Tag: park

Categories
Things to do

Climbing at Treetops Adventure Western Sydney

Ready in his safety harness and helmet
Getting fitted for his safety gear
Enjoying the climbing fun

I wanted to take Alex somewhere fun, somewhere different from the usual park.

But where?

Why not Treetops Adventure at Western Sydney. You don’t have to visit the Western Sydney location, this is the one we visited. The Western Sydney Treetops are within the Western Sydney Parklands.

In fact, Treetops Adventures are available in 8 different locations in NSW, also in Victoria, Western Australia, Queensland and Tasmania.

I looked online for a great spot to take my active six-year-old and settled on Treetops adventure. I magically booked one of the last times for their adventures that day and of course, high-tailed it down the mountain to get there on time. I was however about 15 minutes late, but I soon discovered that was okay. Thank goodness for that!

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He had the safety rope on the course to make sure he was safe even if he fell


We were in time for my little boy to join a group of other kids, he just needed to get his harness fitted and wait for the group to have their safety induction and their guide to tell them the rules of what to do and of course not do. If they needed help there were staff there with their harness on ready to climb to help out.

At first, my little boy was a bit shocked we didn’t end up at the park he thought we were going to…however, I did tell him we were off on an adventure to do something different.

See our YouTube video of our Treetops Adventure

Balancing to make sure he has the edge
Brave and keen to climb all the courses

Alex grew his confidence with the different courses.

One course had my six-year-old fall off the timber or logs that were there. He did have a harness and was also strapped on with the metal safety line, so no worry about falling. However, losing his footing was a bit scary and I had to talk him through how to get back on the logs.

I did get the attention of one of the staff there and they were on their way and then Alex managed to sort it all out himself.

These ones move and Alex took a bit longer making sure he put his foot on the next one correctly

The courses that had moving logs or missing parts where you would put your feet made my little boy a bit worried at first, he did get the hang of how to work the ones that were moving and then with the ones that had missing parts he favoured the area that had more timber for him to stand.

Getting across the course slowly but surely

He also was very focused on what he was doing and how he managed each course.

When Alex got to the Ziplines he was able to take off the zip fitting and put it on the metal line for the zip adventure himself. He got really good at it and even though he fiddled a bit sometimes getting it off the metal rope he yelled at me that he didn’t need help, he would say very loudly “I don’t need help!”

Was a bit worried about the gaps and the logs…at least they don’t move
Got the hang of the net

This was a great decision to take my little one to Treetops Adventure at Western Sydney, he loved it. In fact, he really didn’t want to leave.

Having heaps of fun climbing

I now really would like to take the twins to experience more Treetops Adventures throughout Sydney. For all kids to do a park together I would need to have courses for the bigger kids and many courses for the younger person too.

If you are looking at an activity for the holidays, weekend or any time climbing at TreeTops is something I would highly recommend. Not only is it great for kids as they are outdoors, it helps with their confidence and problem-solving abilities it is also fun and different from your standard park.

Alex had never climbed at Treetops before and was racing around and doing the courses multiple times, he seemed to be an expert after doing it many many times!

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Categories
Things to do

Cheap School Holiday Fun

Note: First published July 2014..although this is great no matter what year.

Have you wondered what to do with the kids these school holidays? Worried that if you take them somewhere or do anything it will cost you? Well, I have a list of fun things to do that will not break the bank. Yes, these fun things will keep the kids happy as well as your bank balance.

1. Playdough Fun

The night before I made a whole batch of playdough. I created multiple colours and also some had glitter in them as well. I added the food dye to each batch and made sure they were very bright vivid colours to make it even more fun. (Make sure you wear gloves as my hands were stained for a couple of days – yes I had green and red hands)

Playdough - In resealable bags so that the dough remains fresh and does not dry out.
Playdough – In resealable bags so that the dough remains fresh and does not dry out.

I gave the kids cookie cutters, rolling pins, toothpicks and more so they could make patterns and be as creative as they wished.

I made the playdough recipe from McKenzie’s Cream of Tartar for playdough as it gives a nice smooth fluffy feeling. If you use this way to make playdough it will come out so nice and soft, just like the ones at the store. Yes, you heard that right!  Give it a go and see. Make a big batch and put it all in containers for a rainy day. The kids loved this and played with the dough and their creations for hours.

