Jacob Benjamin

Our little cuddly 5 year old is turning 6 in a week! This time 6 years ago it was just Jem, Me and William. Seems hard to believe now.

Puddles!

We got home from school today and it was pouring down with rain and the boys asked if they could go and ride in the puddles. Instinctively I almost said no, but then it actually sounded like fun, so why not. They had a merry old time riding up and down the lane way through the puddles and once they were all saturated we came inside for a nice warm shower. Jacob has really come on leaps and bounds with his riding since Sam got his balance bike. I think in his mind it was a case of not wanting Sam to be better at riding than him. Sam is also now bombing along after only a few days of just 2 wheels.

Blue sky

Well its been one strange summer this year. Having never really had a week of clear weather and temperatures barely getting into the 30's on the hottest days, blue sky has been something of a rarity.

A few days ago when the sun actually did come out for the whole day I took William and Sam for a ride to the local lake whilst Jem took Jacob and Lucas to Aussie Hoops. A beautiful day but apperently not a far enough ride for William only being a few kms away! Sam had a ride in the trailer and I put his bike in the boot of it, in case you were wondering how he got there. He is getting very confident on his new balance bike, clever little fella.

Its back to raining today and apperently will be that way for the next few days! Bring on winter I say.

Massage

My back has been pretty sore of late and its always nice to have some little soft feet to stand on you and give you a massage.

Filling it in

Trying to fill in the days and weeks with the little ones at home can sometimes get a bit monotonous and a bit 'ground-hog dayish' if you let it. We try and get out most mornings to either do some odd jobs or go and do something fun for the kids. The days when I have nothing I have to get done are generally the most fun for them, as we usually get out to a park or something like that. Still having them both regularly napping just after lunch only really leaves around 2 or 3 hours after school drop off to fill in, but at the same time you want to be keeping their little minds stimulated doing something or those 2 or 3 hours can seem very loooong!

Here are just a few of the things we got up to this week.

I couldnt find Sam and Lucas the other day but at least I had Buzz Lightyear and a Ninja Turtle to keep me company.

'Helping' me wash the car and then Sam decided Lucas needed some cleaning too.

A fun filled trip to Questacon for the morning.

As always, getting drenched in the water play area. Those smocks are definatley not water proof!

Wonderfully as only kids can, making a pattern on a pathway into a racetrack and obstacle course on our way to the shops.

Remember that song - part 11

During my time working as a teachers aide at Tenison Woods College in Mt Gambier I met some amazing kids. Some struggling because they had a terribly rough upbringing, some incredible kids that had autism, downsyndrome and other disabilities and some that just had amazing talents.

On one of my first days working there, one of the classes had a sort of special production day where they could show what talents they had. In this class were 2 girls that had just amazing talents, one of them was a dancer and did a 4 minute personally choreographed dance that was outstanding,  flying across the stage in such an effortless way. The other girl was a singer with an incredible voice for her age (probably 14 or 15). She actually sung a song in front of the whole school at the end of the year to farewell the leaving principle and left everyone feeling stunned and quite emotional.

The song in question was 'Angel' by Sarah Macachlan. Beautiful song and to be honest I think that 14 year old might have done a  better job. I guess Sarah's is ok too.



Remember that song - part 10

In a previous post I mentioned about how hard it was being away from the family in New Zealand when I played over there. Those few weeks away felt like months, but during this time Regina Spektor had just released her song 'Fidelity' and to this day when ever I hear it, it always reminds me of being alone and away from my crew.

Here she is single it live. Just a lovely song.

Ka-Sam!

We bought Sam a new Balance bike today as he has grown out of the trike and isnt quite ready for a proper pedal bike yet. He is such a big boy and is growing so fast, he is the same height as some of the smaller 5 and 6 year olds at school!

He seems to love the bike and is slowly getting the hang of balancing his body. Its name is Kazam but we like to call it Ka-Sam!

Sam loves to dress up and role play, here he is again as a pirate today.

Dinner o'clock

After a long day its nice to have the little fellas clean, fed and ready for bed. Jem and I can then sit back, put our feet up and chill out for a bit. Usually we get really quiet for a while and dont talk to each other as we are enjoying no noises. I wish that chill out time could last a bit longer sometimes though! Whats for dinner tomorrow night?

Lucas's new do

We gave Lucas a hair cut today. Its quite a trauma cutting his hair so its been a long time since his last one. His little blonde locks were scattered outside and we can now see his ears and kneck! His brothers think he looks very cute, I would have to agree.

