VW Day, Turner's Beach Berry Patch

Gardening

 

Penguin Beach

Survival Skills - Fire Starting

The OH was practising using flint and steel as a fire starter and the boys were keen to learn. Shmoo got the hang of it very quickly; Loo took a while but got there in the end; Beanie doesn't quite have the coordination for it yet but had fun trying.

Autumn

 
Baby Bear testing out his new shoes.
Little Princess, Shmoo's tamed feral.

The veggie patch is growing well. Rocket, parsley, chives, onion, kale, beetroot, lettuce, cauliflower, cabbage and silverbeet. The OH has surrounded the boxes with seaweed to help keep the snails and slugs away. The boys help to water and weed. They've also planted some garlic.

  
Grasshopper.
Big brother, baby brother. 

ANZAC Park, Ulverstone

  

Stopped by a HeartKids get together... A gorgeous, sunny autumn afternoon, perfect for a spot of climbing and seagull chasing. Baby Bear was so excited to see the gulls, pointing and saying "Duh, duh," thinking they were ducks.

Seeing him running around so confidently did make me realise that he's been walking for about 2.5 months now. Definitely time for his first pair of shoes!

Catch Up - Pigs, a Birthday, Teeth and More

  

 

We've visited Mount Gnomon Farm for their Rare Day Out. In between the rain, wind and hail we enjoyed some delish food and took a tour of the farm, seeing the Wessex Saddleback pigs and Belted Galloway cattle.

We celebrated Loo Bear's 7th birthday with our traditional jelly cups and bubble bath. This year Loo requested a chocolate cheesecake with berries on top so I had fun making and decorating a simple but very yummy Toblerone cheesecake.

The Burnie Arts & Function Centre hosted the Da Vinci Machines exhibition. We all thoroughly enjoyed the fascinating and hands-on displays, as well as the more in-depth explanations that one of the workers gave us. We also took the opportunity to turn it into as mini study on Leonardo Da Vinci.

Last year, when Baby Bear and I were at the hospital in Melbourne, the OH took the other 3 boys to the Devonport community gardens. He discovered that we were eligible for the Youth & Family Focus Inc.'s Veggie Patch Project, so he signed us up. Recently the team came out and installed 2 awesome raised garden beds as well as a compost bin.

We've discovered samphire at a local beach, so have gone foraging while collecting seaweed for the garden. Samphire has the saltiness of olives with a nice freshness and crunch. We ate it after blanching and it would go well in salads.

Meeting lovely new people while out and about...

 

After years of watching our tooth fairy visit his older brother, Loo Bear finally got his first wobbly teeth. One fell out recently and we popped it and a note into a 'Tooth Jar'. Bramble Ravenwing, our boy-tooth-fairy, exchanged the tooth for a letter and a dinosaur candle (he doesn't do money).

And speaking of teeth, we've started using xylitol. I dissolve it in water (about 1.5g of xylitol per 20ml dose) to make a mouth rinse that we use after eating. I chose a mouth rinse over substituting it into our diets so that we don't have to worry about how much we're consuming and possible side effects. We also have some Epic gum and mints that we use, mostly for when we're out and about. The kids love the fresh fruit 'mints' as they're not actually minty - they have a cool, tangy, fruity flavour. The OH and I like the spearmint gum. We are occasionally using the xylitol toothpaste too but I'm currently researching making my own toothpaste with a betonite clay, bicarb soda, coconut oil and xylitol base.

Going Batty

In the wee hours of the morning, The OH and I were woken by Loo Bear screaming. As we cosleep with Baby Bear and breastfeed, I'm on baby duty overnight and The OH takes kid duty so he got up to see what was going on. Apparently Loo heard a squeaking noise but after a brief investigation, no squeaker could be found.

Ten minutes after returning to bed, there's yelling once more. This time Loo heard a flapping noise and The OH heard it too. In the dim light The OH also thought he saw something small flapping about. Thinking a large moth must have gotten into the kids' bedroom, he turned the light on and got ready to catch and remove it... Except it wasn't a moth, it was a bat! Catching it in a cot sheet, he released it out of the kitchen window.

