Chick chick boom

It has been aaaaaaages since I have had the chance to sit & blog. I think I have been busy doing things that I would like to blog about but been so busy doing them that I haven't been able to sit & write. We had a family holiday away recently which I have lots to write about, but is it bad of me that I am more excited to write about last night's shooting? Not sure what that says about me??

Our social group went out to a shooting range last night and had a blast (lots of puns coming your way!). It was organised way before we went on holidays but because we only got back a few days ago, and because we are all still a bit lagged, and becasue I spent the last 2 days in bed ill, I wasn't really looking forward to it at all. If you are someone who knows me, you know that I love to organise, bring people together & do things. So for me not to be caring about this was a little sad even for me.

Once I managed to get the kiddies into bed, off I went to meet the group who had been messaging me about it since my return.

We had a safety & regulations talk to start off with, worked out which eye was our dominant eye by doing a whole lot of funny experiments which prooved to be useles because once I eneded up with the rifle in my hands and in the seat I naturally closed the other eye anyway. Typical!

As we were a large group we went six at a time & had a set target ahead to aim & shoot for. Some of us managed to follow instructions.... Just saying...

We learned how to load the magazine & prepare for the shoot. And then the moment we had all been waiting for. It's funny because I have been shooting before, many years before in the army, and the hesitation to pull that trigger was very strong. For me anyway, someone else pulled the trigger then almost let out a yahoo...

There were a few different things we tried. Shooting at a moving target

...And aiming at different targets etc. All in all I think it's safe to say the group had a really great time, and like our rockclimbing experience, this will be something we'll probably want to do again.

Some of us more than others

It was heaps of fun and well worth the effort on my part after all.

Wintery Fireworks

We went off to see the fireworks at The Docklands this evening. It was a cold day so I wasn't sure if I was fully comitted to going until around 3pm when I had to decide if I was going gung-ho on getting dinner & kids ready in time, or if I was going to relax and stay home. Or make yet another trip to Chaddy.

Invited some friends but they were all contemplating the weather too, and seems most of them had more sense than me and chose to stay home. The fireworks started at 7pm and even though my kids are usually in bed at around 7.30pm, I figured it wouldn't kill them to have a bit of a sleep in tommorrow morning (and would reduce the bags under my eyes by at least 10%....always a plus!).

Due to being on the water of course, the area is always a little cooler & windier, but we sat near the buildings and were quite sheltered.We were very rugged up though admittedly, expecting the chill.

Unlike most fireworks displays, we had an awesome view and there weren't hundred's of people pushing & shoving for a better view, so everyone was happy.

That is until the noise began : )

I am not a fan of winter but I wasn't in the rain, I wasn't running in and out of schools or shops, I wasn't in traffic, I wasn't trying to get anything done - I was just enjoying the cold - rugged up and prepared, ready to embrace the cool evening & enjoy a little taste of winter with the kids.

After the fireworks display which went for around 15 minutes to some wonderful classical music (otherwise known as Ballet music by Miss A), we enjoyed a hot chocolate at a nearby cafe.

It was an enjoyable night & the kids were in bed by 8.30pm. Thanks Docklands for the event, and again Little Melbourne for the heads up.

It's a long way to the top

I've been meaning to try some stuff for a while (my whole adult life), that seem to become just one of those things that you always say you'll do & don't actually get around to doing. I guess I have my own sort of bucket list. It hasn't been anything I have spent hours constructing, just whenever a good (or sometimes bad) idea pops into my head, I file it under 'should-do-that-one-day'.
Well, last night after much organising & date changing, a group of us went rockclimbing. Wow.

I am someone who is not on the BFF's side of heights. In fact you could say I have a fear of them IF I don't feel safe. This was going to be a challenge to me & a few others with the same issue.

We had our safety instruction & a quick practice on a baby wall with the instructors overseeing our ability to not kill each other on the full height OMG walls.

The practice walls were hard enough to start with as none of had any real technique or know how but that was part of the fun, being able to have a laugh at ourselves (& each other)...

When we had a few goes we ventured into the I-can-do-this room but were still a little freaked by the sheer height of the walls. Some of us started negotiating by saying we'd be happy to get half way.

Once we were up though, you get so into working on your technique & what rock to cling onto next that you don't realise quite just how high you really are.

I amazed myself & a few others who knew my fear, by making it to the top of several different walls, as did some of the others in our group with fears or injuries. Some people just weren't afraid at all...

The anchor or balleyor at the bottom has an important job of hanging onto your rope, but also sometimes talking you through the tricky areas. After a while, you find your neck is locked in an upright position much like an airline tray table.

As the height of the walls we were climbing grew, as did our confidence & some of our stronger participants tried the angled & not so flat walls. I was impressed.

No one in our group had ever done it before so we were all out of our comfort zones and were able to not only learn a new skill, but have a great social night that didn't involve food or drinks.

I highly recommend an attempt to anyone, because after seeing where our group started & how we finished up, it reinforced my belief that adults need un-serious play time too and coupled with something energetic was a win-win for all.

