Day 363: Help to Play, Play to Help

Henry wanted to help me out in the garage today but then he spotted my old 3 wheeled scooter and wanted a go. It turns out that it's quite a good scooter for him because it doesn't really require much balance while he's learning about pushing himself along. It also turns out that this distraction was the best way that Henry could help me while I was tinkering in the garage.

Day 361: Relaxing in the City

We headed in to town for a little post Christmas shopping, it wasn't terribly exciting but Henry enjoyed our snack break at the Coffee Club. I'm pretty sure he was eating Belinda's Friand here.

Day 360: Christmas Day

Christmas morning got off to a very civilised start, the kids were curled up together playing with their iPods for an hour or so before we had our traditional champagne and pancakes with fruit for breakfast. We did the presents after brekky and then started preparing for lunch. We feasted on roast Turkey and Potato Bake and by around mid afternoon we started to sample Belinda's Gingerbread House, it was as delicious as it looked. By the time dinner rolled around we were all so full we just snacked on lunch leftovers. This is how Christmas should be done.

Day 358: Hangin' at the Hyperdome

We spent the afternoon at Tuggeranong doing some more last minute shopping. While Henry and I were waiting outside the $2 shop I took a couple of photos of him running around the lolly machine in the afternoon sun. He would run around for a couple of laps and then come over to see the pictures, then run back for a few laps before coming back to see more pictures. He's become fascinated with looking at photos of himself as soon as they're taken. It's a funny little habit that can make trying to take a portrait type photo of him challenging.

Day 357: Hidden Treasures

I found these while I was looking for a little after dinner snack. Henry must have thought it would be a nice comfy spot for his Lego firemen to have a little lie down, luckily He hasn't discovered what's inside these brightly coloured wrappers. I'm pretty sure he thinks they're christmas decorations so we'll try to keep the secret of the wrapper contents from Henry for as long as possible. With a little luck he won't notice that the container is slowly emptying.

Day 353: Poppy Pressies

Christmas came early this evening when we visited Dad & Lee. They're not going to be in town for Christmas so we celebrated early with them and the kids. Henry loved ripping the wrapping paper into tiny little pieces and Jenna had almost as much fun helping.

We don't get to see Dad & Lee that often but it's always a good catch up when we do... we should do this more often.

Day 352: A Class Act

Belinda's school were performing at the Queanbeyan Theatre tonight and her class did a Dutch themed act that involved this cute little street scene followed by the Birdie Dance done to Dutch Street Organ music. The kids did a great job which is testament to all of Belinda's hard work, even more impressive were the props: Belinda spent a lot of time making the little dutch hats and clogs that all the kids wore. I also contributed to this production by supplying the kite that can be seen centre stage as any good start should.

Watching the production was interesting too, I had both Jenna and Henry with me and while Jenna can sit still for hours on end, Henry struggles. Event he iPod wore thin toward the end of the show. Apart from climbing on the seats and all over my lap like a little monkey, Henry coped pretty well with his first theatre experience. I think it would have been a bit more of a trial if  Jenna hadn't been there to help entertain him.

Day 348: Water Work

Swimming lessons again and Belinda's turn again. Sometimes Henry is more 'into it' than others and when he's having one of his not so into it days it can be tiring work.

Today Henry seemed to enjoy himself, he watched Mum swim through a hoop and then the instructor guided him through the same hoop into Mum's arms. He also got to walk on a big slab of foam that floats under the weight of a toddler running from one end to the other. This part looks like it would be fun, but Henry's still a little unsure of walking on something that moves underfoot.

Day 337: It's That Time Of Year

The Christmas Trees went up today, I helped a lot by staying out of the way. In total we had 3 trees decorated at the end of the day. Jenna looked after the 6ft one in the Lounge while Belinda supervised Henry's decoration of the small table tree and then very carefully made the 8ft tree in the family room look amazing. Unfortunately the trees will need to remain present-less until Christmas Eve because Henry seems to think all presents are his, or as he calls it "Mines". This year should be an improvement over last years when he was more interested in the paper and the boxes than the gifts inside.

