"Room Alterations"

Cam and I have migrated things in the apartment yet again and given Nevlin a bit of his own space. Here's a shot of his room, from the door. My brother put me in a laundry basket when I was very young, I don't think I was nearly as happy as Nev is here.

There's lots of color in his room. From the beautiful home-made quilts from his Cioci & cousin to the Sri Lankan masks to the mobile that hangs in the middle of it all.

 

 

Here's a shot of the mobile by itself. Made from the vines growing next door and stars from all over the world (many cousins have contributed), it is the centerpiece to his domain. Stars were flown in from the US and Aussie flags were added too. Recently our neighbors went to China & bought him the birds with the red hanging part. I love running that into Nevlin's forehead, an action that often gets a giggle. 

 

 

We have also created a space where our dining table used to be for Nev to play in. The carpet makes it much better to fall over and the couch is a nice place for us adults. There are no outlets, so its pretty safe. 

The bookcase faces outward and we painted a nature scene on the side that faces the play area. Letters and numbers are on the side, making it easy to break out into "ABC" frequently. An orange tree and blueberry bush are on the left, just above a pond. Nev's hand print doubles as a cloud.

Tall Ships return to Port Adelaide

On the last day of August, we headed up to Port Adelaide to see all the big ships & pirates roaming about. We all donned our bucket hats & braved the crowd to see some amazing vessels. Waiting in line was not going to be in the cards for one in our group, so we looked from land.

Lots of local folks had their small sailboats on the water. It was an absolutely beautiful day to be outside.

The crowds had many people including lots of kids. I ran into a volunteer from the museum and there were thousands who turned up. Some of the vessels had the option of staying overnight for a few hundred. Cam and I already did a similar thing, as volunteers last year. An amazing night. See the post in FEBRUARY of 2012 entitled "Endeavour - in Port Adelaide."

Just a parting shot of a few masts. Enjoy the view.

Eating up a storm & 6 months

Nevlin has been expanding his food options for over a month now, but we had a few hiccups. Lets just say that "sweet potato revenge" hit the whole family with a vengeance.

So far, he eats RICE, PEAS, ZUCCHINI, APPLES, STRAWBERRIES, & PEARS.

We will be adding to this list slowly as I figure out what each food does to his little gut. I'm just trying to make sure he doesn't have any allergies.

Here's a sequence of shots of Nev playing with his spoon & licking it clean after a feed. He's wearing a hat knit by my Mom, which was so adorable that I took a bunch of photos. These shots don't exactly capture his best face, the one he first makes at the beginning of any feed. Maybe we will try to capture that this weekend.

NEVLIN has hit over 9kg or 20lbs and he turned 6 months today! To celebrate, we are getting his immunization shots later this afternoon and having a big sleep right now, hence the post.

Monarto Zoo - 150 posts!

This post marks our 150th one! That is quite a few, and I think Cam has authored only 1. I'm not complaining purely explaining we've hit a milestone. MaryEd, Tony, Cam, Nevlin & I all got to the Montaro Zoo & it was quite a fun time. The day was cold, so keeping to the bus was the perfect solution. Here's Nev checking out all the lions and their cubs.

The females and cubs were hanging right near the bus. The guys got to chill out in another fenced location. The women kept guard & just after this shot they saw something on the other side of the bus & pounced.

This shot was taken without either Tony or MaryEd without them knowing. I like how Tony always knows which is his hat.

Montaro Zoo is a really big zoo with very open areas full of one or more type of animals. This one had buffalo on it, making me think of Massachusetts where I used to pass a buffalo farm regularly while at university.

Finally, what trip to the zoo would be complete without a baby animal. This one was born about a year ago and we missed the birthday by about a week. I love that it was so cold that one monkey is under the tarp to the right and the baby is sitting between these two adults.

NEVLIN has hit over the 9kg mark, that makes him about 20lbs! Perfect, if he was a turkey.