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Ev my teenage son is growing up. He dyes his hair and listens to loud music. It beats pooping his pants and chucking tantrums at the sweety counter. I think he is pretty cool. He did not want me to take this picture he knew I was up to something. I was... I just had to get a snap of him wearing his 'Bling String'. He makes these bracelets out of rags and coins and puts them on when he goes out. It is a Teen Thing.

Since about age 7 he has been studying martial arts of various types. I even enrolled along with him for a while in Taekwondo. Now that he is 14-going-on-adult I think it is time to have an expedition (before he no longer wants anything to do with his old man).

So my plan is for us to take off to Thailand for a month or two where I hope to spend some time at a Muay Thai training camp (Like this or this). We'll probably head off during the second half of July and be back in time for my Mums visit in October.

• evan

I've been for a brief wander up the coast with the boys. During the first 100km Ev and Em fought which ended when I kicked Ev out of the car and told him to hitch home. I got a kilometre down the road before my own guilt and Em's entreaties made me turn around and pick him up. They fought less after that.

The trip was a lot shorter than I wanted but it was Em's first big adventure away from C. We also spent a feral night just south of Casino at a roadside camping area. We read some of Treasure Island but Terry Pratchett soon won over our interest with Thud!.Not before I had to go and buy myself some rum and limes to test out the sailors favourite tipple. It helped keep me warm and I did not get scurvy.

• travel boys

The floods are over and we had a week of beautiful sunshine. Now it is bucketing down with an unpredictable intermittence. To add to the mad end-of-the-world-weather the electricity keeps cutting off with quick finality. I'll be impressed if you even get to read this.

C and I had a walk past the pub earlier this evening. I could see candles on the bar and a huddled mass of people clutching their drinks. It reminded me of Porkellis Pub in the snows of 1976/77

The boys and I found this poor unlucky bluey on the beach after the last floods...

Wonder if it was related to the one Scampi got in our yard?

• bluetongue

My cousin James and his girl, Laura have been staying for Easter. They had a very wet time of it. Sawtell has been experiencing some splendid rain and there has been much in the way of mud and puddles. Not much of a novelty for James and Laura who came all the way over from Kent, UK.

I put them on the red-eye bus to Sydney last night and woke up this morning to glorious sunshine. Hopefully the rain did not follow them.

I just walked home in the rain. My little laptop got wet but I've left it to drain so hopefully it'll be OK. The boys were scooting around the yard in their swimmers with the surfboard when I got home. The rain was really hammering. Then the road started to turn into a river and our neighbours house looks like it started to flood.

I took a few shots with the camera follow the link to you tube and check it out.

• sawtell

Cheri and I were off on our evening perambulation last night. I heard lots of fruit bats chittering and flapping around in the trees above me. We sleepily walked toward the kids playground when suddenly we both heard a slightly different noise. Like a small animal gasping for breath. I stopped and looked around the low hanging branches. A few feet away, I saw a writhing black mass of snake suspended before my eyes.

It was actually much closer than this but Cheri took the photo from down on the road and she is very little.

Cheri actually had the energy to go out again after getting home and take these photos. I was happily curled up in bed whilst she went out in the dead of night to irritate snakey during dinnertime.

What do you reckon, 6-7 feet? We think it was eating some kind of tree rat, maybe(?)

My middle name is Tyler and it is a name that has been used on my fathers side for generations. I am not quite sure of the history but much like most Mongolians believe they are descended from Chingis (Ghengis) Khan, I am descended from Wat Tyler.

History is written by the oppressors so all I've read of Wat casts him as a bit of a thug who was rude to the 15 yr old King. The leading of a peasnts revolution may have also led to the young monarch's grumpy attitude. The Mayor and one of the Kings bodyguards took it upon themselves to kill the unarmed Wat. Well the clock turned and I forget the name of the king but I remember Wat's name being remembered during the Poll Tax riots a few years back.

My Granny Barbara passed away recently and my lovely old Pa sent me a photo of our Tyler coat of Arms which Granny had in her house.

Click on the picture for an enbiggened version.

He wanted to remain six but sadly, 'Time and buttered eggs wait for no man'. Emrys is now seven years old and feeling the weight of the world upon his shoulders. As you can see in the attached photograph he has much to worry about, multiple Lego Bionicles to construct, a remote controlled car to drive at the dog and an electronic microscope with which to unfathom the mysteries of life.

Such is life.
Evan is also another year older, reaching 14 back on Feb the 14th. He too is concerned with enduring life. His concerns are of a more adult nature, things such as listening to Triple J, zits, strange girls, bumfluff and whether or not to shave it off.