Wednesday, June 22, 2011

7 Sins - LSBS




The last three layouts for the series (though I haven't done week 4 yet).

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

My first flight

A forum asked today about our first flying experiences and I ended up writing a big long tale. Here it is:

I don't remember my first flight - but I'm sure Dad has it written in his log book somewhere. Yip, my Dad keeps a log book of all his flights - has done since he was a kid. Even the big boring commercial ones. Type of plane, rego, everything Smile

Growing up with a father that is a plane nut, I spent a LOT of time at airports as a kid. Very, very occasionally we were rewarded with a flight in a little plane around the airfield - a takeoff and landing usually (there is a term for it that my memory seems to have lost, bump circuit perhaps?). We spent far more time looking at planes than going in them!

But mostly we were stuck on the ground watching while he talked planes with old men for his latest book! http://www.nzaviationpress.co.nz/

The worst flight I did was Hamilton (NZ) to Sydney in about 2002. We were due to take off at 6am, so arrived at the airport at 4.30am having had a piece of toast for a quick breakfast. Went through customs, and waited. At 7am they announced that the plane was broken and a part had to come from Akl. So we had a 2hr wait while the part arrived and the broken one was replaced. They did this while we waited in 'no mans land'. Which at Hamilton airport is one very small room with one very small shop - nothing like Sydney with loads of shops and restaurants!! Read the book that I'd taken for the trip..... Eventually the powers that be decided that the new part didn't fix the problem and we were all going to put on a bus to go to Akl airport. So it's lunch time, and we haven't eaten since 4am and we had to go back thru customs and get on a bus for a 1.5hr ride.

The bus drove out the driveway of the airport, and about 1km down the road when a big bird (presumably a turkey) flew up in front of it and smashed into the windscreen! That poor driver. Everyone on the bus yelled out "keep on driving" and he drove all the way to Akl with a half broken windscreen! We arrived at about 2pm and were, thankfully, given vouchers for lunch at the pub. And told to wait for our flight at 4pm.

So we had 2 hours to get SMASHED at the pub before getting on our plane Smile We did make it to Sydney, but the whole thing took more than 15 hours. There is a photo of us somewhere on arrival looking dreadful.

Friday, June 17, 2011

Our big boy is 6 tomorrow....


#1 sons birthday tomorrow (6 - wow). Soccer is cancelled, so the day is up to him really. He wants porridge for breakfast :)

Then we are taking them to the Tigers game at Leichhardt tomorrow - I'm not much into league, but live games are fun no matter the sport, so it should be good.

Spent the morning with the parents group at school walking around deciding on 'educational' paintings to go on the different paths. Alphabet snakes and hop scotch, big chess boards, etc. Should be good when they are done - apparently the parents group has cash to spend, and this was what they came up with. I'm hovering on the edges of the group, not sure if I want to get involved yet...

Scrapping has been non-existent lately, sick kids, too much work, plus winter in general is uninspiring. But perhaps tonight, hubby is off to the pub, so I might put these monkeys in bed early and actually do something... :D

Saturday, June 11, 2011

Number Four due End December

Goodness, a Christmas baby!!!

And check out the cute ticker I've put on the blog to count down the days, and shows the development...

Friday, June 3, 2011

Seven Sins

Or at least the first 3. The LSBS competition is in its fourth week (of 7), and I managed to do 3 of them this week! It's a catchup thing. Luckily, the deadline is the end of the 7 weeks, rather than weekly :)

Here they are:
Anger (This Boy - makes me angry how he eats SO slowly, but at least he'll try anything even spicy stuff, so I shouldn't complain. And his antics make me laugh more often!)














Envy (to scraplift someone you envy)





















Gluttony (is wanting lots of kids a form of gluttony?)

Album for cousin Toby






This little album is created with an acrylic base and various scrap pieces...

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

A terrible mother

I've just been reading a great blog, Never Been Hip. And was reminded of a day after school last week. I was at school to pick up Vincent, when I saw him start a fight with another kid. A teacher went over and sorted it out. The mum I was chatting to said "oh, look at that". I said "yip, I'm looking, and I'm going to ignore it and let the teacher sort it out!" Later, that teacher and Vincent's teacher came over for a chat, and I said "well, when he's sick, he's just a little shit". I mean, it's true, why the shocked faces? Or is truth a terrible thing for a mother in public? Should we pretend that it's all sweetness and light all the time?
Normally Vincent is a practical, empathetic kid, but being sick makes him surly. It's just the reality of it.
Of course, parenting as a competitive sport doesn't allow for reality. Either your kid is super-perfect or is super-terrible and you have 'such a hard time' as a parent. Give it up - some is good, some is bad, and everything is MORE! Kids give you more happiness, more frustration, more laughter and more moments of complete terror than life without kids will ever give you!