Local Wildlife Park

It's amazing how you can live somewhere and never visit your great local attractions, then you get a visitor come up and all of a sudden you visit all these great places right in your own backyard.
Today we headed to our local wildlife park with my brother, his wife and her family that is visiting from overseas.

It was fantastic to see the four kids running around learning about animals, feeding kangaroos.

At $75 for a family of four we decided to bring along a picnic to save on lunch and all our fantastic Bubsandbeans products got a Great workout.

Some of my favorite products that go everywhere with us are
1- Our Boon LunchboxesThese snackboxes keep all your food separately, we use them for School lunches, picnics, bbqs

Suppori SlingThe Suppori sling is designed for children that can sit up. It is designed for children to sit on your hip so from about 6 months to 2 years. (Miss 2, still fits and thinks it is a lot of fun), however I use it for my 1 year old. It is handy as you are walking around as it spreads the weight over your body so makes carrying children easier. It is built in Japan, is very lightweight and fits nicely in your nappy bag. Its waterproof (not that I have much use for that today, It was warm but not that warm. There is so many colours to choose from, it is definitely something that makes my life much easier, a permanent fixture in my nappy bag. 

My retro lunchboxes
Ok realistically with my trunk and cargo lunchbox full of food this was more of a want today. I wanted chocolate at my picnic. Then again everybody needs chocolate don't they. I love the design they remind me of my childhood, playing cowboys and Indians in the backyard.

My BBOX sippy cupsI am a Bbox sippy cup tragic, i have all four colours (including duplicates of some colours) that way there is always one with me, whether home or out and about.
They are non-spill, the weighted straw means that no matter what angle they tip it up water comes out of the straw but not on them. The handle attaches to the arm of my stroller.

My BBox Nappy Wallet
The one thing I have learnt very quickly with kids is that not all places have a clean safe place to change nappies, some will have nappy change benches some wont, so I don't go anywhere without my BBox nappy wallet.  I fit plenty of wipes, two nappies, comes with its own change bench, that I think looks awesome by the way and fits perfectly in my handbag, or nappy bag depending which one I have bought with me.

Lastly I always have my Sinchies with me,
The collection of reusable pouches and bags are great as you don't always know what the rubbish bin situation would be like. As we were going to be patting kangaroos, I packed an extra bag of wipes as toddlers and animals means lots of hand washing.
They are also great for extra snacks.

Other honourable mentions that I often take with us are our Insulated Jars, Peppa pig mini sketch book, Babiator Sunnies 

So pack your bags and get out an explore your local attractions like me you might find a great fun day only ten minutes from home.

Overseas flights with Children.

Travelling overseas with Children, to some sounds daunting.

The anxiety of having to somehow keep your beautiful pride and joy (or joys) contained in a seat for hours on end. The questions of what should I bring, how much should I bring. How can I avoid a meltdown at 30,000 feet.

Don't worry, flying doesn't have to be so scary, for you or your child.

Here are my tips to surviving the trip. 

1. Research your airlines, not all airlines are the same, some of them are better to travel on with children. Find out about the inflight entertainment, whether they have children's meals, what is the weight restrictions on the bassinet seats, are there any other services provided for children? 

For instance Air New Zealand's Skycouch (best invention ever)

It is 3 economy seats that you can book together, in simple terms you can pull up the footrests and they become a large space for the kids to play on, even better for bubs to lay flat and sleep on. 

2. Once you have chosen your flight - think about packing. 

My advice don't pack to much. Make sure whatever you are holding you can hold with a sleepy child as well. Whilst you may have use of the stroller to the gate, they cannot go on the plane and you still need to get from the gate to your chair and back. In the past I have brought my big baby carrier along which are bulky to store so for our last trip I purchased a Suppori Sling which is so compact it fits neatly in my bag. 

http://www.bubsandbeans.com.au/products/536/Baby-Carriers-_-Slings/Suppori-Baby-Slings

3. Food.

When travelling with Children, pack their favorite foods, even if you have ordered them a specific child's meal, mistakes can happen. On our last trip there was a mistake with our booking and they didn't have the specific children's meals. Now the thought of letting our 18 month old loose on a plate of rice was to much for me to bear, but thankfully we had plenty of other food for her to eat. The air hostesses were very apologetic, but their apology doesn't feed your child, so be prepared. 

Also chewing on food is very helpful for take off and landing.

4. Water

Air travel dries people out and children are no exception, make sure that you give them heaps of water during the trip. We took along our bbox sippy cups as they are non spill,they are weighted so doesn't matter what angle they try and drink from. There is nothing worse than the kids knocking over a glass of water a couple of hours into a long flight (speaking from experience, before we learnt the magic of non spill cups) 

http://www.bubsandbeans.com.au/productDetail/0/41/Bbox-Essential-Sippy-cup 

5. On the Flight

My advice, don't worry about your normal rules with entertainment, if your kids want to watch back to back entertainment let them. When bringing toys bring toys that won't get lost easily, (ie not Lego) that is open ended that they can play with for ages. We packed our pocket friends for our big kids. Colouring in, books. If they have a DS, iPod let them have it. Just remember though you may end up carrying it and your child so don't pack to much.

