Playground.
We have lived here for over 3 months and have found a few “parks” but no playgrounds. Yesterday when we were nearly home from our boat ride, we saw an actual playground. Jay found it on google earth and realized we can ride the buggy to it!
Both kids were up before 6:00 Sunday morning. After a quick FaceTime chat with Uncle Rickey, Ty disappears for a few minutes and came back upstairs with shorts, a t-shirt, a hat and his shoes on. I said, “wow, you got dressed quick.” “I really want to go the the park.”
We cooked brekky, did a few chores, FaceTimed with the Bach’s, then packed up the buggy. We found the park – it has a decent covered swing set that is fenced in and filled with sand, a basketball court, picnic shelter, and nice walking path. Another mom and her 2 boys (2 & 6) were there. Ty had fun playing with the boys and I had a nice chat with the mum. It started to rain, it was nearly lunchtime, so we went back home. So glad we found a fun playground!

Olympics.
Ty took a good nap upstairs and Lily snoozed in my arms, giving me a perfect excuse to watch the Olympics (Sochi 2014).

Makes me wish I would have taken up figure skating as a kid. Wait. I can barely ride a carousel without feeling nauseous… Pretty sure a triple toe would make me vomit. Good thing I chose accounting instead.
The luge guys are nuts. Do those things have a seatbelt? I wonder if they have been crash tested? Seems like it is an accident waiting to happen. How do those boys’ moms watch them? I cringe when I watch it and I have no idea who those kids are. I really hope Ty’s luge experience in New Zealand didn’t give him any dreams of the 2030 winter Olympics. I think that entering in the swimming competition in the 2028 summer Olympics would be safer. I will encourage that instead.
And the moguls… Ouch!! That is a knee surgery waiting to happen.

Stairway memories.
I am starting a memory wall along our stairway with some of our favorite pictures from our adventures down under. It will be an incentive for us to take the good camera along. So far I only have 2 prints from the New Zealand trip. Looking forward to many more!

Aussie.
My son, who is in the running for the world’s pickiest eater (won’t touch vegetables to save his life) asked Jay for a snack today. Jay offered to cut up some cheese to have with crackers. Ty said, “Not cheese. I want Vegemite on my crackers.” And then when I went to reshape his King Ropes ball cap, he said, “No mom. I like it straight.” Like all the little Aussie boys. Oh man….next he’s going to tell me he doesn’t want a hair cut, he wants to take up surfing, and he’ll be telling me “no worries mama.” Am I ready for this?

Yard work.
The gardener that we hired to take care of the yard and gardens barely makes it to our house to cut the grass, let alone do any trimming to the hedges/raking/etc. I really can’t stand a messy yard (might have something to do with the company I work for, or it might just be my OCD). Unfortunately we don’t have a mower so there isn’t much I can do about the grass. But, we bought a few hand tools and I have realized if I want the work to get done I have to do it myself. Today’s project was to attempt to level off the hedges in the backyard (with handheld clippers), cut back the overgrown bushes along the side walkway, and clean up the front gardens. I had one section left in the front yard when Ty talked me into quitting to go for a bike ride.
If you remember, shortly after Christmas we were playing with Ty’s boomerang and it got stuck in a palm tree. We have been meaning to take the hoe to the park to try to get it out but never remembered…until today. Jay was able to knock it out of the tree – yay!!! The boys threw the boomerang around for a bit before we decided to head back home. Yes, Jay finished the walk with a hoe thrown over his shoulder. I am sure the neighbors were creeped out.

End of the weekend.
The boys went to pick up Thai food for dinner. The rest of the evening will be spent finishing up the laundry, making fruit and veggie salads for the week, and getting ready for bed. Another great weekend! G’day mates!