First swim of the season

The temperature this weekend was supposed to hit 30. I'm not sure if it did, but the sky was blue, the breeze was warm and it felt almost like summer. The kids were so excited to be able to go for a swim. I asked Sammy if she had felt the water and she said no, she was just going to jump in. I was very impressed when she actually did just that. I even took some video. Josh and Bella chickened out after hearing Sammy tell them how cold it was and saw how quickly she got out of the pool and was asking for a hot bath. I think it will take a lot of warm weather before the pool is warm enough for me to feel like going in.

In East Ryde and ready for a swim in our pool.

Baby Concert

I forgot to get my camera out while we were at the concert today and so there are no photos of Isabella in her outfits or even of Granny and Grandpa who came along to watch! I had of course left it to the last minute to get tickets for the Rhapsody Dance Studio 'Baby Concert' to watch Isabella perform in her first dance concert. I was so upset when they had sold out of tickets and so I had to email back and forth to get some tickets. When we arrived at the venue I was totally sure that we would be right at the back of the room. How wrong was I!! We had the best table in the house amazingly enough.
Isabella was in her element on stage. She could've been dancing up on stage by herself and she would have been as happy as a clam. The first dance that we watched her in was number four on the program and was simply titled 'Dora'. She walked out with the twenty or so other little ones and stood in her little outfit on stage waving maddly at the crowd. Once the stage lights came on she could see us and waved madly at us. It was adorable. At one stage she shouted out 'Look Momma' while pointing to the stage lights. We all had a giggle. She certainly wasn't nervous at all. I was a bit worried that she would end up having stage fright and not be able to perform as we had seen some other littlies do. But not our Isabella.

David, Isabella and Hamish outside the Hornsby RSL.

Easier baths

Isabella is saying 'what a big boy' over and over again while pointing at his chin.

I've started bathing Hamish in the bath with Isabella. It's much easier as she can hold him while I bathe him and he has so much fun staring at her babbling away. I actually sold our baby bath and stand on Ebay for $10 to an English man who was very happy with his purchase! It just got in the way, was such a palaver to fill and then empty and it just didn't make me happy when I looked at it.
Usually I'd use the baby bath when they were new born and then move up to the kitchen sink and then finally into the big bath. Well the kitchen sink here is far too tiny for our big brute of a child, so he went straight from the baby bath to the big bath.
He was having so much fun with Isabella holding him!

Two cutie patooties

Liam is on the left and Hamish is on the right.

Heres Hamish and his friend Liam. Aren't they cute. They're both wearing stripes and have their own crinkly toy. Matching little men. I can't wait until they can start playing properly.

Dress rehearsal

Mackenzie and Isabella in their Dora costume.

Isabella in her Spring ballet costume.

Isabella and her big sister, Sammy.

Isabella is almost at the end of her first year of dance classes in the 'Little Stars' class and is getting ready for her first dance concert with her dance buddy Mackenzie. Here are some photos of them. So cute! And here she is with her big sister Sammy.

Year 6 Concert

Sammy is in her final year of primary school and is doing the last of her primary school activities. As we're sending Bella to a different primary school it's also the end of an era for us as far as being involved in her school goes. So I think we're all a little sad as we count down these last few months. Here she is dressed as a space cowgirl with a friend.

Exploring Sydney

We were planning on going to see a movie, but of course there wasn't anything family friendly on!! So off we went for a drive into the wild west. We ended up in Canley Vale which is like a little Vietnam. It was amazing! We found a little cafe where we were hoping to have afternoon tea. There was a lot of confusion with the waitresses lack of English and our lack of Vietnamese. Here are some photos of our experience.

Bellingen 'Old Butter Factory'

After the Honey Place we travelled to Bellingen to have a look around. A cute town with some pretty houses and an old butter factory that had been converted into a cafe and some studios for art and craft. We had Belgium hot chocolates with cream and Bella had a strawberry milkshake. We only had a quick look around and found some interesting things to look at. There was a beautiful mosaic floor outside, a camel made from bits of metal rubbish and a life sized ceramic pig. We also had a look at some original leather and wood work.

