Chess match

Declan has been learning chess at school. And a couple of weeks ago, they asked for volunteers to join the school chess team. Declan was keen, and so today, he had his first match against Northbridge (or as he would say, "we were versing Northbridge").

All of them, including Declan, won their games, and we were proud of Declan as he managed to use his rooks to get checkmate, not just a resignation. He was very pleased with himself this evening.

Wintry

Callum and Declan are responding to the cooler weather in different ways. Callum is wearing winter pyjamas, a dressing gown, and carrying a doona around sometimes.

Declan, on the other hand, wears the shorts of his summer pyjamas with no shirt. Occasionally he has an empty doona cover if it is very cold.

Here they are reading one morning.

Ironfest

Yesterday we went to Ironfest, for the second year running. We stayed Friday night with the Lees, and then drove up on Saturday morning.

Thankfully, the weather was much more hospitable than last year, as evidenced by this picture of Aidan and Declan in short sleeves.

Because it was bearable to be outside, we saw much more than last year - jousting, the Napoleonic Battle of Lithgow (which Declan, particularly, was very interested in, as his Rise of Nations experience makes him quite good at military tactics), Knighte Schoole (also pictured) and the chance to shoot a few arrows at the Archery section.

Declan fell in love with a fake sword at the Armory stall (which also sold real ones) and after much discussion, we let him spend $65 of his pocket money on it. Evan is pictured looking after it for him, while Declan has a go at archery.

Back to school

The boys were back to school after the school holidays today. I asked them how their day went, and Callum was very enthusiastic.

"It was Great!
1. Alex is in my class
2. Alex is sitting next to me
3. It was Tuesday, so we got to play on the equipment
4. We had swimming after school
5. And now we are going to watch mythbusters!"

He is very happy to have Alex back, and was telling me proudly how he could tell Ms Sinclair what Alex's friends call him ("not Alexander, Alex").

Some scars don't heal

Callum and I went to do the shopping this afternoon while Declan was at his chess class. While we were waiting at the traffic lights, we had the following conversation:

"Evan, if you get a cut it might leave a scar but over time that scar will heal and you wont notice it."

"Hmm" I replied not being quite sure where this was going.

"But if you have a mental scar that won't heal at all."

"Well even mental scars will heal over time, it depends on what happened." I said "But what made you think of that?"

"Well I realised I'm still very sad about Grandad dying. And I don't think that's going to get better."

We wont be asked back

So we're at the Powerhouse Museum and they have this show about ancient China. The perky presenter does her intro and launches into her spiel.

"Who knows how to time travel?' she asks rhetorically (her answer involved winking once, blinking twice and shouting out a date). A solitary hand goes up as Callum actually has an answer (hey all those Terrific Science books he reads have got to go somewhere...). Perky presenter visibly pauses, and decides to ignore him and go on.

A little while later she launches into a riddle - going through the steps of which are supposed to move the story forwards. Declan's and one other kid's hands shoot up. Perky presenter asks the other kid who does not produce the desired step on the road. She turns to Declan who promptly answers the riddle (hey, all Grandpa's bad jokes have to go somewhere...).

Perky presenter sees five minutes of perky presentation evaporate. She momentarily loses her perk. Declan receives a strained smile and the show goes on.

Bike riding

We made it a project these school holidays to teach the boys to ride their bikes. We haven't quite succeeded yet, but both Callum and Declan made it most of the length of Webb St today without a parent holding on. Starting and stopping is still a bit trickier, though.

Declan 3rd kup

Declan is now a 3rd kup, or red-tip belt, at tae kwon do after successfully passing his grading.

Spit to Manly and back!

We've just got back from an epic walk - the Spit to Manly and back. We decided to see if it could be done by an 8 and 6 year old, and we are very pleased to report that this 8 and 6 year old more than took it in their stride.

Declan had about half an hour of "do we have to" at Manly, thinking of the journey back, but after a fortifying icecream, we set off and both boys were a delight on the way back - enjoying themselves looking at the scenery and chatting about things that occurred to them (ships and bushfires, among other things).

We realised how much it had taken out of them when we stopped at the Clontarf playground on the way back and both boys decided to sit, rather than play in the playground. That only lasted five minutes, though, and after a quick play, the last kilometre or so flew by. The picture shows Evan, Declan and Callum at the finish point at the Spit.

Now everyone is having a well earned rest at home (parents included, since that's further than we've walked for 20 years or so).

Rocket Car Day

Yesterday, we went to Rocket Car Day, in Marrickville. Evan and the boys had made this car - the Silver Surfer. Design and Build direction: Evan. Decoration: Declan. Building assistance: Callum. Grandpa and Grandma came to watch as well, which added excitement.

We were all thrilled when Silver Surfer won its heat, despite going a little bit off course and falling over (poor silver surfer got gravel rash). Then we had to wait through all the other heats before we got to go into one of the finals. Callum and Declan got to push the trigger for our repechage final (of five), in which sadly, our car went a bit more off course and came third or fourth.

You can see the Sydney Morning Herald report here.

Surreal movies

The boys did a movie-making course today at the Powerhouse Museum. They loved it. The end results can only be described as surreal or psychedelic; particularly in Cal's case, which features spinning spirals and a very Hitchcock sound-track.

School Pennants

The boys both received School Pennants at the A-day ceremony last week. It was pure chance they achieved them at the same time, but lovely to see.

Hoopla!

Today we went to the Hoopla festival in Darling Harbour, and saw the "Dinosaur Petting Zoo". It was a very nicely done puppet show. At the beginning, the presenter asked the audience to tell some dinosaur jokes. Callum and Declan both did great jokes in a nice big voice - Callum being the first to volunteer!

Callum's joke was, "what's the scariest dinosaur?"

"A TERROR-dactyl"

Declan's (which he adapted from a non dinosaur joke) was "Why was the dinosaur's tooth hurting?"

"Because it was tooth-hurty" (two-thirty - get it?)

Probably just as well they went first, as one of the later audience volunteer options was putting your head in a Tyrannosaurus' mouth.

Practical joke

On Thursday afternoon, Evan led his robotics class in something different - a practical joke involving creating fake wounds on every body's legs. When they tried them out in the staffroom, the teachers put on a good show, but weren't really fooled. Diane, the science teacher, though, was distracted enough to be horrified by the first wound she saw. Once she saw a few more, though, she realised what was going on.

The kids were in heaven to watch an April Fool's joke actually work!

Sick

Callum and Declan had Wednesday and Thursday home from school. Callum had a nasty head cold (which probably wouldn't have stopped him going to school if Declan had been well) and Declan had something more flu like, which involved him carrying a bucket around.

On Thursday morning, Declan came downstairs and announced he was "feeling sick in my neck". After a bit of interrogation, I think the diagnosis was a sore throat, to go with being feverish.

They were both pretty much better by Thursday afternoon, but it probably didn't hurt to miss the last two days of term.