6. Clothes

My advice is try to forget fashion and think comfort for you and the kids. We have always got our children to wear trackies, t-shirt and a jumper. It gets hot in the plane so make sure they have layers that can be removed. The nappy change area is tiny and cramped so make sure you children's clothes are easy to change. Pack a change of clothes, and a top for you. There is nothing worse than being covered in food or drink during a flight and not being able to do anything about it.

7. Nappy Change / toilet

Before you get on the plane try and change nappies, take them to the toilet. The airport toilets are so much easier to manoeuvre in than the aeroplane ones. We bought along a bbox nappy wallet, so we didn't have to take a bulky nappy bag into the tiny toilet. It fit 2 nappies and I just refilled. If your child is a bit older it might be worth using nappy pants for the trip as easier to put on kids in the tiny space.

http://www.bubsandbeans.com.au/productDetail/21205/BBox-the-essential-nappy-wallet-Mellow-Yellow

8. Try not to get jealous of the passengers around you getting to sleep, watch movies. Chances are you may not get to, so if travelling with your partner work together. Let one rest / watch tv, whilst the other is on child duty, and visa versa. Your day will come too, maybe not this trip, but it will. 

9. Finally the important part - ears. Most people have heard horror stories, they hear the babies scream on take off and landing. My advice try and feed your baby on take off and landing, for our bigger kids we give them a lollipop. (Pack a spare in your bag for the landing).

10. Remember the big picture, yes the flight may be long, it may not be as relaxing, you may be sleep perived but think of the experience on the other end.

(My disclaimer - each child is different so this is what works for our four kids and hopefully for you too)

Its all in a name.

 

What is in a name?

 

My children have a favourite place on the Gold Coast, it is the first place they ask to go too, after the theme parks.

 

Its a little café. it doesn't have a playground, or colouring in, yes it has a kids menu but there is nothing on there that you can't find in another café. However it does have something special going for it. Do you want to know what it is.

 

Its a name. Yes, the reason that we get up early on our first day of our holiday to visit a café is because of its name.

 

Its name is the same as one of their cousins and so each time we visit the Gold Coast we head there.

 

 

Being spontaneous with Children.

 

 

 

Before we had Children we were spontaneous, we would decide at the last minute to jump in the car and drive somewhere with just a small bag for the weekend. But once you have children its not so easy to be spontaneous. But today we decided that we can be spontaneous even with four children. 

 

We were supposed to leave tomorrow to head up to the Gold Coast, but as we were sitting at our kids swimming lesson this afternoon looking out the window at the rain, we decided why wait. Lets just pack up the car and head off today. 

 

So I arrived home from swimming at 5:30pm, and by 7pm we had packed our bags, the car, fed the kids and were on the road.

Who says Parents cant be spontaneous.

As a side note I reckon I have packed way to much stuff as I just threw heaps of stuff in.

Gold Coast with kids

We are very lucky to be able to head up to the Gold Coast for a holiday.

It really is such a great place to holiday to with kids.

There is so much to do with kids and if you go this time of year the weather is great about 23 degrees so warm enough for the kids to walk around in shorts and tshirts but as it's the off season you can get great deals on accomodationi.

We have been travelling up to the Gold Coast at least once a year for the last six years. We have stayed at caravan parks, resort, self catered apartments from Coolongatta, Kirra beach, biggera waters to our new favorite broadbeach.

 

The great thing about Broadbeach is you are just a walk away from everything. Great shops, great food, Parks and the beach.

Homeward bound.

We headed off yesterday morning homeward bound. Once again about 2200 kms to travel.

The advantage of taking the same route home is we have already stopped at the tourist stuff so we were able to motor along very quickly.

We managed to travel just under 1000 kms in the one day. 

The interesting thing about the trip is most of the day you are travelling through cattle stations, and they are unfenced. Imagine the children's surprise when we slowed down for a small group of cows.

As we headed back into Coober Pedy the Opal mines rose up in front of us, like the pyramids of Egypt. Great pyramid shapes in different colours. 

We arrived at our stop for the night not to long after dark, ready for a good night sleep.

A proud moment as a mum today.

Today my big two children climbed Ayers Rock (Uluru ) and I have never been so proud.

 I sat down the bottom with my two youngest children whilst my wonderful husband braved the climb with our two children. Truthfully I was a bit concerned that they would get half way up and decide to turn around. 

But they didn't, they kept climbing til they made it to the top.

The wind picked up whilst they were walking and it was cold at the top but they sat in the same crater that I did some 16 years ago.

The climb down took them a little longer as there feet grew tired and they faced the steep decline but they didn't complain, didn't give up. 

