Uluru

You know us, a long weekend and it's tough for us to stay put. This past weekend was a holiday weekend and we headed out to the Red Centre (or Center, depends who/where you are). The three of us flew from Perth to Ayer's Rock, or Uluru, about 450km/280mi southwest of Alice Springs.
More than 80% of Australia's population lives along the coastlines, most of it in the half dozen major cities. Going to the Red Centre is really going beyond, towns are sparse and smaller, ranches are big, and the sky is huge. It was great! The downsides were the heat (104-111F) and the flies, but that was simply the time of year we chose to go.

I'm not joking about the flies. This time of year we weanies (and even some locals) need fly nets to be comfortable any time we went outdoors. The flies don't bite, but they do tickle your ears, nose, eyes, and any other exposed parts. They're small, so it's not bothersome on your less sensitive parts like arms and legs, but it's annoying on your face. FFM wore his 'special' hat all weekend and didn't fuss at it once.

After the Sydney Opera House, Uluru is probably Australia's most recognized icon. The red sandstone formation stands 348 m (1,142 ft) high with most of its bulk below the ground, and if you want to walk around it, it's 9.4 km (5.8 mi) around. Uluru is famous for it's color changes, as the light hits it differently at different times of day and at different times of the year it is all shades of red and purple.

The area around is flat with some low, rolling hills so the large red lump of sandstone is impressive for it's uniqueness in the landscape. All of a sudden it just pops out at you.

We considered doing the hike around, but the weather this time of year is just too hot for a 5 mile hike with our little 20 month old furnace. We did a short walk to the water hole and even that had him really overheated. It's so dry that the sweat evaporates off your body immediately so you don't get all drippy.

Looking at the waterhole I'm amazed at the lack of fractures or joints. This rock is smooth. All of Uluru is like this, which is in stark contrast to the red rock I'm used to seeing in the Western US.

The surface was textured, which the Uluru website tells me is from the chemical decay of the minerals in the arkose sandstone.

After our trip around and to the cultural centre we went home for naps and snacks. Later we went back for sunset viewing.

Hey, I DID go on this trip! Travis took about six of these pictures, and the ONLY one where FFM isn't trying to leap out of the picture is this one with a posse of Asian tourists sharing our lovely backdrop. *sigh*

At sunset Uluru glows red in the surrounding desert.

Heading home I spotted a herd of camels grazing on a ridge. Camels are not native, they were imported in the 19th century and were outback transport until railways and roads were established.

Kata Tjuta, also called Mount Olga or The Olgas, is another rock formation about 25 km (16 mi) from Uluru. It's a different type of sandstone and so has eroded differently, leaving lots of large lumps instead of one large monolith. Both Uluru and Kata Tjuta have great cultural significance for the Anangu Aboriginal Tribe who are the custodians of both sites.

We stayed at the resort a few miles away from Uluru. After getting our fill of geology and Aboriginal culture our afternoons were spent at the hotel pools. FFM gibber jabbered to his many new friends each day and we learned that if you're covered in pool water the flies don't bother you.

The picture I did take

Mom: "I can't wait to see the pictures of your trip to the zoo!"

Katie: "...we had corn on the cob tonight too! Very entertaining! You took photos right!?"

No, I did not take photos at the zoo. Nor did I take photos of corn on the cob night (which was a hoot). Why? Who knows. Kelly was doing such a great job taking pictures at the zoo I guess I thought I'd just snag some of hers. And I suppose I was busy enjoying my corn, too.

I did, however, take a picture of the big fat split lip FFM received after falling off the porch swing. Poor kiddo. He and dad were hanging out when I heard a thunk and crunch that made my heart stop and leap out of my chest all at the same time. Now, I am the mother of a rather clumsy 20 month old and I'm used to him crashing and bonking in to all manner of things. I'm even used to him getting bloody on a fairly regular basis. But this thunk was BAD. Bone crunching bad. And then there was no noise, which is even WORSE. I dropped what I was doing and dashed for the boys to find a silently screaming, totally bloody FFM and a slightly bewildered looking Travis. Our son took a nose dive and landed flat on his face onto the bricks. It's not the first time he's fallen on his face on the bricks and a mouthful of blood, but it is the first time from any height (oh, and that awful sound when he fell!).

