Magic object

The boys and I took the tram around to the Anne and Gordon Samstag Museum of Art to check out its part of the Magic Object exhibition as part of the the Adelaide Biennial.

The art was fascinating, grotesque and evocative.

The part the boys loved best was Proximity Interactive by Gary Stewart – it let you create shapes with your body and movement. Some art is easier to love than other art!

A year in the life 2016 #115: castles in the sand

We did a day trip to Horseshoe Bay. Rowan, Emilie and Scarlett came and met us there. The water was very cold so swimming was minimal, but enthusiastic activities soon turned to the construction of sand cities, often to be wiped away by the rising waters.

The fantasy stories of the sand creations were many and varied. Towers were built for James and Rowan. Whole civilisations rose and fell. And everyone stayed entertained for hours.

A year in the life 2016 #114: we all go to the pool

We all headed to the Adelaide Aquatic Centre – mum and I to do aquarobics, the boys to jump in the deep diving pool.

And afterwards, a stop at Perryman’s for delicious pies and sausage rolls.

To swim with sea lions and other Eyre Peninsula adventures

On the road, this time for a journey up one peninsula and down another.

First rest stop was the infamous Snowtown. We didn’t stay long, and we didn’t go to the bank.

For lunch we stopped at the top of Spencer’s Gulf – Port Augusta.

Visiting this part of the state gave me the chance to recall all my primary school geography to understand the industry in the area. It was fascinating to see the landscape change as we got further north, and the soil go red as we reached the iron rich areas. And then, as we drove south, for it all to change in reverse again.

Afternoon tea icecreams were had in Cowell. We made it to Port Lincoln as dusk was falling, ready for dinner.

James’ usual magic of finding the most hipster place nearby worked again and it was fancy milkshakes and haloumi for breakfast.

We did a compulsory jetty walk and the boys were fascinated by the large cargo ship being filled with grain over at the port area.

Despite the fact that the weather was rather grey, we went and checked out Fishery Bay. The boys loved the sandhills – there was sliding down them galore, leading to some very sandy boys.

The boys also caught some waves.

It was a bit cold me for so I went for a walk and collected shells.

We also stopped by Coffin Bay to admire its picturesqueness and, of course, walk on a jetty.

Managed to try out some local delicacies at dinner – the kingfish and blue fin tuna sashimi was an absolute highlight. The staff weren’t entirely used to children who eat sashimi and mussels.

We went and said hi to Makybe Diva on our walk home.

Breakfast again. The serves of pancakes were large enough to feed a small army. Sebastian managed to eat most of them though.

We headed to the marina and checked out the fishing trawlers.

Then it was time to get on board our boat and head out to meet the sealions.

We got thick wetsuits and so I didn’t feel cold at all really during our hour or so in the water. The small boys wetsuits weren’t as thick, and they are a bit more susceptible to the cold. Nonetheless, it was lovely fun swimming around with the sea lions. One of them chose to dance with me – we swam around each other in a circle and looked one another in the eye. They would chase, then disappear. It was fun to watch them wrestle under water together. A lovely experience.

 

It was then back on the boat and the ride home.

There was a beautiful moon and we ate take away pizza outside at the house where we were staying.

The next day we headed home again.

Our one stop was to eat lunch on the foreshore at Whyalla. Rarely have I seen a sea so flat.

We arrived home with lots of ideas about our next car trip adventure, so stay tuned!

 

Weeks! #4: holidays

A week off! Actually, two weeks off! Starting slowly, the boys and I spent Monday mostly at home – though we did have a walk to the shops.

Getting pocket money made Jude and Zac go for immediate ice cream purchases, while Sebastian ended up checking out new wheels on line.

It is good to be at home – bare feet and shorts.

Sebastian made mango creams for dessert. Perfect for a summer’s day.

My excursion out on Tuesday was to the hairdresser.

And holidays mean lego time! perfect now the boys have their own room for lego and games and tv following the summer’s house rearrangement.

A post-physio treat of lunch at Cornucopia.

We also went for a visit to Sarah’s and the boys got to catch up with Ryan and Imogen.

Wednesday night really seems to have become Arkham Horror night of late.

Time for the real holidays to begin! Off to the Seven Mile Beach Holiday Park near Gerringong for a week. Hurrah!

Ready for some beach time.

..and some pool time

…some general hanging about time..

..beach food

…and the boys of course were fans of the jumping pillow – in small doses.

Sebastian got very enthusiastic about the opportunity to go kayaking, so we gave that a go too.

