Our eight wheeler

"The cutest thing I'm going to see all day" is what the sales girl said to Michael when Buster was getting fitted for his roller skates.  This level of cutest we experience everyday.  It's the twinkle in his eye, the scattered freckles across his nose, and the single dimple when he grins.  It quite simply is the magic of our little man Boo.

Finding roller skates for small people (especially boys) is not easy.  Milly's skates were found in a toy store and Henry's blades at a sports store.  Poor Buster was in tears that we couldn't find any for him.  After some rigorous hunting by Nanoo she located a specialist roller skating shop 35km away, and on the weekend Michael took him to get the skates.

Once home he immediately wanted to try them out.  We don't really have a smooth, flat surface for skating on, but an attempt was made in our carport anyway.

What we really needed was a visit to Nanoo's house where there is plenty of concrete to skate on. The weather conditions at Nanoo's slowed us down but there were some chances for Boo to have a go and he's already looking forward to going back for more skating time.

Skates

The kids received some school holiday gifts from Nanoo.  She has a long, flat concreted driveway that is perfect for learning to skate on.

Once Henry and Milly had found their balance and confidence, they tested their new skills at the nearby park.

ANZAC walk

Michael's parents came to stay recently and on a wonderful, sunny winter's day we got to show off and enjoy a new local landmark - the ANZAC memorial walk.

The walk commemorates the 100th anniversary of the ANZAC landing at Gallipoli, as well as the commencement of steel making in Newcastle.  It is a tribute to the local men and women who served their community and country.

The walk is situated on a long cliff top and features steel silhouettes of soldiers inscribed with nearly 4,000 family names of the regions men and women enlisted in World War I.

The coastline setting is truly beautiful and the day we even saw some whales heading north.

Colonial day

I remember when I was in primary school learning about colonial Australia.  I also remember the weeks spent learning bush dances.  It promised to be fun at the time.  You got to get out of the classroom, but the trade off was having to partner with a boy, hold his hands, or have his arms around your waist.  When you're 10 years old, there is nothing joyous about it.  It was all very icky for everyone involved.

So here we are some 30 (cough) years later and Henry has been enduring the same educational ritual.  Although, hopefully he is learning more about our true colonial heritage which includes our indigenous history.

While I don't remember having to dress up in colonial costume when I was in primary school, it was all too familiar when I showed up to watch Henry and his school year bush dance and the unease they displayed with touching each other or making eye contact.

Kids in the kitchen - ambulance needed

Well our first day of the school holidays started in the normal lazy fashion.  No one was keen to escape their warm beds, especially me (actually that's me everyday).  It wasn't long before it was almost 10.00am and no one had had breakfast.  Instead of the usual toast or porridge, the kids asked for something special.  Three cheers for pikelets went up and so I had a shower, got dressed and headed down to the kitchen.

My trusty helper Buster was by my side tipping the ingredients into the bowl and giving them a good whisk.  Today I thought I'd take his cooking skills to the next level and show him how I cook them.  So he could see, I stood him on a chair next to me at the stove top and I showed him when the pikelets start to bubble they are ready to flip and cook on the other side.  He was keen to have a go at flipping and I said ok.  Some he flipped where great, others he flipped turned into messes - but that's all the joys of learning to cook.  When the last of the pikelets had been flipped I turned off the gas and said he could spatula the cooked the pikelets onto a plate.

It was at this moment my heart stopped.  I still don't understand how it happened because I was right there, but his body fell forward onto the frying pan and he screamed.  I also screamed and grabbed him.  The inside of his wrist had landed heavily on the rim of the hot frying pan we had been using.  I looked at his wrist and panicked.  This wasn't a superficial burn you get from briefly touching something hot, this was deeper.  He was in pain and shock.

I stuck his wrist under the kitchen tap and kept the water running.  Poor Boo just kept crying and saying "I wish I had stayed in bed today".  I was scared and he was scared so I called Triple 000 for an ambulance, which managed to freak him out even more.

The ambulance arrived within about eight minutes and the paramedics took charge.  While the burn was the worst I'd seen, it wasn't the worst they had seen and they put a special compress on him and bandaged him up.  They talked me through how to care for it, the blister it would form, and to look out for signs of infection.  They also said he had burned through a 3-4 layers of skin and it was likely he would have a permanent scar.

When the paramedics left, all the kids wanted was the pikelets.  The poor darlings were starving.  Milly, having shown no concern for Buster at the time of injury, was now his nurse.  She grabbed her favourite pillow and made sure he rested his injured arm on it.  She put pikelets on his plate and put his favourite spreads on them.  Even now two days after the event, she still is looking out for him.

As for me, I'm still carrying the guilt.  Guilt for letting him near a hot fry pan, and guilt for calling emergency services.

