Tag: adventure

Categories
Creative

Crystal & Diamond Mining

Are you looking at something fun and different to do with the kids?

Why not take them Diamond or Crystal mining, or maybe both?

Would it surprise you that my four-year-old and I found diamonds and crystals (AKA Rocks) at our local park? I think you would be rather impressed.

It was a great time at the local park. My little boy rode his bike to the park and while there we searched for valuable crystals and diamonds.

Alexander found a few and made sure to put them safely in his pockets or if they didn’t fit my pockets. We took them home to wash them to allow us to inspect our haul of treasures.

I know that we didn’t collect actual crystals or diamonds but the hunt and chase for the real thing was super fun, plus after we were home water was involved to clean the rocks and this meant that Alex was then covered head to toe in the water and of course spent hours playing in the water and investigating his special treasures.

This great outdoor activity was first published on Kiddipedia – https://kiddipedia.com.au/creative-activities-for-kids/

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Originally published June 14, 2020

Categories
Things to do

Our Maritime Adventure – Part 1

The kids are at vacation care today and the original plan was to have a full day to myself. However this has been changed due to our visit tomorrow to the Maritime Museum. Since we live a while away from the city, we are staying in a hotel close to the museum to make it easier on everyone. I have told the other family to meet us at 10am outside the museum so staying nearby will help to not make it such an early start.  If we drove from home it might be a 6am or so wake up call, and that is not on!

Since I had already booked kids into care they are only having a half day and at the time of writing this they should be on their excursion to the pool. I dressed both kids in their swimmers and had all their things ready for their adventure at the pool.

I am doing some things at home and then will pick up kids. After I dump most things at home all of us will make our way to the station to catch the train to the city. Then we will get our connection to the light rail to go to the hotel.

Did you know?

You can purchase light rail tickets when you get your train tickets. YES fabulous….. and all organised before I start the journey.

I decided to get the train tickets before I pick up kids later (nothing worse than fussing around with kids and money at the station, while worrying about when the train will come) I went to the automatic machine and realised that I could also purchase light rail tickets as well. How amazing and I also got the family deal. One kid travels free! So I have got the train tickets and also the light rail tickets before we go anywhere. Talk about organised!

Do you stay somewhere closer if you are off somewhere special? Do you do it due to living further away or just as a treat?

The girls are smart and have figured out we are most likely staying in a hotel, but have no idea where and how close we will be to the Maritime Museum. I think the kids will be super tired from swimming, a train trip and then the light rail, plus a small walk to the hotel.

Hubby has the bags and other heavy things and will meet us later after he gets off work. We have used the kids new suitcases they got for Christmas as we did not need much for an overnight visit to the city.

I am hoping to be able to visit the kids playground at Darling Harbour after our time at the museum and have organised a change of clothes as there is water play and the kids will most likely end up wet. The last time we were there the girls had a blast!

Have you been to the Maritime Museum? Did you enjoy it? I will write a full and more in depth post after we experience everything tomorrow. Do you love the Darling Harbour Playground? What is your favourite bit of it? I love the fact that it is free, and for all kids of different ages. So great to see a city incorporate activities for kids that are accessible and fun.

Thanks to the Maritime Museum for the family passes to make tomorrow possible and I am sure we will have an amazing day.

 

Categories
5 years and beyond

Pushing Boundaries

Running around and creating mischief. Image courtesy of chrisroll at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Running around and creating mischief. Image courtesy of chrisroll at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Are your twins competitive? Mine are. It is tiring and exhausting dealing with kids that argue, annoy each other and want to do the same as the other in the same space, time and with the same things. We nearly have two of everything so there should not be an issue. The issue arises when one child gets something of mine or one of something and then the other wants it also. This as you can imagine makes it hard from a mummy perspective.

So what do I do?

  • Tell the child with the toy/item that they have a certain time frame to play with it and then it is the others turn. This does lead to the child crying and screaming that they got it first but it does get accepted after a bit of time and explaining.
  • Once I have the toy/item from the first kid I then give the toy to the other child and they have some time to play with it.
  • You can make sure it is fair for each child by using a stopwatch or a timer from the kitchen. When the bell sounds the other kid has a go!
  • If all fails I take the toy away and then no kid can play with it.
  • If there is a complete meltdown from both kids I take all away and put them in time out or have some quiet time in their room or in the backyard doing something different. A change of scenery is best. Distract and change things around a bit always is helpful.

This age of pushing boundaries and doing more on their own is interesting. Kids are climbing more, hurting themselves and just being secret little explorers. Sometimes they are doing things that they have been told not to do and that is hard to deal with. Maybe I need to hide more things and put them at greater heights. We are already finding chairs and boxes around the house, these have been used by the twins to access things that they are not supposed to have.

Do you find that your kids are getting into things that you told them not to access! Have you found that your little people are having wonderful adventures and are just very busy with heaps to do all the time? I have and it does not stop! Maybe it is the fact of having two kids at the same age.

My hubby has asked what I want for Christmas and my answer is a holiday for me to unwind and relax! I know not very fair to the family but after dealing with all the chaos of kids, meltdowns and being the go between on everything a holiday where I sleep in, get cooked for, and can have some quiet me time is very attractive at the moment.

How do you deal with this active stage with your kids? I do organise things for the girls but they are active little things and always want to do more and explore. Send in your comments.

Categories
4 years and beyond

Epic Train Trip

Do your kids love to go on adventures? Mine do, so with this in mind I took the twins on a train trip to the city to visit their Aunty Kay for lunch. I was not sure how this would go as it takes us two hours to just get to Central (for those that don’t know Central is the main train station in the city that you can change trains and that is where the train terminates), then after Central we had to get a train to the city.

