Trip to the zoo

Tuesday is normally Tiny Tots day (that means I take Ella to the gym and she jumps around on trampolines and mattresses). But Tiny Tots doesn't run during school holidays, so today we were at a loose at end. Until Aunty Cathy rang us up to see if we wanted to go to the zoo.

I'm not much of a zoo person, and in the past neither was Ella. She went to Dubbo zoo, aged 3 months, and for some reason was completely oblivious to the animals she was supposed to see. We also went to Mogo Zoo last summer, but again she was a bit young. This time (and despite the fact that the Canberra Zoo is probably the crappest but most expensive zoo in the country) she loved it.

Ella's favourites were the giraffes, who poke their noses up to about baby height, and the emus which are roaming free (and required parental intervention to end a mexican standoff).

Painting

Our windows are in need of some TLC.   So this afternoon in the warm sunshine, Andy got stuck into the washing and sanding of the lounge window.  We did have a false start with painting when I returned from Bunnings with 4lt of the wrong paint - DOH!  Anybody need exterior paperbark paint?

Anyway as per normal these jobs take way more time than you think they will and today was no exception. We had to figure out how to lift the opening part of the window off, which was quite simple in the end but boy were they heavy!

Unfortunately sunset beat me and so only 3/4 of the window got painted.  Luckily my parents are arriving on wednesday (they should be at Kalgoorlie by now on the Indian Pacific) and so with a babysitter (mum) and another labourer (dad) we should be able to get all of them done.

Dog doors are for....

toddlers???  As you can see not only has Ella found the dog door but she's mastered climbing through it.

And as for ironing boards well, they're not just for ironing right?

Planting

Now that spring has arrived, I am able to plant more things in the garden.  Today, while Andy travelled to Qld for some orienteering, Ella and I have been busy planting.  Some tiny toms, roma tomatoes, leeks, lebanese cucumber and some thai basil christened our new vegie plot. Elsewhere in the garden a grevillea, callistemon, acacia and a eucalypt were planted. Now we have to hope that summer isn't too dry and everything dies! Also that Pippa and Fuji, who is having a holiday at our house for the next 10 days, don't trample or dig them up. 

Floriade

Our mothers group decided to meet up at Floriade this week.  It's the big flower show held in Canberra every September.  The theme this year is Films that Shaped the Nation. Thus all the flower beds are based on classic Australian films such as Moulin Rouge, Crocodile Dundee, The Castle...

This year saw the introduction of the Patting Paddock.  It was great for the kids.  Ella had a small problem in differentiating between puppies and any other animal.  Hence while she wandered around the PP encountering rabbits, goats, sheep, ducks, cows and chickens according to her they were all puppies!  

Her favourite puppy, as you can see below, were the goats.

 

 

No Longer Lopsided

 We were beginning to think Ella had only 3 front teeth on the bottom however over the last few days the 4th tooth has finally emerged!

On another note, I walked into the lounge yesterday to find our little girl standing on the dining table quite proud of herself!  She had managed to climb on to the chair and then onto table - not sure how I am going to stop her climbing. Perhaps she'll grow out of it or otherwise fall off....

New laundry

This weekend I was injured, so couldn't head up to Mittagong for the orienteering race I'd planned. Instead, I was put to work acquiring our new laundry. When I say new, I mean it was the same physical space, but that a part of it was being revamped. Makes it look pretty much like new.

The ingredients were as follows. We went to bunnings and bought a bunch of cheap flatpack cupboards + a benchtop and a few other things. Then we knocked it together (I had some help in this regard -- see the photo). Then we installed it in the laundry. This all takes longer than it sounds (two full weekends to be honest) and it's not helped by the assistant chief engineer testing the merchandise before it's completely finished (see second photo).

Anyway, the final product is not too bad. A bit of extra cupboard space and a fair improvement on the old one (pictured right) ...