Sparkle Star

Well it is finally that time of year.  I have been up since 5am with two very excited boys and one grumpy baby.  The eldest child has had enough sense to keep sleeping as Christmas celebrations don't start until tonight.

The house is decorated.......

Christmas tree adorned (Although these stars that I made were sent as a present.  Hope you guys liked them.).......

Star donuts long gone (yum).......

Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and a Safe and Happy New Year.......

GOMA

On Sunday I took the kids on one of our adventures.  What this means is that we leave the house with a rough idea of what we want to do and take it from there.  Our intention was to walk into the city to check out the Christmas festivities.

As it was another rainy day in Brisbane-town we drove part way and parked the car near South Bank.  On our way past the Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) we decided to pop in to check out the new exhibition '21st Century: Art in the First Decade'.  The following is an exert from the web site.

"This summer 2010–11, to mark the end of the first decade of this millennium, the Gallery presents ‘21st Century: Art in the First Decade’. This ambitious and ground-breaking exhibition will occupy the entire Gallery of Modern Art and focus exclusively on works created between 2000 and 2010. It will showcase more than 200 works and feature over 140 artists and artist collaborative groups – senior, mid-career and emerging – from more than 40 countries."

The following photos are just a tiny part of the exhibition.  Considering that we live so close to the GOMA and that the exhibition runs until April 2011 I am sure that I will post more photos as we spend our weekends taking advantage of the free entertainment.

Below the kids are adding to the cityscape as part of Olafur Eliasson's 'The cubic structural evolution project'.  The photo doesn't do it justice but they are sitting at one very long table covered with white lego.

We all chose a wish from the wishing wall.  Each ribbon has a wish printed on it.  I chose 'I wish I was a singer'.  We then wrote another wish on a piece of paper to replace the one we took and poked it into the hole.  Hopefully our wishes will be chosen to be printed by the artist on new ribbons.

Here the kids are watching a video that daughter number 1 made.  She wore a pair of glasses that were fitted with a small camera.  She then walked around an exhibit that included paintings and pottery and spoke about what she thought of each art work.  The video was then downloaded for viewing.

We spent some times making birds.  Even daughter number 2 gave us a hand with the nest making.

Son number 1 stayed and played computer games, happy to be unbothered by his big sister.

Good weather for frogs

Brisbane has recently been receiving a lot of rain.  Which is great, except when walking to walk, drying clothes, trying to amuse kids, getting out of the house in general.  But the frogs seem to be loving it.  This frog has been visiting our backyard.  We are hoping that it finds a mate.  We keep checking our fish pond for tadpoles (in those small periods when there is a break in the weather).

School's Out

I don't know about how other parents are coping but I find this time of year difficult.  The kids are on school holidays and are looking forward to Christmas.  Meanwhile Mr Man and I don't feel in the holiday mood at all and are trying to get everything ready for the big event.

So, while I am at work Mr Man tries to amuse the kids while keeping things going at home.  Last night when I got home son number 2 was in his bedroom (time out) for an indefinite period.  As the story goes the kids had been sitting at the dining room table eating dinner.  Mr Man, who doesn't care for dinner at 5pm, was in the living room sorting laundry when he heard laughter.  While we all love our children to be happy a noticeable change in tone usually indicates that they are up to something naughty.  When Mr Man went to see what was so funny he saw son number 2 standing on the chair flicking mash potato up in the air with a wooded spoon.

I personally blame myself.  A few nights earlier the kids and I watched 'Whip It'.  It is a movie about roller derby and includes a food fight scene.

P.S. Son number 2 wants roller skates for Christmas.

Outback Australia

I have been doing a bit of travel for work lately.  I consider myself fortunate that I get to see and experience the things that go with visiting mine sites in remote parts of Australia.

The picture below was taken while Doug (my travelling companion) and I were driving to a site in Western Australia.  The picture does not do justice to the colours.  The red of the earth and the blue of the sky were truely stunning.  And the colours constantly changed.  The sunsets were beautiful.

While in Western Australia Doug decided it would be a good idea to take a couple of photos of me to show the kids.  You can just make me out in my site uniform standing next to the historical display of mining equipment (no thanks to Doug's thumb obscuring the photo).

Another trip saw Doug and I travelling to the Northern Territory.  For those of you that have never stayed at a mine's camp (accomodation) the rooms are normally large enough to house a single bed, wardrobe and a desk.  So imagine our surprise when we were given the visitor's lodge.  It was a 3 bedroom house with its own kitchen (not that we used it as a bonus of staying in camp is the canteen with all you can eat food), lounge room, dining area and bathroom.  In the evening we would gaze out the window and admire the wallabies feasting on the mangoes that had fallen to the ground.

