Spit Bridge/Clontarf

Even though Australians hold Fathers' Day in September, we decided to take Matt out for a picnic on "American Fathers' Day." One of my favorite places (I'm collecting quite a few favorites) is Clontarf, overlooking the Spit Bridge. This is in Middle Harbour, on the way to Manly. There is a small beach at Clontarf with a playground and lots of sailboats to watch. I thought there would be many boats out this day, as it was quite windy, but we actually only saw a few sailors out. We never even saw the bridge open. **This is a picture of the bridge open on another day.**
It was pretty cold. (We tend to have gorgeous weather throughout the week, and then on Saturday it will rain...)

Anyway, we had a yummy picnic. I made Matt his favorite--egg salad sandwiches. Usually he only gets these from his mom, as I can't stand the smell of boiled eggs... I had to wrap his sandwich four times, to protect the rest of our food from smelling like farts (sorry mom, but it's true.)

The kids had a great time playing on the playground. They each took turns taking Taylor down the slide, which he loved.

Taylor also got his first real swing experience (he lies in a baby swing at home, but that doesn't count.) Here's a clip. **clip didn't load--I'll try again later**

I WISH I had a clip of this next event. I don't think I can do it justice with words. I'll try. We were finishing up eating because the seagulls were beginning to take over. I, being not fond of birds in general, kept telling the kids DON'T feed them! These birds are stinkin' aggressive anyway...We were about to witness this aggression on one of our own. This photo is before the attack.

Aubrye had less than a bite of sandwich in her hand and she started walking around on the sand. We were about 10 feet away on the grass. All of the sudden 20 seagulls in flight were surrounding her head. She began running at top speed (not easy on sand). Her panicked screams, her arms and legs pumping...she was laughing and crying all at the same time. Then she realized, "the sandwich!" and without slowing down a bit, she chucked it over her shoulder, and kept running. That sandwich never touched ground. And, though the birds had turned away from her, she just kept running and running. Matt rescued her, but it took awhile for her to calm down. In fact, Zach was screaming and crying by then as well. This all happened in about 15 seconds, but boy was it packed with adrenaline.

Soon after this, Zach saw a little boy and his mom feeding like 100 seagulls and he almost died. I had to explain to him that in our family we don't feed those nasty birds, but it is true that some people do. And that's ok.