The readers

My heart swells when I see these two together.  They sometimes have a volatile relationship.  They are probably a bit similar in personality, they know how to push each other's buttons, they both want the last word in an argument, and neither can be reasoned with.  However, they also share a love of creative play and using their imagination.  So when they play together, they are totally immersed in the world and game they have created.  All very sweet stuff.

They also share a love of reading.  Most of the time they read separately in their own beds, but on occasion they can be found snuggled up together under a doona enjoying their books and quiet time together.

As for Henry.... well he's probably already fast asleep in his own bed, glad for some peace and quiet.

Birthday celebration dinner

Out to dinner to our family favourite Crostini's to celebrate the birthdays.

Henry's birthday surprise

"What's my birthday surprise this year Mum?" asked Mister Henry.  The truth was we didn't have one planned.  In fact, we had zero ideas for any gifts for Henry's 12th birthday.  He doesn't need anything and he didn't have a wishlist either.  But with this one question I realised how much he looks forward to the experiences we have given him for his birthday over the past few years (ie, swimming with sharks at Sea World and being a zookeeper for a day at Taronga Zoo).

It was then I remembered a TV ad shown in the lead up to the school holidays.  It was an ad for Oakvale Farm, a place less than an hour's drive away that has native and farm animals..... and lemurs.  Lemurs just happen to be Henry's favourite animal, after Minnie our pug.  The ad showed lemurs on the shoulders of young kids and I thought how perfect - Henry would get to interact with a lemur.

As it was Henry's special day, this wasn't going to be a family outing.  Michael had taken the week off work to enjoy the kid's birthdays with them and because it was school holidays - so it was a special day out for Mister with his Dad.

How disappointing then to arrive at Oakvale Farm to discover the lemurs secluded on an island and the closest Henry could get to them was looking over a fence and a moat.  In fact, the lemurs were not the lemurs in the TV ad.  These lemurs were much older and had been rescued from a zoo in New Zealand that had closed down.  As parents we were thwarted.  Upset we'd failed our beautiful Mister on his special day.

Turns out Henry wasn't too disgruntled.  He was just enjoying his day out with his Dad all to himself.  He still got to get close to plenty of animals.

Then it was out to lunch to his favourite restaurant Noodle Hut, where he could enjoy a big meal without his brother and sister whinging they don't like anything on the menu.  He got to order all his favourite foods:  satay chicken skewers, salt and pepper squid, and chicken pad see ew.  When he finally got home he got to indulge in his birthday cake of choice, a homemade chocolate brownie.

Happy birthday Mister.  You'll be a teenager next year.

Milly makes double figures

Yes, Milly has made it to ten years of age.  To celebrate her 10th birthday she had a small group of school friends for a sleepover.  The girls had fun, it was a noisy house for 24 hours, they all loved playing with Minnie, and I think some of them actually got some sleep.  We were all exhausted when it was over.

Lego Exhibition

I am way behind on blog postings, so apologies for that.  The school holidays and two birthdays have already been, gone and celebrated and I haven't shared anything about them.

So, during the school holidays we took the kids to the Lego Exhibition.  The exhibition was basically lots of Lego creations made by a "brickmaster".  Everything was made with Lego.

There was an interactive zone for parents and kids to create in.  Michael was very clever and tried to replicate Milly's toy cat in Lego.  Didn't he do well?  Good one Michael.