Kids... woot!

Hurray for kids! This weekend was a hoot... spent most of my time with Colleen and two of her sisters... that felt really familiar and comfy... enjoyed it! I miss all my seesters... going home with people helps me put my Aus experience into perspective and really learn more about the "real Aussie culture" (which Janet said was an oxymoron- 'Australian culture', this is a perfect example of how they don't take themselves too seriously)... I was very excited to wake up with two little boys in the fold out couch between Colleen and I... at 7am, they were jumping on us and sneaking under the sheets to tickle everyone's feet.... Liam is a 6 year old, slightly autistic, brilliant boy. His excitement for learning reminded me of my little Lu-puppy back in the EV. He looks as though he could be the young version of Taiton (sp?... a refence for the Cali kids). Darcy is a chubby four year old, with the world's most adorable cheeks... perfect for the ever-annoying pinching. Darcy's got lost teeth all over the place and it was precious. Both of them were excited to be tickled and super-manned. I was absolutely in heaven when Darcy dragged book after book over to me to read to him. I was surprised when their mother told them to turn on the TV and be quiet... but everyone knows how I feel about the ol' grey box. It was sooooo good to have little people to play with :) I was so happy... Colleen was like "you can come and talk to the rest of the adults, you don't have to watch the kids all day" and I replied that I was more than content to play with the boys.... So I spent my Saturday morning with Darcy and Liam... time complete with half-deck card games with rules that evolve along the way so Darcy keeps winning no matter what, tricking Liam into cleaning his room as fast as he could, trying to answer some of Liam's questions about the natural world which he is fascinated with, playing table tennis and just chasing the balls all over the house, random outbreaks of tickling, zerberts, laughing, hiding and seeking, and heaps of things I'm sure I've forgotten by now...Then later Saturday afternoon we went to the Dandenong State Park and spent a good bit of time chasing a waterfall (TLC style, I know)... we couldn't find it, but we had the funniest car trip that made me miss those sisters back home (did I mention the boys made me miss my Ava and my EV buddies?). We stopped for lunch at the quaint "Mrs. Marple's Tea House"... the food was wonderful and the desserts, amazing. They were absolutley huge so we got a few and passed the around the table to share. Then Saturday evening I had a chat to Damien's dad about America... it's always surprising how much American history the rest of the world knows. So now it's Sunday morning and I'm heading out to a sunny grassy spot to work on homework and read some good books (hey wait... that's two birds with one stone)... might go for a drive somewhere today... it'd be a nice one for a picnic... I'll put my pictures on later (when I'm not missing sunny weather to do so)

much love,
megger

ps-the thankful list:
-kids!
-friends :)
-BFDs ;)
-sunshine
-books
-eucalyptus oil
-laughter
-e-mails from sweet people back home
-Colleen's family