Our social group is accepting new members so if anyone would like a go at something like this or similar (dinners...yes there does have to be food involved sometimes, shooting range day etc, please check out http://www.facebook.com/pages/Strictly-Speaking-eating/237697946258157 )

Have a go people! Thanks to the group for making it such a great night. x

Big Day Out

Not officially the first day of school holidays but near enough, we had a great day in town today...accidently. You see we went out for brunch and then as we were heading home, our one year old was tired enough to fall asleep. Don't normally aim to get the kids so tired they sleep in the car, but today I was kinda hoping that he would.

I bargained with the girls that if they could refrain from singing their twinkle-twinkle-old-macdonald mega mix at the top of their lungs and he were able to fall asleep before we hit the freeway, then perhaps we would go somewhere fun.
It worked. My darling boy asleep & my darling girls quiete. Suddenly I panicked though...Master organiser and over crammer; I had a whole day to fill with no immediate ideas. As it was a little dreary outside but not freezing, my idea had to meet certain criteria: had to be focused on the kids, so the markets were out; had to be outdoorsy but be semi covered in the likely event of rain- so the parks were out (and kind of done to death), ummm... Then I remembered a great website called Little Melbourne that I have been scanning as the approach to school holidays got faster and faster. They had an idea... The National Gallery Of Victoria had a Kids Corner & Kids Space that was free and interactive.

It had been a while since we had been into the city - in fact I think it was during the Moomba festivities and we were on the other side of the bridge, so the kids loved that there was money in the fountain, but more so, that there was water running down a wall.

Shaan prehaps wasn't so sure...

The kids corner is literally a corner of the gallery dedicated to kids of all ages with varying themes from time to time. The current theme was Kaleidescope; colrs and shapes.



Some of the activities were things you could do at home, but because the entire space was theme dedicated my kids went shape & color crazy. They especially LOVED these colored lights that were sensored & followed you leaving a trail of light on the carpet below where ever you had moved. Had my girls running in circles for at least 30 minutes. Brilliant!

After a good two hours, we went out into the gardens for a walk around and spotted some lions...

After a great day out we were all getting cold & tired ...

Lots of ways to keep entertained for free these holi's. Hope you enjoy yours too.

Presents, paper cups and pom poms

One is such a small number but such a significant one at times. Good when you are talking about how many teeth to extract, bad when you are talking about how much money you have left : ) Another good one, was my son’s first birthday which was celebrated on the weekend.
We prepared for weeks (actually it was months but I don’t want to sound like a weirdo...or a birthday-zilla; the new bridezillas of the world, to quote a friend)...the invites, the food planning, the cake (including a practice cake which looked like the evil twin of the supposedly cute penguin theme we had chosen) etc. And unless you were there, the etc won’t mean anything. Details darling, details...

It was a lot of people to have at a first birthday (as pointed out by one of my other friends), but it wasn’t really a party for him. Yes it was in honour of him, but more a party for us, as parents to have survived yet another ‘first year’ with a new baby. Just. This one being the highest maintenance with food allergies & eczema making for a more unsettled baby and definitely a more unsettling year, yawn...is it bed time yet? Oh sorry.

Some were family, some were great new friends we’d met through the year (no, not you Mahta), and others friends from a time when we were childless (holidays, sleeping, eating when you wanted to, not having to cut someone else’s food into tiny pieces before eating yours cold, decisions made at the last minute... oh how I do miss those days). So who to leave out? I have a tradition with my babies that they have a baby shower within the fortnight that they are born, a naming day at around the six month mark, and then a first birthday. Three parties in their first year. Followed by grandparents only at the next few (that’s how long it takes me to recover from post-birthday-stress-disorder).

I think overall it went pretty smoothly, except for some people not being able to locate their cups which were placed in alphabetical order of their names.

Maybe a dumb idea but most people seemed to like the novelty of hunting for their name. I didn’t do it for anything but the sheer number of cups left around, with no one knowing whose is which. It was funny seeing everyone walking around, guarding and holding onto their cups, precious cups.

 

Thankfully the weather was great, sun out, no wind or rain so being a Melbourne family we were very lucky to score this in the middle of winter. We had our cafe blinds down & a gas heater just in case...

Woofy enjoying the sun & the overhead heater

Most children played on the playground that hubby built for our kids, but then when he went amiss for a while, we found out there had been a minor engineering issue with the bridge he made and he was doing some critical repairs ... with his road crew being a road crew, arms folded & on hips (sorry Dad, I know your days in a crew were different).

There were paper cups on the kids table for them to draw on & personalise along with some penguin color-in sheets... as well as a whole stack of fairy bread. What’s a party without?

And of course there was food that was a little more grown up (although all the fairy bread did disappear suspiciously)

Pointing out the baby penguins my older daughter made out of fondant

The flying fox was popular with the kids...

Everyone rolled up their sleeves & helped...

I made a penguin mobile for the kids table area decoration but after a while he was missing an eye.. and then I found the culprit after seeing this photo : )

In keeping with the theme, the kids had a take-home penguin craft kit to make their own penguin like the one hanging out on our window & on our mobile. We have asked guests to take a photo of themselves with their completed penguin so we can add it to my baby's 1st birthday album. 

Mr Penguin

DIY Penguin kits

Grown-ups favour boxes (with a chocolate cupcake)

After all of the planning, the cooking, the cleaning & celebrating, we are glad that it's over but more glad that we had such a good day, and hopefully our guests too.

One is not a lonely number after all. It's a great one : )

Special  bib from our friend Anna