Keeping Cool

Storm has been pestering me to allow him to get a pool. Yes, despite the fact that our yard consists of soil that is unbelievably sticky when it's wet and it dries into a frightfully hard crust and that we have two very tall, crazy leaf and berry littering trees (in addition to the other two trees)...he still wants a pool!

So, in light of the fact that his mum, Mavis, left us some money to buy a pool for the girls for their birthday I went out and got it. It got filled and we spent an afternoon "beating the heat".

It turned out that the dogs were the first ones to enjoy it. I can understand as being outside in this heat in a fur jacket would be quite stinky so in went Rudy.

 And then in went Storm. He doesn't look very comfortable does he?

 But it didn't take him long and Oscar was wanting to hop in with him.

 We thought that we'd try and give the girls ice cream (yes, we have weird kids that don't like sweet things) and it took them quite a while to get used to eating ice cream. Actually soon after these photos were taken, Kendall handed me her cone and was finished.

I helped her.

It's those kind of sacrifices that make mums. Mums take one for the team...

 Dripping, dripping, dripping...

 Sydney did eat more of the ice cream but it took her much longer to get started. Such a cute tummy.

 Here's part of the clean-up crew. Oscar thought he was in seventh heaven and couldn't lick fast enough.

 By the time she handed it to me to tell me she was done, it was a wet, soggy mess of cone and cream that I couldn't help her. I couldn't eat it in it's slobbery, scrunched up state. I was a bad mummy not willing to take one for the team - a second time anyway.

 So, what do you do when you're covered in ice cream and unwilling to get into the pool? You hang around the outside of the pool and get your face washed.

 And try and drink the water. (Oh well, I've always said my kids will have a great immune system...)

 So, the question still remains...will Stormy get his way and get his pool? Here are the three main reasons that will not be happening: 
1. We have the blue bathtub in the backyard, so no need for a big pool and pool fence
2. A big swimming pool up at the club that we can use (and not have to clean!), so no need for a big pool and pool fence

3. We need the $$ to save and put towards the dreamhome. Now that's going to be where we have a kick ass pool.

Just wait and see.

Harvest time

It's harvest time at Casa de Kulhan. Yes, our fig tree is in production mode and banging out the little pieces of fruit like there's no tomorrow. It's limbs are burdened and hanging further and further down with the weight of them each day.

We are in direct competition with the squirrels and the birds of course but today Storm got up on the ladder to get some of the prime pickings and the plan is to make figgy jam.

With some help of course...

 Even the dogs wanted to help out.

 While we were out the back our next door neighbours were too. Kady (their two year old) is up in Austin with her grandparents but they had Jax - their italian greyhound - and he wanted to come and visit a bit. Rudy and Oscar enjoy Jax a lot and he is a really friendly doggie to have around.

 Part of the haul. And no, he's not that happy about the pickins', he was just looking into the sun. The very warm sun.

 Jax's entryway into the backyard. We plan to put in a gate once Corey and Storm replace the fence. That way Oscar will be able to fit through. He so wants to go and check it all out.

 Enjoying the haul...

 Both girls have been unwell today so have been knocking back the flat sprite.

 Poor Kendall felt a bit tuckered out at the end.

 I'll have to let you in on how successful the figgy jam is in a couple of days.

Shrimporee 2011

Today has been a great day.

Firstly, we went down to Sunset Lake, taking the kids, dogs and breakfast. Everyone played in the sand and enjoyed the calf high water. We were wet and covered in salt and sand and all thought it was a wonderful way to start the day.

Once we got home I saw that we were lucky enough to have two garage sales in the street. One was bad - I mean bad. They were selling broken junk that was unclean and stinky. The other (funnily enough held by the other Aussie in the street - yes we're not the first Aussies to live in E. Janin Cir. Go figure!) held a few treasures. I scored two side tables, 40 or so golden books for the girls, a window frame (for a craft project) and a copper kettle. Sweet! This combined with the 2 kiddie desks that a neighbour left out on the road on Friday made a wonderful haul and has definitely given me a few things to do for a while.

After a quick nap (all except for yours truly) we headed to Aransas Pass for the 63rd annual Shrimporee festival.(about 15 minutes away). What we were envisioning was a festival full of great, fresh eats focusing on the tasty crustacean which we absolutely adore. I had also been told of many vendors marketing local arts, crafts and skills and was looking forward to an afternoon filled with some casual browsing.  

