Streets of gold

I've talked a bit about my little street and village before but let me paint you a better picture. My street is full of empty and broken people and shops. It's littered with bars that have topless waitress and girls on the street corner looking for there next job. Our nights air is cut with the fights of drunk men from the bars fighting about pointless things I'm sure, or people talking to people or things only they can see. Most of the shop fronts are empty broken down and covered in graffiti.

But today was different, today our streets were filled with cheering and laughter . From my window I heard families chatting and the sounds of sausages on the BBQ. Today our Main Street that our bedroom window looks out onto was closed for our towns billy cart derby. This derby started in the early 1940's and stopped around 1987 but this year it was back! It was incredible to walk down our street and to see every shop open and people even selling stuff from there homes. There was a small carnival and a car show. We had people selling things to benefit our community and an incredible band starring my awesome husband and a few of our great friends.

Our little town is incredible but it lives in the dark, it's known as a fairly rough,spot but I see so much beauty and hope here. The people who live here believe in there town and want to see it grow and become the amazing place it used to be. I really believe that today was the start of something beautiful for our little town. My little man loved all the activity in town. He ooh and wowed as the cars raced down the street. He danced and clapped as his daddy sang Bennie and the Jets on stage. And he was all smiles as he went oh the giant slide with his aunty. Today He new nothing else other than his town was made of Gold.

One life

I got this bracelet from a friend who just took a trip to Mexico, it says you only live once. As I thought deeper about it I started to wonder what this phrase means to me now. If I had gotten this a few years ago I would have taken it on as my mantra to do all I wanted to do. To go skydiving, and bungee jumping. See the world, have fancy clothes and basically do what I want when I wanted. But maybe I'm getting older or maybe my world view is changing but when I read something like that I want to take a very different action. I still want to see the world but instead of taking photos and seeing the sites I want to meet people and tell there stories. I want to not just walk in there shoes but carry there jug of water or basket of food. I want the world to know and see what is really going on outside of our little bubbles.

I want to see a cure for childhood illness. Now I'm not a scientist in fact I only passed biology because my teacher took pity on me. But I can do something raise money or give kids a voice. The fact that 46 children are diagnosed with cancer each day is not ok with me!! How is this happening to our tiny world changers? My best friends daughter has been fighting a juvenile auto immune disorder for the past few years. I've watched this happy little active girl fight to live a normal life. But man she's one hell of a fighter. By the smile on her face and the love the in her heart you would never know. I want her to have a cure, and all those like her.

So there is only one life that I'm going to lead. I sure hope at the end of it I can turn around and look at all the steps I've taken and see that they have led towards change. That my son grows up knowing that if he fights he can change things. That he doesn't have to settle with the way things have been done. So I'm going to wear this bracelet to remind my self daily the change starts with me.

Same same but different

When I was a kid I had family and then I had friends, they were different. But as I've gotten older those lines have gotten fuzzy. The need for a top down parent relationship vs a peer relationship that causes change in me has become stronger. I've been very lucky in my life to have many friends who have become family as I've moved my location and done different things.

My husband met his best friend in the third grade on the first day of school. That was also the day he met his cousin. They have been best friends for 20 years. They are what we call cousin friends. He is lucky enough to have a best friend that inspires and challenges him to be the best version of him he can be. Some of us aren't as lucky to have real family who are also our very best friends.

I have a great lady in my life and she once told me friends are simply the family you choose! Well wise lady you are correct! I have many friends in my life who I call family including an amazing family who I call mom and dad and my son has as aunties and grandparents.

It's not that my real family are bad or awful but as I've grown and my life has changed different people fill that family role. Different people have become all the different roles I need in my life. And for that I'm so thankful that friends and family are same same and only a little different.

Concrete playground

I grew up on a farm, I spent my days playing with various animals and running as far as I could I fields. I never thought one way or the other where my child would play. But we have found ourselves in a cozy apartment on top of a few empty shop fronts on the Main Street of our city. Our bedroom window looks out to a cute cafe and a few art studios with the ocean in the background. Our back yard consists of a concrete courtyard and a tiny patch on lawn that is home to our clothes line. We have lots of hard rocks and a somewhat busy street to play near. I'm pretty sure the thing that really got my son walking was he was sick of getting scraped knees from trying to crawl outside. We love our little street but its not what I had so I don't really know how to navigate it for my ever busy and curious baby boy.

A few weeks a go a friend posted on of her amazing blogs and she was talking about a few other blogs she had been ready and one was about urban living. I became encouraged and inspired.

I love our neighbourhood, I love that we stop by and say hello to the couple who run the little store where we go and get bananas in the morning on the way into work. That they know my son by name and give him sugar treats whenever we stop in. I have learned to embrace this concrete playground that we live in. The walks to our friends house and the creativity I need to have for my son to play outside. We love to go to the library and morning walks to say hello to our neighbours and shop owners, and when it rains we head to the little playground at the shops or to our local play cafe.
It may not be ideal or what I had but my baby loves his little village.

Oh Happy Day

 

So Monday was my Husbands 30th was on Monday and to celebrate we decided to take a special family day. So we headed into the city for some fun. I still can't believe that a day in the city is Sydney, Australia. I'm not sure if that will ever seem normal. We hopped on the train for the family fun day Sunday pass which is the most amazing thing for a fun day on a budget. We first headed into Paddy's market which is basically a giant warehouse of people selling things you probably don't really need at a price that makes it seem like you should have it. For Aaron's birthday his family all got together and bought him a new Ipad and so we went to paddy's to find a case for it. after the Market we headed to the Australian museum. yep we are a bit of a geek family. We love museums! This one though was pretty cool but not worth the $$ we had to pay to get in. Jack did love the kids area. He was so cute wondering the kids area in some kind of costume trying to talk to the little girl who was reading a story in french I believe.

 





Next came a Delicious Ice cream sundae from the Lindt chocolate store. Nothing beats Hot fudge and brownie mixed with delicious vanilla Ice cream.  The best part was that our sound asleep baby woke up just in time to help us finish off the last few bites. My son has a sixth sense when food is on the table and he is missing it. We also bumped into a really cool car show and a few random hippie festival and the celebration of some Chinese Australian thing. We decided to to hop on the Monorail to the mall. The monorail has been there forever and they are taking it down so we decided to hop on before it's gone.

 

Dinner we roamed through Chinatown to find the best deal. I love how they all stand outside there restaurants holding out basically the same menu as the restaurant next to them trying to lure you in. We declined on the first guy since his restaurant was completely empty at dinner rush time. The next lady was the sweetest old grandma who made jack smile so we walked a  little farther and then picked her. When we were at the museum earlier in the day I found these amazing dinosaur training chopsticks so  I picked them up for Aaron and forced him to eat some of his meal with them. Since he's actually been to china I think he was a bit embarrassed to use them but I got enough to snap a photo. He will do almost anything for me.

Last stop was Starbucks. We don't have one anywhere near us and they are always a fun treat. As soon as  I walked out with my grande Carmel machiotto my son wanted some so I went back in to get him his baby chino. He loved it!! He's my little side kick and loves doing whatever mummy does! We then headed back to the train station to hop on the very cold train for the two hour ride back home. We were all exhausted but had a great day. I love that our little guy loves to travel and wonder the city with us. He's so easy to take around as long as he gets to get out and walk a little.

A very Happy 30th to the man who loves his family so much he will sleep on a cold train with a baby on him!! We love you!!!