Swimming like a fish

Jack's putting in a great effort at swimming these days. He has just started a 2 week intensive program with his kindergarten class and he still managed another swimming lesson last night. It's wonderful to see him making real progress and conquering his fears. I am the proudest parent at the pool!

Spoilt

 There was a wonderful sense of community at Jack's school Twilight Fair. We dropped our baked goodies off at 8.30 on the morning of the fair to be greeted and thanked personally by the principal. The teachers and parents provided stalls and entertainment and Jack was excited to see Dad behind the bbq. The children were spoilt with tags that provided them with a show bag, drink, sausage, magic show and face painting. There was fairy floss and rides in case that wasn't enough.

The Murrumbateman Field day was another great day. William had his first dogem car ride but the petting area was their favourite. Another great day for getting the community together. It's a great place that we live in.

A random act of kindness

A few wonderful things have happened over the past week but one of them was in the form of a Wii. A wonderful woman at work gave her Wii and games to the boys and I for no reason at all. After an unlucky experience with the lawn mower I felt the world was happy again. 

We had the most quiet and lovely weekend. The boys wore shorts and T's and Grandpa took Jack to his first game of cricket. Tori ended up going for a swim after a run at the dog park and Uncle James made the most delicious roast pork. We are very lucky people.  

Platypus Hunting

The Sanctuary at Tidbinbilla is perfect at this time of year. The wetlands is home to a wide variety of native birds and even a family of platypus. The kids thought it was wonderful to watch the platypus swimming in the water and diving up and down and even as the rain came down they were watching intently for the next ripple in the water.
 

 

All good things must come to an end.

The spring holiday comes to an end and most of the things are checked off the 'to do' list. The boys enjoyed plenty of time at home playing together which usually involved some dress up and role play. We made cakes and enjoyed afternoon teas, movies, bike rides and milkshakes. We even managed a trip to Bemboka and Sydney. But most exciting of all we booked our flights to Tassie for New Years!

Taking Nanna Home

  The boys took great delight in visiting Nan in hospital and taking her flowers. It was pouring rain and the discharge was delayed by hours so they played on the iPads and kept Nan entertained until we were eventually able to steal her away. We drove her home the next day and Molly was excited when Jack picked her up from school.

 

We were lucky to meet baby Lolly who is the spitting image of her father and too cute in her pink turtle neck!

Bird Park

Instagram

William's favourite colour is yellow. For a while he was pointing at anything and asking, 'Is this wellow Mum?' But he gets it now and insists on having everything yellow. Yellow cup, yellow bowl, yellow ice cream. He spots yellow things and asks me to, 'take picture, look yellow!'

I am cherishing every moment of their cuteness these holidays, in between bursts of spring cleaning of course. It's a good thing I have these little dinosaurs to help. 

Thanks to Tania McCartney for the Muzy and Instagram tips.

Just William

Mister Makers

 You know it's school holidays when.....

We have a picnic lunch and a walk around the lake with Ellen & Amelia.
We invite you over for dinner and tell you to bring nothing at all.
The house is spotless and the washing is done.
The car is vaccumed and serviced.
There are freshly baked biscuits cooling on the bench.
The boys have Mister Maker paintings to show off and Mum gets out the Nikon.

Happy Spring Holiday

Flower Boys

FIVE

Happy Anniversary- Darling Harbour Style

The boys traveled well and learnt to make conversation after the in-car dvd player broke before we had even left Canberra. They were excited about their adventure and Jack was impressed with his King Size bed with a view.

We dined on N2 ice cream for afternoon tea and it was amazing to see the ice cream being formed as the nitrogen was poured into the milk mixture.
 

The aquarium has been completely renovated since we last visited and they no longer take teachers for free which was disappointing. There goes my only perk! It was also busier than ever since the public holiday crowd was there and we chose a peak time to visit. 

 William was set on finding an octopus and ran through some of the exhibits on his mission to find one. 

Jack's favourite part was the touch pool which I seem to remember being my favourite thing when I was younger too. On our way to dinner we stopped to play at the new water park and playground which had Jack climbing rock walls and giant webs while William stripped to his underwear to run through the water. It was only 20 degrees but he is the water-loving kind and when he saw others getting wet he had to join.  

 

Dinner was HissHou which put on an entertaining and delicious dinner for all. Jack could not believe that the chef was throwing food around the table!

A short tram ride and we were up to our 5 star bed. 

Sydney Zoo

 

It was the perfect weather for a trip into the zoo. The boys loved the ferry and it was an easier ride on the Captain Cook boat rather than the big, old Sydney Ferries that we usually take. Jack and William were both amazed to take the unexpected gondola ride up to the zoo entrance. 

 William was in awe of all of the animals and Jack was right into reading the map and making sure we were heading in the right direction.

The seal show was impressive and William was taken by the pool, being able to see the seals swimming through the water. 'Me go swimming too.' 

We all just about fell asleep on the ferry ride home but Jack perked up when we were ready to hop on the monorail. The monorail is due to be taken down in July next year so this might be their first and last ride but it was very exciting for them all the same. 

 

So we visited Star City and happened to stumble across the Adriano Zumbo Patisserie. Amazingly we were able to bring a cake home without too much damage and these two little ones were shared for a delectable afternoon treat. The pink cake was my favourite with layers and layers of different textures and flavours.