Cameron has turned 10 – double figures !

Well, it’s just over two weeks since the day – but WOW – Cameron is TEN !

We were VERY busy on Cameron’s birthday weekend – and then it SoundWave weekend to follow.

You can see Cameron’s previous blog posts : 9th, 8th, 7th, 6th, 5th, 4th, and 3rd birthdays (I hadn’t done any for his 1st or 2nd – doh !).

I can still remember the day that Donna and I went off to the hospital, and we became parents – meeting our special little guy for the first time.

We joked that Donna is due for ‘long service leave’ – after 10 years – and she’s arranged a weekend away with some other mum’s who met when Cameron was only a few weeks old (Mum’s Group)….

Anyway – this is about Cameron – aka, Cam – as he’s usually called these days.

School – Grade 4

In 2014, Cam was in grade 3, and now into grade 4 for 2015. His brothers are in grade 2, and prep – so they’re ALL at school.

Cameron has been enjoying his maths most of all, learning lots of calculations like long division and multiplication, and he’s constantly amazing us with his ‘in-mind’ maths skills.

He’s also been enjoying writing, and spelling – and did great with his NAPLAN tests during grade 3. One of the stand-out things was his ‘persuasive writing’ in which th kids had to write about “a law they wanted to change”. Cam chose to outlaw ‘smoking’ – as it’s bad for people’s health, and would be better for them. (!!)

During the year, the kids had a great time with some excursions – to the Melbourne Museum, ScienceWorks and Healesville – as well as a 3-day camp at “Camp Week-Away”. Cameron just takes it all in his stride – amazing, really.

He does have some trouble with the nasty girls at school, they call the other kids stupid, and “we all hate you” – poor Cameron doesn’t understand WHY they’re like that – and that can be upsetting.

But, he has some great buddies – and recently had a great birthday party at the TimeZone, and Laser Tag. His best buddy is JETT – followed by MATT – and his other friends are Josh & Luke S, as well as William, Brandon, Andy – and still great friends with Sebastian.

Off to school – start of grade three (Feb 2014)

Crazy hair day !

With his buddies – heading off to school camp

Ready for the athletics day – “L” for Lawson (Blue)

Ready for a new year of school – grade FOUR (Feb 2015)

Off to school with his brothers ! Proud !

Sport + Activities

2014 was the year that Cameron discovered a great love of basketball, with a 5-week ‘learning’ training session, and then being placed into a team. He was the youngest of the bunch, but had a great coach (Nick) – and started to get more confident in his ability, and gameplay – and scored a few goals during the season.

The team was getting beaten at the start, but the penny dropped, and they WON a game, and then didn’t lose again – all the way through finals, and the grand final !

(That was a tense+close game – I’ve never been so nervous watching sport !)

The next season (current ‘summer’ season), the winning team was split up, with Cam staying along with 3 of the team, and a new set of 4 player – for 8 in total.

This year, Cam has been the eldest of the bunch, and has had to “step up”, which he has done amazingly. Also, *I* have been helping coach, and running the ‘subs’ on game day – along with my good buddy LUKE, who is Matt’s Dad.

We’ve had some close games, and a few losses, and even a draw ! Hopefully we’ll make the Grand Final this season – it will be a hard fight to win this time around.

It’s helping Cameron to have somewhere to practice – I’ve dug up a section of the backyard, and had a concrete slab poured, and Cam (& Liam) have been enjoying bouncing, and passing, and doing lay-ups. Liam is showing great potential, hopefully he’ll be able to join up this season.

(We also took the whole family to see the NBL last weekend – what a great atmosphere !! Melbourne United vs Sydney Kings)

Cameron has lost most of the love for footy – although we got along to see a few games with the Richmond Tigers – we’ll have to see what 2015 brings.

Hanging out with his brothers, doing AusKick

Off to the Richmond family day – GO TIGERS !

Ready for his FIRST game of basketball

McDonalds after they won their first game

PREMIERS !!

Fun Stuff

Cameron actually made a list of all the things that he loves to do – and it’s mainly ‘video game’ related – LOL !

MineCraft, Terraria (new addiction !), Plants vs Zombies Garden Warfare, Battle Block Theatre, Trials Evolution, Skylanders, Splosion Man, Rayman Legends – to name a few !

He’s also (still) loving Lego – with a new TECHNIC kit for Christmas – he spent a few days assembling, enjoying the challenge of a different type of Lego. He wrote on a note (for this blog) that he likes to make “oun creashons”, ships, rockets, cars, boats.

He has a great knowledge of Harry Potter – amazing to hear some of the trivia and bits & pieces that he knows ! He hasn’t seen the final “M” rated movies – but will be allowed to watch them once he’s finished reading the book (Deathly Hallows).

He had some birthday money, and bought a Harry Potter poster for his bedroom wall – his choice !

As well, Cam and I went along to the “Star Wars Day” to see ANH, TESB and ROTJ. It was a looong day – but we both loved it.

Another movie trip with his friend Matt, and Dad Luke was to see the new TMNT movie.

