Outside Fun

Max loves to go outside and play on the paved area and grass in our backyard. There are so many fun things to play with! For example the watering can, which I'm sure he thinks belongs to him. It fascinates him, particularly when there is water in it, and he loves to watch us fill it up and water the plants.
I started taking this video just to see what he would do and although it's nothing special, I still like to watch him wander around and find interesting things to do outside. He also makes a great exit!

Max on the farm

Cam had three days off in a row this week, so we made the most of this unexpected blessing by going out to the farm to visit Grandma and Grandpa. They had had a full house on the weekend with Tammy and Cam and Amy and Kurt there as well, but we just missed Tammy, Cam and Kurt since they had to go back to Brisbane for work. We did manage to be there at the same time as Amy and the twins though, which was awesome since all of the little ones got to play together. The girls are more used to other little people being around, obviously, but Max is also getting to a better age where he interacts and plays with kids his age. Of the three Gabbie is kind of the ringleader, and will lead the other two into trouble if she can get away with it. Elke is starting to say all sorts of words really well and both of the girls love to climb up onto things. Max is still the biggest of the three and probably the biggest eater as well which makes sense!

On Monday afternoon we all went over to visit the Uebergangs, who are good family friends and who live on a property nearby. They have lots of animals, such as cows, chickens, a pet galah, dogs, cats and guinea pigs, so we thought the little ones would enjoy seeing them.

Max loves any animal with a tail who will let him come near it, so he made instant friends with their dog, Peaches.

Although she is a fairly big dog, especially compared to Max, he showed no fear and went straight over to grab her tail and was delighted when she started wagging it and hitting him.

He also thought the sprinkler on the lawn was pretty awesome and stood there staring at the water spraying out and getting wetter and wetter for ages!

Max, as always, is interested in food and loved watching the cow eat some lunch. Elke was very cute and showed her intelligence and skills off by saying 'moo' all the time while watching the cow with her poddy calf. All three of them were brave enough to give the cow a pat (no not that kind of cowpat) and stayed watching them for ages.

Probably the highlight of the trip to the Uebergang's farm for all three kids was this old trailer with some dirt and sticks in the bottom. No amount of funny noises and facial expressions from us could get all three to look at the camera when there was so much interesting dirt in the bottom of the trailer!

They all happily played here and got nice and dirty for ages, and would have stayed longer if we hadn't decided it was time to move on. They loved using the sticks to move the dirt around, and putting small sticks in the old icecream bucket, and sharing different interesting things they found there. It was great watching them interact so well together and enjoy themselves so much with such a simple toy!

While the girls were watching the chooks run around in their pen, Max spied this motorbike, and came straight for it with lots of big excited 'ooooooh!' noises. He had so much fun sitting on it and pressing the buttons, and also taking the key out and playing with it.

I'm sure he would have figured out how to make it go if he had long enough, and the girls had fun sitting up there as well!

Before we left to take the kids home for some dinner, we spent a few minutes saying hello to the guinea pig, which Max also thought was pretty cool.


It was great to see all the little ones enjoying the farm so much. I'm not sure if it was the being outside, or the animals, or the freedom to have space to explore, or a combination of all three, but they really did have a great time. Thanks to the Uebergangs for letting us explore your farm for the afternoon!

Visiting the twins

Last week was mine and Max's turn to go and visit the twins again. They only saw each other for about an hour before the twins went to bed for their nap, but it was plenty of time for fun. They can all play together much more these days and are lots of fun to watch. Max and Elke were kissing each other through the glass door, and all three were riding on the scuttlebug trikes out on the deck.

The girls had lunch before going to bed, and of course Max wanted some food too, so I am feeding him some mandarin which he really enjoys. The prospect of food also attracted the girls, although they weren't too keen on actually eating it.

This big playbox is a birthday present for the girls from Grandma and Grandpa. All three of them had lots of fun pulling out toys to play with.

Fathers Day

Sorry again for the big gap between blogs. Our phone company tells us that they have hopefully sorted out the issues now so we should have reliable internet and phone access once again, and hopefully that will mean more regular blogging. Thanks to all those who keep checking back here to see what's happening!

Anyway, for Fathers Day this year the Batkins held a family reunion, to celebrate Poppy's birthday as well as all the fathers. We went up to Bli Bli on the Friday evening and spent the weekend at the coast which was lovely, since Nanny and Poppy got to see lots of Max and we all got a chance to relax and spend time together.

On Saturday afternoon we took Max and Nanny to the beach since it was a beautiful day. Max wasn't too sure about the waves, since the water was a bit too cold and unpredictable for him, but he loved playing in the sand. We built and demolished sandcastles, dug holes, scooped sand and generally had fun watching Max enjoy himself while trying to stop him eating too much sand.


Sunday was of course Fathers Day. We began it once Max woke up and we took him into bed with Cam and I to open the card and present. Max and I had fun making a card earlier in the week. It's become a bit of a tradition to make a Fathers Day card with Max's handprints and footprints on it along with my words of appreciation. This year Max was much more cooperative in his participation and he had so much fun with the paint so it was a pleasure to do. As a gift Max got his Daddy a recipe book since Cam loves to plan and prepare food.

Later in the day the rest of the Batkin clan arrived and we shared a yummy lunch together before it was time to cut Poppy's birthday cake. It was great to see everyone together and we took the opportunity to take some family photos. A few people had requested an updated photo of the three generations of Batkin men (see here for the initial shot, taken over a year ago) so here you go.

Such a noticeable family resemblance! We also wanted to get one of all of the Batkin grandchildren with their Poppy, although Sam is missing since he was asleep.

Happy Fathers Day to Cam, Poppy and all the other fathers out there! Hope you all had a great day with your families.