About a month ago Mitch and I were sitting in the house after school watching Myth Busters. It was a typical re-run. Almost every TV show is. Instead of sitting there mindlessly watching, I decided to take Mitch out with his bike. This day was special though... We took off his training wheels. He was really excited but a bit apprehensive. We headed to our nearby park that had a slight downhill grade. Nothing major, but just enough to keep the momentum going on the grass.
After two tries, he was off without any help from me. It was heart wrenching to watch as he wobbled about, steering almost uncontrollably, hitting bumps in the grass and gaining speed that I was sure he couldn't handle. But he did. And he did it well.
What a milestone... He was so proud of himself. We went home and celebrated with a big bowl of ice-cream.
This video is his 4th solo ride... My boy is growing up.
It's been pretty hot the last few weeks. One of the things I enjoy is the way the weather seems to regulate itself. We'll have 4-5 days of bruising heat with humidity and then a storm will blow in and cool everything off with a nice gentle rain.
For those that remember old school Disneyland, the rain in Summer here is like sitting in the Tiki Room, only without the animated talking birds. The sky will be clear and blue and within ten minutes, dark clouds will roll in and rain will fall. Flashes of lightning accompanied by heavy rolling thunder break the sound of the consistent falling rain. Birds continue to sing, oblivious to natures change. It's very peaceful and soothing. And then an hour later, the rain will stop and the clouds move on leaving a clear sky.
The clip below is 1 minute 20 seconds of the rain, thunder and lightning taken from our backyard. No spine tingling drama here.... just the sounds of the rain and thunder. The tranquility is broken at the very end by our phone ringing.
It's been some time since I've posted - and now that the holidays are over and things have settled back into a groove, I'll be a bit more consistent with my blogging, so keep checking back.
Back in December, I made a work related trip to Canberra. Canberra is the Australian National Capital and is located about 4 hours south by car. I was up and on the road by 4:30am to make the 9:00am appointment. Once I was out of the city, the countryside opened up and what I thought would be a long boring drive turned into a rather pleasant sightseeing tour.
I drove over a small rise and this view unfolded... A vast open valley that went on for miles and miles. It reminded me of Interstate 10, driving through New Mexico. Just endless land with no buildings in sight - just sheep, cows and an occasional kangaroo lounging in the shade under a far off tree.
Another photo after passing through the valley. The sky is such a crisp, crystal clear blue which the camera can't capture.
We have our roadside attractions in the US... and so do the Australians. This giant ram was located near a gas station and you could see it for several miles. It's calling is to lure unwary, tired drivers into it's junk food goodness located in the shop nearby. Also, what a great photo op and heck, it made me pull over.... I just hope the investment in the big ram was worth it. It's going to take a lot of cups of coffee, bags of chips and cans of soda to pay it off.
Once I arrived in Canberra, I had to take a photo of the Capital building. I thought it was sort of anti-climatic. I'm not sure what I expected... at least some sort of "WOW" factor. As I got closer, it turned into more of a "WHAT?" factor.
The drive home - My first attempt at posting an .avi file. It's three minutes of driving the road back to Sydney taken in the the Great Wide Open. Also taken with the movie setting on a digital camera - so the quality isn't going to be very good. The music however, is. Enjoy.
He was really excited but a bit apprehensive. We headed to our nearby park that had a slight downhill grade. Nothing major, but just enough to keep the momentum going on the grass.
