Piano for Two

Asher has shown her prowess with the violin, moving up to solo performances on school stage this year. Now we have the all singing, all ivory tickling duo. Not sure how this was put to music. I think they found an age old tune that fitted the words from Asher's book.  Nana kept up the motivation for a bit more practice and a good showing was produced after an hour or so.  Of course the piano could do with some tuning work as it only gets a pounding when the grandies are around.  It is a magnet for them everytime.  Take a bow.

Ensemble

What do you call 30 or so violinists all lined up to saw their bows?  I gave it away.  It is an impressive school when you can dedicate space for an entire building devoted to teaching music and complete with the concert hall designed with the specialty sound reflective panels. Asher's group played thru the first few tunes before the older students got out their fiddles as well.  That capped off a few long days so there must be a rest day here somewhere.  

Doll Play

Yes it has been a while since I have played with  dolls most likely with the same Grandies. Fortunately Nana was directing most of the action. My job consisted of getting small shoes on small feet.  High healed boots are tricky. There was also the reading time, at least three books were read and you have to be more focused than ever about departing from the actual words, as Asher is checking that I am on track and Kaia has seen the film of the book so get it right.  Not to forget the violin practice.

Asher & Kaia Rock the Pools

 We went down to Point Lonsdale to meet up with two of the Grandies.  This is a good beach for snorkeling and when the tide goes out the rock pools are good for exploring.  Asher is at the right age to tackle jumping waves and surfing on the small body board. While that was going on Daniel & I went out with the snorkel.  This is a lot different to quiet water.  You are constantly pulled and shoved. The octopuses garden is really flourishing here, it is so thick it moves with the waves and brings on a vertigo feeling which is hard to describe. When the tide receded the rock pools came into play. There was fish but also sea snails and small crabs to be picked up. Asher and Kaia spent an hour here climbing, looking and splashing.

iced coffee

in the trenches

exposed reef but with hazards

a shell ring

snail without a shell

Courtyard Pool

I got some video of the pool action.  It seems there are problems with floaties in the pool especially bugs and more importantly lady bugs. The first little while sorted that out then it didn't seem to matter. I have never seen so many water pistols. The long shooters were tricky to fill. It took Estelle a while to hold the end submerged yet be able to draw the tube back all the while getting shot at.  Kaia was happy to splash about and Asher had the shoot and run strategy. We will see what the other cousins can do soon.

Teddies sleep too

 We have a double grandie day today not to forget we have to get back for cards tonight as well.  It was an earlier 7:00 am arrival time so we brought our breakfast. The routine is to walk to the playground, followed by the coffee shop. They had their special Italian Christmas cake on offer so we had to try it. This was very nutty.  These sessions were two hours but as we got back everyone was quite tired.  The significant change was that we all had a nap for 30 minutes and there was even time to make this entry while it was all quiet on the Grandie front. While I was dozing a teddy bear appeared on the couch.

Asher helped me today with my writing and drawing here are our pictures.

Kaia takes the stage

 It is Baptism day and we were expecting a bit of noise when it actually came to the pouring on of water but it all went swimmingly. Kaia never made a sound nor did the other two candidates who were there as well. The godparents James and Bec moved when they had to move and smiled when they had to smile. James' present of a cross on a chain was a good touch.  It was a warm day and back home for lunch consisted of salad and fruit platters. Nana got the girls cooled off by running them under the hose without getting herself too wet.

School sports

 PEGS is a well off school but not in terms of space, like St Bernards, where they can have ovals , athletic track and an indoor pool, all onsite. So instead, PEGS buy a huge chunk of land off Keilor Park Dr and install absolutely every type of sports field you can think of, with night lights and indoor facilities as well. I did not see a cycle velodrome, they better lift their game.  I cannot really remember if I had a sports day in Prep. This one was full on with a three station rotation set up, being obtacle course, boxing/self defence and archery, as well as a tug-of-war rope thrown in there.  The cold wind was whistling thru yet now back at the Springs, I went into the water about an hour ago.  Asher got thru ok winning the tug and hitting the archery target.  No photos were allowed which was mostly ignored.

Grandie 1 Grandie 2

It's the Great Grandie swap.  Asher and Kaia have been on a sleepover with the help of their parents, although they did spend a pleasant Saturday evening with a dinner date on the Q train. What I did not know is that the Blues train (noisy) and the Q train (quiet) operate at the same time on the same single track on a Saturday night.  They must do some nifty point changes. In the meantime we have had a beach day with Asher while Kaia court up on some sleep. Asher was making us some seaweed cakes with lots of decoration sprinkles and Mermaid hair.

Kaia has picked up on scootering

Combined party time

It is the middle of birthday season here and hard to keep up.  Asher was the focus of the birthdays even though it is still coming but I scored an apple pie and a voucher as well as Heidi and Daniel getting a present.  Asher's whole school class were there earlier in the day with the main entertainment being a snake wrangler.  Debbie's lasagne was demolished even though those Grandies could hardly lift a spoon having eaten all day. They did manage to fit in a small amount of cake and I have brought the hand decorated cup cakes back here for morning tea.