What we found was a field filled with many vendors marketing the afore-mentioned local arts, crafts and skills. We made a wonderful purchase of a hand hammered/cut piece of metal in the shape of an interesting fish painted in a stunning hue of turquoise. It's large and it's fantastic.

What we didn't find was a festival filled with fresh eats of that great crustacean. For a shrimporee festival there were only about 8 vendors selling anything remotely shrimpy. Such a shame. Very disappointing. We came home hungry. Luckily we took some stuff for the kids to eat as there was nothing fresh there that they would have enjoyed. Again...a real shame.

But in it's defense we did enjoy the afternoon out and we did have fun. Stormy won the girls some carnival toys and the kids got to see horses, ponies and donkeys close up and also saw some white tigers!

Shades? Check. Wheels? Check. Ready to check it out? Check.

 Singing and grooving to "If you're happy and you know it!"

Daddy too! 

 The vendor tent. Smelt good but pickings were poor.

 Kendall was fascinated by the tiger cubs. 

 Sydney was not as enthusiastic to see them at first...

 But joined her sister in adoring the beautiful babies.

 And soon wanted to get even closer to the daddy tiger...he was huge, his paws immense. One toe was the size of my palm. So insanely big.

 This was when Kendall didn't feel as confident and was quite happy to be held while daddy tiger was getting fed.

 Sideshow alley...

 Kendall was fascinated by the rides too. She couldn't take her eyes off this one.

 Such a happy girl.

 A quick stop before going home.

An enjoyable day. Tiring but enjoyable.

Two weeks until my mum arrives. Woo hoo!

The week in review

I cannot believe that it's June already. Crazy!

It's been absolutely great weather right now and as a result the garden is a'growin! Storm has had to mow the front and back twice this week and in this sunny heat you can bet he was sweating. I bought him a straw hat to replace the baseball cap so hopefully he has some protection now...

Now you may be wondering why the grass is red behind Storm's legs. Well, to tell you about that I must first tell you about my purchases of the week.

On the Memorial day holiday we hopped in the car and took a trip to Bayside (a very small town on the bay that was supposed to have a great seafood restaurant but didn't - or we just couldn't find it!) and found a fantastic tropical nursery. The minute we stepped into the nursery we were greeted with a warning about the mosquitoes and offered a can of mozzie repellent. It took about 5 seconds for us to realize she wasn't joking and we liberally sprayed ourselves before discovering a fantastic selection of plants. We found mega sorts of bamboo (even black!), the biggest selection of hibiscus (including a gorgeous mottled-pink leaf one), palms, vines and a greenhouse full of the largest elephant ears I have ever seen. I mean these were Jurassic Park leaves! Storm has a photo of me next to the leaves but it's on his phone and for some reason it's not coming to my email. Needless to say I should come to my whole point of the post. Storm spied these rocking beauties hiding in the back and they were $10 each!

 So we snavelled them right up! Yes, they've seen better days and being out in the garden didn't help but they have potential.

 Here is one of them primed and ready for the last coat. It looks good in white but I so want them to pop in the yard of green and you'll see how once I'm done. (That's of course, if you cannot figure it out by looking at the lawn!)

S-N-A-Z-Z-Y!

So how have we been coping with the heat? Well since the girls aren't too keen on sand (well mostly Syd!) we've been heading up to the club and using the facilities.

 It's a real shame that the girls have lost their love of the water over the winter months. We're really going to have to keep pushing them into the water. It doesn't help that they're cutting their molars too of course! Yay teething.

 There's also tennis courts (above) that we're dying to try out.

 Storm has used the golf course several times now by himself and also with Corey from next door.

The girls are really into climbing right now which is a good and bad thing too. There's been a couple of spills but nothing serious...yet (touch wood!).

And when we don't get to the pool the girls get to cool off like this...

So much fun.

On a side note Friday marked the end of the third week of the girls going to daycare. And it was the first day that the girls actually separated and played with other kids. Yay! Progress.

We're really happy that we're down here. Yes, we left friends behind in Vegas and a life that we had built for ourselves but down here our life is truer to what we have always wanted for ourselves. Once we build we'll be really happy campers - until then we just have to settle for being just happy. So happy.

BTW-The house is almost painted. Ronald - our hippy next door neighbour (actually two doors down)- has almost finished and we're so excited. We're going to hang some shutters and then finish the front and back gardens and then restart inside. We've managed to finish our middle loungeroom and have done the first cost on the kitchen as well. We did rip down the yukky wallpaper in the office today and luckily it came off is pieces oh, so easily. They must have used a poor quality self adhesive wallpaper - lucky for us! Woo hoo!