Cal's report

Callum got a very good half-year report, although his English result was a poorer than expected. He also received a Principal's Award for academic excellence.

Last night we went to the parent-teacher meetings. There were no real surprises although several teachers commented that he was more mature and focused than his peers - which was sort of amusing given he's a year younger than them. The best comment was from one teacher who explained that the report system had nowhere she could write that Callum was just a 'sweet kid'; she explained that the class is doing a dance routine in PE and one of Callum's group is very shy, and she'd observed Cal helping and encouraging him through the whole experience.

Rorke's Drift

After our regular Saturday night movie last night was the movie Zulu (the original one with Michael Caine), Declan remembered that one of his favourite paintings in the NSW Art Gallery was The Defense of Rorke's Drift, a classic war painting in the heroic mold (also in the same room is a Waterloo painting entitled Vive l'Empereur!).

So we decided to walk into town and have a wander around the Art Gallery.

Despite a bit of rain, it was a really nice walk, across the bridge, through the Botanic Gardens (with a stop at a cafe we have been going to for many years) and then a quick wander around the high points of the Gallery. We caught the bus home; 6km was enough walking for one day.

Racing Declan

Suddenly yesterday evening, as we were getting ready for bed, Declan suggested that we enter the Minimos race the next day (today!). I didn't really want to discourage such enthusiasm (despite not feeling all that excited by the idea myself after tae kwon do), so this morning at 8.15, Declan and I found ourselves on the start line of the 5K race in Mosman.

Despite him having heard about the race through school, in the end I saw more people I knew than he did, but we both ended up having a few people to say hello to.

I think Declan was a bit fitter this time (or I was slower) but I couldn't keep up with him in his sprint finish with a girl roughly his own age so there is no finish line picture this week.

The dessert ninja reappears

Last week at dinner with the grandparents I happened to wonder idly what had happened to the dessert ninja. Next thing I knew he reappeared with some delicious lemon slice for all of us.

Declan's run

Warming up before the start

Declan and I did our 7K run this morning on what, despite the forecast, turned out to be a beautiful sunny winter morning (only cold if you are used to recent Sydney temperatures).

We started by warming up next to the pancake stand, while waiting for our race to start.

Half way through the trees

Then the race itself, where we ran the whole way (except for each water stop) while being passed at frequent intervals by all the half marathoners on their second lap.

A beautiful Sydney morning

Then the finish line, where Declan did a nice sprint to the finish,

Sprint to the finish

and finally a pancake each as our reward for a Sunday morning race. We ran about 7 min 30 second kms (for those counting).

I'm not sure if I've convinced Declan to make this a regular occurrence, but I'll give it a go. Perhaps next time we should enter in the shorter race (4K) so he can race against all the kids his own age who were passing us at an alarming rate.

Pancakes as recovery

Festival of Jennifer

Last weekend, for my birthday, we went to Cockatoo Island for the weekend. And in a feast of luxury, we didn't camp, but stayed in one of the houses! The boys had managed to keep the whole thing a secret from me very well, and collaborated pretty well in Evan's misdirection in making it seem as if on Friday afternoon we were just setting off for something in town, rather than to go away for two days of weekend.

Relaxing on Sunday morning

My parents joined us for the regular Friday night pizza, and Declan and I gave them a tour of the biennale while Callum and Evan went off to the birthday party of one of Callum's friends on Saturday afternoon. Then a quick trip to the "mainland" for a tour of Vivid and a lovely relaxing Sunday morning to finish off the weekend.