Come (later) morning, The OH got up and was feeding the cat when he heard a little screech and squeak. Sure enough, there was a little bat, attached to a curtain. We're not sure if it was the same one who managed to find a way back in, or a different one. The OH popped it into a box and tried in vain to get in contact with someone from the Parks & Wildlife Service after I found this information about Tasmanian bats.

The little bat was happy to stay tucked away in the box all day and we released it after dark tonight. A nice lead in to a mini study about bats...

Painting

The OH and Shmoo Bear helped out with painting the community hall's fence this morning.

Patches

Last year The OH started collecting patches for the boys. He found some cool canvas satchels on sale at a camping store and will sew on the patches as the kids 'earn' them. Shmoo has earnt his martial arts patch. Loo, a fossil hunting patch; Beanie, a 'Be a Star' patch; and Baby Bear, a Valentine's Day patch.

Refinding Our Rhythm

My elderly father hadn't been well for quite a while. My parents had been planning on flying us up to spend some time with them in July, however in early January my dad's health took a turn for the worse.

Toward the end of January we got the call we'd been half expecting and with less than a week of last minute planning, booking and packing, we flew north for a 2 week stay.

We got to spend 10 days with my dad before he finally passed away; it was lovely to see his joy in seeing all his grandkids again. Since it was so close to our departure date and the funeral had to wait for international relatives, we decided to extend our stay by a week. REX were great and waived the flight change fees when we faxed our travel agent the death certificate but Virgin wouldn't budge and we had to fork out nearly $1500.

Our stay in far north Queensland was hot, humid, wet and exhausting. The mosquitoes just about ate Beanie alive when he spent 10 minutes outside. There were cyclone threats. Due to my dad's ill health and death and the hot, wet weather, we didn't venture far from my parents' home. The boys got bored, watched far too much TV and ate far too much junk food. We stayed indoors and enjoyed the air conditioning. The boys enjoyed a nearby child-friendly shopping centre.

While we were away from home Beanie celebrated his 4th birthday and both toilet trained and finished breastfeeding. Big moments! Baby Bear celebrated his 1st birthday and started really cruising, even taking 3 unassisted steps! 

It was lovely to catch up with some old friends and family again (and to have some yummy nem chua again for the first time in over a decade) but we are so glad to be home. In the last couple of days of our stay, Shmoo and Beanie came down with a nasty cold and Loo had an allergic reaction so our journey home wasn't particularly pleasant and the rest of us have since caught the cold too.

We are still unpacking (having gone up with 2 half full suitcases and returned with 3 overloaded ones), recovering, and trying to settle down into some kind of rhythm again.

   

The Nut - Stanley, Tasmania

Yesterday evening we took the boys to another Parks & Wildlife Service (PWS) activity - a 'creatures of the night' tour of The Nut (remnants of a volcanic plug) at Stanley. It was again led by Discovery Ranger Jess who shared her passion and extensive knowledge about the native wildlife (and scatology). After a short but very steep walk we viewed the beautiful sunset over the water. We then did a circuit around the plateau and got to see some pademelons and short-tailed shearwaters (muttonbirds) flying in to their burrows. The group even spotted a muttonbird egg as well as an echidna.

(Did I mention that it was a steep walk? Steep! And coming back down in the dark with an 11 month old wrapped on my front was certainly interesting! It was after midnight by the time we got home and we had 4 very tired boys!)

Tasmanian Pademelon

 

Our little pademelon friend has taken to stopping by quite regularly and The OH has named her Bridie. The other morning Bridie brought a friend along to breakfast with her and The OH was thrilled to see that Bridie also had a joey in her pouch. This evening she was back and we were able to get a good look at her adorable baby.

Tasmania Parks & Wildlife Service - Devil Detectives

 

   

  

  

As part of their education service, the Parks & Wildlife Service runs a Summer Discovery Ranger Program. We took the boys along to the Devil Detectives session at Sisters Beach. The enthusiastic Discovery Ranger Jess used fun games and activities to teach the kids (and adults) some interesting facts about Tasmanian Devils and we learnt how to track Devils as well as some other animals. Among other things, the kids got to see some animal skulls and poo; learn how to identify various tracks; make their own plaster cast of a devil print; and check out equipment like motion sensor cameras and traps.

Check out the free summer activities that are held all over Tassie!