Holiday fun at Mundaring Weir

I despair with children in the house with devices and am constantly trying to find a way to get them out of the house, so that we don't spend the entire holidays that way. Easiest way is to invite their mates so they bring the party along with them. I love Mundaring Weir, nestled in the hills, so todays excursion was out there with their sibling mates from school.

We parked at the top, bush bashed down to the weir...

and found this cute little cubby made into a fallen tree on the way...

Then had a wander across... side note, I don't remember it being nearly that high, but last time we came they were doing maintenance and we could only walk up to the barrier gates, not all the way across. 

We stopped at the cute little guard house for a picture of course. 

Then the kids took off across the walkway, running, of course, while I followed a bit slower. 

It's a long way down, with the most beautiful views!

On the way back, we stopped in at the Mundaring Sculpture Park, seriously one of the best parks around! The kids love the mix of play equipment and nature play and never want to leave, every time we go there. All 5 of them got to it, working out an obstacle course that even Alex could follow and played for ages.

Alex eventually got tired of them and ran off to chat to these little old holidaying men sculptures before we eventually headed back home. I kept asking him what they were looking at and he'd race back in front of them and say I don't know! I can't see it! Hahahaha.

Was a great day out with our mates ❤

nutmeg and booth archery

i decided to entertain the kids these holidays by doing something a little out of the ordinary, and brought along the booth girls for the ride. it was raining in perth, but wasn't supposed to rain in clackline, which i checked 4 times before leaving in the morning, so it was a perfect day to get off to the archery park!

we dropped alex off to nannas house, because there is no one in this world crazy enough to let a wild two year old loose near flying arrows, then hit up the hoddywell archery park. the kids looked like they had won the lottery, my kids have been once before, but it was the first time for the booth girls.

they loved it though, got right into it and were pretty good!

madison and chloe having a shot

joseph didn't do nearly as well on this trail as he had last time, when he kept hitting close to the bullseye every time and oh did we have to hear about it. he was well unimpressed.

besties who should not be messed with

as you can see from the photos, we discovered that the weather forecast was not correct... there was a sudden downpour and we all got soaked - but the sun came out again soon after and we dried out soon after.

it's not going to rain. honest. hahahaha

i don't think she was very impressed that i was wrong. but oh did we laugh. non stop.

things were progressing well, madeline even managed to shoot this fox in the head and was so proud of herself, insisting that i take a photo to show off to grandad.

it's so much fun watching these two together... they always have the best time (when they aren't arguing!) 

there was so many mosquitos though. that was the only downfall. we doused ourselves over and over with repellant, but they were still biting something cruel. i swear the pretty surroundings make it worth it though. please trust me! haha.

so here we were... right near the end and approaching the last target. it starts raining again, now that we are all finally dry - and this time it's way worse. like absolutely pouring - and then it started hailing. oh my word. we decided to make a run for it in the end, and then were so wet that we had to borrow a towel from the owners to dry off.  but at least we had fun. even when chloe managed to scrape her leg on the way back to the car with her arrow. i foresee a tetanus shot in her future!

one last stop - the christmas shop in toodyay for a quick look. these little drowned rats probably weren't impressed that i made them pose for yet another photo, but oh well. 

would you believe we then drove all the way to northam to get pizza for dinner, then back to mums to pick up an eagerly waiting toddler. we even waited that little bit longer until it was dark, just so madison could watch the stars. i completely appreciate this, as it's my favourite bit about visiting mums too!

it was a great day with the kids!

