A Dutch artist named Theo Jansen makes kinetic sculptures from PVC pipe that walk along the beach using nothing but wind power and he calls them Strandbeests.
This is some of the most creative and beautiful art I’ve ever seen. I love the strong geometric lines, symmetry and the fact that they move, let alone walk is spectacular.
On Sunday, Hugo turned three years old and we celebrated in the usual fashion for our household with presents first thing.
When I went upstairs go get Hugo from his bedroom, he initially wanted to run downstairs to our bedroom to say good morning to Claire. I had to convince Hugo not to go downstairs (we had his presents set up in the lounge room) and to come and say good morning to Claire as she got Evie out of bed for the morning festivities. Hugo made me laugh as he walked down the stairs, saw the pile of presents wrapped up and said ‘ohh, parcels!’.
Claire, Evie and I sat around Hugo while he took great pleasure in opening all of his little presents. Hugo received a few different types of presents from some books, a cricket bat & ball, Cars DVD but was particularly interested in his new three-wheel scooter, helmet and sunglasses.
For lunch we dared to venture out to the Coffee Club at Oxenford. Claire called to check if we’d need a reservation and they didn’t think we would; fortunately for us when we arrived while it was busy, it wasn’t manic. To my surprise and delight, even though it was quite busy, the food was served in a very reasonable time – so congratulations to their staff for getting through everyone’s orders.
Between lunch and mid afternoon while Evie was sleeping, Sterle, Lorraine & Jean came back to our place ahead of Hugo’s party small gathering of people. This was a great opportunity for Hugo to receive a present or two from Sterle, Lorraine & Jean – a work bench with tools and a wooden toaster – my goodness he loves them to pieces! After the present, he realised it might be a good opportunity to get a head start on some party food, try out some of his new toys in greater detail and generally have a good old time.
With near perfect timing, Jude, George, Emily, Oliver & Milla arrived to get our small gathering of people started. Last year Hugo had a barn yard party but this year it was time for a dinosaur party. There was a fantastic dinosaur cake, fierce dinosaur figurines and cool hanging dinosaur decorations for Hugo’s dinosaur themed birthday party. Claire assures me that while the delicious dinosaur cake looks quite straight forward, it was actually quite a challenge to make – particularly getting the different pieces to stick together and the icing to look pretty!
The little people had a fantastic time playing with one another, charging around the house, playing with the new toys, eating plenty of party food all the while trying their hardest to stay out of trouble.
I now have a new found respect for parents who have climbers for kids. I’ve heard plenty of stories from Emily about how fast Milla is but I really didn’t appreciate it until I saw it first hand – she can practically run. While speed is definitely one of her strengths, fearlessness and ninja-esque stealth definitely play a huge role in her ability to get into mischief.
Thank you to everyone that was able to make it to Hugo’s 3rd birthday party, phoned, sent emails and SMS’d us and especially those that traveled; it means the world to Claire & I. Hugo had a fantastic day hanging out with his extended family, was spoiled beyond belief with some absolutely beautiful presents and was completely exhausted by the end of it.
Next up, fabulous four!
Following on from the last installment of Danny Macaskill’s Way Back Home and his unbelievable mountain biking, we have his latest video Industrial Revolutions.
The balance Danny has is honestly hard to comprehend, watching him ride along the length of a railway track and doing a 180 spin to land on the opposite track is amazing, though topped by bouncing along the metal ribs on the top of an old train carriage which was blown out of the water by riding along a wobbly steel cable!
I’ve mentioned countless times before that Hugo loves to help and be involved in the various activities that happen in our household and one of those activities is cooking!
Hugo certainly doesn’t need to be incentivised to take part in baking chocolate chip biscuits or making pikelets, however with his new chefs hat and apron he sure does make a cute mini MasterChef.
A few other action shots:
Evie has been thinking about walking a lot recently.
For Evie’s first birthday, she received a walker with adjustable breaks to give it some resistance so it didn’t scoot away. We never bothered with a toddler walker for Hugo and he learned to walk without a problem, so I wasn’t sure if it was really going to make a difference. However, to my surprise, as soon as we convinced Evie to stand on her own holding onto the walker, which she was very nervous about, she relaxed and soon tried taking her first steps with it.
Having trouble watching the embedded video, watch Evie Lattimore First Steps With Walker on YouTube.
Within a short few days, those tiny little first steps turned into her hooning up and down our living room. Of course she couldn’t steer and has no concept of stopping once she got her momentum up but that is what walls and couches are for afterall.
Having trouble viewing the embedded video, watch Evie Lattimore Confident Walker Walking on YouTube.
Evie’s use of the toddler walker was actually quite short lived and before we knew it, she was taking those same tiny, shuffling steps unassisted. Naturally as soon as she took a handful of shuffle steps, enough to move 10cm, she would sit back down. Claire and I were willing Evie to take bigger steps and then more steps, which seemed to peak at 8 steps for a few days and then a light bulb went off for her – if she doesn’t sit down, she can just keep on going like the Energizer Bunny!
Having trouble viewing the embedded video, watch Evie Lattimore Walking on YouTube.
Since the video above was filmed a week or so ago, Evie has nearly stopped crawling completely and is instead, walking around constantly. Looking at her expression as she cruises around the house, it is quite clear that she is as proud as punch that she can walk. Most importantly I think, she can keep up a little easier to her big brother Hugo – who she absolutely adores.