All the kids playdough creations drying. Once all done we can have them on our shelves to display. Don't they look amazing.
All the kid’s playdough creations drying. Once all is done we can have them on our shelves to display. Don’t they look amazing?

2. Baking Fun

My girls love to make cakes and of course, after the cake is in the oven, they love to lick the mixing bowl and spoon. I did that as a kid and it is the best as the mixture always tastes wonderful and is so chocolatey!

I created a marble cake and added a vanilla cake mix to a chocolate one that had chocolate bits added to it as well. Once mixed in it created a marvellous marble mixture and looked great once it was cut into. Sorry I did not get any other pictures than the one before it was all eaten. Yes, it was that good. Maybe I should be a Masterchef????

Yummy Marble Cake - Get your little chefs busy with this easy to make cake
Yummy Marble Cake – Get your little chefs busy with this easy-to-make cake

If you have a packet of cake mix this keeps things easy and all you need to do is add the eggs/egg and milk, stir and then put it in the oven. Simple cake made! You can ice it or add chocolate bits as we did, the choice is yours. Enjoy!

3. Painting Fun

I wanted to get the kids painting, and I did not want paint that causes issues with clothes or bad if you accidentally eat it. So I made my own paint. How do I hear you ask??

These are the ingredients I used:

  • Cornflour
  • Water
  • Food dye

I started with 1 cup of cornflour and enough water to make a paste. I created all the mixture before I added the colour as I wanted different colours that would allow the kids to paint a picture and not be restricted to two colours only. I added the mixture without the colour into a cupcake tin and then added the colour to each area of the tin.

I decided to make, yellow, purple, orange, blue, green and red. I ended up using more cornflour as it was not quite a paste consistency and I used more water than I should have as it was my first attempt at making this. To make each paint set I put it in the freezer to set. I am not sure if that is the done thing but it worked out quite well.

It might have been in the freezer for a bit long but after adding a bit of water with the paintbrush the colour melted a bit and it was just like real paints but with cornflour and water.

Having fun painting. Such creative artists.
Having fun painting. Such creative artists.

Great paint mummy! What else can I paint?
Great paint mummy! What else can I paint?

4. Movie Fun

It is always fun to watch a film you have never seen before and to have lunch. I fed the kids some food while they all sat and watched Frozen. Yes, we are late to the party and have just seen Frozen.

Mesmorized watching Frozen
Mesmerized watching Frozen

Now all the kids are singing is, “I want to build a snowman!” AHHHHH Oh well, so glad they loved it and sat still to watch it. Winning I think!

So grab a film that no one has seen as it will capture their interest for longer. If you want why not make a bed on the floor of the living room and make a treat of the film. You can even popcorn if the kids like that.

5. Park Fun

Around the corner of the house is a park. So I walked the kids to the park and they all ran amok at the park. One went on the swing, the other on the monkey bars and one other was going down the slippery dip. Fresh air and exercise always help keep kids happy.

The park is free and if you are not near one you can drive to one and bring the bike/scooter the child can get more enjoyment out of playing with their toys.

Swinging is fun! I am doing it all by myself now mummy!
Swinging is fun! I am doing it all by myself now mummy!

Look at me, I can do the monkey bars all by myself. How clever is she!
Look at me, I can do the monkey bars all by myself. How clever is she!

I hope this list of some fun things to do with kids helps while they are on school holidays or for the weekends. Enjoy!

Categories
3 years and beyond

Sun = Laundry and Playtime

A sunny day with no clouds in the sky, just brilliant! What a great thing to wake up to. If I was not a mother and had a tidy organised house, then it would be off to go walking by myself, oh the joys. Although I can still go out walking which I think I will do, although it will be with kids in the pram. The girls are bigger and probably don’t need to be in the pram, however over a long distance they would get tired. I am not a pack horse and cannot carry bags, shopping, and then two kids to boot. So the pram is the best alternative for walking with kids.

While my focus has been on the nice day, my other focus is getting my washing done. I see sun and say, “I must do some washing”, I have done 3 loads already, the first 2 are on the line and other is still in the machine. The weather report shows that today and tomorrow will be sunny, so I have a good chance to finish the washing. Then sorting and putting it away is the other big job.

