6.30am seemed to come sooner than most wanted this morning... except for Katie who was in at 5.30 but was sent back to bed by me. When Benny was made aware of the time by his little sister she was told, "GO AWAY! I'm SLEEPING!"

I came into Benny's room and he was heading under the covers again. ‘Do you want to go to the park?' no answer..."Well anyway its 6.30" As I headed out of the room Benny pipes up, "Can you help me up Dad?" The spirit was willing but the flesh was weak it seems. I lifted him out of the top bunk and put him on the floor in front of the heater to take his time and wake up.

Everyone needed some assistance to get assembled this morning...but all were champing at the bit ten minutes later to get out the door!

The ‘normal' way to the park,(Benny had made a motion that we drive to the park...then use the extra time to drive up the beach and make sand castles) with Benny and Katie running ahead and stopping at every driveway to make sure no one was backing out.

Tim kept close to me on the walk. He was feeling a bit tired and was happy to just hang on to my hand and take it slow. He called out to the ducks to "WAKE UP!" but when we got up to them he couldn't find any that were still asleep... I think it was a disappointment to him.

On the trip back up the beach we found Keisha the dog with her master. All three kids threw sticks for Keisha...Three different ways at the same time! I'm sure if she could have the dog would have split three ways to chase all three sticks at the same time. She ended up bounding back and forth. (Tim got excited when he saw her and ran. He was ahead of me by a bit so I couldn't get a hold of him. He stopped when I shouted to him. The dog instantly chased Tim when he ran. I'll have to remember to re-enforce to the kids how important it is NOT to run around dogs.)

The sky was pink and just enough sunbeams to bring out the trees on the Island. Very pretty and the kids all oooo'd and aaah'd about how pretty it was.

Clare had hot porridge waiting...(Benny was worried that it might have cooled too much like the day before, since I had told Clare that we were coming and then the kids dawdled following interesting animal tracks in the sand dunes. ~~little four fingered claw marks...I'll have to look them up to find out what kinda critter made them.)

The boys went to get new shoes with their Mum...their ‘new' pair bought last month had disintegrated out from under them. Katie walked to school with me. We took much longer than usual. Katie had a ‘prickle' in her right foot and it took 4 pit stops before I found the little piece of dried grass that had gotten woven into her sock. The new foot path was half done...so we walked on the new half and crossed back over.

Tim earned a ‘bought lunch'...so Katie turned in his lunch order for him at the office.

The boys showed back up at the house just after I got back from the school. Benny was very excited about his "Big People boots"! Only big people wear boots his mum told him, so they MUST be special. I was shown how fast they were running up the driveway. Tim showed me how fast HIS were running DOWN the driveway...so fast he ploughed into the wheelie bin...but he was undented and undaunted...and showed me how fast they were running up the drive as well. I rode with them to the school and they ran off to the office to report in late...and very excited about the prospect of showing off their new footwear to their mates.

The shoes went over well. Katie liked Benny's boots especially, as they matched those of her hero's...Everet. (A boy in Katie's class...he isn't Benny's hero so I played that down a bit.)

Tim caught me waiting outside his classroom and told me off! "You are supposed to be waiting outside Benny's classwoom Dad!" oh. ‘over here?'...' no ...here? Yup. "I am dunna go in my cwasswoom and come out aden" And he did. He came out and then shouted out from his classroom door. "That's good Dad!"...Then Tim comes over to talk to me. ‘Why do I have to sit outside Benny's classroom Tim?' ..."Oh...T'as Benny says so."

Katie arrived across the quad with a paper creation for Mother's Day. I put it in her backpack under the typical protest.

Benny popped out of his classroom and when I ask Benny why I was supposed to wait outside his classroom today he just give me that rascally grin of his and says, "Cause I just wanted you to." (I think it may be a test of what will Dad do if asked.)

The new shoes apparently were very good for walking...and they walked home in good time today. Katie and I could hardly keep up with the boys. Benny got so far ahead he stopped and laid down for a nap waiting for us.