Day 330: Estuary Excursions

The wedding yesterday was really nice, the reception was great fun and it went on until quite early this morning. We checked out of the cabins and decided it was a nice day to recover at the little estuary just south of Bermagui. The weather was great so we found a little spot on the sand beside the little river that was flowing into the ocean. Henry took a little while to come out of his shell so to speak, I think it was the feeling of walking on the sand that took him a while to get used to. Once he got past that it was like he went into hyper Henry mode to make up for the slow start. He had enormous fun running around in the sand and splashing in the water.

I went for a bit of a wander to play with the new waterproof camera and found some interesting sea slug type things on the rocks and the odd hermit crab as well. As I was walking back toward our little position by the water I noticed this octopus drifting along in the current, it drew a bit of a crowd of onlookers and I think it was actually a bit curious about the people gathering on the shore. It swam right up to the edge of the water and even stuck one of its tentacles out onto the sand. I took the advantage of  having the waterproof camera with me by sticking it in the water and trying to aim it in the right direction while pushing the shutter button. It's not that easy to aim the camera when you can't see the view finder.

I managed to get a few shots before some feral children decided that rather than watching and appreciating an experience that in all likelihood they will never have again, it was best to try and hit the mollusc with their boogie boards. All I can say is 'dickheads'. At least the octopus didn't seem terribly concerned by these brats, it just kind of casually swam off.

It wasn't too long after this that we decided to head home, Henry was exhausted and asleep within minutes of being strapped into his car seat. Belinda and I stopped in at the fisherman's wharf for a late lunch of delicious fish, scallops, calamari and chips before making the 3 hour journey home. This was a very good weekend away.

Day 329: Rats With Wings

Last night was an interesting one that involved sharing our cabin with another family because they had not where to stay and for me catching up with old friends and new until the wee hours of the morning.

This morning we went in to Bermagui to take advantage of the sunshine and the time we had before needing to get ready for the wedding. Henry played in the sand with Nanna Glenda while Belinda and I took a lot of photos of Seaguls, Cormorants and Pelicans. We were close to the boat ramp at a little fenced off swimming area that is sheltered from the wind and there were hundreds of birds vying for position to grab the scraps as that were being thrown by the fishermen as they cleaned their catch.

It's fun trying to capture the birds in flight without the image being blurred or poorly framed, I must have taken over 100 shots of seaguls before I caught the one I'm using for today.

Day 328: Fly-By Bemboka

We tried to leave early this afternoon to get down to Bermagui for Scott & Rowena's wedding. As sometimes happens to us, our plan didn't really come together. Aiming for a 3:30 departure saw us on the road just under 2 hours later. As we were late anyway we decided that we'd pull up for photo opportunities if we saw them.

This was one of the stops we made. It's the little church in Bemboka and I took it from the drivers seat of the car with the window down while Belinda was out taking close ups from different angles. We were only here for a few minutes and in the end we made it to Bermagui just in time to meet up with the others for dinner at Il Passagio. The food at the restaurant was fantastic and the company at our table wasn't bad either. To add to the impressive evening, Henry amazed the people around us with how proficient he was with the iPad while waiting for dinner.

Day 322: Opa's Birthday

Happy Birthday Hans!

What a day. We spent the morning shopping and then visited David's house to see the build progress, after this we all jumped into the car and were going to go back to the Frekes' house. This would have been fine if the car would start. It wouldn't even wind over. I checked the battery, it's one of those ones with an indicator to tell you if it has charge or not, it was showing the OK reading. I started to google mobile mechanics in the area and got on to one who could be there in roughly an hour.

While we waited for the mechanic Belinda went home with her mum to retrieve their second car so we could install Henry's seat in it and get him back for some afternoon tea and out of the heat. Once that was done I waited with the car for the mechanic who spent about 20 mins poking about and looking at all the stuff I'd already looked at, in the end he did something I couldn't do and that was check the starter motor was getting power with a test light. It was and since it wasn't doing anything with the power it was receiving it meant that the starter motor had failed.

Luckily, David was still working on his house and was able to give me a lift back to the Freke's so I could get changed and we could all go out for dinner to celebrate Hans' Birthday. We only just made it, I'd spent pretty much an entire afternoon sitting in a hot car that wouldn't start waiting for a mechanic to come and tell me there was nothing that could be done.

Dinner was nice and we had cake when we got back, today's photo is of Hans, Jenna and Belinda trying to show Henry how to help blow out Hans' candles. He didn't actually blow any out, but on the positive side: he didn't spit all over the cake either.

