Zookeepers

Although the kids insisted that once I gave up work there were to be no more holiday camps they were prepared to make an exception for one run by Taronga Zoo where they got to be zookeepers for the day.  In fact since the start of the holidays Tom has been asking almost every day when he's being a zookeeper.  Well Monday was the day and the kids were very excited.  We arrived at the zoo to find about 40 other kids running around the meeting point all wearing the obligatory yellow "Zoo Adventures" t-shirts which are actually quite cool.  Tom looked a little unsure with so many other children he didn't know but fortunately there were 2 girls who go to the same school and so that helped him feel more settled.  From what I can make out they spent most of the time in the kid's zoo feeding goats, sheep, pigs and cleaning out the mice cages.  They were taken to the seal show and sat in the front row so that they got splashed by the seals and they were also taken to see the three baby tiger cubs although only from the outside of the enclosure.  All in all it was a huge hit and they've asked if next time they can do the "Vet for a Day" camp.  Whilst they were at the camp I was at home tidying and generally moping around counting down the hours until I could go and pick them up - not a good sign for when school starts back!  


The rest of the week was a whirl of beach trips, play dates and sleep overs.  Tom had his first ever sleep over at Hunter and Fletcher's house and it went very well.  He barely had time to say goodbye to me when Lisa came to pick him up and when I asked him about it he said "Actually it was a lot of fun" which may not sound like it but is actually a ringing endorsement from Tom.  


On Friday Tom had his stitches out and the doctor and nurse were delighted to see him again.  Apparently he was the talk of the practice last week with how he'd made the doctor and nurse laugh with all his funny stories - he didn't disappoint this time either!  As we left the nurse said she wants to see him on the field playing rugby union as soon as possible.  The doctor did a truly amazing job with the stitches and I wouldn't be surprised if he has hardly any scar (the brown stuff is antiseptic lotion).  

Jules had a sailing regatta over the weekend.  Saturday was disappointing with lots of rain and no wind so all the races where abandoned.  However, Sunday was a glorious day with a brisk wind and they came first in 3 of the 4 races against the other J24s.  The race they didn't win was due to a misunderstanding where they thought they had mistimed the start so went back to do it again although they found out later that they would have been fine.  Overall they came 5th out of 10 on handicap, won one of the races on handicap and beat all of the other J24s which Jules is very pleased with.  


It's council clear up this week so we spent a bit of time on Saturday afternoon clearing out the garage.  As I was picking up a bag with an old picnic rug in it the following creature scrambled out causing me a huge fright!

I called for the others to have a look and shook the bag gently to get it to move at which stage it scurried off into the depths of the garage.  We found out that it was a Southern Leaf-tailed Gecko named because of the leaf-like shape of it's tail which unfortunately you can't see in the picture.