It was a big day. Thank god for technology I had my iPhone and the Google Nexus, however the iPhone ran out of power quite quickly and caused a few arguments.

Just on board and cannot wait to start travelling
Just on board and cannot wait to start travelling

Lillian showing bummies the view out the window
Lillian showing bummies the view out the window

Julia showing her puppy dog the view out the window
Julia showing her puppy dog the view out the window

The girls loved the train but after a while it got a bit much. I got questions like, “Mummy is this our stop next?” and “Mummy when will we get there?” I did explain that it was a long way and I will tell them when we get off the train. The girls were very good and I was very proud of them. They did not misbehave at all and on the whole were very good. Both kids on the way there did not need to use the bathroom, so that was good planning or just good luck, not sure.

On the harbour bridge and can see the top of the opera house
On the harbour bridge and can see the top of the opera house

City train and looking at the harbour through graffiti
City train and looking at the harbour through graffiti

The girls with Aunty Kay
The girls with Aunty Kay

We made it to the city, and to Kay’s work o.k, kids were happy and super excited to see Aunty Kay and where she works. Pity we could not stay longer as Kay had to return to work and we had to get the train back home. Although it was not for long staying in the city, the adventure was with the kids having their first train trip to the city and sharing the adventure.

On the way back Lillian slept all the way up the mountain and Julia played the Nexus without having to fight her sister for a turn. It was a big day and we were very tired once we returned home.

The weather was fantastic also as it was the first time in weeks we have had blue sky and no rain! Heaps of washing to do and I am out and about. Thank god today as like yesterday it is blue skies again. I managed to get four loads of washing done so that is good.

What fun adventures have you had with the kids these school holidays?  Send in your comments.

Categories
3 years and beyond Katoomba Hospital

In the wars

Lately the girls have been in the wars. Yesterday, Lillian ran at high speed into a trolley at Woolies and hurt her arm.  The time before that Lillian dropped a can on her toe in the same shop, now her toe nail is black and I am waiting on the nail to fall off. Also yesterday Julia fell over on the travelator and managed to get that organised with help of a lady behind me. I was shopping with just me and the girls. The trolley went sideways; Julia fell over and could not get up without help. She was so upset, and then Lillian was upset due to Julia being upset. The lovely lady behind me grabbed Lillian and I managed to get to Julia and saved her and the trolley just scraped on the side of the travelator until we exited.

Today while I was putting washing on the line, daddy was in the kitchen there was an incident.  I heard screams that I needed to come in as there was a problem. I raced in with high speed, worried about what had happened. I come in to see Julia on the kitchen bench with blood all over her face and her screaming and crying. I was not sure what had happened. At first look the gash over her eye looked really bad. We cleaned it up and it was not too bad or good either. Daddy did not want to go to the doctors at the hospital, however as a very worried mummy I insisted.

Before going I eventually found out what had happened. Julia was on daddy’s work chair in the study and tried to get off. She must have slipped and she went head first into the wood floor. Upon arriving at the hospital we were quick to get into to see the triage nurse. While there we met the emergency doctor and she assured us that it was fine, although had to wait until it was our turn to see her again, so off we went to the waiting room.

I only took Julia with me and she really did not want to go to the doctors, and thought it best to deal with one child and have Lillian spend time with daddy. While seeing the triage nurse she asked Julia some questions that would indicate if she was fine brain wise. She was, she answered who she was with successfully and some other questions. So that was a good thing. I was there at the hospital to make sure she was fine for one thing, and to make sure that the gash would heal o.k., it was deep but not really deep enough for stitches.

Finally we got to see the doctor again and she was great. She was telling Julia stories and asked why the dinosaur hurt her head, the doctor said that she sees these injuries a lot and the dinosaurs are naughty. Julia told the doctor that it was not the dinosaur that she fell off daddy’s chair, no dinosaur. Oh well, the doctor was trying and that was great, it made the whole situation much better for Julia. She was and still is very sensitive to what happened, she cries and gets very upset if it is mentioned or that she thinks about it.

Julia was brave and let the nurse and doctor put the special bandages on that draws the skin together to heal, she told Julia that they were dinosaur bandages. Now the challenge is that the bandage cannot get wet or dirty for 3-4 days. So sponge baths until then, this will be interesting. This time is important for the skin to heal or at least start joining up again.  We were not sure and tried to give her some gas to calm down, however she did not want to put the mask on or have anything to do with it so we went without it. I was very happy that she was a brave little girl, it must have hurt and glad that she is going to be o.k.

I am so exhausted and depleted after today. It has been very emotional. I just thought the worse when I saw the blood and saw her screaming and the tears. It was a terrible moment. I am sure that other parents have felt the same. I have also to think that this will not be the end of these scrapes. As active kids I am sure that there will be more. I just hope that they don’t hurt themselves too badly. It is hard enough when they just have a little bump.

Lillian according to daddy was a mess without Julia. She was worried and was screaming and crying while we were at the hospital. She was very concerned and worried about her sister. She did eventually calm down which was good. Daddy got her to play with some of my things which I was not happy about but understood that it calmed her down. While at the hospital, daddy and Lillian changed the batteries in the fire alarm and baked some scones.

This also makes me think that the girls need to be taken individually for things/tasks and outings more. Mummy or daddy takes one or the other and does something, spending time with that child only, for one on one time. The girls don’t take to being separated at all, although today was very upsetting, it was a good thing that Lilly spent time with daddy and I took Julia. It gives each child some quality time with each parent, will need to work on this more in the future.

If you have twins or multiples how do you handle doing something with one child, while the other parent takes the other? Do they freak out? How do you as a parent handle it when you kid/kids are in the wars?