Observant Little People

On a recent trip on the Ferry to Wellington we stopped at Somes Island. Little Miss peered through the salty sprayed windows and spotted a big orange buoy bobbing up and down in the big wet wobbly. ' 'Whats that Mum? '- (Its her favorite question after Why?)
'Its a buoy', I informed her.
'Cool. ' she said (Favorite response after No!) Then pause. Thoughtful look. Puzzled/concerned look. 
'Mum?'
'Yes?'
'Is that boy wearing togs?'

After his stella performance in the school production of 'The Muppets, A Play', which he shone as the Ninja Muppet, Little Brother requested that I get him a Ninja costume. I told him I'd try and get one from a secondhand shop, but when I disappointed him a full 6 hours later ( I mean, what have you been doing with your time Mum?) he had a little think. He's a man who deals in solutions, not problems.
"I know Mum," he said. "you could just knit me one instead."
(Darling thing, he still has such belief in my abilities he is completely undetered by the obvious lack of skill, or knitting).

Yesterday we had such a ball, chasing the Orca's that had cruised into Wellington Harbour to visit. I spotted them in our bay in the morning and Little Miss and I jumped in the car and headed to the reserve to see more. Unfortunately they didn't surface near us again, so I spent about 3 hours telling her 'They must be under the water now"every 10 mins when she asked 'Where orca's gone?"
Driving home from school though we were in luck and from the way the cars were all parked erratically along the verge of the bay, and people were pointing fingers and phones out to sea we knew they must be back. We screeched to a holt and leaped out. Suddenly two fins emerged about 3m from the waters edge. It was very exciting, and then we saw a larger one further out rolling and flapping it's flipper.
Big Brother " THis is so exciting, I've wanted to see an Orca ALL my life! This is the greatest day of my life!"
Little Brother "There's one, it looks exactly like a rock but it's moving so it must be an orca!"
Little Miss " They not under the water now"
And, Little Brother "Can we get closer so we can see what it's face looks like under the water?"
It was magical and we had fish and chips on the wharf hoping for more sightings. I would never have believed they would come that close in, and the thoughts of starting my ocean swimming training suddenly made me feel quite petrified. If I ever see an Orca that close in the water, I'll be sure never to lend you my wetsuit.