Elton John look

me and my shadow

tasty cup

Sunday Roast

It has been a while since the last Sunday Roast but that just means when it comes around its even better.  We tried pork with the crackling in the air fryer and it worked well. The meat cracked up just nicely.  For some reason Kaia is a voracious meat eater.  She must be putting on a growth spurt and a lot of veggies went down as well.  A short walk to the lookout was enough for Asher and Kaia, as the wind was still blowing but we did walk off a big lunch. 

Kaia gets magnetic

 Due to Asher having a contagious eye problem she could not go to school, which means we had the double trouble Asher and Kaia show for our entertainment.  In the morning we bypassed the playground and went straight for the coffee shop. Before and after it was the usual spread your self on the floor, so for a while you get to sit on a chair at the shop.  In the afternoon the fog had cleared away so it was back to the playground for an hour in good sunshine. Kaia is starting to get into the playground equipment but with help. The floor sessions were mostly using magnetic building squares. These are tricky, where you can quickly build a structure but it will collapse at the slightest push.

Collendina Leakage

 We have had some rain in the last few days and a few leaks at Collendina is nothing new. I patched up that roof on going for at least 18 yar. It was already old when we bought it, then the Taylors had a turn and now the Roberts' are back. They decided to crash here last night as there is only so many buckets you can spread without one year olds starting to play in them. So while a tarp was being bought and attached to the van this morning, we kept the grandies busy with some gardening and some food and some Bluey.  I watched the chess lesson episode which was pretty funny.

Hockey 1 Hockey 2

We left at 6:30 am to get to Avondale Heights at 8:00am.  It's a good thing the log truck that lost it's logs, holding us all up tonight, didn't lose its logs this morning.  Originally it was just going to be the Kaia show however it is school holidays so Asher was also there for the day, while Bianca went off to scrub up at Footscray.  It was a picture perfect sunny day so we found plenty of outdoor action to keep busy. We walked to the Cannoli Bar and sat for an extra long time on the tables outside, especially since Mama spied us there. In the afternoon it was improvised soccer then improvised hockey using a small basket ball and brooms for hockey sticks with an upturned tub for a goal. Simples!

Another long moving in day

 Some people were still in their PJs when we arrived, like very small people namely Kaia. We kept them occupied for most of the day while a few moving jobs were done. The nearby park has a few challenging pieces of equipment which will take a while for Asher to master. We have returned with KitKat and a tree fern.

why is my foot out here

sloping bars

Asher & Kaia show

 I am still not used to this King's Weekend business. Other people have to tell me it is a long weekend. Asher and Kaia have been for a visit and you could not get a more physical time in a gym.  The chalk drawing started things off and this was an hour of low knee work before the rain came. Later it was out with the bikes as Asher demonstrated her improved bicycle skills. Of course we did some off road here as there are a shortage of paths but when she is on a path it is easy rider.  The quiet paper aeroplane making also got physical with the flight testing going to higher and higher launch sites and eventually making it  upstairs to the deck and launching off the balcony.

flowers are always a hit

fast walker

road walker

Bluey time

Kaia swings low

 Asher is so good with her little sister. She is always on the lookout for her. I think being that slightly bit older makes a difference.  We went for a 5,000 step walk along the high tops looking down at the water then back via the coffee shop and the playground. Asher could be a professional swing pusher as she guides the swing with one hand while holding and sipping the babycino in the other.

we'll strike up a tune

that's the way you do it

Asher Rides Thru

 The Daniel Roberts's are on back to back weddings including all the way over in Perth but this weekend it is at good old Barwon Heads so that means we have Grandie visitors for an overnighter. I took Asher to the local Lake with her bicycle and the backup scooter.  She did well on the gravel track which is harder to ride on than smoother concrete. We went for a few hundred metres then turned back and repeated that section again. It helped that there were no other people around. After that we got out the trusty scooter and went around to the playground for a while then scootered all the way back to the car. We have had our exercise for today.

Asher sounds it out

 It doesn't take long to get the kiddies into reading mode at school. It has been 30 odd years or so since I paid attention to the school habits of prep grade. Asher is reading short sentences already with the picture there to show the scene being described.  Somewhere along the line she might make a comment on this blog.  In the meantime it was a Blink 10 9 8 concert lastnight but we did get 7 hours sleep which is a bit more than Debbie's PB schedule allows lately.  After mowing lawns early at Williamstown (sorry neighbours)  We have made it back to the Springs just in time to get organised for a luncheon in Queenstown.  The clouds have rolled in but it is still getting towards 30° so far.

this is going on the fridge but maybe on the blog is better

reading no problemo

water play

Rest day Slow day

 I am grappling with the Gopro downloads at the moment. I mounted it on Debbie's bike so am not sure what we will get out of it but it ws running for a long time so much so that ir ran out of battery before we crossed the line.  In the meantime there are two days worth of photos here of Estelle, Kia and Asher in all sorts of action as well as some paid photos from the bike ride.  It was sun clouds sun clouds for two days but we got those kiddies to the beach anyway as well as the adventure playground and for a forest walk.

in flight exit

slide races

mini donuts

adventure house

Aussie Day 

marshmellow kids

Bluey Mermaid Tail