Two ice packs and a quick trip to the after hours GP later and we all were feeling much better. All teeth are fine and accounted for, no strange fluids anywhere they're not supposed to be, and other than several bumps and bruises, scrapes up and down his chin, and a big split in his lower lip, FFM is just fine. He wasn't very hungry for a whole day after his spill, but is right back on track today now that most of the swelling has gone down.

Today the lip has gone from the dark red in the photo to a lovely purply-black color, but is hardly swollen at all. FFM is getting loads of attention, everywhere we go lovely ladies cluck over him and the little charmer is eating it right up.

It's Fat Tuesday

Laissez les bon temps roulez!

It's Mardi Gras and I've been wanting some yankee style food, so I made some muffaletta sandwiches to celebrate the occasion.

yummy. No King Cake, maybe next year.

Pictures of fast moving toddlers are blurry

I took a few photos this week, but after downloading them so many were just pink blurs...obviously I need 1)to learn more about taking pictures 2)more light in the places I take pictures 3)a slower kid.

Although here Mr. Man was pretty slow...but it was quite dim in his room. He's just so cute when he sleeps like this! I finally found a little pillow for him so he can stop piling his blankets/stuffed toys under his head but haven't gotten the pillow case washed yet.

We took the sand out of the sand table this week and filled it up with water and those polymer plant gel crystals. FFM was a little concerned about the polymers, but would gallantly shove my hand into the mix. He eventually got it figured out and then slowly the polymers disintegrated. Then we did plain water, which was a big hit, and he made sure to dump lots onto the bricks to make puddles for his dump truck to drive through.

After water we did shaving cream. I can tell you this is blurry because he was running toward me and I was running away. I'm not entirely sure what to do about shaving cream in a camera so I didn't stick around to find out :) After the slow warm up with the polymers I expected the same with the shaving cream, but he dove right in.

Saturday was a BBQ at a friend's house. It got suspiciously quiet and the hostess and I peeked around the corner to find the two boys (Sam is a bit older than FFM and will be 3 in a couple months) reading each other books.

Today I finished my most recent project, buuuearh. He's so snuggly, and totally overstuffed at the moment per the suggestions I read from other people who have knit the little fellow. Apparently he's quite huggable and overstuffing early keeps him staying nice and plump.

The recipient was thrilled. Yesterday the bear was nearly done and FFM kept lugging the ear-less/eye-less bear around the house saying buuuuuuearh and ruarh! FFM currently loves giving kisses, and here's bear getting a big smack right on the nose.

A growth spurt seems to be on it's way, after finishing his meal FFM tackles whatever edible things are left on the table. Here he is asking nicely for the fruit salad left on Travis' plate (it's a rudimentary "please" that you hear).


I finally caught beepbeep on video. Travis was reading the current favorite car book this morning, FFM was making sound effects, then along came the beepbeep.

Sweet Things

mmm...cupcakes.

Valentine's day is the only time I get to buy sparkly pink dainties for decorating cupcakes. These were the 'rejects' that stayed home from the BBQ on Saturday - the good ones were heart shaped and had better looking frosting.

A group of the older kids decorated Valentine's mailboxes.

FFM was in heaven at the BBQ - the hosts had a yard full of wheeled toys including his all-time favorite...

Sunday morning, french toast day! Beating up some eggs for the batter.

Going out for a ride.

Recently FFM's started asking to color (it's one of his new words) and he'll pull on the desk drawer where his crayons are kept. On days that it's not too hot we hang out in the back courtyard and color some out there, too. We've started drawing around FFM or writing his name and he's really intrigued with the shapes of his legs, feet, or the shapes of the letters that are outlined on the brick.