Gardening with Gumps and the beach in winter

 

Dear Matthew

 

Your Gumps is one of your most favourite people and every time we go over his and Ma Ma's house you run up to him and give him a 'Duggee' hug (like the character on one of your favourite shows, Hey Duggee).

 

You love doing outdoorsy things with him and you especially love doing anything in the garden, especially collecting fruit and vegetables with him. Below are a few photos of you and him harvesting lettuce, although I've since been told that you have actually been jumping on lettuce heads destroying them, you cheeky monkey.

 

We also took a trip to the dog beach last weekend and you and Soda loved it! You ran in to the water and got saturated (thankfully despite it being winter, it wasn't freezing that day) and Soda loved running along the shore with the other dogs. I loved seeing you run freely and squealing with happiness - you are always in your element when there is water involved. Can't wait for this summer when we can hopefully get to the beach often and enjoy Ma Ma and Gumps' pool together too. This winter has been a very long one and I need to feel some warmth in my bones soon before I go crazy (Bali was such a tease and I want to not wear layer upon layer everyday anymore!).

 

Love you my gorgeous water baby,

 

Mum xxx

 

 

The Secret Garden

Dear Matthew

A few weeks ago we headed to the 'Secret Garden', which is actually wetlands in Gwellup that are meant to be quite magical, with your friends Thatcher and Marlow (and their mum and dad, Pia and Rod).

It took us a little while to find the 'entry' as such and we ended up having to scale a fallen tree trunk just to make it into the 'gardens' which was interesting given Thatcher is only four and you and Marlow are both only two. Needless to say Rod ended up saving all three of you from falling in the water below by quickly grabbing you all when you slipped and almost flinging you to the other side (safely of course).

Unfortunately being the middle of winter the area itself was absolutely covered in mud and it wasn't long before all the kids were covered and you had lost your gumboots when they got stuck in the mud and you went to take another step. We decided to give up for the day but will hopefully return in summer when the mud is dry and we can explore the actual gardens better.

We had a nice picnic on the edge of the gardens in any event and you and the kids explored the beautiful wetlands around the picnic spot.

Love you my muddy explorer!

Mum xxx

Bali bound

Dear Matthew

A few weeks ago we headed to Bali with Ma Ma, Gumps and aunty Robyn to celebrate Robyn's 21st birthday. Your dad didn't come as he'd been to Melbourne the week before with your grandad to watch Tottenham play so it was just the five of us.

We stayed in a villa in Umulas, which is about ten minutes north of Seminyak. It was an awesome three bedroom villa with a great pool that you spent most of the week in.

As usual, you were great on the plane and slept most of the way there. There's something magical about the white noise of planes that always seems to put you to sleep (you did the same on the way back too).

On the first day we visited a bird park and reptile park which you loved, as well as seeing the monkey temple. Check out the photo below of you and me holding parrots - you weren't too impressed but you didn't freak out at least!

Later in the week we visited Seminyak and went to the shore to show Ma Ma the beautiful beach and then buy some cheap DVDs. I loved the fact that you could identify Shaun the Sheep, Peppa Pig etc and just kept grabbing those DVDs and putting them in the basket (I was happy to buy them all - they're $1 each!).

We enjoyed massages and pedicures and your Ma Ma, aunty Robyn and I also took a cooking class while Gumps looked after you which was probably the highlight for me.

It was a very relaxing week and you had a ton of fun throwing pebbles in the pool all week and just generally walking around in the nuddy because the weather allowed it and playing on the steps of the pool. I managed to do some study and sewing so was super relaxed (which was great as it was likely to be our last holiday for a while).

None of us caught Bali belly thankfully (the worse thing you had was a cough and a runny nose). You were obsessed with red cordial which I think helped :)

Thank you for being such a great traveller and for travelling to your second country with me darling boy.

Love you

Mum xxx

 

 

Being a dinosaur! Roarrrrr!