An 'Olliewood' Adventure in 'Carafornia'

Across the Seas to Los Angeles

America is one of those places everyone knows. It's in a thousand movies and internet videos and TV shows. But now we'd be seeing it for ourselves as we took off on a family holiday to Los Angeles.

It's been a long time coming. Mum and Dad first talked about it even before we went to Fiji, nearly two years ago! But after an 11-hour flight halfway across the world we were in California, or as Dad decided to name it, “Carafornia”.

Our first stop was Anaheim for four nights to visit Disneyland. This was an amazing place with a magical vibe. Every day we got there before the park opened and rushed to the first ride to squeeze in as many rides as we could. We'd constantly be checking the app to see which line was shortest, then we'd dash across the park to get there.

All the rides were amazing but I had a couple of favourites: the Star Wars ride Rise of the Resistance and the big outdoor rollercoaster The Incredicoaster (which you can see in the right picture above). I'd never even been on a rollercoaster before we came to Disneyland but turns out I love them, so I dragged Mum on with me twice, though Dad and William were too chicken.

But the awesomeness didn't stop at rides - I even got to meet a bunch of Star Wars characters. I had a close encounter with Chewbacca (see the pic below), got told off by a pair of Stormtroopers, and even had a private meeting with Darth Vader himself!

Disneyland was so great we didn’t want to leave. On our third day there, after we'd arrived at 7:30 in the morning, we stayed until nearly midnight, only taking a couple of hours off to freshen up at the hotel and have some dinner. We watched the fireworks display and a cool Star Wars light show.

As we were walking towards the exit, we heard a voice over a loudspeaker saying "Last call for the Disneyland Express", and without even stopping to think about it, we rushed off for the last ride of the night on the Disneyland steam train. We just didn't want to leave.

My wallet was bulging with American money I'd been given by Grandma and Aunt Val, so Mum and Dad had to restrain me not to spend it all on the first day. In fact, it was the second day, when I spent most of my travel money in a Star Wars shop at Downtown Disney. William also spent a bunch of his money in the Disney store there - the shop owners must have been pleased to see us that day!

Anaheim would be a tough act to follow for sure. Our next stop was West Hollywood, or “Olliewood” as I called it, for six nights. The hotel had a great pool and a nice big room perfect for watching American game shows and ghost hunting programmes in the evenings.

The first two days in Olliewood were at Universal Studios, which like Disneyland also had some amazing rides, like Jurassic World. My favourite was the Harry Potter one, even if it hurled us around so much in our vehicle that I was worried about keeping my buffet breakfast in my stomach!

On one of the other rides, we'd just gotten off and were outside talking about how much we enjoyed it when Dad asked Mum where our backpack was. That's the backpack which held all our money, passports and important stuff like that. When she swore loudly and ran off back into the ride, we knew she’d walked out leaving it behind in our buggy. Luckily someone had handed it in and we got it back. Classic Cara - we didn't let her forget about that for the whole rest of the trip.

After Universal Studios, we had a full-day personalised tour with a guide who also happened to have the best name in the world: Ollie. He was a super nice guy who took us up to the Hollywood sign, across to Hollywood Boulevard to see the stars on the Walk of Fame, down to Venice Beach and the famous pier, and up to the Griffith Observatory to see the city at night and look through the big telescope at Jupiter and its moons.

That Ollie had also thoughtfully provided two big chiller bins of drinks and snacks for the day, which this Ollie and William helped ourselves to constantly throughout the day.

The next day we did a day trip by train up to a seaside place called Santa Barbara, which was nice and much quieter than LA, but not that much to see for three hours each way on the train. I think Mum and Dad just wanted a change of pace after the crazy busyness of the last week.

Time was starting to run out, but not before we spent a few hours at the Natural History Museum seeing the massive dinosaur skeletons and this huge hall filled with gems and massive gold nuggets which William just loved. He was so excited by seeing the gold I thought security people might need to check his pockets on the way out in case he tried to take home a souvenir.

It was an amazing holiday and we were so sad to be leaving. After two weeks we were really feeling like locals. But before we even left America, we’d already decided: wherever the next holiday takes us, whenever we do it, it has to be via Disneyland. There’s just nowhere else in the world like it.

And that was our holiday in America. Now that we're back home again, this might be my last blog for a while. After all, how can you top an adventure like that?