Sleepy face

I like to check on the boys most nights before I go to bed, to tuck them in or turn them the right way round or just look at their wonderful sleepy faces. There is something about the boys little content asleep faces when they are in dream land, it puts my mind at ease and lets me go to bed happy every night.

Cardiac Arrest

Another Sunday morning MTB ride at sunrise and another Camber Vs Stromlo showdown. This time Stromlo kicked my ass. I didnt have any bad falls but its been raining alot here lately so the track was slick and riddled with puddles, mud and loose rocks. I also tried to climb the hill that was made sprecifically for the World Champs a few years back, it is very suitabley named 'Cardiac Arrest'. A really tough and technical steep accent where for most part I was on my feet pushing the beast up. Didnt matter though because when I got to the top I was greeted with this -

Whats up with that?

What is going on with the weather lately? Storms every afternoon for the past couple of weeks. Has the world tipped over and we are now closer to the equator?? Its like living in the tropics. Canberra used to be so predictable.

Whats up with that?

Pick and choose

The great thing about moving a lot and travelling is that you get to see a lot of one particular country and experience the town your in as a 'local' for the time your there. Really getting to know the in's and out's of a place, when just on a short holiday you dont really experience that.

As a couple Jem and I have lived in Canberra, Reggio Calabria (Italy), Townsville, Bologna (Italy), Avellino (Italy), Perth, Wollongong, Bendigo, Townsville again, Wellington (New Zealand), Hawkes Bay (New Zealand), Albury, Mt Gambier and now Canberra again. Lots of places seen, lots of people met, lots of memories shared.

We have gotten to know some really nice people which became close friends for the time we were living in these places, but then comes the time of leaving a town or a city and then unfortunately leaving friends behind as well. We have a few close friends that we love to be around and dont get to see enough of anymore as they seem to be scattered across the country. We wish we could scoop them all up and put them in one place and we would no dought move there in a heartbeat.

As a young family we really dont have any roots or ties anywhere and no town/city we really call home, so its tough to decide on a place you want you and your family to settle one day. You can underdstand why some people never leave a place when all their family and friends are in one spot, but then again if you live in one place forever what wonderful places with wonderful people have you missed out on seeing? There are obviously places we love, but are they right for us?

Money talks in the case of property, there is no question. If you have the coin you can pick and choose and ultimately it makes the decision on where to live easier. Unfortunately for the most of us this isnt the case and to call a place home there are many factors that have to come in to play, especially when you have kids.

At the end of the day it comes down to what you want as a family, what makes you happy, what drives the family engine and where can you live a fullfilled life, money cant always buy that. Im positive we will find that place and when we do, even if it doesnt tick every box, it will be our dream home and a warm and happy place of many memories created that our boys will grow up in and inevitabley want to come back and visit.

'You cant rush a tough decision, but you can definately try to make it happen quicker'.

180 turn

"You learn that whats important is how you got there, not what you've accomplished" Yvon Chouinard

I watched a great documantary the other day called '180 degrees South - Conquerers of the Useless'.

Its about Jeff Johnson, a surfing and climbing enthusiast who decides to take an extended trip and re-traces the footsteps of Yvon Chouinard (Patagonia clothing founder) and best mate Doug Tomkins (who founded The North Face company) on their surfing and climbing adventure from California to Patagonia back in the 60's. An epic journey that changed their lives forever and inspired Jeff to do the same.

After months of travel, sailing and then being shipwrecked on Easter Island, Jeff's dream comes true and he makes it to Patagonia to surf and climb the almost unclimbable Mt Fitzroy.

In the doco Yvon Chouinard talks about not taking a backward step at any stage. He says "You just need to stop, turn 180 degrees and take another forward one". He is referring to his and Doug's attempts to conserve the natural wonder of Patagonia by trying to stop the damming of rivers in the region for hydro-electricity. Although a good source of energy for us city dwellers, it completely wipes out the rivers natural ecosystems and destroys small communties who rely on it. He urges these private companies who are building the dam's to stop, see the damaging affects, change what they are doing and move forward.

Thats a great example to follow with anything thats served up in life. Somedays I find things inevitabley seem to get too hard. I have to remember to regroup, refocus rather than going backwards, stop, turn a 180 and move forward.

To try and conserve Patagonia's natural state, Yvon and Doug have used much of their personal fortunes to now own over 2 million acres of what they call 'The last wild place on earth'. Incredible.

Its a really moving and powerful message you get from this documentary. It poses the question - Should we all be stripping back to basics, living simply and conserving the natural state of this world that we all rely on rather than unintentionally destroying it?