Meanwhile, Buster is running around as if it didn't happen.  It's only when his burn starts to sting does he slow down and remember he's meant to be taking it easy.  Wish I had his resilience.

Two days later before redressing.

Tree Tops

We've been to Tree Tops Adventure Park before.  It's heaps of fun.  This was the first time Boo was big enough to join in and the first time Henry could tackle the adults courses.  Still recovering from my flu, Michael got to swing from the trees with Henry while I stayed on the ground supervising the other two.

Helmets and harnesses on and bored of waiting to start.

Boo was a little hesitant on his first challenge but once he completed it there was no stopping him charging from one kids course to the next.

There was a few more ropes and clamps for Henry to deal with now he can do the adults courses.

Milly is very agile and confident on these courses.

Boo's favourite part of the courses were the flying foxes.  He would launch himself from his tree post, flying backwards or with his eyes closed.

Sick note

My apologies for lack of blog posts.  I've been sick.  Really sick.  I managed to get one of those truly horrible influenza strains.  So horrible that the first five days of it had me writhing in pain, shivering with chills and crying real tears.  It wasn't pretty and it was no picnic.

I've had the odd flu here and there but nothing compared to this.  I now fully understand how people die from the flu because I was begging Michael to end my suffering.  It was unbearable.

As always Michael is my rock.  He just took charge, quarantined me, brought me endless supplies of hot water bottles and pain relief (even in the middle of the night).  He took time off work to deal with the kid's school routines and took on all the domestic duties.  He offered me sympathies but kept his distance out of fear of coming down with it too.

It was Milly who came down sick first with the aches and pains.  The poor poppet whimpered through it and she was sick for a good week.  It's taken me three weeks to fully recover but I'm back to good health and all is right with the world again.

When Michael did return to work, my first morning of having to get up and organise the kids for school was made easier by my little angel Buster.  He is the only child in the house who can make toast, and bless him he insisted on making me breakfast and then made his own.  His older siblings could learn a thing or two from this little man.

Big ears

No trip to the zoo is complete without taking a photo of Henry in between the ears of a fennec fox and then comparing it to previous photos taken.

Black belt boy

Proud as proud could be is my description for us as parents at the moment.  Henry attained his black belt in karate at the recent grading.  He showed commitment and focus, and somewhere in his quiet demeanour I'm sure he's proud of himself too.

During his grading he needed to demonstrate his execution of basic kicks, punches and blocks.  He went through a series of rounds of kumite (sparring) against other advanced students.  He was required to complete all the kata's during that grading cycle from beginner to advanced, as well as select another advanced kata to perform on his own.  Then he had to do a speech on "what his family means to him".

Obtaining his black belt was a goal he set himself when he started karate.  There have been times he has wanted to quit but he's also wanted to see it through and get that belt.  He was originally going to quit again after getting his black belt as karate fatigue had set in with all the lessons he needed to do during the last grading cycle (we've been doing four classes a week since the start of the year).  There has also been a bit of fear, knowing after he got his black belt he'd have to join the teenagers and adults classes to progress.  His kids black belt is the equivalent of an adults purple belt, which puts him in the advanced classes in the older age group.  We've convinced him to stick at it another month.

He's done a couple of the adult classes now and doesn't look out of place at all.  At first he was overwhelmed and there were some tears, but he all the kids before him who got black belts are in these classes too, so he's not alone.  Also, now he is really learning the art of self defence.    

In addition, four days before his black belt grading he was pulled out in front of his class and awarded a Student of the Month trophy.  We had no idea he was going to receive it.  It was also the first time the centre had awarded one.  His Sensei announced all the Sensei's over the past month had been secretly awarding points to students for attitude, skill, commitment, focus and respect.  Henry had the most points by a landslide and was unanimously voted Student of the Month by all the Sensei's at his centre.  He really is the quiet achiever.

Good things come to an end. Holiday wrap up - days 7 & 8

We were all a bit glum checking out.  No one wanted the holiday to end.  So many memories, such a good time.  So we fitted in a little bit more.  Some more rides and a dolphin show before the car trip back to Coffs for the night and then home.

It was a bit eerie driving back to Newcastle knowing areas were still flooded and how badly the cyclone had hit.  As we got closer we could see all the trees lining the freeway that had come down and fences taken with them.  There was a beautiful sunset and more storm clouds.  We were driving straight into another storm.  Milly hid behind her hands for the rest of the car trip when she saw the lightening.  Michael and I looked at each other slightly worried when we realised how close the lightening was and the realisation that we our drive home was taking us into the eye of this storm.

We were pretty relieved when we pulled into our driveway and undercover.  The rain was pelting down, lots of thunder and lightening.  We were safe and the holiday was certainly over.