Maker Class is Now in Session

New Awesomeness in Arts & Crafts

A couple of years ago, William and me used to watch a show called Mister Maker. It was basically just this one guy creating all types of different things, but for two boys so keen on arts and crafts it was super inspiring.

And even as we've got older, we still love creating things. So it's no surprise that in my first year at intermediate school, the class I loved the most was the technical one - and especially when we did DML (Design, Make, Learn). I spent loads of lunchtimes working on woodcut and laser printed creations that I'd designed on computer and then painstakingly made. Most of these were presents for Mum, Dad and William. And it's because of all the time I spent working on these that I was selected by the teachers to be in the special Maker Class this year.

William's also kind of following in my footsteps, though the things he's been creating are a little bit different.

With so many cool creations under our belt, Dad decided it was time to showcase them. So here's the story behind some of the cool things we've made in the last few months.

But doing this got me thinking: Dad's always behind the camera (or phone) in these videos, never in front of them. And he's actually created something pretty cool himself. So now the presenter becomes the director, as I turn the camera (well, phone) on Dad to tell us the story behind the book he wrote.

I'm tempted to ask which ones you thought were best, but I already know the answer: mine. The other guys' efforts were pretty good too, but in this house, there's only room for one Mister Maker - and that's Ollie.

A Century of Stories

Blog One Hundred

Oliver's blog has turned 100! Since I first started sharing my adventures waaaaaay back in early 2014, before I was even one year old, I've shared 100 stories of my life in blogs. Well, saying goodbye to Grandad was the actual 100th blog, so this one is actually blog #101. That's over a century of stories!

There's been a lot to talk about in that time: from daycare to primary school and intermediate; from old house to new house; through birthdays and Christmases; across Australia, Fiji and New Zealand. So many memories...

You can revisit when I first tried eating solid food during a family holiday to Mount Maunganui (spoiler alert: I did not enjoy it).

Or when William first came into the world and I gave him his very first cuddly toy: a husky.

Or how about the time Bailey and I were just hanging out in the back garden at home, neither of us wearing any clothes. Must have been a hot summer that year.

Maybe it's time to remember that family Ollie-day we took to Australia with Grandma and Grandad. Find out which animal I saw pooping while we were there!

From going overseas to going nowhere - the dreaded coronavirus struck the world and we were trapped inside for months, but you can see how William and I kept busy in this lockdown lowdown.

Or what about when we moved from our old house into our new one. Watch as we walk through the house for the very first time as owners. Don't sit down though - there's not a single piece of furniture in the whole place.

And to take us right up to the present, you can see me in my future career as Dr Ollie the vet.

Oh all right, and here's the video of me falling on my face while ice skating. Happy now?

Looking back at all these old adventures is like stepping into a time machine. Just without the silly special effects. And that's just from my first 11 years. There are lots more stories yet to come...

Goodbye Grandad

R.I.P. 17 December 2024

It’s a very sad time in our house because after a short illness, Grandad died in hospital. He was 87.

Losing someone close to you is awful, and I was very close to Grandad. All through my life he’s been there with love and encouragement, telling jokes along the way. One of the things I loved the most was how funny he was.

Even from when I was little, I think I knew him pretty well, like when Dad tested me with these 5 questions about Grandad. I called him the Tickle Monster because every time he saw me he’d grab me and tickle, until I was squirming laughing on the floor and Grandma would be telling him off.

Every time we visited him and Grandma we’d buzz the doorbell, then run into his house and jump in his chair. But we knew he was so pleased to see us; he always gave such wonderful, big hugs.

We got to share some great holidays with him too, like when we visited Melbourne, Taupo (twice!) and the Bay of Islands. I can remember when we stayed in an apartment in Melbourne, running down the corridor with William to bang on his door first thing in the mornings, excited to get out and spend the day together. Then we’d have to wait while he found himself a good cup of coffee!

It’s a shame he didn’t make it until Christmas, but I have such happy memories of our time together. I’ll miss you Grandad - life won’t be the same without you.

Dr Ollie the Vet

Presenting a Day in the Life (x8)

Our focus this term at school was on careers. Ever since I was little I wanted to be a paleontologist - digging up dinosaur bones and discovering a new species that I could name the Olliesaurus.

