Kids Big Day Out

The holidays had nearly passed us by and we were yet to hang out with our Cool Cousins in what has fast become our holiday tradition. I wasn't sure if it was going to happen as Kangaroo has become quite sick since last weeks visits to the water park, coughing and spluttering and now sneezing and wheezing. Kookaburra too has caught whatever nasty illness this is and has begun the deep wet bark that according to the Doc is croup. It would have been nice if she had of diagnosed that in my younger son last week rather than three doctors visits later. Unfortunately my wee men are now taking steroids and ventilam to end this horrid bug. But I digress. Our holiday tradition is to have, what I've coined, 'A Child Led Day' or in their terms, 'Kids Big Day Out'.

The gist is that the kiddos take one supervising adult and mosey on into town, usually on foot, with their backpacks on containing plenty of water, morning tea and pocket money - enough to buy odds and ends from the op shops, cheapy stores and pool their money together enough to buy some lunch. They have the option of going pretty much anywhere they want - the pool, park, museums, cinema, shops, lolly store, op shops, garage sales, river, anywhere they can calculate they can get too and still be able to get home. This is a fledgling idea that is still developing. The first time it happened was brilliant! The kids dressed up as ladies and gents and played tourist through our little town visiting the museums and even stumbled upon a workshop for some foreign dancing (I don't recall which now *such a terrible memory sometimes!) which they had a ball participating in. The following occasion we were down one crew member due to illness and then the kids independence was impeded because of torrential down pours and unfortunately, in my opinion, it became a bit of a bargain hunting spend fest. Great for their math but not really the point of the exercise. I want them to discuss and make decisions and eventually be able to, very independently of me but still with supervision, be able to leave home, plan together what they'd like to do with their day, problem solve on the way and then find their way home, whether it be by foot, bike or bus. I'm giving them a chance to safely practice their independence.

And develop their special friendships.

So we headed off this morning on foot to meet the Cool Cousins in town who, like us, had a doctors appointment to attend (this was before it was figured upon that my boys have croup).

There was, of course, the mandatory lolly store stop. Two dollars goes a long way if you're careful! Then Princess Calamity managed to split the bottom of the sole of her sandal so we needed to purchase new sandals before continuing on - she's my sweet Clam' for a reason! Lots of chatting and lolly munching followed. These guys were so happy to be out and all together. The poor doctors surgery was inundated by my crew and my doc was bemused at least with four children sitting on her consult rooms floor whilst she examined the fifth. The nattering noodles go off at tangents discussing the random things that children talk about to the point where our Doc has joined in too. With the croup now diagnosed - I have my doubts though but don't really know what to do :( - we left for the chemist across the road to fill our scripts and chose to kill some time at the cheapy shop. Naturally :S. A few dollars later and we have the best buy of the day, I feel, Princess Calamity's two dollar fifty pair of sunglasses which had me laughing for the remainder of the excursion. Too cool for her own little socks this kid.







They ate pizza in the park and watched a maggie feeding her baby.




But we were still sick and we really couldn't sustain the pace any longer so we all thought home on the bus to watch a movie would be just perfect.




What does Princess Cupcake get excited about?...... 'No Seatbelts!!!!!'

uh, okay :)






It really warmed my heart to see these guys holding hands.





It was still a bit of a walk from the bus stop home and they decided they'd like to call Grammy Bear from the public phone booth for fun.



and as the nursery is just around the corner from our home, we made it our last stop before home. The plants are a surprise for Sunday. Secret squirrel okay.

Before we made it in the door everybody had to say hi ya to our little green tree frog who resides in our mail box.

A movie and a little play and then it was home time. We love our cousins and are so lucky to have them live right here in the same little town.

So that's our Kids' Big Day Out. Independence and new experiences, and beautiful memories. Hopefully, next time, we'll all be well and the sun'll be shining bright on us again.

a reminiscing

Finally!

Two weeks after my holiday with my sister and mother, here are the pics from glorious Byron Bay and her stunning surrounds. And it's a great time to post this too as my boys are sick and it's been an all round, pretty darn difficult few days. They've been miserable and I have such difficulty thinking of what the right thing to say to them when they're squabbling or how exactly to help them along when they get frazzled. Secretly, I could throw my hands up and hide out in my bedroom with my arms wrapped around my knees, which of course are huddled tightly to my body in the universal comfort/ protection almost come fetal type position and refuse to acknowledge the current 'joy' that motherhood is. It's my fault too. I've been hormonal, grumpy and snappy and after trying for a several years for babies we still have no signs of any more gracing us with their sweet cherubness in our home. Definitely a tick for the misery and woe box. A real current kicker though is that my poor Kookaburra has gone to bed tonight fairly certain he'll be waking up vomiting. Ah me. He says he hates being sick because he's certain it's how you feel when you're dying!