The only draw back of the house was that it didn't keep the frogs out.

The other Lars

Here is a photo of the other Lars.  I shall leave it at that.

I love your umbrella

I have been meaning to post some happy snaps from the holiday that son number 2 and I took to Coolangatta.

Here he is having a hot chocolate while we are waiting for our room to be ready.

In the morning we were visited by a kookaburra.

We visited the Crystal Castle where son number 2 had no problem working his way to the centre of the labyrinth.

Here I am in front of Buddha.

The views were stunning.

 As were all the gardens.

Son number 2 is placing a 'I love you mummy' offering to the Hindu deity.

After having a good look around the Crystal Gardens we enjoyed a cup a tea and son number 2 took the opportunity to do some colouring in.

A walk on the beach in the evening.

And an ice cream afterwards (although after this picture was taken he didn't want anymore so I ate it, shame).

One of son number 2's favourite activities was sitting in the spa.

And the hotel had water slides to which we devoted 2 hours.

On the way back to Brisbane we stopped in at the pirate park.

We also went for a walk in a rainforest.

Of all the wonderful things we did and saw on our 3 day holiday son number 2's favourite activity of all was playing with my umbrella.  He took every opportunity to use it (and there were many even though the photos don't show it).  He would even sneak into the bedroom, shut the door and secretly play with the umbrella.  Who can understand how a four year old's brain works.

Spring has sprung

This is the view from my window at work.  You know it is spring in Brisbane when the Jacaranda's are in bloom.

Son number 2 and I had a long weekend away.  Just the two of us spending some one on one time together.  We went to Coolangatta and while we weren't blessed with lovely spring weather we had a great time.

Getting married

After his initial disbelief, son number 2 has accepted that he can't marry me (nor any other relative).  So he drew a picture of Mr Man and I getting married on the new chalkboard.  Love the pink wedding dress!

Day Trippin'

On the weekend just gone I thought that I would do the right thing by my husband and take the kids out for the day.  That way he was able to watch the AFL grand final in peace (as it turned out Collingwood and St Kilda drew).  First stop was the Big Pineapple. 

The kids had a great time feeding the animals, patting native animals and taking the train ride.

As our visit to the Big Pineapple drew to a close I found myself constantly pulling them up and telling them off.  I know that it is getting really bad when I get sick of hearing my voice constantly barking out instructions.  I ask you, how hard is it for 3 children to stand still so that I can take a photo of them in front of an iconic Queensland tourist attraction?

So I launch into my well practiced routine.  I have performed it many times.  I explain how it is meant to be a fun day for all of us.  That I have made the effort to take them out and about.  Why is it so hard for you to make an effort I implore.  Is this really fair on me?  (you get the idea)  Bellow is the photo that I took after they promised that they would be on their best behaviour.

Next stop, Bellingham maze.  It is a hedge maze and the trick is to find your way to the middle.

I had been here before with son number 1, as daughter number 1 pointed out.  She didn't want him to give away any surprises.  She wanted to lead the way.  Son number 2 wanted to go his own separate way.  I wanted everyone to stick together.  I explained how difficult it was to find the centre, let alone a lost child.  Everything was going relatively smoothly until we sat down at the cafe.  Daughter number 1 stood over son number 1 until he moved so that she could play with the puzzle he had chosen.  Son number 1 then went over to son number 2 and took from him the puzzle he had been working on.  I stood up and walked away.  Needless to say I launched into another monolog full of retorical questions designed to elicit guilt.

In a last ditched effort to find something to do to keep them out of the house longer I drove to Caloundra.  By luck we found a section of beach that had a sheltered spot for swimming.  Everyone had a lovely time and I was reminded of the reasons why I love spending time with my children.

My beautiful girls

My intention is to write about my day to day experiences and things that take my fancy.  Saying that, every now and then I come across some old stuff.  Below are a couple of of my favourite photos of my girls.

School holiday weather

Earlier this year a good friend of mine considered renaming her blog 'Weather and Children'.  I personally love reading about the weather in Latvia and what Marianna's children are up to.  But only a month into blogging I am getting a feeling that I too could become all consumed in describing the weather (yes the 4 kids are happy and healthy).

My fascination with the weather stems from the fact that I walk to and from work and that the success of my weekend market stall depends on it.  It is also related to the kids.  School holidays commenced this week, and so has the drizzly weather.  Hopefully we survive the next 2 weeks.