Remember that song - part 9

Jem and I went through a stage of watching Australian Idol back in 2009. I generally didnt like most of the contestants as its primarily a popularity contest and the judges just gave me the sh#ts. But we kept watching week after week as a young kiwi named Stan Walker was on. His vocal range far and away blew all the other contestants out of the water and there was no way he wasnt going to win.

One of my all time favourite songs (not that im religious) is Hallelujah. Many people have covered it, but Stan Walkers version in front of a live audience that night gave me massive goose bumps, and still does.

Baby blues

All our boys have the most amazing eyes (not bias!). They are like little tunnels of love and sencerity and we are constantly mesmorized when looking deep into them.

William has a light hazel brown colour to his eyes, Jacob's are blue, Sam's are dark brown and Lucas's are a wonderful baby blue.

Giggles

Its a wonderful thing to see your children playing together nicely. Some days it feels like they are all at war with each other for one reason or another and other days they can all seem to be best friends. The strange mind of a kid would only be able to know why that is.

William and Lucas have a pretty special little bond going at the moment. William being the oldest and therefore generally the most understanding, doesnt seem to get annoyed at Lucas's occasional madness. William loves Lucas cuddling him and is really patient and nurturing towards him, almost like a mini adult. Therefore I think Lucas looks at him like one too, sometimes going to 'dob' on the other boys to William like he will then go and tell them off. They share a room at the moment as William is the only one who can stay quiet whilst Lucas sings himself to sleep and like a rooster, wakes the house up. A special bond between the youngest and the oldest, very sweet.

William loves to make him have a giggle fit and just the other day he had him cackling in histerical laughter. I just cought the end of it with my phones camera. If this doesnt make you smile you have either just had plastic surgery or theres something wrong with you. Keep smiling and have a great day!

Stromlo Vs Camber Comp 29er

Camber Comp 29er won!

This evening I took off for Stromlo. I had an unbelievable ride. This bike is amazing, probably took about 20 minutes less on the same track I wrode last month on my old bike. Gliding over and flowing with the trail, I was able to pick spots better, ride more economically and at times it felt like the bike was an extension of my body. Incredible the difference a good bike makes to an average rider. I cant wait to get out on the beast again.

Stromlo at dusk, lightning in the distance, preparing for the downhill section. Im still smiling thinking about it.

My new toy in twilight

Bed time stories

The boys have always loved a bedtime story, ever since they were all little babies. Probably with the exception of Lucas who seems to only just be getting to the point of concentrating for a whole book.

Jem has been reading 'Enid Blytons' story books to the boys for a while now, with the 'Adventures of the wishing chair', 'The magic far away tree' and 'The Enchanted wood' to name a few. The boys really seem to be entranced by her stories and Jem's passion for reading really translates to their increased interest.

This is a common occurance at about 7pm every night at our house, all snuggled around and being taken away to a magical land before bed time. Lovely.

Wow!

Now these 2 guys are amazing! They made this extremely hard downhill run look like a walk in the park! Wow!

Fat Biker

Its funny how many of these you see around. If only they could just lose a little weight before entombing their bodies in lycra. Maybe lose 10kg then you dont have to spend thousands more on an ultra light carbon bike. Its great your exercising, but surely you can chose a more appropriate style of clothing in the mean time so we all dont have to see every detail of the incredible specimens that you are.

I think this guy might need to lose a little bit more than 10kgs!

Williams party

We had Williams birthday party today with some of his friends from school - Archie, Jacob, Ayman and Kavindra came and they all had a great time. We went to one of those play centres for kids, a new one called 'Lets Play' and we went just as it opened. It was relatively quiet for the 2 hours we were there which was good as sometimes places like that can get a little psychotic with unsupervised kids running riot, but today was great.

William has chosen some really nice friends and they all seem to get along really well without the typical rough and tough behaviour you generally associate with boys.

William here on the 'really steep' slipe that they had to work up the courage to go down. So brave!

Camber in Canberra

Well my birthday has come early this year! Real early! Dad very generously offered to buy me a new mountain bike as an early birthday present so I could ride it in the Capital Punishment event next month. I have been eyeing off a large variety of different bikes to buy when we had the money, as riding alot of late I have been really struggling on my old (too small) Giant from 2004. I never imagined I would be riding a new bike in the near future.

After much deliberation on which make and model to chose from I picked out the 'Specialized Camber Comp XXL 29er 2012' with dual suspension. Amazing bike with amazing components. I picked it up today and havent stopped smiling since, I think some drool may have dropped out at one point. Hopefully the weather holds off for tomorrow as I'm VERY keen to take the new toy out for its maiden run.

