Preschool plates

I have loved the kids doing picture plates at preschool. It is such a special fundraiser that I hope will last for a long time. Alexander made his one this year, it was a good covid safe fundraiser. I love that each of the plates are a glimpse of each kid at that stage. I love their little personalities coming though and how their plate shows their interests. Daniel drew our family and a race track 3 years ago. Eliza drew our family in a garden last year and Alexander's one completes it with a picture of our family watching Elvis the crocodile at the Reptile Park. It makes for lasting memories. He is also very excited to have his own special plate now.

Maybe if they do the fundraiser again next year, I will get each kid to make one. Maybe...

They are so proud of their plates

Covid Sadness

This year has been tough for many. It has had its ups and downs for us as a family. We have had people that we love pass away. We have had sickness on and off and 10 covid tests so far.

 But today has had me with tears. We got an email from Alexander's preschool saying that Alexander's preschool photos are in. We got a photo album for each of the kids when they were at preschool of 6 photos taken of them. The album is beautifully presented and I love having them on display. Seeing that Alexander's photos are on the internet and we can order them from there and that we don't have an album for it just made me upset. It is something special that I wanted each of the kids to have. I don't know if the preschool changed the photographers because they couldn't rebook the regular ones that had to be cancelled earlier in the year because of Covid. It feels silly, but I loved picking up the little album from preschool, having the teachers comment on the photos and the joy of looking at the photos in the album, not online. 

This then led to my mind thinking about the other things that Alexander has missed out on at Preschool this year. He has no clue what he has missed out on, but I know and it has made me sad. Things like the relationship with the teachers, that is lacking this year. We have had these teachers twice before and I have loved getting to know them, seeing them interact with the kids in the classroom, having quick chats with them at pick up and drop off about how their day has gone. I have loved seeing them care for Daniel and Eliza and I have missed seeing them care for Alexander (even though I know that they do care for him). I miss seeing the photos each day at pick up to see what Alexander has been doing. I am fortunate that Alexander enjoys talking about his day so I do still hear a lot of info about what he has been doing, but I would love to see the photos and feel a part of it. 

I have missed going into preschool to help out at least once a year. I loved doing that with Eliza and Daniel and I was looking forward to helping in the classroom do a lesson for him and the class. I have missed seeing him paint a picture at the start of the day. I have missed seeing and helping him write his name. Even that has slipped as I noticed he now spells his name 'Alexamder' with an m. If I was in there I could help him realise this and help him correct it each morning. 

I have missed the plays at the park with other families. Because of covid we have held off doing this because of numbers. It is so hard to know what is ok to do and what is not. If we do a play at the park, there could be every family there, or there could be just one other family. There is no way of knowing. Alexander is desperate to head to the park after preschool, and I have to keep saying no because I'm not prepared to go there when I pick him up. 

I have missed getting to know the other kids in the preschool class. Alexander talks about kids and I only really know 2 of the kids by face. The others are just names. I have  no clue of the parents in this class, and with being a class parent I feel bad that we haven't been able to make proper connections with the other parents. It has just been such a tricky year!

He missed out on orientation for next year because they only had new kids come into the preschool, as parents still aren't allowed on the grounds and also numbers would be too big. 

Thinking of the end of the year, Alexander has missed out on the Christmas concert. He would have been so excited to perform at the concert. He was so very excited last year with the Mainly Music one. I wish he could do it. I wish I could watch him perform. He would just be so cute and so very sweet. I love the time with just him sitting at preschool, enjoying a bbq sausage and snacks and chatting. I am sad to miss that time. Party day is going to look different. Normally we can go in for the last half an hour to see them sing some songs, hear some words about the kids from Alison and then get gifts from the kids and give gifts to the teachers. It's not looking like this can happen this year. Even if they do it over zoom, it's just not the same. I want to get a photo of him with each of the teachers. I want to get a photo of him with some of his good mates. I want to give the teachers a hug to thank them for all they have done for each of our kids. I want to see them to speak with them, but it doesn't look like it will happen. 

Don't get me wrong, the preschool has done an amazing job considering the circumstances and they have looked after the kids and the families so very well. I'm so grateful for the care that they still show to Alexander and for how much he has grown this year through preschool... I'm just sad that he is missing out on, and we are missing out on seeing, all the beautiful opportunities that the other kids had at this preschool. I would love for Covid to just go away...

Noble Masterchef

For a bit of fun, the kids and I started to watch Junior Masterchef. We were a bit late to join in watching it but that's the beauty of catch up TV. They love to cook so I thought they would enjoy watching kids cook in a competition and I was right. They really got into it. One of the challenges that we watched was a blind tasting test. When it finished I asked the kids if they wanted to enjoy morning tea as a blind taste test and they were keen for it! 