But something else I've always loved are animals and now I'm starting to wonder whether being a vet might be a better career for me. It would mean I get to spend all day with some furry friends, plus I wouldn't have to go to the other side of the world for dino digs half the year.

So when our teacher gave us the project to create and deliver a presentation on a career, I decided I'd choose being a vet.

With a little help from Dad and Mum, I came up with a great presentation which I delivered in front of the class. In fact, so good was it that the teacher said it was the best presentation he'd seen and I ended up having to present it 8 times! Once to the class, once to the deputy principal, once to the principal, four times to parents at a class careers expo day, and once to Dad, which you can watch below. It even got me a special, super rare badge, which you might be able to see on my sleeve.

So, Dr Ollie proudly presents: A day in the life of a vet.

A Frightful Time

Going Candy Crazy

There's something about Halloween that kids like me really love. It's partly the trick or treating, but it's also the spookiness of it all. It's a chance for us to get dressed up in the scariest costumes we can find, which Mum wouldn't let us wear any other time of the year.

William and me had been counting down to this Halloween for weeks, and by the time it came around the entrance to our house was decorated with bats, skulls and gravestones. And when the sun set, it got downright frightful...

Both of us needed new costumes this year, and I'd already decided I was going to be a grim reaper. But there were so many great masks that I ended up buying three of them! This would be one grim reaper who could change from a demon, to a ghostface, to an illuminated scary-face-thing.

William wasn't sure what to go as, but when we were looking through costumes in the shop, one really stood out - the creepy clown. So with our pumpkin baskets in hand, we set off on the big trick or treat candy hunt.

We had high hopes after last year's haul of goodies, but this year was even better. We walked and drove around streets, visiting houses and collecting candy as we went, and after about an hour and a half our baskets were full. William was having to squish his candies down to fit more in.

The massive pile of lollies, chocolate and gum would keep us going for ages. Except that I know I'm going to need to start wearing braces from the beginning of December, so that only gives me until the end of November to eat them all. Okay then - challenge accepted!

Tons of fun in Hamilton

Cosmonauts and caracals

It's been a loooonnng time since we last had a trip away. We had the sunny beaches of Fiji last year, and we have the excitement of America next year, so what would we do this year? Two nights in a city close to Auckland surrounded by fields? Hmm...

Anyway, a day off school and a long weekend is always good in my book, so we packed up and headed south to Hamilton. Ironically, we'd booked to stay at the Heartland Hotel. Not quite the right spelling, but maybe they'd let us stay free or something. No such luck.

Before we even got to the hotel, we stopped for a visit to Hamilton Zoo. The last time Mum and Dad were here was before I was born, and it's where they bought me my giraffe money box, which I'm still using today, 11 years later.

Animals are one of my favourite things, so I had a great time seeing the monkeys, rhino and tigers, though my favourite was the caracal - you can see it in the first photo below. I'd never even heard of one before, but it kinda reminded me of a wilder version of Bailey, just with weird-shaped ears.

Another place we visited was this awesome Space Museum, which had loads of cool things about space travel, including some helmets, gloves and other things from real Russian cosmonauts.

It also had a VR room where we all put on headsets and went on a journey through space visiting other planets and going through a black hole. It was really fun, and now William and me are pestering Mum and Dad daily to get a VR headset of our own for Christmas.

But it wasn't just the VR - we also got to dress up as astronauts, master a game landing a spaceship on the moon (which Mum couldn't do but I aced), beat high scores in space quizzes, and complete some activities to get Space Cadet badges. Naturally I scrambled to get as many activities done as fast as possible so I could get a higher-level badge than William.

Something Hamilton had that most places don't these days is a secondhand bookshop. All of us three boys dived in there to scour the shelves for any great finds. Me and William came away with two books each, but Dad left empty-handed.

One of the best parts of going away is the food - buffet breakfasts and yummy dinners. Each morning I started the day with about 4 plates of pikelets, muffins, bacon, fruit and loads more. Big full plates too - the sort you have to carry carefully with both hands. Then in the evening I had a massive pizza, followed the next day by a massive burger. Going back to cereal and chicken slop after we get home is going to be so hard!

And that was Hamilton. Actually much more fun than it sounded. The best thing is, there's loads more fun to come, with Christmas and summer holidays just around the corner. And just wait until you see my spooky Halloween costume...

