This weekend I went out of town for the first time since we had arrived in Sydney. There was a bunch of guys from my high school getting together in a town that was a about an hour and a half away by train. I received a phone call around 7pm from Marcy asking what the emergency services phone number was (it is 000 or as everyone here says, triple-0).

Jude had his fingers stuck in the bath tub drain. Yes, you read that right. Somehow with the suction of the drain he had three fingers stuck and they simply wouldn’t come out. So, Marcy tried olive oil and soap and nothing. So, she called 000 and the fire brigade came calling. They initially had no success until someone had the bright idea of ice (of course, that is obvious in hindsight). With that the fingers came out one by one. I was getting the blow by blow from Marcy via text messages and was relieved that everything was ok. I was not looking forward to a 100 km taxi ride back home if there was something seriously wrong.

In the end Jude was pretty excited about the whole ordeal. He loved telling me all about it and this is certainly one for the family history book. Tonight when I was giving him a bath when I pulled the plug on the drain he moved his fingers down there again, so I promptly pulled him out of the tub. I think he wanted to have the fire brigade come back for another visit. So, there will be no more staying in the tub while it is draining anymore.

I have talked before about how much we love where we are living. We are right on the harbour and have a beautiful foreshore walking trail outside our door. Last week we walked along this trail about 150 yards and saw a huge ocean liner anchored in the harbour.

Every Wednesday Jude has a halfday at school. So, once a fortnight I pick Jude up from school and we have a Jude and Daddy date, which usually involves going to Manly and having some lunch there. After lunch this time I took him up to North Head which marks the north entrance to Sydney Harbour. It is a national park and they have lots of interesting plants and insects not to mention a great view of the city.

Today, Marcy had a class so I had the kids all day. This evening I decided we go down to the ferry wharf to greet Marcy as she got off the ferry. When we arrived at the ferry wharf there were some people fishing and Jude was asking them all kinds of questions. They were good sports and gave Jude a hand line to test his luck. He actually had a couple of nibbles but didn’t land a fish. But the highlight was one the guys there actually hooked a pretty big octopus and Jude watched the whole thing, mesmerized. We decided we really need to get Jude a fishing rod.