James and I put together 18 containers with different foods in them. Some were easy, some were tricky. Some were solid and some were liquid. The kids wore their aprons (because that's what the contestants did). They wore their blindfolds as they tasted what was in their bowl. They had a blast guessing them.

Excited contestants

Feeling

Tasting

Carrot! Correct

Feeling

Tasting

Thinking... tomato!

Feeling

Tasting... Cucumber. Correct!

Daniel did get the tricker ones, but he gave it a good go at guessing. It also shows you how your mind plays tricks on you when you can't see.

I loved Alexander's excitement when he guessed the food correctly. Also his excitement about being able to eat it after he guessed it.

We gave Daniel his favourite sauce. I am glad that he was able to guess that correctly!

He struggled to guess golden syrup on his next turn though.

Alexander loved getting peanut butter.

Some were pretty easy, like crackers for Alexander.

And Daniel got excited about this one.

The boys wished that they got Eliza's last one.

taste...

think...

chocolate!

The kids then got to enjoy their bowls of what they missed out on. Yes, each of them got some lollies and chocolate. They also got veggies and fruit too. A fun way to have morning tea.

Helping in the Garden

 Alexander has continued to enjoy helping Poppy when he works in the garden. He particularly likes helping put cuttings in the bin. It involves Alexander needing to climb into the bin to help push down the plants.

After Poppy pruned the magnolia tree the kids had a lot of fun making it their tree house.

Spot Eliza!

They have also enjoyed finding new pets and showing them to us. Snails, cicada shells. Lots of fun!

Eliza's Creative Writing

I have loved seeing Eliza grow in confidence and love to writing and reading this year. She has come so far! Often to fill in time she will be found sitting at her table or in the back room with pen and paper and be writing letters. She does a great job with sounding out words phonetically. This term she wrote a couple of stories for her teacher, Miss Stewart. I took photos of them to remember them because I think she has done a great job. I love that she has all features of a narrative - orientation, complication and conclusion.

Log Frog
The frog sat on the log. One night the frog went to sit on the log but it wasn't there. The frog asked every single person in the world. Another night passed and the frog went to see if the log was back and it was back! The end.

Part 2
Flower Frog
The frog played with the flower. One day the flower played with someone else. Frog wanted the flower back. One night whilst the frog was sad the frog saw some light. It was the flower! The end.

Finishing Touches On The Back Wall

With it being Spring James and I finally got organised to order and decide on the last few plants in our back area. The ones we had already planted have been growing really well which we are so happy about!

James found a place that sold small buxus hedges in bulk so he organised for us to go and pick them up. Alexander had woken up sick that morning but we had already decided that we would make it a family adventure so we decided that Alexander I would go in the quarantine car and James would take Eliza and Daniel with him. It was out towards Dural that we needed to go. While we waited for James to get the hedges Alexander had a great time playing in the car.

Once we had filled the cars (in hindsight so glad that we took 2 cars because there were so many plants! The boot was full, the front seat and beneath the kids' feet too) we continued on our way to Glenorie Bakery Cafe. James had heard that they make really tasty pastry treats and had the idea that we could have our lunch there. He, Daniel and Eliza went in a chose what we would have while Alexander and I continued to stay isolated in the car. He came out with some tasty eclairs as well as sausage rolls and a pie for himself. Fun! The eclairs were delicious! We had some whole and others we cut to share because everyone wanted to try some. We will be returning to the bakery!!

After we enjoyed lunch I then started to plant the buxus hedges. It took a very long time to do them! But we are so happy with how they look. They won't grow very tall and even if they don't hedge they will look really nice lining the back of the wall. We also got the perfect amount (which was fortunate because we got all that they had left!)

Getting there

We got the table and chairs that used to be at Grandma's place which worked perfectly down in the corner of the wall. I also filled in my little herb garden that Malcolm and Julie gave me for my birthday back when we started to build the wall. I had put it away and forgotten about it but James found it and I was so excited to set it up with the seeds from them - basil, coriander and parsley.

Seeds sprouting!

James had also worked hard to dig out the back clothes line that was in the grass. It was quite an effort being cemented in the ground. But he did it! We filled in the holes with soil and now (a couple of months later) the grass is growing well over it. He then hung up our new clothes line on the wall. A much better use of space!

No more clothes line

I also put our new compost bin in the back corner which I'm so excited about because it means that I now don't need to dig a hole each time we need to bury the bokashi scraps.

