Aprill {life & family in the Southern Highlands}

You’ve missed out on my captivating memoirs the last couple of days, sorry about that. We had a social couple of days there, so it was nice for the kids. On Thursday, a Sydney friend and his kids came for the afternoon. We caught up on the goss, ate party pies, spring rolls, the kids played in the yard, then we went to the park and had Paddle Pops.

On Friday, the boys and I went up the road to my friend’s house and hung out with her kids, while she was at work. It wasn’t the warmest of days, but they all braved the pop-up swimming pool, which was finally out for our late-arriving Summer. Then last night, we went down to Moss Vale and had cheese-and-crackers-dinner with newish friends. Their youngest daughter has been going to preschool with Lincoln, so he had a great time catching up with her.

And today, we went to a preview showing of The Muppets. So awesome! Written by and starring Jason Segal, one of my favourite actors, there are a bunch of cameos and of course all the usual muppets. There were tears of nostalgia from people on the audience. I heard one kid say “are you crying mum?!” I think it comes out next week. Go see it.

Summer’s getting hot hot hot. We had a birthday party for Lincoln to attend today, in the park at Mittagong. There were a few preschool mothers there to talk to, including one who is also a teacher at the public school where Fraser will be going this year. We talked a bit about school, while Fraser hung around being mopey about the heat and refusing to play in the playground or ride his scooter. Meanwhile, Lincoln had a lovely time, as we always seems to. Then we came home and ate ice-blocks, before having an indoors afternoon of Wii (the boys) and WordPress hacking (me).

A not-very productive day was capped off with a not-cheap, but very tasty dinner down in Robbo at Pizzas in the Mist. Just as the mist began rolling in. Poetic.

We usually ring in the new year with a big ticket electrical item. One year it was a chest freezer, (which we now want to sell), last year it was a four slot toaster with the “a bit more” button and new kettle. When I walked past Bing Lee the other day I felt the pang of a big purchase not yet made. Anyway, I dismissed it.

Then Matt brought up the idea of buying a ride-on lawn mower. We’ve had it in mind since moving here, but we’ve been paying a guy to mow the lawn, until we had a shed to house all our garden gear. Well, the shed is on order and the mower was in stock for a good price, so Matt bought it today. It’s done its first few laps and, in the meantime, is sharing the garage with several bikes, boxes, the double fridge, a bunch of other stuff, and the chest freezer, which we want to sell. Anyway, it’s fully automatic and I should be able to use it as well.

Watching Matt mow was this afternoon’s entertainment, but this morning I took the boys to the pool for an hour before coming back home for a playdate with one of Fraser’s school friends. I must say, I’ve never known a more outdoors-averse kid than Fraser. He swam in the pool for about ten minutes before getting out and hovering around me, whining about being cold and hungry, while Lincoln was happy splashing about in the toddler pool.

Ahh, well. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, I guess.