I do love them, but school holidays are a balancing act of nightmare proportions! Trying to keep them happy, quiet and preventing them from maiming each other is a mammoth task! Paul feels as he is left to get on with things business wise, the house goes to rack and ruin and that strange little man was back knocking at the door asking to climb my mountainous pile of washing and ironing.
The latter isn’t helped by Pentley who helps himself to stuff off the washing line like a ravenous creature at a self service buffet! Last week he ate a bra, a pair of Paul’s trousers, put a hole in a bed sheet and nibbled the straps off of one of my tops! Blooming animal. Perhaps he isn’t getting enough fibre! He also demolished a plastic bucket and pierced a hole in his new ‘gold’ Ali G water bowl. I’m sure he’s got a socket set and a work bench hidden in his kennel as he makes such light work of the destruction! Perhaps we should take him round Arthur – he could nibble all the cement off the floors for the tilers so they’ve got a nice smooth surface to work with :o) If he carries on, I shall plant him under to pool, so he can ‘swim with the fishes’. It’s not helped by the fact that he’s grown to the proportions of a small horse. Adam could easily ride him now and his feet would barely touch the floor. I hope he stops growing soon, or he’ll be wearing the roof as a hat (that’s Pentley – not Adam :o) Should’ve got a gerbil.
Last week, the kids and I went into Kings Park for a few hours whilst Paul had a meeting up in Perth.
Darcie looking very mature (with a blue fishing net accessory).
Ta Dah!
The weather was lovely. We got there really early and the park was empty. By the time we left (after lunch) it was heaving with families.
Sam's on the left, in case the teeth confuse you :o)
The kids had a good play and went fishing with their little nets.
Mr Cheese attempts to snare Moby Dick.
Darcie tries not to get hoovered up.
My birthday was a quiet affair…… well Paul was on the phone :o) ha ha ha! I’d booked the kids in for VACswim last week, so they had lessons at 1.50pm each day, which kid of scuppered any plans for a day out (apart from Friday, that is….). So we had our swimming lesson and then we bundled in the car with Paul and went with him on 2 surveys before going out for dinner. It was very nice and we returned home full and tired – my idea of a good time. Half way to 70 now – that’s more than a little scary. Has the best already been? Have I lost my looks? Will I ever get to meet Ant and Dec? Mum single handedly kept the Post Office (and Australian Customs) in business with her parcels – thank you. I LOVE my M&S bag for life – cow! Just coz you can pop in whenever you want – I can shop via the internet and you pay the postage :-p
The rest of the week went by in a bit of a blur. I went swimming with the kids on Thursday, so that knackered me for the rest of the week. Blooming heck, it was like swimming with a baby monkey clung round your neck, which every time it was removed, screeched at 10 decibels to be replaced! Then after their lessons, Sam and Darcie came to provide support to the monkey and much needed ballast to drag me under even further. The pool has one of the fast moving whirlpool thingies that you get swept around, which is hard enough to negotiate on you own if you lose your footing; let alone when you are being dragged under by a family of baby monkeys hanging from your shoulders. Never again! And I got water in my ear and was deemed deaf for the following 24 hours, so I couldn’t hear what nasty things the kids were saying about me. I don’t know; 35 years old for 48 hours and I needed one of those ear trumpets – what next? I already know my limitations with the star jumps…… it really is all down hill from here on in. I’d better join the loyalty club at the chemist like Paul has. He almost has enough points for a pair of heated slippers now….. every little helps!
Friday the kids played hooky from swimming (we couldn’t manage a whole 5 days :o) and we went to the Mandurah boat show. Paul had some contacts over from a company we deal with, and they gave Paul and I trade passes to the show, so we wandered around enjoying the weather, oohing and ahhing at the various boats and watching Sam cast an approving eye over the models in the fashion show! I think a Leslie Phillips, ‘hel-low’ even passed his lips at one point. I swear I can almost smell the testosterone in his room now (although that may well be his feet ;-o )
Mum, you will be pleased to know that whilst at the show, Paul and I booked to do our Skippers Ticket. We’ve booked for Halloween and the guy said if I go in costume, I’ll get extra points. Don’t know if I’ll be able to steer the boat dressed as a giant pumpkin, but hey – points is points!
Saturday, Paul was a man on a mission. We had instructions to be ‘up and out early’ as we were going on an excursion! The excursion turned out to be a mammoth adventure on the boat. We rose, packed a picnic, dressed and departed and were at the marina by 9am!! Unheard of! So we logged on with Mandurah Sea Rescue (we know what to do now and how to do it! We have a call sign, and have to log on with them during the day – so they can keep a protective ‘eye’ on us – and then log back off once we’re safely back home), and we were off – headed for the ocean! We are fortunate living round Mandurah in that we have the best of both worlds with the ocean, the rivers and the estuary. They are all linked (Nah! Really?), so we headed for the ocean, trundled down the coast to Dawesville – a man made channel that links the ocean with the estuary – then back into the estuary, before returning up the river to Mandurah. It was FANTASTIC! Apart from one hairy moment when Paul was perhaps travelling too fast and the water just disappeared from under us following the crest of a wave; resulting in a 3 foot ‘drop’ through thin air back to meet the water. Great fun. Quite a scary view out the back of the boat though – NO LAND! At some points the water was about 20 metres deep too.
Christopher Columbus, eat your heart out!
Sam adds an element of scale :o)
We were SO pleased with ourselves. We went upstream and moored for a while and had some lunch, before heading back onto the estuary so Sam could do-nut. A fab day was had by all.
What do you mean, 'cut the rope?' 
There were two in the boat and the little one said........
Adam enjoys boating with such style and panash, don't you agree?
Next weekend, Darcie and I have a date. We are going to spend the night on the boat together…. alone… bobbing about. We’ve got all sorts of treats organised. Should be good.
Arthur! Well? I hear you ask. Well, don’t! They’ve done stuff all (again!), but we have a new supervisor and we’re meeting with him on Tuesday for a tiling meeting. We did find a key in the meter box (oh, the security!), so we went in for a nose about. Not that there was anything to see that we hadn’t seen before! Hopefully, this week will see things moving along again…… please! They’ll have to get a serious wiggle on now to meet the deadline for the pool company. Although, after Thursday and the episode with the ear trumpet, I might cancel it and have crazy paving instead.
Oh, and a confession, Mum. The Police are coming to Perth in February (the group, with Sting…..not the boys in blue from Stanborough HQ) and we wanted to get tickets, but they all sold out quickly. We got really excited last week when they mentioned they were releasing another date. We logged on to the internet and purchased our tickets…….. only for the victory to sink in and leave the fact that we’ve booked them for Mr Cheese’s Birthday :o( So next year, as a one off spectacular, Adam will be celebrating his birthday a day later than normal on the 3rd! He’ll probably get an extra ‘guilt’ present too. In the words of the great modern day philosopher, Homer Simpson – D’OH!
