It was a very interesting talk, and Toby happily kept saying ‘clip clop’ and ‘neighhhhh’ while watching the horses. There were some people with video cameras videoing us at the start of our tour, and Andrew’s mum told us last night that she saw us on the channel 2 news!

So we had a fun day, with Nathan enjoying the DNA extraction at the Brain Centre and Toby enjoying the horses most.

Camper trailer


12 Jul

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A couple of weeks ago we bought a second-hand camper trailer. We have been looking at campers for a while, thinking it might be a good option if Andrew takes his long service leave next year and we do a lap of the western half of Australia. We have looked at lots of new ones, drooled over some of them, and ended up getting a serviceable 2005 model on-road camper in very good condition.

Last weekend we had an extended weekend and took it for a test run. We had planned to go up to the Murray River but, with reports of roads and campsites still being in flood, we stopped at a free campground near Elmore on the Campaspe River. Though Andrew had concerns about our car’s ability to tow the camper, it did quite well for the short trip. The camper was pretty easy to set up, and we loved how easy it was to set up the kitchen to organize a meal.

Our first night and morning at the campsite were bitterly cold, with a very heavy frost on the ground on our first morning. Toby was very unhappy with the cold, and I have to admit it was pretty uncomfortable. Nathan delighted in wearing all his warm clothes…beanie, scarf, gloves, and raincoat with snuggly-warm polar-fleece lining.

On Saturday we pottered around with the camper, enjoying the relative peace (we were near a well-used road), watching the birds and collecting/buying a bit of firewood. Sunday we went to Echuca to take the kids one paddle-steamer which they really enjoyed. Then we went for a look around Barmah National Park where we had planned to camp and agreed that the water was too close to the campsites for comfort. Monday we packed up and came home.

So, the verdict…We had a lovely time camping at a time of year that we wouldn’t dream of taking the tent out. We drove in much more comfort than when we use a tent, since we weren’t packed into the car around gear with barely room to move. The camper still took a long time to pack up (we had thought it would be quicker than the tent) but we should get quicker with practice and when we are better organized in the camper. We do need to look at getting a new car to tow it half way around Australia, but juggling price and towing capacity and wanting something comfortable for around town has us very undecided as to what is best for us.

I can’t wait to take the camper out again!

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Ready to go camping!

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Set up op on the bank of the Campaspe River.

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Kids eating ice off the car!

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Ice on the kitchen bench.

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Nathan with a sparkler. Toby didn’t want one.

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Happy Birthday Daddy! The boys put the candles into the cake on their own.

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Yummy cake!

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Nathan hindering the digging of the hole for our campfire (he was putting dirt back into the hole already dug by Andrew).

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Helping to light the fire.

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When do we have the marshmallows?

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On the paddle steamer.

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Nathan, the paddle steamer driver.

Gastronomic Sydney


09 May

Looking through the photos I have taken in the last two days, anyone would think we were in Sydney just for the food! We are certainly taking the opportunity to feast on our favourite Sydney dishes, but we have done lots of activities as well.

Monday morning we went to Sydney Park. My old playgroup meet there, and it was wonderful to catch up with friends there, and the kids had a ball in the park! Afterwards we had lunch at a very nice sushi train In Newtown, and while there we went to a wonderful buttons shop and visited a really cool toy shop. Toby needed a sleep, so while asleep on my back we visited the Remnant Warehouse to say hello to Joe, the owner, and get some fabrics. They always have a good selection of reasonably priced denim and I was in need of some. I also picked up a pretty, embroided remnant of brown poplin to make something for me next summer, and some fabric for hats. When Toby woke up we went back to Sydney Park, but this time to a traffic school area and the kids spent an hour riding around and mostly obeying the traffic lights and road rules. Back at our accommodation for the evening, we walked to a yummy and cheap Thai place and had take-away for dinner.

Yesterday I had an appointment with my old supervisor at UNSW. We took the bus there which Toby was excited about. He keeps telling me that Sydney has a lot of buses! Afterwards we went to Coogee, firstly to a playground and then we walked to the beach. Nathan wanted to paddle but we didn’t take bathers, so I promised that we can go ack again today to swim. We had Pide for lunch before going to visit Danii and her two kids. We had a lovely afternoon and grabbed some Chinese from a place on Anzac Parade for dinner.

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My little climber at Sydney Park

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Sushi train in Newtown

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Waiting for the traffic lights at Sydney Park traffic school

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Eating Thai for dinner

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Coogee Park

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Coogee Park

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Nathan ringing the bell he always aspired to reach but never could, at Coogee Park

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Pide in Coogee

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