 

a stroll at the tunnel

it's the first day of school holidays for us here in wa and as luck may have it, it's also a public holiday so dad is home! so much to the disgust of our children, we decided to go outside and for a decent walk. we had actually decided to go to balls rapids (as we've lived right by it for 6 years and still haven't been!) but when we drove up, there was literally about 100 cars there... so we decided the swan view train tunnel was a better option.

for a kid that didn't want to go, he was pretty keen on the walk!

last time we brought the kids out here, alex was still in the pram. this time he loved running through the tunnel and splashing in the puddles left from all the rain we've had!

i have always been a huge fan of the tunnel. it looks so amazing, just there in the middle of the bush. i actually said to doug this visit that i wondered why they had closed it after so much effort... and when we came out the other end, i realised there was a bunch of signs with the history printed and in pictures. turns out, after all that work, it was a ventilation issue - all the smoke from the train was a hazard to the passengers and employees, so eventually a new track was constructed (around through the rock again) that bypassed the tunnel. 

it's a lovely walk, as the track is high on a ridge with a valley of bushland running down beside you, just a little horrifying with a three year old who seemed determined to dance along the edge

because as you can see behind us, it's quite the drop!

it was a lovely day, heaps of wildflowers blooming and cheerfully lining the track

i actually wish you could smell these - they smell like heaven!

and we all had a really good time.

i honestly wouldn't want to live anywhere else but here. i love the trees and the bush that just seem to go on forever.

of course we had to climb all the rocks, pick everything up, wander wander wander... walks are always so much longer with children. i remember when i was very small (maybe 4 or 5 years old) my grandfather joseph came to stay with us on the farm so that he could paint the house for my parents. we would go walking around the paddocks and he would walk so slowly, so he could look at everything. it was so nice to be with him and spend that time. he was my absolute favourite and i still look back on that time with love.

joseph didn't want to walk back through the tunnel but everyone else did, so we walked around the ridge and chatted, mostly about nintendo and lego (insert yawns and eyerolls here from me!)

then it was time to go back to the car and head back to the swan valley for the promised reward of icecream and a play at oggies cafe.

a one day attempt of school holidays

the kids had their one day of school holidays today, before they go back to school tomorrow. it has been a loooong few weeks, with the funeral and all the required arrangements, which of course happened in the school holidays. but we made it through and to attempt to make it up to them, we delivered big time today.

a day at the zone bowling and timezone in joondalup! don't let alex's face fool you, they all had an amazing time and laughed and had lots and lots of fun.

we bowled...

and even ordered lunch to be delivered to our lane, which alex thought was the greatest thing in the world, as we ate our hotdogs and chips with heaps of tomato sauce that he kept loading on.

my little "twins" having the time of their lives.

i added a photo of this as i have never been prouder in my life, i am absolutely rubbish at car racing games - and somehow i beat everyone, including the computer! definitely a "photo or it didn't happen moment" recorded here for all future generations of my family.

alex's favourite part of the day though, was this game in the timezone area. the roof drops all the balls and you have to put them in the hole before they roll out of the machine at the base. he could have stayed in there for hours and loved it even more when madeline joined him in there too. 

what a day. deep breaths and ready to go back off to school tomorrow. let's hope they make it through okay.

 

madi and maddie

maddie was dying to hang out with her friend madi (madison) from dancing before the holidays ended so today we organised for morning tea with her and her mother at maison st honore, our favourite cafe. 

i think madi's mum is just wonderful, when alex was just a few weeks old, madeline had her first dance concert and i was not at all clued in on how to be a dance mum. she was so lovely to me at the dress rehearsal while i was juggling a new born and a tutu, gave me all the tips and was just so kind and i have never forgotten it. so many of the dance mums have no time for anyone else and she was just such a breath of fresh air.

the following year and then again this year i have gotten to know them better again as our girls have danced together in the competition lyrical troupe and it's been so fun to watch the girls together, they laugh so much, dance about and just really enjoy being around each other. i'm hoping it continues as it's a wonderful thing in life to have good friends.

bowling with our besties

school holidays just wouldn't be complete without a date with our besties, the niupalau girls. bowling was the order of the day this time around and off we went to give it a whirl.

these kids are more than happy to do absolutely nothing together, but they loved bowling... other than the multiple balls we managed to wedge into the gutters around us. kids mate.

we had debated booking multiple games, but are so glad we only did one, because that took so long as it was. 

i love these people. best there is! we re very blessed to have the friends we do.

hungry jacks for lunch, bowling and a kmart trip to finish.

best day ever!