a day with the cousins at caversham wildlife park

aaron and his family visiting from queensland called for lots of family time and today we all met up at caversham wildlife park (inside whiteman park, just a 10 minute drive from our house). our little monkeys had a great time together and spent the day running, yelling and giggling at full speed. i love to see them together and wish time and time again that they lived closer so we could do this all the time.

first things first, silly photos by the dozen are a must!

the kids loooooved the farm show and sat in awe (you'd truly think that it was the first time mine had seen it and that they hadn't seen it multiple times and one of them just a few weeks back haha) as the dogs rounded up sheep, the sheep was shorn, the lambs were fed and the whip was cracked about. love it... it's so much fun for them to watch! 

meanwhile, doug missed the show for the second time as baby alex had a nap outside in his arms. it seems to be his favourite place to nap.

maddie went and hung out with the rabbits and the guinea pigs. she is convinced we neeeeed one or the other and asks me on a regular basis if we can get one. i tell you what, it will not be a rabbit. i am still scarred from the angry white one we had when i was in primary school. they might be cute, but they get annnngry.

this little babe enjoyed his day as his siblings and cousins clucked over him as they ran past the pram. he is just so loved and with that cute little face it's easy to see why.

maddie and grandad stopping for a picture together. we are so lucky to have this awesome man in our lives... he was the best dad and is now an amazing grandad too!

katja looks completely horrified in this pic, because she is not a fan of snakes. not at all... and jonas decided along with aaron that they needed to hold one and she needed to get in on the action. i don't think felix is really convinced either judging by how far away he is standing.

how cute is this baby! oh we love him. our other kids ran off with my parents and we had a lovely time pretending for 5 minutes that we only had one to worry about.

we stopped halfway for lunch in the picnic area and had a cake for jonas who celebrated his 5th birthday last week. you can see how chuffed he is with his cake. he is the funniest!

maddie loved spending time with the kids, she dotes on felix (and has since he was a tiny baby) and insisted on picking him up and cuddling him "like a koala!" they were so adorable!

we went into the farmyard area this time, which i hadn't actually seen in previous visits and madeline fell in love with this little lamb. i can't blame her, he was very cute! i'm so glad to have these lovely parks local so the kids can experience all the farm things that i took for granted in my childhood.

before we left for the day we managed to get some fun photos of us adults, thanks to madeline who is a little too familiar with using my camera. i love this one of all of us crazies together. i'm so lucky to have the family i do.

and one of nanna and grandad and their walking grandchildren. so cute! i love them all to bits! ♥

caversham wildlife park - take two

a photo with my little joey alex ♥

we spent the day at caversham wildlife park on saturday, after receiving a very kind invitation from the senior missionaries in mum and dads branch. they had their daughter and grandson here visiting from florida and seeing as he is just about the same age as madeline, they thought we would be good company. they were indeed right, the entire day was an absolute hoot and we had the best time!

first up was the farm show, (which we missed when sam was here from london) and my goodness did we love it! (sorry sam, you seriously lucked on this one - first stop next time hey!) the kids were captivated as the presenters showed how to round up sheep (on a horse with a sheepdog!), swing a billy (prep your tea in a tin can for drinking), crack a stockwhip (i have decided that this needs to be my hidden talent and absolutely want to learn), feed lambs (which daxton got chosen to do and oh my goodness was he chuffed!)

and shear sheep! i haven't seen it done since i was probably madelines age (maybe even josephs?) and i loved it! in fact i loved all of it! what a super cool show for kids to get to see. i highly recommend it for anyone that's visiting - and people who live here!

maddie and the sheep. (i love them mum!) i made dad laugh so hard, when the lambs came out to be bottle fed, i turned around and said, "oh daddy, please can we get one?" dad: no. there were plenty of baby lambs around at our house and friends house and to be honest, they are as painful as a human baby, needing constant attention. i know why he was unamused by my question, but at least he laughed.

i got to milk a cow too! it was pretty cool to do... but reminded me yet again why i don't actually like to drink milk. awkward... check me out, though... milking a cow!

here's our little squad of kids posing together. this made me laugh so hard, poor alex has no idea what's going on and madeline can barely get her head through the hole.

the kids went into the wombat area (which has all kinds of animals, not just wombats) to check out the kookaburra (i loooove them!) and

the possum, watched closely by an old friend of mine luke who works at caversham wildlife park. 

before we headed over to the koalas. the koalas at caversham are amazing! you can watch them just chilling in the branches around the sides...

or get really up close and personal with them. you can't actually hold them, but you can pat them, stroke their fur...

and take selfies with them, which kirsten and i decided to do. he doesn't look that excited about hanging out with us does he? haha.

after a stop off for lunch, which involved a stack more laughs when this clown got hold of grandads hat and decided to wear it with his...

we went to visit the kangaroos. they are so tame and placid here. you can pet them, they eat out of your hands, they just love being around people. definitely a far cry from the ones at mum and dads that scoot the second they see you coming, unless of course they are trying to jump out in front of your car!

my babies. we really did have a fun day!

joseph with "this biiiig kangaroo!"

doug had a good old yarn with dad too... i'm so lucky that doug and i both like each others parents so much. it's certainly made life much easier over the years. i love seeing them laughing together at each others bad jokes. 

it was clearly a hard day for this little one... i think he spent most of the day asleep in the pram, 

but managed to pose for this photo with his daddy at one stage. aren't they the cutest?!

after we were all wildlife-d out, we moved across the road to the water playground by the cafe and the kids spent some time swimming about and cooling off. we are seriously so lucky with all the amazing parks and playgrounds we have around us. whiteman park itself is free (caversham wildlife park is located inside of whiteman park) to get into and there is so much to see and so many places to play and explore. i just love where we live.

we had the best day today with the adams' and their family. seriously, so blessed! ♥

caversham wildlife park

after an easy morning, to try and ease the jetlag a bit... after we picked up the kidlets up from school today, we took sam out to caversham wildlife park. i've never been before (even though it's just down the road and madeline has been twice! once with school and once with bryan and niques when they were here, and joseph has been once) and now i am wondering why, because it was amaaaaazing!

joseph loved meeting a crocodile, even though he didn't seem keen on turning his back on it to turn and smile at me for a photo...

we missed the farm show, which maddie assured us didn't matter because she had already seen it (sorry bout it sam! lol) but went straight into the "meet the wombats" area, where the kids hung out with snakes, 

kookaburras which i loooove, (if you're not australian and don't know anything about kookaburras, go and listen to this youtube clip... they are the best!) andddd then found an old friend of mine luke, who was working with the wombats. too funny. 

these clowns wanted to take a picture everywhere we went... but i was cool with it. if nothing else, having a third baby is going to teach me patience.

sam got up close and personal with a koala... and looked pretty excited about it. it's so funny, i love that people get excited about australian animals, cause to be honest i do too. i don't really want to hold monkeys or squirrels (okay i probably do) but koalas and kangaroos excite me way more. look at her! she's so cute. day made!

another photo op. insert eye roll here... but they are so happy that i still don't mind...

sam also got her kicks from the kangaroos. i was a bit meh, kangaroos, mum has kangaroos everywhere at her house about them, but they were the best! they hop right on up to you, let you pat them, eat food out of your hands... and are so damn cute! this all just reminds me yet again, how lucky i am to live where i do.

seriously. this was the best thing ever. hand feeding kangaroos. ♥

what an awesome afternoon. i'll definitely be coming back to caversham in the future. i highly recommend it, for aussies and visitors both!