Enjoying the summer!
Backyard fun!
Rocky the giraffe came home from daycare and we had so much fun!
Ethan anticipated the start of soccer season. ..2 months from now.
Riding the waves at Coogee Beach.
Now at Maroubra Beach – love that we are so close to 2 amazing beaches!
Jelly fish along Maroubra Beach – got out of the water quick after Mike got a mild sting. Found out later that these jelly fish aren’t dangerous….best to be safe tho!
This camping trip started off well….
We camped in a lovely spot, a stretch of grassland amongst a pretty dense forest along the shoalhaven river. The river was quite fast moving and had rapids that were a huge hit with everyone! You just needed to rent life jackets (at least for the kids) to be safe. If you managed to get across the river, you could work your way to a rock outcrop, climb up and jump off. It was about a 4 m drop – it sure took me back to my childhood!
Seriously, we could not get these boys out of the water!
Later on, we went for a short hike and came across the most beautiful point bar along the river – all white oval smooth stones and pine trees!
We saw plenty of wildlife. Peacocks were calling all day long (thankfully not at night), displaying their feathers, hoping to impress one of two peafowls!! We also saw wombats at night munching on grass – a first for us to see wombats in the wild.
The kids enjoyed playing cricket.
And we celebrated Tomas’ 7th birthday!!
Then it started to rain…..and rain….and rain….
After 19 hours of rain – intermittent with down pore, we got the heck out of there. Stopped at the river to see how high the water level had rose, and could only make out about 60cm of the rock outcrop that was 4 m above the water surface the previous day. Thankfully we had a four wheel drive as the roads were treacherous and completely washed out in some places!! What an Aussie adventure!
What a lovely campground this was – a bit more remote compared to the others we’re been to and it only had cold showers but in my view those aspects probably kept it a well hidden treasure!
The site itself was well treed withvplentycof wildlife – kangaroos, possums, all kinds of birds including crimson Rosella, king parrot, Lorikeets, lyre birds, and bower birds.
It was dusk when we arrived so we quickly set up out tent forgetting that we left the car door open. When I went to the car to get something, there were not one but four possums sitting in the car digging into our bread loaf and snacks. Mike and I managed to shoo two out, another was not budging from the front seat so Mike grabbed him from the scuff of his neck and tossed him out – luckily for Mike the possum hung like a limp noodle and didn’t kick up a fuss! We closed all the doors and thought that was the end of it until I spotted another possum in the back seat, and got it out. After that bit of craziness, we managed to settle in for the night.
The mornings we went to the beach and enjoyed a swim in relatively calm water. In the afternoon, we took the bogey boards to the beach as the waves picked up. It was Tomas’ first try with his bogey board (thanks Meme!) And he lived it!
We also spent a fair bit of time exploring maramorang national park. The coastal tidal zones were breathtaking – fish, starfish, snails, barnacles, mussels and the occasional crab.
The kids enjoyed played with a couple other kids camping next to us – collecting shells, bones, and bits from the beach, playing chase, hide and seek, tips, coloring, and making shell necklaces.
We went on a bit of an adventure with the neighbours – to a blueberry farm which was located at the end if a 12 km bumpy road – the kids got a kick out of the ride. We all enjoyed gorging ourselves on blueberries and picking some too.
Our last day we hiked a short distance to a pebble beach which was definitely a highlight as the boys found several interesting rocks and were able to skip stones. Ethan even found a dead crab which he was adamant about taking back to our campsite which we did of course. Thankfully it stayed at the campground.
Zombie defense shield – dad is clearly testing it out.
Dad teaching the boys how to start a fire.
Another performance – by class 1S.
Each assembly a class is asked to host and this is the second time Tomas’ class hosted. The theme – Teddy bear picnic. Enjoy!
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B9jtiNfdbW5nV2VNVUVJY3hhelE/edit?usp=docslist_api
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B9jtiNfdbW5nU1g1TXhXU1hHQUk/edit?usp=docslist_api
At ‘after school care’, Tomas was one of the few boys to volunteer to perform at the Christmas Concert. He did so well! He did a dance number with the other boys and read some jokes with another boy (those were the only two boy performances!)
I have a couple videos which can be accessed here:
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B9jtiNfdbW5nV2VNVUVJY3hhelE/edit?usp=docslist_api
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B9jtiNfdbW5najVuMzBnMUdoakU/edit?usp=docslist_api
Tomas with his favorite carer, Micalah.
Close up of his sweet hair while listening to Boy Band,
Our dear friends in Melbourne invited us down for the weekend with the kids so we jumped on this opportunity! We were very excited to see our friends whom we hadn’t seen for ages!
Highlights included the Melbourne Zoo, the morning ton peninsula wine region, a laboryth – meant to be a bribe for the kids as a halfway point between wineries but ended up quite a beautiful spot! – and a night out on the town as we hired a sitter – probably the best sitter ever as she is a comic artist and drew several pictures of Adenturetime scenes and Pokemon. Tomas was thrilled!
This year, Tomas was Vitruvius from the Lego Movie and Ethan was a skeleton cat. In case you don’t know, Vitruvius is a groovy looking wizard. I helped Tomas make his costume, but he painted his shirt and his staff. Ethan had most of his costume already with the addition of cat ears.
Tomas was so excited when I picked him up from school that he practically ran home to get his costume on!
We headed out in a big group to a popular spot in Coogee – it was a bit chaotic but fun all the same!
Halloween seems to be taking off in this country which I’m quite happy about! It’s bit different from my experience as a child – it’s hot, sunny and most parents are toting a beer or glass of wine.
We had a ninja party in our backyard to celebrate Ethan’s 4th birthday. He invited a few friends from ‘school’ , or rather, daycare, and three came, which made it a special day. In total there were 14 kids. We played musical statues, pass the parcel, and had a treasure hunt – all good fun! I made a green ninja cake for Ethan, which he seemed quite happy with!
The only confusing party of the day was that Ethan thought he actually turned 4 that say when in fact we were a week early!
Cutting off green ninja’s head – had plenty if help here!
Cutie!
Bowing the candles….
Making a wish……
Happy birthday sweet Ethan!
Our last day, and we headed to Urunga lagoon which has a long boardwalk from the mainland, across the lagoon, to a beautiful beach with sand dunes.
The kids enjoyed the few access points from the boardwalk where they saw hermit crabs, soldier crabs, red crabs and various fish up close, and of course they found plenty of stones to skip.
Yet another fabulous estuary and marshland with many mangroves showing their roots poking through the mucky mud.
Almost got a selfie with the boys…
I think Tomas got 10 skips on this one!!
Mangroves – tide is coming in now.
