Wherein we have survived half of the school holidays ...

... and the novelty of being home with mum has almost disappeared for the rugrats.

We've been rock climbing, and to the library, and the pools, and shopped for new winter school clothes and made goldfish out of beads and popped popcorn and watched DVDs and stayed up late playing board games ... and we're still only halfway through.

Which is where the old standby "pick on your brother / sister (delete appropriate sibling)" comes into play.

Some friends of ours were due for a big night out, so we offered to take their two children for the night. When they arrived to drop them off K was in his room in time-out and S was sent to hers shortly thereafter.

All of which made me smile when afore-mentioned friends said to their offspring on their way out the door "Now you don't have to be on your best behaviour guys ... just make sure you behave better than their kids do !!!"

Just wondering ...

So it's Tuesday.

And if someone had gone through the packet of English muffins appropriating all the fat halves ...

What are they gonna do for breakfast tomorrow ?

Yeah ... right :)

For the first time in forever we didn't work this weekend, and didn't have anywhere to be, so we had a proper family weekend, complete with the big cooked breakfast at about 10.00am.

So after we'd worked outside for a bit so our front yard looked a bit more like a garden and a bit less like a disposal site for green waste it was time for one of those Sunday lunches where everyone fends for themselves and eats what they want.

MOTH : "Hey !! Did you have English muffins for lunch ???"
Me : "Yep"
MOTH : "And did you take two muffins, split them and just take the fat halves and leave the two skinny bits behind ?"
Me : "Ummm ... maybe"
MOTH : "That is not fair. And what's more, that is unacceptable muffin etiquette"
Me (sputtering into my milk) : "Unacceptable muffin etiquette ?!?!?!? ... you just know I'm gonna have to blog that don't ya ?"
MOTH : "You ?? Blog something ?? Yeah right !!"

Sounds like a dare to me ...

Whereby the girls go camping ...

After the MOTH and K went on school camp in February, S asked if I would go with her. Sure I said, it'll be fun.

I had reservations immediately we went to the pre-camp meeting and I found out that the sleeping arrangements involved one adult and several children per room. I like my personal space, and didn't relish the thought of nowhere to go to hide. S was very upbeat about the whole thing : "It's OK mummy, we're all girls so we can all get changed together" ... yeah, ummm, no !!!

At the camp meeting they were looking for volunteers to supervise and run the activities the children would be doing - kayaking, swimming, sailing, orienteering, confidence course and fishing.

I'd already mentioned on my sign-up form I don't do water, and am scared of heights ... which pretty much left fishing and orienteering. Unfortunately several other parents had also worked this out ... which left fishing. So the conversation at the meeting went something like this ...

Me : "Umm, what's the likelihood that the children are actually going to catch anything ?"
Teacher : "Huh ?"
Me : "Because I'm quite happy to supervise, and I can replace hooks and sinkers and un-knot lines, but I don't do anything that involves actually touching a fish"
(Insert general laughter from 30 other parents here)
Me : "I can't actually bait a hook if it involves, you know, bait, and if they catch anything then I'm afraid they'll have to take it off the hook themselves"
Teacher : "Who takes your fish off when you go fishing ?"
Me (looking somewhat embarassed) : "My ten year old son"
(Insert more laughter from other parents here)

Which is how I ended up in charge of fishing.

So anyway, S and I went to camp. On an island. With 60 other children. Where I learnt a lot, not least of which I would far rather be "weird" than "popular", and that I can actually take a fish off a hook if I have to.

S went sailing ...

I caught a snapper, we walked, we talked, we cringed at the noise generated by 60 small children in an enclosed space, we sat around campfires and sang (well some sang, the majority of us listened), we tried to roast marshmallows but gave up and ate them "raw", we went fishing in the dark ... it was great.

And whoever says peer pressure is only a problem children have to deal with is wrong. I thought I was well and truly over that phase, but proved I'm as big a sucker for persuasion as the next person.

As some of you know, I am very very very afraid of heights (to the extent I won't even stand on a ladder unless it's a life or death situation and I start feeling dizzy if I have to stand on a chair to change a light bulb). It's one of the reasons I'm married to the MOTH ... so I don't have to change light bulbs ;) *

So, imagine my surprise when I found myself talked into doing this ...

* (at this point he has also asked me to mention there are other, X-rated, reasons I married him also !!!)