Today taught them that if you don't give up, if you persevere it is worth it. That they can achieve more than what they think is possible. 

Back on the road again.

After a week of relaxing and exploring Alice. We are back on the road again. 

The week in Alice was a week of first for the two big kids, they were both finally big enough to hire the go karts at the caravan park. (It did take 3 go's to find one that would fit our son). Our youngest daughter had a great time having a ride In A 2 seater.

They also had a great time at the Finke desert race, there highlight was a make shift sandpit full of tonka trucks

The dust was incredible. The noise was loud, but the crowd was definetly still family friendly at the prologues. 

After a week at Alice we are on the road home via Ayers Rock. It's funny after a week of small trips the children already seemed to be out of driving mode. We had to stop about half a dozen times between Alice and Ayers Rock.

The joys of children's imagination

I love the way children think.

If we can get them away from video games, tv's, structured games all of a sudden it allows their imagination to take over.

This trip I have been making a point of having (as much as possible) open ended games. Pegs, blocks, pocket friends, felt boards, plain notebook and pens.

What I have found as the days go on that the children are playing together so much easier. In the last few days I have not heard them utter even once - I am bored, what can I play with, or can I have the iPad.

Instead they have created adventurers with there pocket friends (which I have had to publish on my blog). They have had puppet shows, made up new games with cards, magic tricks, told stories.

So stay tuned over the next few days of 'more adventures of Annabelle and Bill' (our pocket friends)

Our Pocket friend Bill

Today was a very busy day for Bill. 

The children tried unsuccessfully to make him a house of cards, so instead we compromised and made him a house of books.

He then went for a fun skateboard ride all the way to the park.

He had a great time on slides, swings, balance beams and even rode on his first Donkey.

I wonder what adventures he will get up to this afternoon?

Pocket friends can be purchased from www.bubsandbeans.com.au

Simple fun when camping

As a mum of four children my house is filled with stuff, so when we go on holidays I like to take a minimalistic approach to packing the children's toys.

Problem is, this trip we have quite a few days in the caravan whilst My husband is out watching the Finke Desert Race.

I still didn't want the kids to bring heaps of toys so we have a few toys and activities to keep them occupied .

Pegs - My kids can spend ages using their imagination with pegs. In this photo my oldest two have made some monsters for a puppet show.

Mega Blocks - due to their large size they are great for all the children. They are easy to clean up and once again are great for their imagination.

A simple pack of cards.

This trip I bought the children a couple of packets of playing cards. They had great fun playing snap and then they began making up their own games.

Tomorrow I am going to teach them how to make a house of cards.

Pocket Friends

You will see these cute little figures in lots of our photos. These guys have already travelled to thailand, and now to the NT. They come in Foil packaging which means that the identity of the character is kept as a surprise until unwrapped. There are 6 girls and 6 boy characters. When we headed off to thailand, I packed a few for the children and gave them a couple each on the plane on the way over and a couple for the trip home. We have done the same for each of the 2200 kms.

They are small and like the name suggests fit in the children's pockets.

A notebook and pen. 

The children are writing their own journal each day about their trip. 

Felt board.

Another great activity is a felt board. It's another open ended activity that the children can play with again and again.

The dishes.

Probably my favorite is to get them to dry the dishes - surprisingly the children all love it, They pretend it's a cafe and tell me each meal they make as they dry them. We give our daughter (22 months) a clean facewasher for her to help. Much easier for her than a big bulky tea towel.

* Pocket friends and felt boards can be found at www.bubsandbeans.com.au

Walks to do with Children near Alice springs

There are so many great places to visit around Alice Springs. Problem when you have children you end up carrying the children most of the way. I have created a list of some great walks we did with our four children from 8 months to 8 years

Standley Chasm, there are entry fees to pay before you walk, the walk to the chasm is quite easy and the view at the end is magnificent.

The walk is easy - our 22 mth old walked some of the way, was carried, had a piggy back for a bit. Took about 40 minutes including lots of photos

 If you travel further down the road you will get to the Glen Helen Gorge and Homestead. The walk once again is easy through the dry Finke River.

The River was cold but the view was magnificent.

There is Ormiston Gorge and Waterhole, if only the weather was a few degrees warmer it would have been perfect place for a swim. The walk was a flat path the whole way. You could easily push a stroller.

 Our last stop was the Ochre Pits, The colours are amazing. It was well worth the short 300m walk to get there.

Our 22 month old easily walked the whole way.

This blog and other great travel blogs can be found at

http://www.chasingthedonkey.com/hotel-villa-dvor-omis/

We have made it to Alice.

We have travelled 2200 kms and arrived at Alice Springs. It's great to sit back and relax knowing we have 7 days now of relaxing and enjoying all that Alice has to offer.

The Caravan park is packed full of excitement with the Finke Desert race just days away. There are competitors, spectators and a few curious people who didn't realise what was happening at Alice this week.

The children had a great afternoon checking out all our caravan park has to offer and playing with our blocks from home.