Happiness is having a playground nearly all to themselves

Feed the birds

I just can't seem to say the phrase without that song from Mary Poppins launching on some sort of auto-neuro-playback-loop.  But maybe that's just me.  So as that earworm burrows merrily around in my head, I'll tell you about our adventure over to Pt. Chev. 

I'd been chucking all of our stale bread ends and stuff into the freezer for a while, and when we had a whole heap we went off to the Western Springs park to feed the flock of birds that are always there.  You know, the ducklings and the pigeons and stuff.

And then some swans turned up and it was this whole gorgeous idyllic scene with the afternoon sun glinting on the pond.

We had a great time making sure that everyone got something to eat, even the little sparrows.

With this attitude, we became quite popular.


Soon, the ne'er-do-wells began sizing us up for a score.

And it actually started to get a little intense.  Those greedy, grabby birds!



But it turns out that once the bread is gone the birds lose interest pretty quickly and it's easy to give them the bum's rush.

And once the roving gangs were cleared we were free to frolic once more.

!eseehC

I asked them to pose nicely for a picture by the sculpture.  They turned obediently and made for their positions.  But at the last second, Amiri demonstrated his parkour skills by leaping for its ledge and Arram veered left for the underbrush.

Matakana!

We had an adventure up north to Matakana (pronounced 'Monica' by the kids.)  We took a stroll down Main Street, and found that the local church was having a little picnic and inviting all the passersby to come in.  So we came in.  We had to.  Because they were offering pony rides.

This is April.

And this is Jazz.

And this is the boys getting saddled up for their first ride.

And here they are in action.  Ride 'em cowboys!!


There were actually lots of things to ride in Matakana.  Like this lawn ornament that was apparently more fun in theory than in practice.

Or this, which was, I'm pretty sure, the most fun that our family has had for a dollar all this week.

We love ducks

We will follow them right down into the river if Mama will let us.

The boys taste their first cannolis*

 

 *As recently popularised in our house on 'From Scratch'.
 

I am beyond impressed

Today I had lunch made for me, and the house cleaned.  No, I didn't hire a housekeeper; I just have an incredibly mature son.

Amiri was pretending that the living room was a beach and decided that, naturally, we need to have beach snacks.  So of his own initiative, he went to the cupboards and got out the bread, peanut butter, and jam.  He assembled a sandwich for everyone and even got us little drinks of milk.  The meal was delicious!

Then, to my utter amazement, he put away all of the ingredients, wiped all the crumbs off the counter, and then got out the vacuum cleaner and cleaned up the flour that I spilled this morning when I was making pancakes! 
 

After the fountain they did some rock climbing

After a great deal of encouragement from his big brother, Arram finally did try to jump to the next rock.  And he made it!
 

Not much has changed in the fountain department

May I direct you back here for a blast from the past.  The fountain no longer exists; that's progress for you.
 

Michigan wins the bridge competition

I was sick recently and just couldn't manage an exciting adventure.  But we needed SOMETHING to explore.  So we drove over the Harbour Bridge and then stopped to look back.

We even scampered underneath it!  (Look at the little trolls...)

As an engineering feat, it's pretty impressive, no doubt about it.  Especially the part about doubling its vehicle capacity later with the 'clip-ons'.  But it's still dwarfed in comparison by the mighty Mackinac.
 

Expressions of dignity and quiet reserve during another dinner out

Phone etiquette

Ring, ring...
'Hello?'
'Yeah.  Is that Allison?'

'Contact Allison on 021-xxx-xxx.'

'I've got to go right now, but can we talk more later?'
'Sure.  I'll ring you tomorrow, OK?'
 

It was a milkshake kind of night

We had a fancy Friday night dinner out, and the boys got to have milkshakes.  Arram definitely enjoyed his and was pretty pleased with the sprinkles and little peacock decoration in it.

Amiri was stoked to have a strawberry milkshake all to himself.  He was also fascinated by the peacock.

What do you mean it's made of paper?