Do you know how hard it is to do a coast to hills transect with three kids under 12?

Not that hard actually if you go with their interest levels.  I would have liked them to observe how the vegetation and soil changed as we went from the eastern outer metro to the coastal part of the Wheatbelt.  They were mostly interested in getting to the beach so we just ended up pointing out sand dunes that were covered in vegetation and having quick chats about why the vegetation is important for holding the sand together, and how the soil colour changed from browny-red clay to sand to white sand.

I am a terrible parent.

6yo has actually been 6 for a while.  Doing the birthday post got lost in the shuffle partially due to general life busy-ness and mostly because his birthday celebration was quiet and laid back by his choice.  We didn't go anywhere as all he wanted was for his best friend to come over and play Skylanders.  He had a couple of friends come over and they all played Skylanders.  He apparently wants a Skylanders cake next birthday as we didn't manage one this time round.

I was going to take a photo of his Skylanders collection to accompany this post but I didn't want to take them out of their huge plastic bag to arrange them.

That's how many we have.

And there may be more coming.

JJ and 6yo are making pancakes, 6yo searches the fridge for toppings.

6yo: Dad! I can't find any jam! JAAAAAAAAAAAM! WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME?! Oh wait here's some, never mind.
 

10yo: can I do memrise?
Me: no. Go to sleep.
10yo: por favor?
Me: no. Go to sleep.
10yo: can I go give Daddy a cuddle?
Me: no. Go to sleep.
10yo: por favor?
Me: na go'i ko sipna
6yo: what does that mean?
Me: no. go to sleep!

I wanted to wrangle the permission attitudinal in there but couldn't recall it off the top of my head. Also needed an .i but eh.

This house is more Menagerie than The Menagerie was.  Newest additions from left to right: Popcorn, Lucius and Nightshade (which may actually be Knight Shade as I suspect it was named after a Skylander), belonging to 8yo, 10yo and 6yo respectively.  We've had them for three days so far and they're settling in slowly.  Cats completely do not care about them.  Tali has sniffed them both in the cage and in my hand and been great.  Angus just wants to bite them. Which then of course stirs Tali up and he wants to play too! Working on that -_-

Earlier today:

JJ: (whispers to 6yo to put a banana into the pancake mix they're making in the kitchen)
me (yelling from computer room): I can hear you from here.
6yo (stage whispering): Dad stop stage whispering!

Just then:

6yo: Dad can you give me a boost up for the stuff I'm biggenising?
JJ: ...you want me to help you make that bigger?
6yo: yes please.

My iMac is about three years old.  It's kicking along fine, as long as I don't do anything too hardcore in the 3d department.  We're having slight issues there, as in Blender starts lagging and acting strangely (like failing to realise that I've "released" when the pen is off the tablet) when it has to deal with over 2M polys.

This is the machine I want to get:

Mac Pro

6yo: Daddy you're from Satan!
JJ (laughing): How'd you work that one out?
6yo: Coz you're a DEMON!
 

Me (reading Dr Seuss' Sleep Book to 6yo): On a mountain halfway between Reno and Rome, we have a machine in a plexiglass dome which listens and looks into everyone's home...
10yo (interrupting): That's...really creepy.

Yep.

Me (to 6yo who fell asleep in the car): You're a knackered tacker aren't you.
10yo: As am I.
Me: Go jump in the shower then so you can rest up after.
10yo: I do not think the occasional cleansing is necessary at this point.