As much as you try not to be meterialistic, its very pleasing to get something brand 'spankin' new thats obviously of quality and perfect for you, bliss!

8 today!

Well, our first little baby William has turned 8! Yes thats right 8!! Wow, how has all that time passed in such a big blurr?. It doesnt seem like all that long ago we were living in Perth and the little man came into our lives, but at the same time so much has happened since then it feels unbelievable we have fit it all in, in 8 years.

What a beautiful little 8 year old boy William has become. So kind, thoughtfull, determined, loving and honest, such a good roll model for the others to look up to. Happy birthday my boy, we all think you are wonderful!

Usual Suspects

Well now that William and Jacob have gone back to school its back to normal at home for us 3. Feels rather quiet although there is still always plenty to do. Me and my little fellas enjoying some left over birthday cake from yesterday, the usual supsects just hangin out.



Remember that song - part 8

What I found interesting about listening to music over in Italy was that we could enjoy an Italian sung song just as much as an English one. Thats a great thing about music, you dont even need to be able to understand the words to still appreciate the feeling in what the singer is trying to portray.

We had a few favourites whilst living over there, from 'Elisa' to 'Eros Ramazzotti' to 'Tiziano Ferro'. But this particular song stands out for me, not because its a great song but because I had a real hard time trying to find out what it was called. I had to sing a part of it in this wierd combination of rubbish Italian and half english to a few people including finally a team mate to tell me the singers name.

We were at a roadside cafe on our way to a game and I had heard this song a number of times that I couldnt get out of my head but had no idea what it was called or who sung it. So we were looking through some CD's when I broke into song and I asked my Italian teammate if he knew what I was singing. I sang what I thought was the chorus in my crazy translated rendition and somehow after a few attempts he was able to decifer what I was on about and pointed to a song on the back of an Italian version of a 100% hits CD.

The song was 'Latin Lover' by Cesare Cremonini, lovely and easy to listen to.

Dummy Gone

All of our boys except Jacob have had a dummy to settle them to sleep. We have used them prodominantly just for bed time but when they were younger, out and about aswell. But there comes a time in a little poppits life when dummies are no longer considered acceptable and for our boys that has been around their second birthday.

We got William to throw his out into a bin when he was 2 which seemed to work well as he knew they were gone and werent coming back. That method seemed to work with Sam aswell and today was Lucas's big day of binning the dum dums. He said his goodbyes and we chucked them in. He has just fallen asleep without them for the first time after about 15 minutes of pretending he was devastated. So cute and such a big step! Now he is a big boy!

Dodgy

Its a shame these days that you can instantly get a bad impression of someone for the way they look or where they are at the point in time you see them.

We were out for dinner the other night and William needed to go to the toilet, so he went by himself. A few mintues later Jacob and Sam needed to go so I took them aswell. It turned out that the toilet of the restaurant was a communal one for a part of the shopping centre it backed onto. Therefore it was quite busy and there were a lot of interesting looking characters in there. Its not like they were really doing anything suspicious but I found myself instantly relieved I had been in there while my little boys were doing their business. I, from one swift glance decided they were dodgy when quite probably they were your normal everyday person. You hear about so many terrible stories of horrific things happening to young children, so I couldnt help but think the worst in that dingy toilet.

Gone are the days of letting your kids roam the streets and go off all day by themselves, putting your money at the end of your shoe at the beach because no one would think to look there! or locking your bike up to a pole using your inpenetrable helmet strap. Nowadays your childrens safety everywhere is and has to be number one and the security of your things is also of great importance.

What has changed? Are people that different these days?

Journey

"You miss 100% of the shots you dont take" I think the great Michael Jordan may have said that at some point.

Its a great way to look at life also. I think we tend to get cought up in the regimented 'day to day' and sometimes forget about taking on new challenges and exploring life. When the time is right in our lives as a family unit we want to get out there and explore not only this wonderful country but other countries around the world. It can seem a bit daunting to take a large family on an extended holiday with lots of travel, dealing with lack of sleep, tired grumpy boys and uncomfortable conditions. Its actually something that we deal with pretty well and ultimately through the hardships it brings us closer together. If you think about the best holiday's you had as a kid, you wouldnt remember so much about where is was but what you did together as a family.

Em, Rich, Jack and Jo are deep into an amazing adventure across the country where they have left everything familiar behind in Perth to tackle a new challenge over east. I admire and respect what they are doing and think its a brave and bold move, and one that I'm sure will be so benificial for them as a family. Good luck guys! Be safe, enjoy it and we will see you over east soon.