We've still struggled on with a few lessons but we still seem to suffer interruptions in our morning which is frustrating. Whether it's the Jehovah's Witnesses door knocking (every week!) or a relative dropping by. I love my family but homeschooling is my job :) Today we had my nephew who is also sick. He spent the entire weekend gone vomiting. It's horrible seeing them so ill. So having him here meant I couldn't do much with Kangaroo. Things just aren't going well. Kangaroo did have tummy pains but this seems to have passed and now he's just run down with a miserable cold. And all this whilst I'm trying to introduce how fun Five In A Row is! I've had it for a while and was going to sell it but thought I should give it a decent go before I did that. After all, it's so coveted therefor it must be great... right? I'll let you know how we go, when we've had a chance to give it a decent try and what I'm doing to tweak it into something more substantial. If we ever get better that is!

Huge whinge I know, but blogger is a great place to let the reality out.

So this is definitely an excellent time for me to post those beautiful holiday pics. I had so much trouble trying to choose which to post though! I absolutely loved my time away :) Aaah bliss :)

This was our tremendous accommodation for our two nights away. It's called The Old Church and is situated in Newrybar, near Byron Bay. I have to mention how much we paid because it was so very little - $175 per night for the three of us! This old renovated church had about eleven beds and a massive usable kitchen, a playroom with a ping pong table and a deck with a barbecue overlooking a blossoming cherry tree flanked by a massive macadamia grove. Magical :)



We had a little poke around in Byron Bay when we first arrived but we were pretty keen to get to see this Church so I set the GPS and of course it took us right off the beaten track and up a goat trail for a good half hour or so when in actuality we could have kept on the highway, turning off at the township of Newrybar and been at The Old Church's door in a minute. That happens to me all the time when I'm traveling. I miss my maps sometimes - I'm way smarter than the GPS ;) but the long way round was much better. The scenery was gobsmackingly beautiful! Green rolling valleys and sheer drop aways, with fat cows munching grass and gazing lazily out to the sea in the far distance. Envious muchly!

The views as we drove!

The inside of the Old Church. You could have a ball in there. Huge!

After checking out and squealing crazily about our awesome digs for our stay we drove on to Ballina which is a lovely town... with a great coffee and cake shop. The weather was freezing and raining and the muted late afternoon light had us seeking the comfort of this lovely cafe with their gorgeous warm colours enveloping us as we devour tantalizing sweets and hot sweet drinks. This was our perfect introduction to the area. That and of course the book shop, the bottle-o for some birthday drinkies and where ever else we felt the desire to wander into.

The next day was my sister's big day. Forty! Here it was and we were bound to make it a beautiful day. Pancakes for breakfast at Macadamia castle and a little gift shopping for our loved ones at home followed by our trip to Mullumbimby and up to Crystal Castle. I'd been looking forward to visiting Crystal Castle so much. It promised to be a breathtaking place to visit and it truly was.

Even though we couldn't explore this unique place the way we would have loved too because we were hampered by frequent downpours but we did have complementary massive rainbow striped umbrellas to help us keep us dry, I'm still under it's spell and can't wait to go back. The gorgeous gardens and beautiful stones and the shop! Divine :)

What a brilliant birthday we thought. Nothing could top driving a winding road to what seemed to be the top of a mountain and being immersed in such a beautiful, peaceful place. Oh how wrong was I!

Grumpy bums that we are, we nearly gave the Byron Bay Lighthouse a miss because a brochure said that we would need to pay $7 for parking and then a fee to go into the lighthouse. Ba Hum Bug! $7 for parking, grumble, grumble. But we went anyway. The wind fairly whipped around us and my teeth chattered because I swear it was tipped with ice from the Antarctic. We arrived a little before sunset and the beautiful pinks and oranges were painting the sky as the sun shyly hid behind the clouds to slowly and beautifully say his good nights. A truly spectacular way to end a fortieth birthday. We stood in the freezing air, shivering and soaking up the wildness of the place and the beauty of the sea crashing against the sheer face of the bay. Reluctantly we left to grab some groceries for a birthday barbecue. I'll treasure that magnificent place, the day, the view and my lovely company. It's a place I'll visit when I'm dreaming.

So Happy!

We stayed up ridiculously late on Thursday night, each of us taking a turn at napping through Lost in Austen and eventually crawled into bed.


It was a sad goodbye on Friday but my naughty sis still found some joy in jumping on her bed!

Pose for me sugar ;)

Our Mumma and me. Muuma Bear had a relaxing time and she well deserved it too. I'm so lucky to have gotten this time away to spend with my sis on her special birthday and growing our relationships and friendships. We're all supposedly saving hard to try and make it happen all again next year. I know that we would all dearly love to explore this beautiful area some more.

When we were at Mullumbimby we were recommended the cafe at Newrybar which is one of only a few shops in the one street town. We had a very sweet goodbye breakfast there and it was the most happening and busy cafe! And the food was delicious :)

And finally Beautiful Byron Bay. Simply stunning.

Where musicians playing on the beach abounded. Wouldn't we all like to just pick up our uke and strum a few lines before soaking up some more rays or having a splash.

Sad, sad goodbye.

Happy 40th Birthday Sister Sunshine!

Had to share the gifts I scored for my boys. Quirky fair trade beanies which were an absolute bargain ;) Don't they look so darn cute!

And as always, my wonderful Mr E was dependable and lovely. He took time off work to be our boy wrangler and they all had a good time hanging out, playing games and fishing. But we were all pretty happy to be back together again no matter how good the holiday may have been :).