Sneak Shot

Grandpa + Ellie playing

I have often tried to capture James's dad playing with the girls, but as soon as I get the camera out he backs out of view. Every time. Without fail. Yesterday, while they played in the backyard at his house, James and I watched from the veranda above so that I wouldn't have to walk down the stairs until we were leaving.

They had fun, running around, 'shopping at Bunnings' with the laundry trolley and throwing grass at each other before running around on the lower veranda and jumping into grandpa's arms. I was able to get many action shots before he realised I was up there with the camera and once he did, he didn't mind. I suppose the fact that I'm not pointing it in his face might help the situation a little...

I have often worried about the lack of photos Ellie and Kahlei have with him because I think it's so very important to have a record of the important people in your life for the future.

Join in with more Point & Shoot fun over at Fat Mum Slim.

Father's Day FAIL

A Nice Moment

I had the best of intentions when I awoke this morning. I was going to wrap James's pressies, cook a delicious breakfast and put on some cupcakes for later in the day.

After mopping up after the girls and their new favourite morning ritual of spraying each other with water, I realised the power was still out, after very strong winds last night had caused a black out. I collected the pressies to wrap, only to discover that the beautiful hand print/keepsake/paperweight (I got the idea here) that the girls had made weren't dry and the one Kahlei had made for James was cracked and broken. I had been so excited about them, too! On top of that, I had to give him I.O.U's and I knew the gifts I actually had weren't going to go that well.

While we waited to start on breakfast, the girls and I read some books, before the two of them played Hide 'n Seek in their own special style. At one point, Ellie disappeared and I assumed it was to go to the toilet only to discover she had gone in to James to ask if he wanted to go to Bunnings. Don't ask me why, but she is completely obsessed with going to Bunnings...

By 9.30, the power still hadn't come back on, but I decided we would go and give Daddy his presents and a cuddle. As he unwrapped his The Stig mug he said "It's not as exciting now that he's not 'The Stig'." (Yes, honey, you said it out loud!) The mug was followed by body wash in a The Stig figurine, I thought it was cool at the time I bought it. Now that he has an identity, he's not cool at all, the whole appeal was the mystery.

Thankfully, present time led to play time for Daddy and Ellie followed by some family hysterics over Talking Tom; one of our newest iPhone apps.

A lovely breakfast of Corn Flakes led to James noticing one of the girl's bikes had ended up in the garden, on top of some of his new plants in all the wind. Unfortunately, that was the least of our worries once he went to inspect the damage.  Our beautiful big Sheoak, that gives us privacy and the girls love to climb, had cracked under the pressure of the winds and ended up warping our back colour bond fence and landing on our neighbour's shade house.

Another tree from our lower neighbour's ended up on our side fence, somehow not breaking it, even though it's daggy and barely looks like it could withstand the weight. James went out to do some cleaning up while I called the SES. I spent 15 minutes on hold before my mobile's service cut out (and it still hasn't returned).

At nap time we realised we didn't have anything we could eat without heating, cooking, toasting... Disaster.

James declared "Well, Father's Day is ruined, we may as well go see my dad." Apparently, he didn't mean it as it sounded.. He tells me he meant why ruin his father's day, too, by not visiting. Mmm hmm.

We managed to find the one shop in the area that was open and cooking (thank you gas) for lunch before spending the afternoon at grandpa's.

To top it all off, when we got home our back neighbour had chopped off some branches and thrown them into our garden bed, on top of our new plants because the SES hadn't arrived. I don't know why you would expect anything different, I am pretty sure they'd be quite busy...

Maybe we should try Father's Day next weekend and pretend today didn't happen?