The Melbourne Show

We took the kids to the Melbourne Show yesterday (a GIANT annual agricultural show that's a bit of a big deal around here). Foolhardy? Probably, but no-one got lost or ovewhelmed by the crowds, and we all had a pretty good time. Georgie did keep trying to leave us behind as she sped from exhibit to exhibit, but we're getting good at keeping up with her.

Highlights included the baby animals (lambs and piglets wandering around among us!), the decorated cakes, and the shetland pony steeplechase. We got to go on the train both ways, which is a treat in itself for Owen. And of course we got to eat some junk food (hot dogs! chips!) and get Owen a show bag with real live chocolate in it. He was very impressed.

Happy 4th Birthday, Owen!

We've just come to the end of a week of birthday festivities for young Owen. What with parties at school, playgroup, McDonald's and home, he looked rather jaded by the time it came to blowing out the candles on his 4th cake. Still, he had a wonderful time -- McD's being a particular highlight, what with an amazing playspace and 12 amped up kids. We parents survived too (even enjoyed it a bit), so it was all good.

Humility

In his prayers tonight, Owen asked God to make me (Serena) "righter", praps even right as often as him. He explained that I'd been wrong about something this morning and he would like God to smarten me up.

His favorite saying right now is "I already KNOW that". There's not a lot you can tell him without getting that response. Must be great to be almost 4!

We took a great trip to the zoo today. Georgie was delighted at the number of animals presenting as potential hug-ees (see her photo with the emu below: "But I just want to HUG you..."). Owen was pleased by the monkeys, but probably considered them intellectually lacking also :-).

To the farm!

We took the kids to a city farm today, because Georgie is an expert on farm animal noises. As it turned out, it was a much bigger hit with Owen. He loved milking a cow, feeding a lamb with a bottle, and meeting rabbits, pigs and kids (the goat variety) up close.

Georgie was perpetually frustrated by not being able to hug as many animals as she wanted, but she did get to spend quite a bit of time with the baby rabbits (and we narrowly managed to keep them all from being hugged to death).

Owen has announced that he wants to go back every day which is... unrealistic. As Marc always says, the best child-rearing experts tell us that you can't live at the park.

Christow

Most houses in Australia don't have names. Ours (a rented house) does: it's called Christow. We didn't think twice about this when we found the house, but took the chance today to check what the name means. We were very touched to find that Christow means "a place dedicated to Christ". May it be so!

Coffee: who knew?

This morning, Marc asked Owen if he'd like a big steaming mug of coffee (he was joking). But Owen responded with immense seriousness, a look of horror on his face. "Oh no, Dadda, coffee KILLS 3 year olds". Gee, we had no idea.

We're all doing well, Serena is now settling back into work as a lawyer (2 days per week, now about 4 weeks in). We've found a kinder for Owen for next year (praise God!) and Georgie is cutting another bunch of teeth. She's going to have more than your average dinosaur soon. She's talking a very little (Mama, Dada, duck, ball, rain, Owoh for Owen etc), but is speedy and adventurous, running everywhere. And the winter weather has been wonderfully mild, so we're still enjoying the usual range of outdoorsy activities.

Weekend Getaway

Marc & Serena had a welcome kid-free vacation -- a quick trip to the mountain town of Marysville, just outside Melbourne. Would you believe we actually had a koala living in the tree outside our cottage? (And as Marc predicted, it spent its time sleeping and pooping).

We also notched up some major tourist finds -- the biggest waterfall and biggest tree in Victoria. Hey, that might make them the Biggest in the Southern Hemisphere! (Well, probably not, but you never know -- there's less competition down here). Both were 84 meters tall and quite impressive (for scale, look for the teeny Serena at the bottom of the tree in the photo).

And then we enjoyed uninterrupted coffees, meals, winery visits, Scrabble games. Even a sleep-in or two. It was very nice. Many thanks to Serena's parents for the babysitting help.