A little while back now we were sent some Lego to build and unfortunately there was a hiccup along the way because we misplaced a vital piece of the construction which delayed things somewhat.
After an intensive web search a replacement piece was ordered and sent here.
Now we have a newly built Lego Crawler Crane in the house and we also know all the places to go to find replacement pieces.
You can read the whole three part series:
At the end of part 2 of this series I’d left you with an unfinished crane due to a piece being lost. If you want to start from the beginning of the Building Crawler Crane Lego you’ll want part 1.
After a fair amount of searching, I’d found a website for the replacement piece – it must have been the Lego one – and ordered the piece which arrived the other day.
Interestingly even though I was able to order this piece from the website it must have been an international website because the letter that accompanied the missing piece told me that Australia doesn’t have a replacement part service setup. I didn’t even know there were different regions. Obviously the website needs some sort of work so this thing doesn’t happen, or maybe it doesn’t happen very often. But they still sent me the piece which was great.
We quickly assembled the final part of the crane and now – finally – have a working crane. JJ used the word awesome as he worked out the moving parts and immediately had a go at lifting things up and down with the crane.
As the crane is made of Lego, if you’re not careful, pieces can come off pretty easily so it’s out of bounds of any visitors as I can just see what will happen and I don’t want to lose more pieces. We’ve got plenty of Bionicles that have had bits fall off and never made it back on.
The letter accompanying the missing piece informed me that as Australia doesn’t have the replacement part service setup – and why is that I wonder – but there are other alternatives.
There is the Pick a Brick Lego shop for spare parts. I swear I couldn’t find this when I did a web search earlier but it’s definitely good to know.
They also gave me a list of websites maintained by Lego fans that between them look like they can answer all things Lego.
Yesterday was a gorgeous autumn day, sky was blue, a gentle breeze in the air, and it was warm but not too warm. After doing my cleaning chores I decided we’d go for a drive in the Adelaide Hills – something I don’t normally do unless I’m visiting friends up there.
We ended up at Gumeracha which has a giant rocking horse, a toy factory and a small park with some animals.
It costs $2 to climb up the rocking horse and it wasn’t until I’d paid and climbed up a flight of stairs that I realised the rest of the way to the top meant climbing ladders. Naturally I was wearing a skirt! I was all right going up the ladder but going down freaked me out a bit more and as soon as we both got down to the bottom JJ wanted to go up again. Guess what, we didn’t.
The little animal park had an assortment of animals from swans, peacocks, one sheep, ducks, a couple of emus and a few wallabies. The animals are really tame because they’re used to being given food from strangers who walk through their park with bags or little buckets of pellets.
I did buy some things from the toy factory which I’ll show off in another post. I could have spent a whole lot more money in there as there was some great stuff.
JJ had been complaining of feeling sick and hadn’t eaten his lunch so we went straight home afterwards. I wonder if the windy roads made him feel a bit carsick and sitting in the back probably didn’t help him at all. He feel asleep on the way home as I negotiated my way down Gorge Road pulling over occasionally so the faster drivers could go past me.
And then he wouldn’t let me take his photo – talk to the hand mum.
My whole aim had been to take some photos of the gorgeous autumn colour but I think I was a bit too early for the majority of it. I saw some autumnal trees but not many and it’s hard to pull over sometimes, and to see when concentrating on staying on the road.
I’ll be doing the I like walks along the beach and quiet nights at home posts next!
I think just about everyone, religious or not, knows the story of Adam and Eve and the forbidden fruit. Most people know of the forbidden fruit as an apple.
I’m not sure where I read it but I’ve heard that it might have been a pomegranate. Has anyone heard anything similar?
When I took this photo JJ said why don’t you pick one from the tree. It wasn’t the story of Adam and Eve that stopped me, but the fact that it was taking someone elses fruit although it was hanging over the footpath and that means it’s anyone’s doesn’t it?
I kind of wish I had taken one now because it’s been too many years since I ate a pomegranate.
They wouldn’t have missed one of these surely.
For the last few months the lad has been playing indoor soccer because he developed an interest in it last year and it’s not the season for the outdoor kind just yet. I was a bit dubious about him doing this because of the way he acted up at circus school (which he no longer goes to) but he’s done really well.
I’ve definitely noticed the difference in his skill level from when he started to now. He’s doing a Life Be In It kind where there’s some ball skills stuff and then they always play a game at the end. The season started out with three of these groups and now it’s pretty much down to three or four boys in the one group. I don’t know what happened to everyone else but it’s a shame they all dropped out.
To JJ’s credit, he’s stuck it out and enjoyed it to boot. Ever since JJ was born my theory has been that sport or some sort of activity will be vital to keep him active and to teach him about getting along with others. I know I will be in for cold, early mornings, and I’ll turn into a mum taxi but in the long run hopefully it will be worth it.
I’d love to know your experience with your kids playing sport, or not.
After lamenting not having a weekend pass to Womadelaide a couple of weekends ago, I ended up going on the Sunday and it was a pretty good day. The dust levels weren’t too bad and the weather was pretty good. I thought I’d share some of the music that I heard over the weekend. These videos aren’t actually from Womad but they’ll give you a taste of the type of music that Womad has. And if you listen to any of the below, close your eyes and imagine you’re in a beautiful park and the music loud and completely surrounds and goes through you. Well try anyway.
Rokia Traore appeared last on Stage 1 and I’m so glad I hung around for this. JJ was playing a friend’s DS so he was happy and this woman was so worth it. Her voice is amazing and her dancing just made me feel so unfit. This song is quite slow, but she did a real mix.
I love ska and Ska Cubano were great and they just make you want to get up and dance.
Chemical Brothers fans will recognise this one from Speed Caravan. When I heard it I was on my way back from the loos and I started walking just that bit faster while swaying my hips. Cool version of Galvanize. Unfortunately this one has no visuals, but it was the best sounding one I could find.
Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu performed also. I missed him but apparently he was awesome. A friend has since lent me his CD to listen to which I haven’t yet had the chance but I can’t wait.
Sa Dingding had one of the the most amazing voices I’ve ever heard. She even sang a song in a made up language. Her dancers were great too and they incorporated fans into their dance routine.
The below clip will give you an idea of what else goes on at Womad in addition to what’s on stage.
I’m getting THIS close to buying myself a DSLR camera. I’m still loving using my sister’s Canon 350D and am 99% certain I’ll get the Canon 450D. I went and tried one out today and got a price for it. I’m sleeping on it! Update: I slept on it last night and I bought it – the Canon 450D twin lens kit, camera bag, extended warranty, another SD card. Am charging the battery as I type.
Anyway, yesterday morning, the birds were making lots of noise in a tree I’ve got out the back so I dashed inside, put the zoom lens on my sister’s camera and went outside to take photos.
Even though it’s blurry I love this photo. The zoom lens I was using doesn’t have an inbuilt image stabiliser and when (not if) when I get my camera I’ll be getting a lens with an image stabiliser function. Now I know when looking at camera websites what IS means
