Not Big Enough

All those swimming lessons are beginning to pay off as Ella practices her bubble, bubble breathe while little Katy wants to be big like her sister! Just need a bigger bath...

Out of Action

Andy headed off in the car yesterday morning to the usual long run at Hackett. The girls and I were intending to ride over to a 4 year old birthday party in Kaleen. The plan was for Andy to come over after his run and join the action as well as providing us with a lift home. Everything started well...Andy off on his run and the girls in the bike trailer ready for partying!

About 15 mins into our predicted 45 min trip disaster struck. I was crossing at some lights on Hayden Drive (a fairly busy dual lane road for non canberrans) when there was a loud clunk and suddenly I couldn't move. In fact I nearly stacked it trying to unclip my bike shoe. On turning around the bike trailer was on an awful angle with one wheel detached.

Trying to move a broken bike trailer with two girls off the road was difficult. On closer inspection two bolts on the axel had sheared off resulting in dislodging the suspension from the axel and as I touched the bolts on the other side - one fell off! Luckily there were no bent bits or damaged to the rest of the trailer.

We were in a dilemma - too far from home to walk back, definitely too far from the party to continue, grandparents out of town, friends all busy doing stuff and Andy still running. The area we broke down in wasn't particularly child friendly and there were heaps of big ants! Our solution after wandering around for a bit was to have morning tea at the bus stop shelter about 100m down the road and wait for Andy to read his mobile.

50 minutes later we were rescued and proceeded to Loic's b'day party arriving fashionably late! Needless to say the trailer is out of action until we can source some new bolts.

The World Through Ella's Eyes.

Ella has suddenly become interested in our camera. It looks like Ella has worked out the self timer concept (beautiful family self timer taken yesterday morning!) but needs work on focussing. It seems her feet are one of her favourite shots!

Expensive Foodshop

This morning we met up with a work colleague (who is 35 wks pregnant with twins #4 & 5!!) and two (of her three) children at a park in Manuka. The kids entertained themselves while we chatted and drank coffee. After the play we headed to Coles in Manuka for the food shop. Shopping was as per normal - girls in trolley eating some tiny teddies, sultanas, cashews and apricots while I filled the trolley with supplies. At the checkout Katy was in the seat and playing with my wallet. I paid with a card and off to the bakery for lunch we went.

It was here when I got my wallet out to pay for our sausage rolls that I discovered the $50 note was missing....my stomach sank. We rushed back to the checkout at Coles but the guy there hadn't seen any money. It seems the family behind may have cleaned up. Very disappointing really seeing though I was very slow to actually get out of Coles so I'm sure they could have chased me down. Bummer - at least I made their day.

On another note Ella is enjoying 'making' books at the moment. She loves cutting, gluing, stapling, writing and drawing. We bought some more stationery supplies this morning so now Ella is busy generally making a paper mess. While concentrating on making things Ella exclaimed 'Mummy I'm making a present for Luca and so when she opens this up (a piece of paper folded in half) she will see some glue!" Hmmm not sure that Luca will be that excited about receiving some glue as a present but I suppose it's the thought that counts :)

Weekend in Sydney

We've been meaning to get up to Sydney for a few months now, principally to see Cath & Eoin's Sydney residence, also for Ella to have another weekend playing with Aoife (while Katy tags along behind). We drove up on Friday night meaning that neither of our girls slept until after we arrived at 9:00. Despite this, both were up early as always, ready for a day with Aoife.

Saturday revolved mostly around an afternoon trip to the beach. The major novelty was getting there via both train and ferry, which had all three girls pretty excited (see photos of the ferry trip above). Sitting outside turned out to be the most fun of all. We got periodically covered in spray, were fascinated by the turbulent wake of the boat, and threw our magic wands (aka, sticks) overboard. Not to be outdone, Katy did her level best to lose her favourite toy (quack-quack the duck) over the back of the boat, but luckily Nat was on hand.

We found ourselves at Watson's Bay, which pretty much had it all: the kids could swim in the harbour, play in the playground, climb up to a lookout over the ocean and, best of all, buy fish & chips for dinner. We arrived home late in the evening, happy but tired.
Speaking of tired, after another morning of play we found ourselves driving home with two exhausted children, both of whom slept 3/4s of the way home.

Ella's Fairy Book

Inspired by the Tinkerbell movie, Ella decided today to make her own book dedicated to her Daddy. First we stapled coloured paper together. I had to 'write words' as said by Ella, while she did the drawings (well nearly all of them). Titled 'Ella's Fairy Book' it was fairly predictable as to the contents - lots of fairies! As you can see, the book did veer off fairies and into butterflies, the garden and of course the chickens!! I especially love the leaf hiding page - completed after a brief stint outside. Andy was really touched when he got home to have Ella excitedly show off her book and read it to him.

Here are a few extracts -

Togetherness

Ella and Katy have been spending more time 'playing' together. This often means Katy copies whatever Ella is doing. Here are some examples from the last month...