Well no matter how ‘adamant' or stern I was...the message definitely was NOT getting through for them to stay in bed tonight! Clare is in chatting with them at 8.30pm as my patience has flown the flight of migratory swans, (pretty poetic for how I feel).

Migratory foul... reminds me of when Dad and I took a trip back to Minnesota about 15 years ago. We were travelling across North Dakota in the spring and we noticed all the returning ducks. I commented on the incredible ability of the birds to fly without ever hitting one another. At the end of my comment a duck that had taken flight from the left hand side of the hi-way was completely flattened by a mallard that had exploded up out of the grass on the right hand side at about 50 feet above the ground...PWAAF! Thus endeth the mystery.

Benny pulled the same stunt with Katie this morning. He came down off the top of one of the skateboard ramps and Katie ‘T-boned' him as he crossed her path 30 feet later. (This all after a serious talk from me about NOT going in front of his sister...as he had done 10 minutes earlier and she ‘clanked it' as her front tyre touched his rear tyre. Sigh

The communication gap seemed to be a consistent theme today now that I think about it. I had watched Benny give half efforts to getting his bike up the ramps. I told him to use the other ramps to build up momentum. He interpreted that to mean that he should give half efforts to get up the apposing ramps to get up the ramps...sigh. He never really got it.

I told him to give another go to the central ramp. It is fairly steep and has a flat top...then a mirror ramp down the other side. I thought his hesitant approach would end up getting him hurt. I encouraged him to give it a ‘real' effort. He did too! A rush down from the opposite hill and a, "Like this Dad?" and zzzwoop ...bop and his bike was at the top of the ramp. . . . . . Benny on the other hand had bailed out just before the top. He pulled the bike back down off the top and it chased him down the hill. An indignant, "I told you! I told YOU!"

"You have to give it a go if you want to get up there...do you want me to get up top and help you?"

"That would be more helpful" (As that would be more helpful than advising me to rush up the hill of death all on my own!)

Ever game, Benny zzzwooped up the hill and I grabbed him and Ta daaaah! there he was up on top! He looks at me and says, "One problem Dad, I can't get down off this ramp with my bike..." (The ramp is very steep and if you ease over the edge the sprocket hangs up on the metal rim.)

"oh"...I handed Benny his bike down to him as Katie came up to steal my coffee mug for her cold hands; Just as well too as I couldn't have gotten off the top of the ramp with the mug in my hands anyway.

Benny worked on his ‘hopping'. Bringing the front wheel up as he approached the cracks. Katie practiced her ‘circling and ups and downs' (When she wasn't running into her big brother).

Tim boycotted the morning exercise. He (rightly) feels there is little in it for him when the other two ride their bikes. He stayed home with his Mum. He has had a rough couple days as everyone is less and less sympathetic to his need to win, and he was soundly trounced at Texas Hold'em.

I did give Tim some extra attention as we walked to school. Benny and Katie tend to dominate the chatter...so I asked them to shush a moment as I asked Tim if he had anything to say. Benny piped up that Tim only wants to know about playing UNO when we get home. I ‘re-shushed' Benny and asked Tim again about his thoughts.... "We pway UNO tonight?" . . . sigh

I thought quickly..."lets play UNO now!" I have a yellow seven...what do you want to play Tim?" He caught right away and played a red seven. Benny was a bit flippant and was ejected from the game...apologised...and came back in with a 4+ green. It was a good mental exercise. We played that until we crossed the road.

We met up with Everet's Mum who invited us to a belated birthday party for her two boys (a move from England and delayed arrival of their chattel had necessitated a subsequent delay in the celebration of her boys birthday parties). Benny was pleased, "I get to go to TWO birthday parties this month...and I get a bought lunch tomorrow (having finished all his ‘brought' lunches for a week)...I'm really popular!"

We walked home with Holly and her Mum back from school. Holly spent her afternoon playing with Katie at our house. The boys and I spent our time waiting for pizza at the shop. The fella serving us must have been new as none of the pizza pieces were cut through completely...(he admitted he wasn't sure what the different pizza types looked like...could I check?). I have to watch my acerbic nature... I mentioned that the reason the boys had to wait so long was that the fella was not exactly the sharpest pencil in the box. Benny said, "Do you mean that he is the dullest?" ... I meant that if he was a pencil he would have an eraser (rubber) on both ends! Clare complained and we got two free pizzas to our credit. This was because not only was it cut in weird and wonderful slice sizes...the ingredients that are supposed to go on the pizza weren't there.

The kids seemed to eat a lot less pizza with the bigger pieces...interesting. The were ‘hungry' again an hour and half later...which is typical. Clare made ‘zomvig' cake so I assume they all had another piece of that.

Zomvig cake came about from an episode a couple weeks ago. The kids were all complaining about going to school... They moooaaaaned and groooaned as they made their way up the driveway. I said, "You all sound like a bunch of zombies! I think I will call you Zomvigs!" Tim really loved the idea. He runs around stiffed legged groaning and looking to suck the brains out of unsuspecting victims!

Clare came up with a cure...a cinnamon slice. She made a ‘Zomvig cake'. If you eat the cake you are cured from being a zomvig. Funny how fast they revert back to their zombie ways when there is still cake left.