The problem was our timing – we chose to go out when the tide was low and this meant we needed to push the kayak a bit more, and got stuck in the sand a couple of times. All this would not have been the end of the world, but that on one of these occasions Sebastian managed to cut his foot on an oyster shell in the mud – and when we stopped to look at it there was a lot of blood and it looked quite nasty and eventually the mother in me decided it should probably get checked out and treated. Fortunately it didn’t need stitches but it did need cleaning and antibiotic cream and the doctor advised that Sebastian should stay out of the water for a couple of days – news which was received with much chagrin – displayed here when he and I went on a walk together.

This is also what you do when you get bad news apparently – take comfort in a blanket and a movie.

On Sunday we had a day away from beach holiday activities – we drove up to Wollongong for a day of derby. It was a coed event with pot luck teams – James was reffing his first games and I was playing mine. I also ended up benching for two coed games – although I played in a all girl game. It was a lot of fun – the floor was quite strange and because I had benched the game before I played I didn’t have time to really warm up. So for the first part of the game I really didn’t feel like I had a lot of control. Eventually I got into it though and was reasonably happy with my game. I was especially happy to have managed to push Shortstop – one of Australia’s best players – out twice! I guess I will feel more relaxed after playing more games, bound to get better!

We ended the day stopping in Kiama for some delicious Vietnamese food, before James fell asleep on the couch back at our cabin (he reffed two games) and I wasn’t far behind him.

The week that was…week 41: holidays

School holidays and time for me to take a break from work. A public holiday to kick off with not a whole lot to do.

Jude and Sebastian both spent some time reading while Zac had some lego fun.

Jude also did some baking.

Steven and Shell came over for dinner so there was hanging out with Fritha.

On Tuesday we had morning tea at Cornucopia before physio and shopping.

And then it was off to ANU for some skating.

The next day we set off to Ettalong Beach.

There was the compulsory stop for McDonalds en route.

And then things started to go wrong. The car started shuddering at high speeds, especially when we tried braking. By this time we were in Sydney so we pulled of the M7 and found a Bob Jane. They checked the tyres while we wandered about Mt Druitt, before they recommended that we replace our front two tyres. So we waited around why they did that.

We then got back on the freeway…and sadly once we had been driving for a little, the car started shuddering again. We pulled over and managed to find a nearby Thrifty, which was handily near some brake repair places. So time to hire a car and drop ours off for repair.

And then we were on our way again. The magic of smart phones meant that it wasn’t too hard to work out where to go and we found places nearby and it was all sorted without too much stress – although there is an inherent level of anxiety in these things. It did mean we arrived at Ettalong Beach about three hours later than expected, but at least we got there.

The next day was breakfast out and a walk near the beach.

We also checked out the pool until lightning sent us inside.

Time then for afternoon tea at the funky Hatters Tea House.

It was a lovely sunset after the storm.

The next day Jude, Zac and I went back to the pool while Sebastian and James headed back to Sydney to pick up the now-fixed car.

We found a fabulous little Spanish restaurant for dinner called Menhir. Fabulous food and and an impressive gin and tonic menu.

The next two days were spent at ERRD which is covered off in my last post. It was two hot days in a great big tin shed, but lots of fun, fantastic derby and I was really proud of my team who played really well.

The week that was…week 30: school holidays and other fun

 

School holidays still this week and James away in Sydney for several days. I took a couple of days off to hang out with the boys but was a bit limited by what we could do due to my leg injury. But we had fun. I did take them to Koko Black and then Monsters University one day.

The boys also helped with the housework. Well, a bit – folding the washing and putting it away.

And Sebastian made individual blueberry crumbles for us all.

There was a bit of playing computer games – I think George decided this was as close as he could get without an iDevice of his own.

There were also teddy forts built and teddy battles held.

James was back by Friday and we took the boys skating. I couldn’t skate due to my leg – but James decided to give it a go, and was not bad at all for a first timer (no photos of him skating were allowed).

And some more computer time.

A random shot of a new piece of public art in Canberra.

And then the week ended with some work travel – off to Hobart for the night.

The week that was….week 5: last week of the holidays

A public holiday is a great way to start any week, so naturally we had a BBQ to celebrate. With many awesome foods.

During the rest of the week there were various holiday activities at home…

…and I had a day off for some excursions. We spent a good few hours at Questacon which was fun as usual.

 

And at the end of the week there was another BBQ with other friends and yet more delicious food.

 

 

 

 

A year in the life …day 196: Zac’s holiday report

Zac writes and illustrates the story of his holidays. He tells me he wrote it all without help. And I love the fact he has Merida’s red hair and arrows down pat.

A year in the life…day 183: a new boss in town

This morning Zac’s brothers were off at a hockey clinic for which he was too young. So he came into the office with me, watched TinTin, drew pictures, drank juice and generally had a good time until Andrew the babysitter came to pick him up at lunchtime. It must be said that having a big office and an EA makes family-work juggling a whole lot easier at times.