The finishing touches on the wall were added after finding some plants at Bunnings. We got some Kangaroo Paws and a plant called Zena. They are both natives and will hopefully work really nicely in the garden. This back area is really my happy place. There are plants that remind us of Malcolm, of Grayma and also plants that we think are nice. We like that there are natives in our garden too.

James working in the garden. I love that he is sitting next to Malcolm's plant

It's amazing to see the difference! I love our back wall!

Holiday to Gerroa

This year has been full on. With everything that has gone on we haven't been able to have a holiday as a family since Christmas time. Yes, we did go to Hervey Bay in July, but that was for Boompa's funeral. It wasn't really a break for any of us. James and I were feeling the strain. We were being impatient with the kids, tired, emotional, frustrated. We both felt that we needed a break. We decided that we would take the kids out of school for a few days to head away and James found the perfect place at Gerroa. I haven't really done holidays down south so we kinda made it up as we went.

The weather wasn't great on the Thursday when we left so we took our time to head off. We packed the car that morning. James was keen to have a drive through the North Connex. Even though it was the wrong direction, we headed north to then go in the tunnel. It's a pretty cool tunnel. Nice to drive and no traffic. Didn't see any trucks either which was interesting. 

We decided to drive along the Sea Cliff Bridge for a bit of fun. We weren't in a rush to get there. It was pretty cool! The kids liked driving on it.

We stopped for lunch just after the bridge. We decided to go to a little cafe. The lady there was really lovely. Because of covid we had to sit down and weren't allowed to move around (not that we normally do). We each ordered our meal and she kindly brought them out for us. We asked her how she has been going with Covid and she said that this year had just been a write off. First the drought, then the fires, then the floods and then covid. She had stayed open when she could but it was because she was paying rent for the place. But really she wasn't making a profit each day. So heartbreaking to hear. I do hope that these holidays business picks up for her and that 2021 will be a different story. The kids loved having milk shakes as a treat!

We made it to Kiama in the late afternoon to see the blow hole. With it being a drizzly and windy day we were ready for quite a show. The kids didn't really know what to expect though because they hadn't heard about a blowhole before. They got so excited when the water blew.

Eliza and Alexander made a game of trying to jump up when the water blew up. They tried counting down but that didn't work because the waterhole went up at random times. They tried just guessing when it would blow. They then just waited until the water started going up. They had many giggles as they played.

Just look at the joy on their faces!

This was one of the times when they weren't quite getting the timing right. The giggles from them were the cutest!

Daniel enjoyed watching it and watching the waves come into the rocks.

Eliza and Alexander didn't get tired of the blowhole. So much excitement!

Alexander made himself comfortable to watch

We went for a walk up to the light house to have a look. It was interesting reading the sign about the blowhole and how it had formed.

Eliza wanted to look over the other side of the cliff. As we went over Alexander ran to keep up with us. Of course with it being wet and slippery he fell over and got quite upset. He had scraped his knee pretty well, poor guy. I was a bit frustrated because he slipped just as I said 'Don't run or you will fall'. He eventually settled down and we were able to put some bandaids on his knee to help.

The blowhole was a success, but very windy!

We then went for a little adventure to find the Little Blowhole. James hadn't heard about it before so was interested in going. I have very fun memories of us going to see it when I was little. It's so much cooler because you can be closer to the action and it didn't disappoint!

James decided that he would go down for a closer look. The kids loved watching him get sprayed by the water.

The kids were keen to go down too which I was a bit nervous about. We'd already had one fall because of the rocks being slippery and wet, I didn't want another one, especially next to the water but James thought that they would be fine. I'm so glad that he did. I think this was my favourite moment from our trip!

The pure joy was just so special!

Just look at those faces!

Really glad that we went here and we will definitely go back again to visit it.

We made it to our accomodation and James did a wonderful job of finding a great place that was large enough for us all, had a beautiful view and was close to the beach. It was rainy and overcast so the view wasn't the nicest when we arrived but we knew it would have potential. This is the view from the dining room. 

The other great thing about this place was that they had lots of activities for the kids - board games, toys, DVDs, even a table tennis table down in the garage. 

For the first night Alexander had his own room, Eliza slept in a double bed under Daniel who slept up the top of that bunk. The down side was that every time Daniel moved James and I heard the bed squeak and creak. It was so noisy through the night. So he moved downstairs to his own bed and we slept much better.

