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! ♥

a long day with mel and the kids

there are some friends who are no effort whatsoever. who when you're with, the conversation just flows and no matter what you're doing, you will have fun. who you don't have to worry about offending with your terrible (and often inappropriate in my case) jokes and whose kids your own kids adore.

this friend to me, is my friend mel. she's amazing and so are her kids and today we accidentally hung out for 10 hours. oops. at least it was a cheap date. we started at our local bunnings for the second day in the row, for another free event, watching al kazam the magic man. he is seriously the funniest. we have been to a birthday party before that he was at and i think the adults laughed as hard as the kids did, so as soon as i saw he was performing i was booking them in asap. 

we then hit up hungry jacks for lunch for their cheap as stunner meals (5 items for $5.95) before heading off to our favourite place...

the opshop mega barn in canning vale. it's the giant opshop in a huge warehouse, where none of the clothing is sorted, but instead thrown into huge clothing bins for you to pick through. to be honest, it's pretty gross (i am a huge germaphobe but love opshopping, go figure?!) but we love all the great stuff we find.

the most amazing thing i found, was actually a sketch book in one of the boxes of books, which i thought i would grab for maddie, as she never stops drawing. but when i opened it, i found this incredible picture that someone had drawn of the mega barn! i felt bad buying it and depriving them of being able to display it so i took it to the girls at the counter who were absolutely thrilled with it. the seemed to think it had been drawn by one of the girls who was working there and assured me they would definitely have it up and framed next time i came in. so cool.

alex had had enough by the end and fell asleep wrapped up close to me. i love that he's still small enough to wrap up and cuddle.

here's my finds from the day, all this for $21 - just 75 cents a piece. bargain!

the kids still weren't done playing when all of that was over, so mel called her husband who turned up for dinner and the party continued well into the night with giggling and rioting all through the house.

thank goodness for good friends and school holidays, two of the most wonderful things in life ♥

funning at bunnings

there is nothing, i repeat nothing, better than free local events to entertain kids during the school holidays... and our local bunnings has come up with the goods. after booking our kids in online, i met a bunch of the other mums from church there so we could gasbag while our kids participated in some easter fun.

but first, some silly photos.

the staff had organised some easter crafts and colouring followed by minute to win it games in their kids area. such a pity i can't upload videos to my blog, this one was a challenge to place an oreo on your forehead and get it into your mouth using only your facial muscles. what the heck.

just so you know, he did not manage to do it, but the oreo ended up in his mouth regardless.

these two nuggets had the time of their life trying to do it

failing miserably

and then laughing about it afterwards.

the easter bunny also arrived to hand out eggs and pose for photos. how i hope that if the easter bunny is indeed real that it is a magical rabbit (that actually looks like a rabbit) that hops around with a basket, rather than a horrifying looking adult in a bunny costume. yikes. the kids didn't seem to mind though.

mads and my little bub. so cute. 

today was a great day ♥

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! ♥

christmas in elfenbrook

a week or two ago, the owners of madeline's dance school posted in their parents page that the school would be participating in the annual ellenbrook christmas pageant "christmas in elfenbrook" and asked for volunteers to be part of their group as they danced their way down the main street. maddie was thrilled to pieces and instantly said she'd love to do it, so i put her name down... i must admit though, i actually thought it was unlikely she'd get to be in it, as she was one of only a handful of kids who only do one class - and therefore only had one costume from the concert... which is what they would be wearing.

to my surprise though, a sheet came out with their allocated costumes and positions in the parade and there she was! i actually had a laugh with one of the teachers, who said she'd internally groaned knowing she had to put the tutus in, as they are so huge they require extra space around them, and therefore only allowed for three of them in their line, instead of the five in all the others. oops.

i was incredibly proud of myself, as i managed to do her makeup myself this time, full stage makeup, with the heavy eye shadow, liner (with added glitter at little miss's request) and bright red lippie. (maybe i can do this dance mum thing after all. haha. also, maybe not? i am the least dance mummiest person there is!)

we had a great time at the parade, watching all the people go by, (my favourite was the gingerbread man below, oh and of course, my daughter! tehe) eating icecream (we tried the ones that are little balls in a cup, if you haven't tried them, you should, they are yum!) looking at the stalls - and buying crystals for miss madeline... it was a fun afternoon.

the adorable gingerbread man

and miss madeline in her bright blue tutu... such a good colour for her! if only the makeup didn't make her look like she is twelve all of a sudden! i can't cope...

merry christmas elfenbrook! we love where we live!