You might say, that is the last thing you would do on a nice day, what a waste, WASHING. Well as a mother and one that lives in an area that has had rain nonstop rain, sunny days are rare, and you need to pounce on these to get it all done. I know it is boring, and mundane, however I don’t have a housework fairy to help me.

Wouldn’t that be nice, a housework fairy. You could tell the fairy what you need done, No the fairy would just know, housework fairies just understand your needs (they are good like that). You could then go out and enjoy the sun filled day and relax. If only this was possible. Maybe in the future we will have housework robots that you could programme; you would come home to a nice clean, organised house. I can only dream.

It is not just me that is excited to get their laundry done on a fine day like today, I have spoken to at least four people and they have all rushed off to get it all done. It must be the change in me since having children that fine days are not only play days, they are laundry days as well. What do you do on a sunny day? Do you race off to do your laundry if it has piled up? Or do you forget about it and enjoy the day? Send in your comments.

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Categories
3 years and beyond

Housework and an outing

Before we went out I asked the girls to clean the living room up. This did not happen until Daddy supervised, although this quick job took nearly an hour to do. Why is it that asking kids to do tasks is so difficult? We got staring, crying, and just ignoring the situation to saying that it was all complete, when it was still a big mess.

We ended up getting the living room organised and eventually everyone was showered dressed and ready to get out of the house. All of us finally arrived at the Blackheath Wine Fair; the food looked interesting, seems like we missed the entertainment for the kids, and was looking forward to looking at local producers of wines and tasting some as well.

After we had lunch, well mummy and daddy did and the girls did not eat what I purchased for them, we made our way to the wine part of the fair. They had a $10/person entrance, this covered, a glass for tastings, the fee covered 2 tastings and you also got a bottle of water. It was then revealed to us that for every other tasting after the initial 2, you had to pay $1 each for the privilege.

I do understand that these people are in business, but to showcase your products at a fair by squeezing more money out of you is just annoying and expensive. I think that maybe having a flat fee for entry and allow people to test wines that they are interested in is the way to go. I personally think that if we liked a particular wine and it was not too expensive we probably would have bought it. To slug you with an extra cost to try the products is just rude in my opinion. I know that some people might abuse the fact that you can taste the wine at each stall, however isn’t that the business of selling wine? You have to showcase your product if you want people to buy, and this is a cost of the business that should be factored in to their marketing. So we decided it would be too expensive and a bottle of wine would probably be cheaper, so we left the wine fair.

I think we might have high expectations for events, as one that we went to for Easter Sunday with the girls was not what we expected. On Easter Sunday we went to the Everglades at Leura. It is a lovely garden and is just looking so pretty with the leaves changing colour. It was advertised that there would be an egg hunt for the kids and some other activities. When we got there the egg hunt was already under way. We were only about 10mins late and I thought that we would see it still happening; I assumed that there would be signs and people to ask. I was wrong. Could not find where we were supposed to be. So we missed it. We thought we would have lunch but there seemed to be nothing for kids to eat, not a cheese sandwich/vegemite or even a honey one at the place. So they ate a cupcake and we had to do the same thing as today, give them lunch when we got home. I was very disappointed as we paid $25 to get in and there was not much to do at all. We all had a great walk around the garden and the girls bumped into a friend from pre-school so that was nice.

Since we were in Blackheath we decided to take the kids to the park, both the girls ran around and had a great time. Lillian was pretending to put clothes on the line, and falling over all with a smile on her face. Julia was a bit out of sorts when her balloon burst in the car. It did not help when Lillian said she still had hers. Julia cheered up and not too soon after arriving she was having a ball as well.

We left the park and headed home, the girls finished a sandwich each, which was good since they had no lunch out. Then they were off for some quiet time. I was so exhausted that I had to have a lie down, then after waking I realised that I did not do something.

I had missed going to a party that I said that I would attend. I must have had a brain fail or something, as I knew about it the day or so before and today I totally forgot. I send a big sorry my friend so I hope she forgives me, and I will definitely be there for the next one.

As you can see we have had no luck with local events, and I have missed a party due to forgetfulness, how has your day/weekend been so far? Do you go to events and feel that they should have been better organised? Why is it that kid’s events don’t have proper food for kids? Send in your comments. Remember to vote for us for Best Australian Blog