While we were away it took me a while to settle and enjoy the time. I felt anxious and found it hard to wind down. I think I have been going so much this year and thinking of what to do and back up plans, I just wasn't ready to stop. I also found that because we haven't really holidayed down south, I didn't really know what we would do to fill in our time. The kids were very hypo being in a new place, with different toys and places to run round. We needed to get out but I didn't know what we could do. When we holiday I like to plan. I like to know options and we just hadn't thought about what to do besides just getting away as a family. James was good in listening and helped me to take a breath and just try and go with the flow. And we used the internet to give us ideas of where to go and who to do to fill our time. Ideally I'd have loved to sit on the deck and read a book while listening to the beach but holidays with kids don't really allow that at the moment.

The morning we woke up with he sun shining which was great! The view was pretty amazing.

We decided to head to the Illawarra Fly Treetop Adventures. When we were in Tasmania we loved walking in the treetops so thought it would be a fun thing to do. We also noticed that they had a Gruffalo Spotters Trail which the kids were keen to do. It took a few goes for us to work it out but we got there. The videos gave instructions for the kids to do and then that would help make the Gruffalo characters do different actions. Fun to watch back.

They had a little fairy garden that we explored. Eliza's favourite fairy house was the rainbow one.

We found mouse just next to the fairy garden. This was our first go of trying to work out how to use the phone to follow the instructions. I didn't get it fully right. But the kids were able to wave hi to mouse.

We continued down the track and I really enjoyed the peace and the prettiness of the bush. Well, as much peace as you can have with the kids walking along with you.

We found Fox's log that he was having a nice sleep on. The kids rudely woke him up.

Just before we started the treetop walk we also found owl. He was enjoying his time perched on the stump but then enjoyed a nice fly through the sky. Alexander wanted to do his own video with the owl.

We then headed up into the treetops. James and I loved it! Daniel seemed to enjoy it and liked leading us. Eliza and Alexander were a bit nervous about being up in the sky so were a bit clingy. I do hope that they aren't scared of heights because it's so much fun to do things up high. Still they did the walk, did enjoy different parts of it and were glad to be on the ground again at the end.

Starting the walk

Spot the kids up in the tree tops

My 3 sweet kids

We tried to redo the photo of Daniel and Eliza in Tasmania. It is one of our favourite photos, just so sweet. They didn't do too badly (eventually). It did take a few goes and reminding them that they do like each other.

Alexander didn't want to miss out

Treetops selfie

Another family was behind us and asked if we wanted a photo taken of us all.

I liked the tree fallen

Off we go again

Heading up the tower

Stunning view!

I love seeing the layers of the forest

With my girl

So fun doing another adventure with James

Towards the end of the treetop walk the kids started to complain that they were hungry. We told them we'd stop and eat once we made it to the end. As soon as we had finished we had to stop to eat (of course).

My sweet boys

Once our tummies were full we continued on our way to find the snake. Eliza and Daniel enjoyed dancing with snake and made him quite dizzy. By now the kids were getting pretty good at spotting where the animal would be making the video look a bit more realistic. Alexander didn't want to dance with snake, he just wanted to find the Gruffalo.

I love Eliza's pose here!

Eliza did well to look right at the snake!

Daniel flossing with snake

We continued down the path, the kids had a few nice photos next to trees on our way to find the Gruffalo

And then we found him... well, the sign was actually on the ground and quite dirty (probably after the rain). Daniel decided to pick it up and try and brush it off. It worked! We hung it back up as best as we could and then each kid had a turn scarring the Gruffalo before he ate the mouse. They loved roaring at him.

 

I then had all of them do one together.

This was their favourite one by far. To leave we had to go through the gift shop. This was a bad idea. Daniel saw the Gruffalo and really wanted to get it. I said no, James paused and said that he could get it. Of course this lead to the other 2 wanting one. James said no but I felt this wasn't very fair. I suggested that we get the Gruffalo as a family toy. He agreed this was a good idea. Then Alexander really wanted snake and just couldn't understand why we were getting Gruffalo and not snake. We tried saying no. Then decided that the kids could each pay half of it and we'd pay the rest. So we ended up leaving with Gruffalo for Daddy and I, Owl for Eliza, Snake for Alexander and Fox for Daniel. They were pretty cute toys. (James then found Mouse online so bought it to complete the collection).

We headed back to our place for a late lunch. Another thing that we loved about this place was the egg seat out the back.

We then got ready for an afternoon trip to the beach. The sun was shining, the kids had found a beach cricket set and off we went. For me the water was way too cold to go into but it really didn't faze the kids. It was an easy walk down the hill (a bit of a pain on the way back but the kids did pretty well and didn't complain too much). First stop was some beach cricket.

