As I mentioned before, I have been trying to do different adventures with Alexander for Term 4 on Wednesdays. They haven't been amazing adventures because I'm still hesitant to go places with Covid being around. But Alexander hasn't really cared. It's more about making memories and spending time with him, not what we are doing.
So our Wednesday adventures included:
-Cumberland State Forest
-Chiro followed by Monday Morning cafe
-Bike ride to the park near preschool
-Reptile Park (again)
-Bobbin Head
-Train trip to Hornsby
I took Alexander to Cumberland State Forest to do the short Senses walk. It apparently takes 30mins to do. Nope, we did it in about 10mins, with stopping, but 10mins was enough for Alexander. We did stop and read the signs, hug trees, listen to animals as we went.
Spying the canopy
I love that he wants to hold my hand
We went into the information room to look at the stuffed animals, different uses of wood and to see what other information was there. Alexander liked using the computer to spot the different animals in the forest (and then we hand sanitised).
We went and got sneaky jumbo cookies from the cafe and at them outside together.
We then went for a walk through the nursery looking at different options of plants for our back wall. I wanted to try and find ones to actually buy but Alexander didn't have heaps of patience to look at plants so we headed home empty handed.
The next week Alexander and I headed to Chiro (we had been sick on the weekend so missed out on going to Chiro) so we had a make up appointment. On the way back we went to Monday Morning Cafe to enjoy a baby chino and milkshake. I also got some banana and raspberry bread to share. They were awesome when Alexander dropped his baby chino on the ground. He was upset that he spilt it so I asked them if we could grab another one and they did. It was lovely. He sure did enjoy his marshmallow (times 2! They gave him another one with his replacement).
We headed to the park together and Alexander showed me that he can swing on his own. I have been waiting for this day!
I told Alexander that we would head to a park for an adventure. James then realised that he needed the car and we had leant our other car to Mum and Dad. I asked Alexander what he wanted to do instead. Maybe we could go to a park another week. He instead came up with the idea that he could ride to the park near preschool and have a play and then we could ride back home. It was a big trip but he was very keen. He did struggle a bit with riding back home but we did make it and he had a fun time which is what counts.
Heading off
Riding through the bush, stopping to read the signs
Riding over the bridge
Down the path
Past preschool
We made it!
Morning tea reward
Swing time
Crazy kiddo
I am enjoying making the most of my time with Alexander's Wednesday
We again headed to the Reptile Park and this time we got to see the Alligators feeding. We also got to bump into Nat and Spencer which was pretty fun. There were a few kangaroos out eating but not heaps and we still weren't allowed not he grass. We got to go into Hugo's enclosure again to say hi to him.
Map in hand again for directions
Sitting on pretend Hugo
Saying hi to real Hugo
Patting a kangaroo
Watching the Alligators feeding
It isn't for a Wednesday, but on Thursday for Mothers' Group, we took the kids up to Brooklyn for them to have a play at the park and then enjoy a swim in the water. They had a real blast playing in the water together. Mikey especially loved throwing the toys into the water for Anna to go and collect. She's such a good Mumma.
Busy kids
Digging a hole
Burying Parker
This Mums are awesome! So special doing life with them and their kids
Back to Wednesday adventures. We headed off to Bobbin Head to try and find crabs on the boardwalk. They have made a cool new park there which Alexander liked exploring.
I didn't factor in that there was high tide at some point in the day, and of course that was now. Oops. We did manage to find a few, but not many. It was helpful because before we left James asked Alexander to let him know how many crabs he could find. We found 12.
Can you spot the crab? I saw it crawl between the planks. It took Alexander a while to believe me that there was a crab in there.
Alexander doing a crab walk back to our car.
He then started his common saying 'I'm hungry, I want something to eat.' We stopped at a picnic table beside a tree to enjoy our lunch. Alexander is very into finding cicada shells so he went looking on the tree for some. He was so excited to see that there were quite a few. We then noticed that there was one that had a cicada coming out of its shell! So cool. I have never seen this before. I decided that we could stay there for a while and check on the cicada to watch it come out. One of the coolest things I have ever seen! Alexander was interested but I was much more interested in it.
In-between cicada checks, Alexander enjoyed eating and of course some snuggles with Mummy. I do love how cuddly he is.
It was so cool to see it make it out of the shell and then so amazing to think how on earth the cicada fit in the shell in the first place.
We then headed back up the hill to go for a bush walk around the information centre. We were luck because they had just reopened after covid! Had not planned for that. It was a nice little walk chatting with my little man (who was getting tired). He even managed to spot the kangaroos on our walk.
We found the kangaroos
Our last Wednesday adventure was on a train. Alexander has been desperate to go on a train since Covid started. He has been on one with Nana and Poppy but other than that, he hasn't been on a train since before March. Crazy!! I decided that we would try the train from Thornleigh to Hornsby to go to the shops and get some lunch and a baby chino and then come home again. I wanted to see how safe I felt on the trains and how well Alexander could do without touching things.
Waving to the train drivers as they drove past
Waving to our train driver who gave Alexander a thumbs up. Cute!
There weren't many people on the train which was really good, but Alexander didn't do a very good job at not touching things. He touched the hand rails as we got on, he touched the window to point out different things. He sat in 3 different seats. I was a bit nervous about it all but what can you do? He is 4. He was having fun. He also took his play phone so he could FaceTime Bunny from on the train. The things he sees us do I guess.
Pretending to FaceTime Bunny
We made it to Hornsby and as we got off the train we saw someone walking along cleaning all the handles. This made me feel a bit better after Alexander had touched so much. We walked over to Hornsby and wowed at the decorations for Christmas.
We then went and got some sushi for lunch and enjoyed eating it outside.
We then got a babychino from Gloria Jeans and a hot chocolate and sat and enjoyed drinking that. Of course the marshmallow was a hit.
We decided to get a little treat for everyone for finishing a crazy school year so we went to DonutKing and got a box of mini donuts to share with everyone for afternoon tea.
Then we hopped back onto the train and headed back home in time for school pick up. (and another train to wave at)
Who knows what next year will hold but I will try and do a few more adventures with him before he starts big school. I will also try and enjoy having 3 kid free days and be more productive and more intentional about them (time for cleaning, time for serving, time for myself). But who knows what it will hold.
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