And we’ve recently watched some superhero movies – Thor, Guardians Of The Galaxy, IronMan and The Avengers. The best one was IronMan – the kids all loved it 1– even Charlie, who is only five… (eek !)

And Scooby Doo !

He’s been reading lots – not just Harry Potter – but even gotten into TINTIN ! And, I completed a chapter-by-chapter reading of a classic from when I was a kid – MY SIDE OF THE MOUNTAIN (Jean George).

His favourite book series – the 13 story tree house – and 26, 39 and 52 !

Deep into another TINTIN book

Star Wars Day – May The 4th !

SubWay before the movies

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles !

Cameron the BOX TROLL !

Lovely brother

Cam and Liam often clash, and I think Cam gets annoyed with his little brother sometimes – but Charlie seems to be the neutral party – and not often that Cam and Charlie are fighting (except when Charlie gets too rough).

For the most part, they play together very well – more than not.

One night when Donna and I were out to dinner, and had her father babysit (Grandpa). They watched a movie, then stayed up watching the footy with him – when we got home, Grandpa was passed out asleep on the couch.

It turns out that he’d dozed off, and the kids didn’t want to wake him – and put themselves to bed – led & organised by Cameron. Grandpa had woken up to the lights all out – and the kids gone (to bed) – LOL !

In the morning, Cam told us that he’d sorted his brothers out – to get into PJ’s – and then made sure that everyone did their teeth – and – he even read a story to Charlie…!

It’s little stories like this that give me a ‘glow’ in my heart, that we’re raising a lovely little boy – with maturity, responsibility and consideration for others.

Cool dudes at the Cranbourne Botanical Gardens

With his brothers at Christmas (2014)

Christmas Day at Auntie Kath’s

Playing Cluedo with Liam

Hanging out with Dad – and yep, fingers up – LOL !

Comparing EYE colours – Cam & I are very similar

Out to YumCha with the family

Flying a kite – such simple pleasures

We lay on the grass, chatted and stared up at the kite – for over 1/2 an hour

Cameron hurt his ankle at “Jump Factory” (outing for Liam’s 7th birthday) – he didn’t want his brothers to see that he was injured, he didn’t want to worry them or spoil it for them. I said “sorry you’re missing out !” but he replied “it’s OK, at least I have some music to listen to…” (aawww – and a brave smile too !)

Riding bikes

It makes me very happy to go riding with the lads – we’re starting to go for longer rides – and Cameron is keen to try out trails at Lysterfield…

It won’t be long till we’re off to an MTB race together, or AroundTheBay – and he’ll beat me !

Avoca – Geronimo swing dropper

Riding the park trails at our local (Llewellyn)

Our happy lad is growing up

I love to chat to Cameron on the phone, when ringing to say I’ll be coming home – I get a “hey, hello Dad-dad-daddy’o” – and once drove in the driveway to hear a “yo, what’up Dad !” LOL !

We have a great friendship – and enjoy lots of laughs – and he’s still OK with hugs and holding hands – although I’m wondering how long THAT will last.

He’s growing up fast – not just the fact that he’s now TEN – but he reminded me that it’s only 6 years till I have to teach him how to drive !

I’m sure there are a lot of other things to learn in the years ahead – we’ve had one “birds & the bees” chat – he looked kinda terrified, hoping that the stories he’d heard in the schoolyard were NOT true ! We’ll help him with any questions along the way, of course – he hasn’t asked again since…

And – the age old question of “Santa” too – he wondered the other day why Santa wouldn’t bring presents to poor people – either it’s really “Mum & Dad” who are Santa – or he’s kinda mean… (wow – amazing thought process – very empathic)

He has a grown up soul, that’s for sure – without losing his boyish ways.

One of his big accomplishments for the year was to be allowed to run down to the shop to buy a loaf of bread – he was so excited to be allowed to go !

The next trip, he rode his scooter – and has even ridden his bike once or twice. He likes that we’re letting him go – good test of self + responsibility. (It was a nervous 8 minutes the first time he went !)

Back from the shops with a loaf of bread

Other family fun

We had a great camping trip to the Big4 Bellarine, with another family – Cameron & the other kids were running, riding, jumping and swimming all day. He woke the next day, and said that he remembers closing his eyes, and then it was morning – slept like a log !

We had two trips to Avoca – once for a two-night quick visit (Queens Birthday) – and we’d enjoyed it so much that we went for a whole week in September school holidays.

Cam and the lads helped me build a bike track, which they christened as the “Geronimo Swing Dropper” – and rode bikes up+ back, and up+down – and then finished the day with a campfire, and toasted marshmallows. Nice !

Family fun on the beach – near the Big4 Bellarine

Patting a goat at the Collingwood children’s farm

Crazy fun

Yep – Cameron loves to have fun !

Here’s just a FEW of the crazy pics I found of him – he’s a character – and always making us laugh – and himself too !

Watch out for “CORNETTO MAN !!”

Harry Potter – and a crazy CAM…

EVERY birthday party with cousins, Cameron gets the newspaper from the pass-the-parcel, and stuffs it in his t-shirt… No-one ever told him about it – but it’s become his thing – LOL !