exploring with the kids

it never ceases to amaze me just how many parks there are in ellenbrook. i read somewhere once that the aim is for there to be one within 600m of every house... it can't be far wrong. i took the sister missionaries to a local park to have pictures earlier this week and when we were there stumbled upon around a dozen painted rocks. there was a huge trend of painted rocks being hidden in parks (you can read about it here) around western australia and although it's not as common any more, you can still find them. i knew the kids would be thrilled to pieces, so i decided to take them exploring. 

the park doesn't have a name on the map that i can see, but is surrounded by the broadway, elmridge parkway, farmaner parkway and addingham drive. it has a real bushland feel, with paths through trees and a creek, plus a (pretty murky) lake. but it was fun to explore and the kids were even more excited when they went off the path and discovered a fairy door too! (another craze that came along with the rocks, you can read about that one here)

there is no play equipment in this park, it's more of a nature playground, but this old tree has been placed in a sandpit for climbing and the kids had plenty of fun on there.

take a photo of me mum! with pleasure ♥

we spent a good couple of hours wandering and it was so nice to see them occupying themselves with nature. i grew up in the country, well before ipads and youtube and barely even watched television... because there was always something better to do. living in the suburbs doesn't really offer that.

one of the cute rocks we found and rehid, a bright blue ladybug.

ellenbrook, we love you! ♥

the pinnacles

western australia is full of weird and wonderful things... many of which i have not yet seen, but this afternoon we took a (long) road trip up to the pinnacles, 2 hours north, just before cervantes. was it worth the four hour round trip? it so was! yes it's a bunch of rocks in a desert area, but it's actually really cool! just follow wanneroo road north and north and north and then follow the signs until you get the pinnacles. it's very clearly marked. $15 per car to enter the park... have your money ready if you are there during park hours, there is a drop box for after hours... we packed a picnic and made an afternoon/night of it.

the new crew playing with the camera self timer. yes we are losers, but we had fun!

selfies are much easier on a phone with someone holding the camera

yep. still losers.

bryan and niques decided to let me take some shots of them all loved up. they have only been married for 3 days after all. there were a lot of cute ones, but this is by far my favourite.

some more losers haha

a pretty amazing landscape to sit and look at hey! we spent hours just sitting around and looking. yes. at rocks. yes, still maintain it was worth it.

the husband and i, with some rocks

and oh look. more rocks!

bet you thought there was going to be photos of things other than rocks didn't you!

the boys...

and my newest brother in law. i guess i like him a bit.

we stayed right until the sun started to set and it was amazing... watching the colours change at the edge of the sky. we had originally planned to stay until night so we could take some photos of the clear night sky with no light pollution and get a clear shot of the stars. alas, it was not to be, but we will be back and i will make it happen here, or somewhere else!

definitely take a drive out to the pinnacles, it's a pretty amazing place to see. just allow yourself a lot of time.