The search for gold

Our boys are very comfortable on planes.  On our recent trip to Kalgoorlie they sat together whilst I sat across the aisle.  All good, they get a few looks of surprise but they know exactly what to do especially when there are screens on the flight.  Airline food remains a disappointment and visiting the Qantas Club a highlight since I let them have a very small Coke.

Craft activities

Our Kalgoorlie trip was another great one.  Lovely weather, lots of unique Kalgoorlie type adventures and being well looked after by Bill and Pat.

A complex ramp system for their toy cars

High priority was driving the ute, I’m not sure if this experience counts towards their learners permits!  And of course shooting the gun, gun safety being a number one priority and that’s pretty drilled into them now.  

Safety first whilst shooting the gun

Luke was pretty determined to find a nugget of gold.  It proved elusive and Grandpa Bill stumped up the cash to purchase Alex some paper gold and Luke a tiny nugget.  Both have found their way into their treasure drawers at home.

Where there is a tree you will find my boys in it

The way home took us through Perth for a few hours and a great day organised by Aunty Karen.  First stop go karting, Alex rode with me and he must have said “faster, faster, faster” 200 times in our 20 laps.  Both boys loved the speed and want to go back.  

Looking quite the bushman

Then a picnic lunch and a catch up at a playground with their cousins.  Will latched onto Luke and at the end I heard him ask “will you invite me to your birthday party?”  I’m assuming this is the ultimate in his world of acceptance and friendship.

At the superpit

Then everyone settled into the last term at school.  I do reading with Luke’s class every second week when he’s in English and his teacher has reported a real shift in his approach to learning combined with maturity.  Yay!  We’re enjoying this new attitude and enjoyment of learning.

Never ending soccer games at Grandpa's house

Alex loves school and continues to be very social.  One week his gang is the ‘sand pit gang’ which I hate because it means shoes and pockets full of sand at the end of the day.  And the next he’s devoted to collecting and trading stickers. 

Enjoying driving out bush

He dabbles in soccer as well but is fairly confident of his abilities claiming that he’s better than all of the other preps.  Perhaps he is, if so, then he can thank Luke for all the coaching and the hours spent in our driveway playing together.

Luke waits for his turn driving and refrains from back seat driving!

Moving into the end of the year starts planning around birthday parties and Santa lists.  Luke has all boy parties now and Alex is comfortable to split his 50:50.

And then there was more shooting

Luke has an expression that he uses a lot “I’m just going to tell you”.  That and his acceptable version of swear words.  There’s a lot of swearing going on at school in grade 2, obviously pushing the boundaries and this mixes with some of the attitude we get at home too.  Sometimes I glimpse the surly teenage that will be living at our house one day.

Luke and his little shadow, Will

We are very fond of playing the ‘I love you game’.  It goes like this:  “I love you”, “no I love you more than you love me”, “impossible I love you MORE, yes I do”.  A very hard game to win.

Aunty Karen takes charge of the cousins