Go Ice Go

Well by now, I think that everyone knows that I love ice hockey and whenever I get the chance I go and watch Melbourne Ice play.

The Ice are about to head to Newcastle to play the finals but for a special treat they played a charity game to raise money for Kids Under Cover.  Instead of playing against a different team, it was Melbourne Ice playing against Melbourne Ice!  There were players from way back when Melbourne Ice first began 10 years ago as well players from the women's team and players in the Ice Academy (the development squad), all playing with the current Melbourne Ice players and it was awesome.

Normally at the AIHL games we watch, the refs make sure that the play is stopped for every penalty, for this game Army was being the ref and I think he was too busy laughing at all the crazy plays to bother calling any penalties!  He didn't even call a penalty when there were 2 pucks on the ice!  It did get a little crazy when there were about 40 players all on the ice at the one time.   Everyone was laughing and having fun, especially the players.

It was a great day at the hockey.  It was the first time that Melbourne Ice have had an Alumni game with the past, present and the future of the game all playing together.  They probably won't play the next alumni game for another decade.  Hopefully by then I will be training with the Ice Academy or playing with Melbourne Ice!

The highlight of my game was when Joey Hughes gave me one of the game pucks at half time!

Go Ice Go, head to Newcastle on the weekend and bring home the Goodall Cup.  

Sundays in my City #19 - Serenity

Some weekends are just more fun than others and despite being super busy (again) this one was fun.
Yesterday, in between the busy-ness, we were hoping to catch up with friends.  Instead of going home to wait to hear back from them, we went exploring.  We went back to a fun place that we had explored a year or so ago to see what we could find.

We were hoping to rock hop across the river to find a geocache but with all the rain of late, the river was up an the rocks were all completely submerged.  Instead we headed uphill and had some fun playing Ninja Kicks before we made it to the temple at the top of the hill and then some rock jumping on the way back to the car.

I had forgotten just how beautiful a Buddhist temple can be and I love that this Buddha is perched on top of a hill yet remains hidden from most of the world.

Peeking out over the hill

Surveying the surroundings

Serenity

Whispers

I love re-finding hidden treasures in the neighbourhood.

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Jump for Joy

Hey Nan,

We know how much you love it when we climb up somewhere really high, so we figured that we would get mum to get some photos to show you!  We found these rocks when we were out exploring yesterday and just had to climb them.  Then the only thing we could do was to jump off them, over and over again.

We had so much fun yesterday that we even found ways to jump and go crazy again today!

See Nan, we can jump from really really high places and still land safely.  We know you are probably still freaking out but some of the things we jumped from were twice our height!

Love AJ and Milla

Ninja Kicks

Ages and ages ago, we went wandering and found a really great place to explore and we were (almost) in the area again today, so we decided to go back there and see if we could find any geocaches.  There was only one cache in the area and it was the other side of the river.  We wandered down to where there was a ford so we could get to the other side.  Unfortunately, the river was slightly flooded and the rocks we would normally jump across were completely underwater.  We really couldn't get to the other side without swimming so we had to find something else to do.

Ready to Ninja Kick!

Then dad reminded me about Ninja Kicks, the giant thistles that were all dried that were along the path - they were perfect for kicking!


They flew for miles into the air.

Ouch!

It was great fun kicking the dried heads from the plants, the only problem was when you kicked too hard and slipped over - you landed in the thistles!

Have you ever played a game like ninja kicks?

Love AJ Pickle

Sticker Fun

A group of girls and a couple of packs of face and body paint stickers and I expected the house to be filled with princesses covered in pretty flowers and jewels wanting to run upstairs to find some pretty dress-ups to put on.  Oh how I was wrong.  Firstly, the sparkly, flowery, pretty stickers were the last to be grabbed, the priority was on tomahawks and feathered headdress stickers, followed by handcuffs and pirates!

So many choices!

The stickers were designed for kids 3+, so there really was no challenge in getting the stickers off the card and onto their faces...

Peeling more stickers.

...or onto their bodies!  This meant I was able to sit back and giggle at their antics rather than be actively involved in peeling and sticking the stickers.

Stickers, better than piercings!

Temporary tattoos

Of course, next came the competition to see how many stickers you could fit onto a single person - I think a couple of the girls had more than 30 stickers covering decorating their body.


The end result, a very happy group of 8 year olds who had a great time creating with friends.  The biggest bonus - they could go home with the stickers on and re-use them again if they they chose.  There was no mess, no face paint on clothing, all in all no hassle but heaps of fun.

Of course, the girls didn't stop there, Milla had seen the old-school face paint that I had left on the bench.

Gruesome beats pretty!

Knowing that they had grown out of the desire to want to be pretty and girly, I shouldn't have been surprised when they wanted to use the face paints to make wounds, scars and blood!


So the activity didn't take place quite as I had anticipated but with a smile like this, it is pretty evident that she had a great time.

A very happy 'princess'!

As an added bonus, we now have a pile of stickers that we can re-use should the opportunity arise.  Of course that isn't likely, she has already found and alternative use for them.  She reasoned that if they can stick to skin and peel off without hurting, that surely they can stick to books or the walls of her bedroom and can be removed without causing any damage.  Fortunately she was right, the paintwork in her room isn't damaged and she has a new decorations around her bed and on some of her folders!

These are the sticker packs that the girls used...

... and these are the ones I saved these for when my nephew comes over to play!  Hindsight and I would have given the girls the monster pack to use but when I realised they were in to gore, I was too busy laughing at them to walk back upstairs to get the extra pack.

Disclosure - The stickers were given to me, for the kids to try.  The opinions expressed are my own or those of my kids.  If you want to find out more about the stickers check out Colorific. 

Melbourne Weather in Pictures

It was such a beautiful morning that I had to take a picture of the sunrise.

The sun was shining and I left for work and the kids headed to school without jumpers or jackets on.  Then, just as school was ending and the kids were walking home and I jumped off the train and was walking through the park, lightening flashed and thunder rumbled.  There were a few drops of rain then the heavens opened up and hail came pelting down.  Now being in the middle of a large park with no structure to seek shelter under, I was soaked through in seconds but I managed to grab a happy snap of the hail covered ground.

Hail the size of marbles really does hurt when it hits you!

By the time I made it home, the hail had stopped and the rain was easing up.  By the time I was in dry clothes, Milla was dragging me outside to look for rainbows.

Just another day in Melbourne, unpredictable but beautiful!

Sundays in my City #18 - Don't Change

Sunday morning our quiet house was invaded by a group of girls who couldn't possibly survive the weekend without spending time together.  Seeing that they had no soccer, they decided to 'relax' in the hot tub.   (Yes I do have photos but they aren't ones I can share without their permission.)

As the girls splashed away and squealed so loudly I thought that the neighbours would start to complain, I spent a few minutes inside enjoying the relative quiet.  I contemplated transferring photos and files from the old laptop and I thought I would share a few of the pictures I came across in the process to show just how much the noisy girl in the hot tub has changed.

Walking away

You are not listening!

My Cherub!

hmmm... looking at these old photos makes me see that some things really haven't changed at all...  The determination to just get her doll and go when she didn't want to be indoors...  The loud, well that hasn't changed at all...  What about the pig headed stubborn 'whatever!' look of this last one!

I do love that she still has a desire to get out and try new things, to go exploring and to know what she wants, even if that is far from what I want for her.   

Squirmy drop-tail

And yes, that would be the tail of a drop-tail gecko she is holding, it was still wriggling yet she wanted to pick it up.

Dear Milla,
Please remain the wonderful, independent, insightful and brave girl that you are for ever and ever.  Love a very proud Mama

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