The Honey House

We decided to visit the honey house and see some real bees. It had a great entrance, but was a little underwhelming over all. Josh loved the look of the bees and went back three times to see if he could find the queen bee. Dave, Sammy and Bella taste tested the different sorts of honey they had. We ended up buying creamed honey(my favorite) and bloodwood honey. Hamish wasn't impressed with any of it so we didn't stay long inside. Although we stayed a while in the car park while I fed him and everyone else snacked on biscuits and chocolate honeycomb.

Porpoise Pool

Finishing slurpees before the show.

Josh threw the hoop that the dolphin is catching.

Isabella cleaning a dolphin's teeth.

Feeding a shark with tongs.

Looking at fairy penguins.

After finding our accomodation at Emerald Beach Big 4 Park I followed their links to things to do. One of the links was to the Porpoise Pool. I ended up booking online for us to go and saved us $5! Not a huge amount, but I figured if I save a little here and a little there we'll be able to do a few extra activities. So for all of us it was $90 and I think that was a bargain for what we got. We decided last minute to go today after we had a break in the rain. The next show was on at 12:30 and we managed to get there just after 12. We had to go via the RTA to get some new plates for the car after having one of our plates fall off on the trip up to Coffs Harbour. The kids were excited about the prospect of getting a kiss from a seal and to be honest I was too! We not only got a big sloppy fishy kiss from a seal but we also got one from a dolphin, including Hamish who just looked surprised when he had an enormous dolphin lurch at his tiny little face from the water. We got to get up really close to some dolphins and play catch with a rugby ball. We were instructed to get the ball from the water and then when the dolphin opened his mouth then we had to throw it in gently. One of the dolphin's names was Bella! While playing ball we got to stroke the dolphins head and when they turned over we stroked their bellies. Later on we got to stoke a seal as it 'walked' past us. Before we left we got to feed some fish to a seal, some very aggressive Port Jackson sharks (I didn't do this!) and then a fairy penguin. During the seal and porpoise show the kids were able to be very involved because it was so quiet. It was great not having to fight with the usual holiday crowds! During the show Sammy got called up to play catch with a seal, Josh got called up to play frisbee with a seal and towards the end of the show Isabella got to use an over sized yellow toothbrush to clean a dolphins teeth. We had an amazing time and laughed a lot. We had such an amazing time and I know that the kids won't forget this experience any time soon. New experiences for us all.

Truck stop lunch

We stayed overnight at Raymond Terrace and then after a Hungry Jacks brekky we headed off to Coffs Harbour. We stopped for lunch at a truck stop which was amazingly cheap! It also had wonderful junk to look at while we waited for our meals. I saw a set of retro anodized tea and coffee canisters for $40 which I thought looked really cute. I was tempted to buy them until I told Dave and he told me what he thought of them! So no canisters! The trip to Coffs was pretty uneventful and Hamish was very well behaved and slept a lot in the car. He had to make up for all his nights of partying late into the night.

Hibiscus lodge

Check out our place! You never quite know if you'll be pleasantly surprised or if the photos have been taken with a really wide-angled lens. Well we were all pleasantly surprised!!
We're staying at Emerald Beach Big 4 Carevan Park which has 4 1/2 stars and great facilities. I chose them after seeing their 'Kids free during July and August' promotion. So for the five nights we're only paying $855 which for a family of 6 is great!!

The Beast

See the covered trailer at the back!

Filling up the beast in his new jeans!

Finally a photo of our beautiful car with a huge trailer attached. We look like we're going away for month! Dave also said that I had to mention that we actually packed Hamish's bassinett! He said he couldn't believe that I wanted to take furniture away on our holiday. I of course said that he'll sleep better if he thinks he's back home. Well I can only hope can't I!!

Cafe wirh Sammy

Sammy finishing her hot chocolate and vanilla slice.

We played around with the photo colour and borders!

While Isabella was at dance this morning Sammy, Hamish and I went out for coffee and cake at Cafe Great. And yes, that is the name of the cafe!