Eliza lost interest in cricket pretty quickly so decided to make sand angels instead. She just loves the sand!

While the water was really cold, the kids had a blast running into it and out of it. They build sandcastles and walls to try and stop the water coming in.

This was as far as I got into the water.

We found a pipi

No idea why, but shadow fun

We enjoyed reading the Gruffalo's Child at our place. Daniel really enjoyed acting it our with our new toys. Pretty cute to watch.

We got to see a lovely sunset from our place. Daniel was keen to enjoy it with me for a bit.

The next day we went to do the Minnamurra Rainforest Walk. I saw that they had some rope bridges which was fun and a pretty waterfall at the end so we decided to give it a go.

The rope bridges were lots of fun to walk over! And the rainforest was just stunning. I am always amazed at the design of the rainforest.

The walk to the waterfall was straightforward but it was steep. The kids did find it tricky and we stopped along the way for drinks and some food but we managed to make it and it was worth the walk. The kids agreed too.

The blue sky even came out

We then started the walk back to the car. The kids again found the uphill part tricky but they enjoyed the downhill back. I tried to soak up the lovely scenery.

I found an Eliza tree

The trees are so tall!

She loved to spot the vines as we walked along

That afternoon the kids were keen to head to the beach again. It was quite windy so we told the kids that they wouldn't swim but we could go for a walk along the beach. When we got there there was so much sea foam. They wouldn't have been swimming even if we planned to!

The kids started with running after the bits of sea foam on the sand.

With a quick google search to understand what sea foam is and to see that it was fully safe, the kids moved to walking in the sea foam.

Alexander wasn't too keen to walk in it to start with but he got there in the end and joined the other 2 walking and running along the sea foam.

Look at the joy on their faces!

Our foamy feet!

Walking back James thought it would be ok to go a bit into the water. The kids didn't quite understand what a bit was. They didn't get too wet but it got close at times.

I love this photo! The look of love, trust, safety from a girl with her Daddy

Once we got back we set up the table tennis table for the kids and I managed to have a moment of peace to sit outside and read my book. It wasn't too long before the kids kindly interrupted but it was nice to have a few moments to myself.

The next morning we headed back down to the beach. James had managed to get this place that also allowed a late checkout, so instead of needing to leave at 10am we didn't have to check out until 4pm! This meant that in the morning we could head down to the beach, then come back to clean up before heading off. The kids were so cute holding hands (by choice) as they walked down to the water. I mentioned to James that this was why we needed the time away. The kids have been a bit short and impatient and unkind to each other. This time away they have been able to remember care, love and kindness towards each other. Not always, but more often.

Because it was low tide we walked across the water instead of across the bridge (it was quite high when we went back though. We just made it through)

The kids had a blast playing in the water but it was colder this time. Daniel didn't last too long. But it was nice to have one last trip to the beach.

We got warm by having showers back at our place, packed up the house and hopped into the car. James found a really good fish and chips shop that we went to, and then we headed to a small beach to enjoy it in the shade.

We then headed home via Berry. We had told the kids that we would get ice cream at some point but we just ran out of time or there weren't ice cream shops where we were. The other time we had gone out for dinner and were too full to enjoy ice cream too. So Berry was the place for us to go. We found the ice cream and lolly shop and had to join the line. They were only letting in a certain number of people because of Covid, but the kids did pretty well with waiting. We each chose our flavours and then we found a seat to enjoy our ice cream. This was Alexander's first time choosing which flavour he wanted (normally in Hervey Bay he has had vanilla). He chose strawberry.

Happy kiddo

The man who owns or works at the bead shop looked out his window to us and signed that it was a nice photo. I just laughed and gave a thumbs up. As we finished our ice creams he came out and said it was too good a photo to not take so took one for us.

We returned using the tunnel the other way just so we could say we had been in it.

When we got home my beautiful friend Anna brought around some dinner for us (wraps with chicken and veggies) to make out own ones. Brilliant idea! She was also amazing and brought some fruit for the kids to have for lunch, morning tea muffins and yoghurt and poppas. Amazing! We really appreciated that we didn't have to rush out to the shops to get anything that night and instead could unpack and then just relax, because let's face it holidays with kids are more tiring than staying home a lot of the time and you feel you need a holiday from the holiday).

It was a much needed time away for us, time to be away from home, time to have fun and go on adventures together. It was nice for James and I to pause and be away from home and be able to chat while the kids swam and when they slept. It was nice to do some new activities. It was nice to be outside in the fresh air together as we walked along the beach. It was nice to see the kids getting along with each other. Gerroa we think we will be back in the future.