Friday, October 29, 2010

Reptile World

I had the day off work today so we decided to take the boys up to Reptile World at Gosford for the morning. It was a surprise, so we bundled them into the car and told Mitch we were going somewhere that was a surprise and it would be fun. Imagine his disappointment when we stopped at Coles on the way. After assuring him it wasn't our final stop, we set off again and soon all of the boys went to sleep which was great because they had all woken up at 5am. They are all sleeping in the same room because Poppy is home from London for a week. Going to sleep is fine, but waking up in the morning is not so good. Mitch has a clock in his room normally and knows he's not allowed to get up before there is a 6 on it. Unfortunately, there is no clock in the little boys' room so he just gets up whenever and generally wakes his brothers up too. Or they wake up and see Mitch is on their floor and think it's party time. Anyway, I digress.

We arrived at Reptile World (okay it's really called the Australian Reptile Park, but we just call it Reptile World) and woke all the boys up and Mitch was soooooooo excited when he realised where he was. He kept telling us he had been there before and had really wanted to go there again and now here he was and then started jumping up and down in excitement. We had been unsure of whether to go because the weather was overcast and a bit dicey, but his reaction showed us we had done the right thing.

We went around and saw the attractions and Mitch loved it. Lucas and Sam loved it too, which is great - last time they went to a zoo in Victoria in March they weren't really old enough to know what was going on and just cried the whole time. We saw birds and two Galapagos Tortoises and kangaroos and dingoes (for some reason Mitch is fascinated by them) and wallabies and echidnas (which Lucas and Sam especially liked).

We also saw a reptile show where Mitch got to see (and hear) a rattle snake and a Burmese Python and even got to touch an alligator's back. There were heaps of other reptiles and there was also spiders and frogs. All in all a boys' paradise of slimy creatures and creepy crawlies.
All of the boys got to pat a kangaroo too which Lucas and Sam were very excited about. The kangaroo was fortunately very patient because at times all three boys were trying to pat it at the same time. Lucas and Sam were very cute with it.


Here are some photos of the morning ...


Created with flickr slideshow from softsea.

When we got home, it was time for everyone (except me) to have a sleep.

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Goodbye Grampi

This afternoon Grampi Bill Youll passed away. He was at peace and apparently ready to go. We recently celebrated his 90th Birthday with the family. Here is a shot of Bill with all the grandkids and Rob at the 90th Party.

 He will be missed by all of us.

Saturday, October 02, 2010

Update from Meeks

Believe it or not, this is actually the first time I have blogged (at this rate I'll be on facebook by 2020!). I thought it was time for a new update but sadly there are no photos or video today. Life has been busy, the kids have been sick all week (colds, fevers, vomitting) so there hasn't been much sleep for Dave or myself. On the up side, Marion came up from Victoria to visit. The kids just loved all the attention, cuddles and playing and it was lovely for me to have a bit of help in the first week of school holidays. We went down to Clontarf one day and Mitch had a wonderful time collecting shells with a little girl he befriended. He paddled in the water, which turned into a run, which turned into a spectacular full-bodied immersion. It was hilarious to see him fully clothed, soaked from head to toe.....until I realised I didn't have a change of clothes for him (not a single garment). Guess who rode home in the car completelly nude! The twins had a great time too. Sam enjoyed chasing birds and paddling his feet in the water and Lucas who had been miserable and crying all morning was really happy to be outside in the fresh air.
For week 2 of the school holidays, I have booked Mitch into Soccer Clinic which he will absolutley love. Mitch is also off to see "The Gruffalo" at Glen Street Theatre with Gannie and Lilly in the middle of the week which is a real treat.
Apart from being a bit sick, Lucas and Sam are doing really well. Lucas has perfected the art of kissing his mummy (video to follow soon). It's so gorgeous watching them play when they don't know you are there. Last weekend the two of them were playing peek-a-boo from behing a tree in the back garden, taking it in turns and laughing so cutely. We were watching them from the back door. One of those moment you wish you had the video camera out. Lucas just loves books, he's always bringing you one to read. Sam loves racing to the door as soon as he senses you are leaving, so he can say "bye, bye, bye" for ages, even after you've left. For a while he was saying "die, die, die" so I'm glad he's finally got it right. They have also perfected the art of the double hug (when they both come at you for a huge cuddle), it's moments like those that you forget what's hard about twins. We had their hair cut last week (quite traumatic) and they look a bit more grown-up now. What is a bit tricky, is that Lucas' hair cut has made him look a little more like Sam. Mitch has often since got them mixed up and I have to admit, I have had to resort to other distinguishing features (freckles) for clarification.
Mitch is getting so good with his drawings, he'll spend hours drawing elaborate pictures of monsters, aliens, animals, boats and helicopters (such a boy). What is really lovely, is you can now mostly tell what it is he's drawn because the shapes, proportions and features are really distinguishable. Mitch is becoming a bit of a fashionista. He often remarks on random people's clothing and will ask people if they like his shirt or outfit. He continues to be fashion advisor for mummy (who has recently bought new skirts and dresses because that's what Mitch likes) He now dresses himself in the morning with the only instruction being "long or short" and he does a good job at matching colours and patterns. Even as I was writing this last sentance, Mitch came running from his bedroom to me, struck a pose, and asked what I thought of his chosen outfit. It's all quite amusing!
Anyway, that's enough for an anecdotal update. Maybe, I'll blog again sometime.