Oh My Freaking Gawd you should have seen the length of the splinter that came out of my toe just now.
I thought it was just the very end of the spike visible, but it was fully 7mm long, going IN to my big toe. It just *bloop* popped out when I squeezed.
I know this isn't necessarily 'good' news, but it HAS been in there for 2 weeks now... (I'm ready to get the rest of them out now...) but it allows me to...
...rewind back to the first part of the heatwave - I'd taken a couple of extra days of vacation after the Prom trip. We'd gotten home on the Monday, then spent the Tuesday parking arse and watching the tennis and just getting nothing done because it was so darn hot. On Wednesday we got up early and put on sunscreen.
I just love that 'going to the beach today' feeling. It's like having new shoes, a secret and a quest all at once. I just love that my kids are now learning about this stuff - about sand, waves and buckets - about being deeply excited about adventure - about laughing in the surf until you literally drop - about saying the magic magic words "Mum I caught one all the way".
We'd gone to Williamstown beach and got there just before it got really hot. Put the umbrella up. Kids went down to the water with Beth while I pumped up the little boat. We went for a swim amongst the multitudes, the kids floating in the boat, I swam out until it was quiet, we threw the ball.
Eventually me and Tali went exploring over the breakwater and looked down the other side. The water was like glass - you could see every rock on the bottom 3 metres away. We went and got Beth and Ella, and the kids floated out into the deep water with me in their floaties. There was a flat rock that we could sit on in the sea water up to our necks and the water was so still that it really honestly didn't move you back and forwards. No waves.
Diving from the rocks.
Swimming out in the coolness of the ocean and looking back at Melbourne searing.
Finding the nicest little spot in all of Melbourne's urban beaches for a quiet moment with just my family.
So after that we had to pack up and drive all the way home to get changed, have some lunch, then zoom out to Tullamarine to see Tania off at the airport. It was still above 40 degrees after dinner, so we all looked at each other and...
... went back to the beach.
Buckets. Boats. Balls.
Ella makes pies by digging a hole for an oven. She can spend 7 hours making pies at the beach.
It was still 40 degrees at 10pm when we headed for home. I remember thinking that this would most likely be a lasting memory for the kids - swimming at the beach in the hot air hours past bed time amongst the multitudes of bathers - being pulled out past the breakwater in the little boat to see the sun setting over Geelong - running full pelt up and down the beach in the darkness to bring water up to the 'kitchen'.
(Amongst all this I managed to kick a couple of sea-urchins, sending about 14 spines into my right foot, 5 of which I got out cleanly.)
Monday, February 9, 2009
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
