Joondalup

That's one of those cool town names that's just fun to say.

Joondalup's part of greater Perth, about 25 minutes north of where we live. I poked around this morning and discovered they were having a festival this weekend. With the fair fall weather and the lazy heads around here partially due to the time change (we fell back an hour last night but Mr. Man was still up at his regular time) a short and low key trip north sounded good. With our slow start this morning it was about all we had time for before needing to squeeze in an afternoon nap.

It turned out to be a decent fair for a suburban event. First up, the bizarre petting zoo. FFM was intrigued by the half dozen caged furry, fuzzy, noisy creatures. Especially this one...

...which then suddenly squirted him with water (out of the blue bump). Other 'animals' rumbled/vibrated, had cyclops eyes that periscoped up and down, and one had a high pitched screech that escalated when you pet it.

Lunch was across the street from the kiddy rides, and it was all we could do to keep FFM off the 'Dragon Wagon' roller coaster. He made do with this ride, the BIG TRUCK RACE, which was much safer for his 1.75 years of age. He's in the white one.

The horns honked, the steering wheels turned, it was bliss for our vehicle obsessed child.

Faster, faster!

Other highlights were the singing, dancing duck (person in costume), the BMX bike show, and some Chinese acrobats. The duck sang "If you're happy and you know it" and FFM dance boogied.

During dinner I peeked out the patio doors and instead of being blinded by the setting sun, now that the clocks have changed, I now catch the end of the sunset. It was quite colorful tonight and I tried to catch it by frantically running upstairs to grab the camera and the better view off the balcony. Two shots, within less than 5 seconds of each other. Blurry since I was in so big a hurry to catch the last rays I didn't bother with changing any camera settings or even trying to stand very still.

Lovely Eggs

I love these eggs. Someday when I live where the power is not 220v I will own a sewing machine, have loads of spare time, and I will do crafty things like this.

Dad, I think it's time for a Jeep please

Back in Colorado we enjoyed doing a bit of off-roading on the weekends. Since we've left Colorado we've had a Ford Focus, a Toyota Camry, and now a Holden Commodore (think a large GM sedan). Not much off-roading for us these days. FFM, however, has started his own extreme off-roading right here in our very own playroom. His preference is what is known as rock crawling, not at all what we used to do. More like this...His looks like this...

ANY obstacle that's on the floor is fair game. And if there isn't one on the floor, he'll get off the tractor and will pull some down so he's got something to drive over. Then he very carefully pulls up to the obstacle and with intense focus nudges over it. Then he very carefully backs over it.

Any wheeled vehicle can become a 4x4 off-road monster... And even soft pillows make great obstacles...

The beach ball was a bit of a challenge, it kept rolling away. FFM really really tried to drive over it, though. As soon as we get back to CO we'll send him to Justin P for an apprenticeship in building super off-road machines.

Onto other funny things, he's been doing this since about the time he could walk, but now that he's getting really tall he's almost ready to make it all the way in without any help. So far, he hasn't figured out that he can climb OUT, only that it's cool to climb IN. This kid likes his nap.

FFM and friend D playing at the park. They were cracking up and Katie and I peeked around the corner to find this.

And today, fresh out of the dress up trunk, off roading again in a very manly cowboy hat.

Easter basket and Scarlet's sweater

Now that Miss S has finally gotten her package, I can reveal the finished project online! Just in case her mom was checking, I didn't want to ruin the surprise...

Here's hoping it gets cool enough in Brisbane for her to wear it this 'winter.'

A felted entrelac Easter basket for FFM. All the ones here were so very very pink and fluffy that I thought I could whip one up in slightly better colors. Not wanting to spend much on yarn I ended up with stuff that felted moderately well, but he's quite happy with it. After I finally got the handle sewn on today he promptly filled it with tiny cars and hauled them around the house.

Happy St. Patrick's Day 2009

Take one toddler who loves to dress up, add some green, and voila, it's a festive holiday.

FFM has learned to 'smile' at the camera...that's the funny scrunched up face.

So go out and sing some songs, have a pint of Guinness or a glass of Irish whiskey, and I'll hang tight to the little leprechaun tearing up the playroom here.