The kids wanted me to call Clare from the top of the drive to have her come get us from school. The practical joke went over like a lead goose or more like moose. Mum was having a nap having worn out her will to live with her bad knee doing errands today. The phone call woke her up and the joke flopped. I sent Benny up to see how she took it. Then when he came down saying it was no good...and that I was in trouble...I sent Tim up but he has a strong sense of self preservation and refused to go up. So we all stayed quiet down stairs.

Clare came down after a half hour and started in on the programme we talked about. She had purchased some art paper and some finger paints. The boys were going to try to learn and love words and art all at the same time. [I told the kids about the plan on the way home from school...nobody was particularly happy...except perhaps Tim who wanted to be in on the scheme even if he didn't understand it. Katie was to spend time with me working on her bike skills while the boys spent time with Mum working on their writing and art skills. Both teams typically thought the other team got the best of the deal.]

I walked with Katie as she pedalled slowly down the footpath. She was feeling more and more confident as she rode her bike without the world ending...so she asked me to let go. "Look Daddy I'm doing Fantastic!" and she was too until she got over confident and drifted into a bush on the side of the path. She wanted an ice pack...but I said that the bush needed it worse than she did...she agreed and we moved on.

Just below the life savers building is a large access path to the beach. The sand is well packed in a lopsided 20m circle. Katie practiced for 20 minutes in this spot. Doing very very well too I should say. ...I wish now that I had taken Benny to this spot. He learned to ride on the much softer sand down towards the water. The packed sand takes far less energy to ride on...and still the falls are absorbed by the sand. She falls a couple times but learns that the world doesn't end then either...so she gets up and goes again. She learns to turn in broad circles and she even learns how to start with out a helping push. Now that she knows how to go...the next thing I need to teach her is how to STOP!

In the end...I think everyone was happy with the hand dealt to them. The boys told me when they got back that they had the best fun ever. Katie could hardly wait to tell everyone how she can ride a bike!

Clare and I played a bit of Texas Holdem with Katie and Tim. Everyone had a pile of ‘the Game of Life' money ... and Katie was pretty much taking everyone to the cleaners. Tim wasn't very happy about that. He was keen to play but was losing every hand. I hinted strongly to Clare that somebody needed to win a hand. (He had a couple tears about losing a game and then bravely dried his eyes and told his Mum that he ‘fordot about da wule against cwying.') His Mum stacked the deck and he ended up with the Joker and a final hand of three aces and took all our funny money. Katie was just as happy as he was.

The kids and I watched "Evan Almighty" tonight. The story of the flood and obedience to God was fun for them. Tim gets very upset if he thinks something bad is about to happen...so he sat with me when he was worried about the ark being knocked down. They all loved the slap-schtick of the beard and falling down etc as the ark was being built. Tim was often astounded with the goings on of the animals. "I can't baweive it!" "Ders Dod!" when ever Morgan Freeman comes on screen. (I'm sure Tim is convinced that God looks like an kindly Black man....'though Tim described him as ‘the man in white'...and probably never noticed that Morgan has dark coloured skin.)

We talked about how important it was to follow what God puts in our hearts. 5, 6, and 7 year olds of course wander off topic and want to know if what God puts in our hearts is going to put us in conflict with the Police..(interesting) but Benny was interested to know if God did put in our hearts the desire to drink coffee or beer...."does he Dad?" ‘No...I think God knows we need to eat and drink...and lets us follow our tastes...."Dang" says Benny. (I'm on to him...he was going to say God want him to have a sip of my beer!) As most philosophical/theological discussions go with this crowd...it ended with the short congregation sent to bed.

Katie and Benny were being pretty mean to each other earlier in the day... saying things to make each other feel bad about themselves. It was a ‘tit for tat' exchange. I reminded them before they went to bed that we are expected to love God...they agree...that God lives in our Hearts if we allow it....they agree...the challenge is to remember that He lives in the hearts of our Brother and Sister... ... ... Oh. That is a pretty far out notion. After all your little sister can be soooooo annoying...could God really expect you to be kind to her ALL the time??

Interesting...on the way back home with Katie...She told me, "I sure like that Benny!" I said yeah what a good big brother. "Yeah and he sure is a great rascal isn't he Daddy?!" .... Yup he sure is.