A weekend in the country

G and the boys love to skip stones - in the national park at Trentham

The floors were being done so we needed to get away for the weekend.  To keep things simple we just went to Woodend an hour or so from Melbourne.  We stayed at a farmhouse (with horses, chickens and dogs) which the boys loved and Grandpa Gilbert flew in from France on the Sunday.

Luke's creative little mind was trying to work out how they could get across to the other side.  They didn't actually get much further than this...

The house had bunk beds and each night Luke thought long and hard about sleeping on the top bunk.  He tested it out a few times but retreated into the spare bed.  My usually fearless boy has some things that he's just not ready for and he's brave enough to say so.

At Hanging Rock - this is such a beautiful part of Victoria.

Alex loved the stairs in the house and the two horses - Leon the big one and Polly Anna the fat, little pony.  He's getting more confident with animals and sought the horses out all the time.  I had to pat them first and then he would.  We all agreed that it's best ot not get behind a horse and Alex was quite graphic with his description of what would happen if it kicked you.

At the top of the world.  Luke is such a little trooper, he loves a physical challenge and just throws himself into it.  Alex is getting over his "uppy" requests and also standing on his own two feet.

Tarzan!  Luke continues to be a dare devil and Alex being so impressionable tries a few tricks of his own "Mum, you think this cool".

Alex has become such a chatterbox.  One day we went out together on a errand - a 3 hour round trip - and I promise he did not stop chattering away the entire time.  We now have a little joke when he calls out "Mummy, where are you/", I respond "Hiding from you".  The boys have some unique expressions - 1 is snatch which is used as a nicer word than steal.  As in "Alex where are the biscuits" with the answer "I snatched them".  Alex also manages to use this phase about 20 times a day " I want you to buy me..."  And another phase is "NG" as in "I can't do that I've got no NG".  I have noticed in the past week he's started saying "energy" so this phase may be on the way out.

Brothers who love each other share the swing and don't shove at each other in an effort to push them to the ground.

Luke came home from school full of information about the visit from the Fire Men.  We talked about crawling around if there's smoke, getting everyone out of the house and the need to establish a meeting point - in our case the letterbox.  He was so proud that he was able to share this with us and contribute to the safety of the family.