No way!! ...

Ben & I ask Henry silly questions all the time & usually the answer is "No Way" So, the other night, Henry was sitting on Daddy's lap & I was in the kitchen making dinner, we started asking him questions like, isn't it your nap time yet, etc... with the answer (provided by Ben in the gingerbread man voice) being "No Way!"each time. On the third or so question Henry replied with No Way himself!!!!!!! He actually said it! We got really excited & tried to get him to talk again, but he hasn't yet. He said it loud & clear though!! So cool!!!
On a less cool note, we have all been a bit sick with some awesome Australian bug. Ben and Jack have a terrible cough & runny nose, while Henry & I have tummy troubles, but no cough or cold symptoms...strange. We asked around & turns out a family we know have all got the cough as well, and another family's two children have the same tummy troubles. I guess it's just going around. I'm sure we will be over it soon. Ben, Henry, & Jack went to the doctor two days ago just to get checked out & looks like we will all be well with some time. We have been home the last two days resting & taking turns looking after the little man. He seems to be holding up best out of the three of us. He doesn't even seem to realize anything is wrong with him & is racing around like a mad man keeping us very busy...which is not very easy when you aren't well.
Mom, you got it right with your wildlife refuge comment. It's ridiculous here. I can't even describe how much stuff we see everyday that we definitely don't have at home, for example, just in the last two or three days, It was late & dark out, but the boys weren't home yet from work, & Sarah started yelling at me to get over to the chicken house with a flash light as fast as possible... so, I put Henry in his crib, and sprinted across the yard around the dam to help & there she was in the pitch black with a dead flashlight trying to fight off a python that had gotten into the chicken coop. She had a rake and I was holding the door open feeling very vulnerable in my shorts & flip flops by the way, as she tried to pull the snake out of the coop. It was very reluctant to leave & quite cranky. It kept lifting it's head up off the ground & coiling up to strike, which did not help my nerves. We finally got it out & shut the door, which had mistakenly been left open..oops. I looked up on top of the coop to check the snake out better & noticed our little black chicken was sitting on top of it about a foot from the snake's head about to become dinner. I tried nudging it with the rake handle & it wouldn't move, so I reached up & tried to grab it, but was unsuccessful, so Sarah tried her luck & nabbed it by the foot. It's a bit nerve racking trying to snatch a python's prey right out from under it's nose. Anyway, the boys got home a few minutes later & we all went out & managed to wrangle it into a garbage bin. It was let loose the next morning down the road.
That's just one example... Ben saw two geckos dangling from the ceiling yesterday having an epic battle over territory.He says one was holding the other by the foot dangling it from the ceiling beam & they were squeaking ferociously at each other.
We now have a large skink living in our house, which we just leave alone, because he eats spiders & is friendly. He comes & goes through a small hole in our screen door. He's our new pet I guess. Tree frogs & cane toads everywhere, saw another big black snake in the driveway.... wallabies in the yard running through the laundry. giant earwig in the bathroom trying to attack me...bush turkey's chasing me...the list goes on...

Anyway, I'd also just like to say that Ben's birthday was on the 14th!!!!! YAY!!! He wasn't feeling really well, which was a bummer, but we went to cairns & took a walk on the beach & had a big dinner with friends complete with carrot cake & ice cream! So, Happy Birthday Ben!!!

Hope all is well at home & less eventful than it is here wildlife wise.... I'm a bit on edge all the time..you never know what you are going to find. Henry has still never touched the ground outside here.... except at the beach. We do let him play in the sand of course!

love, team Davidson!