Ice-capades & Cat-astrophes

Spending time in wintertime

The months are flying past so quickly this year, it's hard to keep this blog up to date. Of course, it'd be easier to come up with stuff to write about if we'd been doing lots of super cool things, like jetting off on overseas holidays, but that's a story for next year...

I've been busy this year at intermediate school, learnings lots of fun new subjects (more on this later...), but one thing I've still not learned is balance. Some people have such great balance they're made to be skaters. Other people are like me...

Ouch! Well, that ended badly. And of course, Mum was there to capture it all on video so we can watch it over and over again, forever. Nooooo! But soon we were at the emergency clinic having a doctor check my teeth and jaw. Everything was fine, but I might stay away from skating for a while.

One of the best things about intermediate school are the different tech subjects we learn. Every month we do a new one, like cooking, photography and drama, but my favourite so far has to be DML: Design, Make, Learn. We had to design and then 3D-print something over the course of a few weeks, and being a big cat fan, I decided to make a cat. And here it is...

Unfortunately during the making of it, the cat's tail broke off, but I was able to cunningly fix it so no-one would ever know. Now that deserves a round of a-paws!

Getting crafty with new tech is fun, but sometimes the old ones are the best. So every school holidays, William and me unpack the masses of Lego pieces we have and get creative. Most times hours go by while we're building, and it's only when my tummy tells me it's food time that we take a break.

Next month it'll be October, and that means even more fun with a long weekend away and trick-or-treating at Halloween. Can't wait!

Jobs For the Boys (part 2)

Let’s get down to business

Now that I've started intermediate school, I'm not a young primary kid anymore. In only a few years I'll be able to get a job. Which will be handy for buying all those expensive toys I'd like, or that even more expensive Playstation 5 which I've asked for and Mum and Dad have refused to buy.

But what will I do for a job? Will it be my dream job of paleontologist? Or a games designer, since I spend so much time on Roblox and Minecraft? Or maybe something else. Maybe there are clues for what me and William could be in the future from how we are today.

A good job for me could be something that involves researching, finding and collecting things. I definitely have the collector gene, like Dad. My Star Wars obsession is pretty well known in our family. For example, here I am at a sci-fi collectibles event, standing next to R2D2, wearing my Darth Vader t-shirt, on my way to buy a Darth Maul figurine. If I had Star Wars undies, you can bet I’d be wearing them too.

Maybe it could be something more practical, like designing or building things. William and I have made some pretty amazing forts over the years, including fully covered forts and some open-air “Funtime Areas”. I'm not sure if they make buildings like this, but they should. They're much more interesting-looking than the places I've seen Mum work in.

How about William though? A couple of years ago I had some ideas about what William could do for a job, but he's grown up a bit since then. He’s pretty nimble and can rolly-polly his way across the floor really well, all the way from one side of the lounge to the other. So maybe a gymnast or some sort of job in a circus.

Waaaaaaay back when I was just two, I had a few different ideas about what I might do for work. Top of the list was something to do with animals, mostly because as a baby I was constantly cuddling (or throttling - sometimes a mixture of both) our cats. We used to have three cats, but now there's only Bailey. Hopefully that's a coincidence.

Anyway, I've still got plenty of time to decide. I'm happy to leave Mum and Dad with all this working nonsense for now. Me, I'm off to go do some gaming and eat snacks...

Favourite Things 2024

Doing our best

One of the things Dad likes to challenge us with is coming up with a list of our favourite things. That’s not as easy as it sounds. If we had to suddenly leave the house or the country, and could only take a couple of things with us, and we didn’t know when we were coming back, that’d be a really tough decision.

It’s been over two years since Dad last set us a favourite thing challenge. I bet quite a lot has changed since then. So while we’re working out what our favourite things are, here’s a musical interlude.

Okay, it was a tough decision, but William and I have both collected our favourite things now. Dad asked us to find our favourite book, movie or TV series, and toy, plus something that represented what we want to be when we grow up. Want to know what we chose? Just watch the vid.

Probably no big surprises with mine - I am Star Wars obsessed after all. But I have to admit that William’s selections were pretty good too. But if we do both end up being palaeontologists it’s going to be a mad race to see who can discover a new fossil first!