Thanksgiving

Since gradually packing things away over the past few months and getting things more organised it's been awesome to entertain friends and family a lot more. One of my favourite things ever is to have people over for meals. I love feeding people and just enjoying good food and good company. Our house is the ideal size to entertain and we love our big yard so the kids can just run around. 

For a couple of years now I have really wanted to celebrate the American holiday of Thanksgiving. I just love the concept and it seemed to have all the ingredients of Christmas but without the expectation of gifts. Just the things I mentioned above - good food and good company...and a feeling of thankfulness (obviously). I began writing a list of people I wanted to invite and when it reached 50 Peter gently pointed out it may be a little tricky! I would have loved to invite so many people and get to know a lot of families from church but we chose 4 or 5 families in the end and it was great to allocate them a dish and share all the yummy food. I cooked a Turkey for the first time ever and made a pretty yummy stuffing too. I cooked a Roast Pork as well...just so we could stretch it out a bit more. I was really happy with the Turkey and all our friends made yummy dishes to serve alongside. The candied yams was a real talking point for us Aussies and it was kinda nice to have something so different. I'm glad we didn't do a pumpkin pie as I've never been fond of them...We were thrilled with the Cheesecake the Grangers bought and the kids were super impressed with the Jelly too...and a few adults too I might add. 

It was a hot summer day so the kids had a ball running through the sprinkler and playing on the trampoline. Funny to think that my American friends were all cosied up with heaters and fireplaces. Something on my bucket list is to experience a Thanksgiving and/or Christmas in the USA...at least a white Christmas would be pretty magical. 

Henry was loving it. He would stay basically right on top of the sprinkler until we'd move him along!

We all had a great night and have already said we'll do it again next year. One of my friends may or may not have even put it in the Calendar already ;-) 

Giraffes, Rhinos and Animal Conservation

Living with a very talkative and imaginative pre-schooler is never dull. Although he can frustrate the life out of me, Will is fantastic company. I love the conversations we have enjoyed since he started talking in full sentences. It never ceases to amaze me at how he thinks about things and it can be weeks later and he will share an insight from a conversation we have had previously. 

  

I wanted to share a conversation I had with him a few months back as it was just gorgeous and demonstrates the way he is thinking about the world and his place in it. 

We were travelling to the gym in the car and the radio was on. A song had finished and the announcers were talking idly about something. The word "Bamboo" was said and Will piped up from the backseat; 

W: "Panda's eat Bamboo, mummy!" 

M: "Yes they do. Did you know that they eat only bamboo and nothing else?

W: “Yes, that's right! Giraffes don't eat Bamboo, they eat trees! Would they eat these trees mummy?” (said pointing to the pine trees along the roadside).

M: “ I don’t think they would eat pine trees sweetie.

W: “Oh. No. They eat fruit though.

M: “Wouldn’t it be funny if we saw a Giraffe walking down the street!”

W: Giggling, “That would be silly. Giraffes are in the zoo!"

M: "Yeah, we can only see them in the zoo, or we have to go to Africa to see them in the wild. Do you know why we have zoos?"

W: "To see the animals!"

M: "Yep. And we help protect the animals. We breed animals in zoos and help people learn how to care for them. In some places there aren't many animals. There are lots of humans and fewer and fewer animals."

W: "That's not good is it!"

M: "No. So we need to help save the animals."

W: "Oh, yes. I am good at saving animals. 

M: " In Africa some bad people kill Rhinos and cut off their horns!"

W: "I will save them. I'm good at saving Rhinos. I will kill the bad people down so they won't hurt the Rhinos."

M: "Maybe when you are bigger you can go to Africa to help save the Rhinos."

W: "Oh yes, I'd love to." (Here I'm thinking, I really hope they are still around when he's older)

M: But you don't kill people sweetie. That's not nice. 

W;" But Luke Skywalker kills bad guys

M: "Yes, but that was just in a movie. He just pretends.  (Will recently watched Star Wars and is now a huge fan). 

W: "Ok, well I will tell the bad people to be kind and then they will be happy because bad people are grumpy. 

M: "That is a good idea but there are other ways we can protect the Rhinos now. 

W: "Oh yeah?"

M: "We can be kind and we can buy things that help protect all the animals and don't harm the environment they live in...

Then we arrived at Grandma's and he got distracted...I told Grandma about our conversation and wrote it down so I wouldn't forget. 

I could almost see the wheels turning in his mind as we were talking and I found it amusing how he went off on tangents at times in typical toddler fashion. By the way, I don't make it a habit to talk about killing animals and poachers etc but I felt it was a good opportunity to raise what I believe is an important issue. I want my children to be aware of all living creatures and how they impact the environment.  

Photos from one of many visits to the Werribee Open Range Zoo.