Wagga Mammas

Jems birthday dinner out with the crew at a lovely Japanese restaurant in the city called Wagga Mammas.

31 and back to school

Jems turns 31 today! Happy birthday!!! We are heading out to dinner tonight as a family to celebrate and she is also only working a half day. She really wanted to come home for a bit then go and pick the boys up from school as they started back today for the new year.

I cant believe Jacob is in year 1 and William is in year 3. They were both so excited about going back this morning, each had their school uniforms on, shoes on and bags packed by 7.30am (We dont leave until 8.30am, so they had some waiting to do). They have new teachers and new class rooms which Jem will find out about when she picks them up this afternoon. Hope they stack up to last years teachers as they were great.

Happy 31st Jem, your the best, even if you are slightly insane!

New tunes

I tend to keep pretty up to date with most of the new music coming through, which led me to hear Matt Corby's new hit 'Brother'. Great song, I love the style in which he sings.  This is the Triple J Live version, amazing voice. Enjoy.

Forde family day

Today was the suburb of Forde's community family day. We went last year and loved it, and its also FREE!. Thinking back, it really doesnt feel like a whole year ago that we were there. Nice day of rides, face painting, fairy floss, snow cones, sausage sizzle and dancing. The weather was good too, sunny and about 28 degrees as apposed to the continual drizzle we have had over the last 2 days or so.

Sam really feels the rythm of music and loves to sing and dance. They had kids 'Zumba' dancing there and he had an absolute blast.

Lucas talk 3

This morning Lucas woke up all chirpy and while standing in his cot he threw his dummy down to the floor and shouted "Geronimo!". Pretty funny, dont know where he has heard that before and also how he knew what context to put it in. He sure is a clever little boy.

Mess

I reckon half the time I spend at home with the kids (especially during the school holidays) is made up of cleaning up something. We try and get the older 2 to clean up after themselves when they make a mess but with Sam and especially Lucas it can be a little trickier. You sometimes find yourself tiptoeing around toys to find a pathway to where your going. A relatively clean room can turn into an explosion of toys in what seems like a matter of minutes.

Take today for example. We got out the little lego (Not the duplo) and set it up in the lounge room. We dont usually get it out as Lucas has a tendancy of spraying it around the room. It was going well for a while with all the boys sitting down to get on with some sort of construction, then the terror himself (Lucas!) decided the room was far too orderly and proceeded to fling the lego around like he was a sprinkler. Therefore once again I was on my knees and cleaning up!

 Believe it or not this photo was taken before the attack of Mr sprinkler arms.

Remember that song - part 7

Coldplay is one of my favourite bands and one that seems to just keep evolving with the times and making better and better music.

In 2005 we took a rushed visit to England to see my critically ill Nannie before she died. William was about 18 months old and she had never seen him so it was great that she got to meet him before she passed. A very sad time for us all was made a little bit happier because of our beautiful little boy. I love to think that the last image in Nannies head before she died was his chubby little smiling face.

A song that had just come out at that time was 'Fix you' and its lyrics were very appropriate for the time. Beautiful song.

Where amazing happens

The NBA's motto is "Where amazing happens". Blake Griffin here shows you one of the reasons why!

This guy is on a whole other planet in terms of athletic abilty! Just amazing!

Hoop Dreams

A few weeks ago now I let the new coach of the Gunners know that I wouldnt be playing in season 2012. It was a pretty hard decision to take the year off but it was one that I made in full confidence it was the right choice, not only for me but my family as well. After such a long time of playing at a high level and for the most part being consumed by the game that I love, it seems very strange that I wont be playing this year. On the other hand I can quite honestly say that I have hardly thought about basketball recently, being so busy with the kids and their hectic little lives especially during the school holidays. Maybe I'll have the urge and more importantly the time, to fully commit to season 2013, but right now I'm moving on with the next chapter.

Last night I had my first basketball dream for quite some time. I used to have alot of them when I was playing all the time and they generally left me feeling very frustrated. For some reason in my dreams I would be playing a game and although knowing I was pretty good, I was always only able to see a blurry vision of the court and the other players making it impossible for me to do what I wanted. I was always left feeling very annoyed when waking up. Last nights dream was different, I was selected for a particular team and was playing in front of thousands and able to see and play with full vision, I was on fire. It was great and left me waking up feeling all geared up.

Maybe in some wierd way thats me telling myself I have made the right decision. I look forward to whats in stall for the next chapter, hopefully what ever I do in the future there will be something that will fill that competitive void that Basketball always filled.

Maybe I'll start a professional child raising league!