It was a long day and tomorrow I need to work out what I'm going to do with a car that won't start... I'm pretty over the drama with this BMW.

Day 317: Henry Lego Hands

Coming soon to a theatre near you: The latest Tim Burton movie about a boy who was created with Legos instead of hands and his struggle to find love, be accepted and scratch his nose without finding his nostril stuck to one of the Lego lugs.

This is a new trick that Henry discovered, he manages to wedge a Lego block onto the end of each finger but not just in any old pattern, they have to be colour coordinated. He's a funny little fellow.

Day 313: A New Perspective

It's Thursday again so we're back at the pool for Henry's swimming lessons, only this time I've got the waterproof camera I bought on the way to Philip Island last weekend because I forgot to bring my 'real' camera.

I decided to have a bit of a play with it after the lesson and I took a few under water photos of Henry... unfortunately they were pretty much henry from the shoulders down because he doesn't like putting his head under the water just yet. They were interesting though, I liked how from under the water, the surface reflects what's underneath it like a mirror. I didn't use one of those though, I chose this one instead.

Henry likes to play on the steps into the big pool, he wades in until he can't touch the bottom and them climbs along the edge for a bit before making his way back the way he came. He also likes to swing on the hand rail where it meets the water. Henry's turning into a bit of a water rat... just like his sister. It must be in the genes.

Day 307: Meat With Handles

Henry was in a funny mood tonight, he wouldn't eat his dinner in his chair. Instead he insisted on climbing all over Belinda in her chair to eat his lamb cutlets. It could have been worse I guess, at least the cutlets are easy to eat when you're on the move. Imagine how messy tonight could have been if we'd been having Spag Bol.

Whilst Henry wasn't being very cooperative with his dinner he was at least agreeable enough to pose for tonights photo. I'm afraid the cheeky gene is strong in this boy of ours.

Day 301: Another Day At The Pool

Because the weather was so good today, we decided it was worth taking the kids to the pool so Henry could practice what he'd been learning in his swimming lessons. As usual we all had a great time and getting Henry out of the pool was the hard part, until we mentioned the word 'Ice Cream' that is.

While Henry was working his way through his Banana Paddle Pop, Jenna and I did hand stands and cartwheels. It was an exhausting outing for the Moss family and even Henry looked tired while he was eating his ice cream. The day took its toll on me too, so much so that I may have even had a little afternoon snooze when we returned home. This kind of behaviour is becoming a regular feature of many of my weekends... is it possible that I'm getting old?

Day 295: Soggy Sunday

It was pretty warm today and when we made it home after walking around Lake Burley Griffin, Henry and Jenna decided to cool down with the hose. Henry took particular delight in trying to wet Jenna, the dogs and even Belinda when she was trying to take some photos from behind the swing set. I played it safe and kept myself and my camera up wind and out of reach.

There were lots of opportunities for photos today and it was really hard to pick just one so I had to narrow it down to my 3 favourites from this afternoon.

Day 294: Aunty Erin's Birthday

We had a bit of a celebration this evening for Erin's birthday, it was all arranged by my brother Dan who cleverly tricked Erin in to thinking she'd have an evening without the kids only to surprise her with a birthday party that included pretty much the whole family.

While we were waiting for Dan to show up with Erin, who was blissfully unaware that we were all waiting for her, we had a bit of fun watching Henry play with his cousin Kinzie. They don't see each other all that often but they still manage to get along quite well, today they had a great time playing in and around the cubby house. I managed to snap this photo of the two playing what you could only describe as peek-a-boo, just without the actual 'Peek-a-boo!!' part being verbalised.

There was however lots of giggling as they flung open the doors and windows to spy each other through the openings... actually, now that I think about it, some of that giggling may have come from me as I watched the kids getting on like the proverbial house on fire.

Day 293: Ice Cream!

We've discovered that Henry has a bit of a sweet tooth... We don't indulge this very often but when we do it becomes very apparent that he is his mother's son. Tonight we allowed Henry to have a full (mini) drumstick/cornetto style ice cream after dinner, he loved it. He even enjoyed offering tastes to us, as can be seen in my photo today.

I wonder if he will grow out of the sweet tooth like I did... I guess time will tell.