Week 8 "Nunchucks"

12/9-12/15

Week 8

Weekend with Anna

Dog Park

This weekend I went to stay with Anna up in the Northern Beaches. Anna is my friend/ ex-roommate from APU. She is also being an Au Pair. The family she is working with is currently on holiday in the UK so she is just house sitting for them. Well, house and dog sitting. This family has 3 dogs. And if you know Anna, it is hilarious to think of her as being in charge of 3 dogs. Anyway, so on Friday afternoon Dan and the boys drove me out there. On a good day it would be a 40 minute drive, but unfortunately, there was a

You can't just pet one of them

View from the guest room

pretty big accident that caused a lot of traffic. So it took us more like 1 hour and 40 minutes.

Once we got there Dan and the boys chatted for a few minutes before heading back home. Anna and I took the dogs to the dog park, an excursion Anna was a bit apprehensive to try on her own. The dogs are all very high energy. They are all ex-navy dogs however, so they are very well trained and respond to commands quickly. We took them to the dog park and walked them around and through a couple tennis balls. After they had had a good play we went to head back to the car. Near the car park there was a spigot and a basin full of muddy water. Of course, all three dogs bee lined straight for that muddy basin and began rolling around in the dirty puddles surrounding it. And naturally, we did not bring a towel or blanket or anything to dry them off with… We ended putting them in the back of the car anyway and Anna hosed them down once we got home. We then went out, grabbed a pizza and some Lift (Lemon Soda) took it down and ate on the beach.

Pizza on the Beach

The next day we got up quite early, got some take away coffee and took it to Dee Why Beach. There was some sort of rowing training/competition happening so we were watching that. The actual rowing was happening about 80 meters North of where we were sitting. But whenever the teams would come back in they would jog over to where we were sitting to do their stretches or strategy talks. We started to feel a bit creepy because we would just lie there and stare at the athletes in their budgie smugglers. But it’s not our fault they kept going to the plot of sand in our direct sight line…

Dee Why

“Mums Group” Get together

Dan and Mark hosted another gathering of families from “Mums Group”. I’m still not entirely sure what that means. I think it just means families who have kids around the same time get put into groups to go through the experience of child rearing together. Or maybe it’s just another excuse for Aussies to have a BBQ and a few drinks. Anyway, it was a nice day with lots of fun in the sun, pool time and back yard Cricket. After such a big day, the boys went to bed early.

That night while Mark, Dan and I were sitting on the lounge watching T.V. we heard Harry stirring up stairs. At first we could hear him walking around and we all kind of assume that he was going to the toilet. But it sounded like he was pacing around so we thought something might be up. We then heard him walk down the hall and start to come down the stairs. I assumed he would come into the living room and say he couldn’t sleep or he had a bad dream. But he comes down stairs and, grabbing his crotch, walks straight into the kitchen without even looking over at us. That’s when we put it together that he was sleep walking. Dan went over to him to check it out, and when she got over there he looked at her very sleepily and said “Nunchucks”. Then he proceeded to wee all over himself and the kitchen floor.  Dan hollered at Mark to get a towel. All three of us just started laughing trying to process what just happened. They got everything cleaned up and put Harry in the shower and into some fresh pajamas. The funny part is, he will not remember any of this tomorrow.

Week 7: Christmas Season

12/1-12/8

Week 7

Building a Christmas Tree

Building a Christmas tree was an entirely new experience for me. For those of you who don’t know (which most of you ought to), I’m from Oregon. Trees out number people 1 million to 1* (*Not an actual statistic). In my family, getting a Christmas tree can turn into a full-fledged event. We bundle up in jackets, scarf, gloves and boots, go out to the farm and hike through the muck and the cold to pick out the perfect tree. (It will inevitably have a bald spot, which will in turn, face the wall). In the old days, Dad would have to lay down in the mud to saw it down. Him and the boy would be responsible for tethering the thing to our car. All the while, us girls would go back to the farmhouse for some hot cider and doughnuts. Even the years we didn’t go to the farm, we would go to the Boy Scout lot where the trees were pre-cut and it and was now a acne ridden 15 year-olds responsibility to attach it to our vehicle. But even sans-farm, this is when it starts to really feel like Christmas. When you’re nose turns red and runny in the cold and you see your breath in the night air, which is actually at 5:15pm but because of how north we are, so the sun is already long gone. And when you get the thing home it stinks of pine, and like it or not, that stench screams Christmas.

But here, I built the tree, one branch at a time… wearing a tank top. I can see the appeal. It came together quite easily. No bald patches. No needles were lost. Minimal work and upkeep. But I did find myself missing the smell and wacky, miss-matched ornaments that I knew would be on the tree at home. 

Carols in the park:

Hunters Hill puts on a “Carols in the Park” at Boronia Park the 1^st Sunday of December every year. I Joined with William’s family as they went up to a fellow school mom’s house just up the block. She was hosting a gathering for several of the school families. We ate some dinner and had some drinks before heading over to the park. At the park there was a large stage set up and a bunch of different acts. The whole show was a bit cheesy, but it was fun. And, in true Aussie fashion, the whole thing ended with a beautiful firework display.

Townsends:

I took the left over pumpkin and apple pie to the Townsends. I was happy to share the left over’s with them and they all seemed to enjoy the pumpkin pie. (Yes! More believers!). I got to give some to Neil and Michelle in the Granny flat. They leave for their Europe Trip this week and are getting very excited.

Christmas Concert

This week Lachie had his Christmas concert at his school. We had gotten there a bit early to claim a spot in the front. We brought some finger foods and champagne and chatted with other school parents while we waited for the show to start. The Kindergarten class sang about Jonah and the whale. A song that I will surely have stuck in my head for weeks. The whole event was quite cute. Each grade had a song and the whole thing was over in less than an hour.